ZAGREB, April 13, 2019 – The Foreign Ministry on Friday dismissed accusations by the leader of Croatian Jews that it had called foreign ambassadors to talk them out of attending a commemoration for the victims of the WWII Jasenovac concentration camp held today by representatives of ethnic minorities and antifascists.
Earlier today, the head of the Coordinating Committee of Jewish Communities in Croatia, Ognjen Kraus, accused “high level people” in the ministry of calling foreign ambassadors in Croatia to talk them out of attending the commemoration.
The state will commemorate the victims on Sunday. Separate commemorations have been held for the past four years as representatives of ethnic minorities and antifascists blame the government for tolerating the far right and the glorification of the Nazi-style Ustasha regime in WWII Croatia.
The ministry said it had invited several ambassadors to Sunday’s commemoration but fully rejected claims that it had tried to dissuade them from attending the one held today. “We believe that, in any case, the victims of that as well as any other regime should be honoured,” it told Hina.
Today’s commemoration was attended by embassy representatives of Israel, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, Serbia, Slovenia, Germany, France and Australia as well as by Council of Europe human rights commissioner Dunja Mijatović.
The commemoration was organised by the SABA alliance of antifascist fighters and antifascists of Croatia, the Coordinating Committee of Jewish Communities in Croatia, the Serb National Council and the Kali Sara Croatian Roma Alliance.
Sunday’s commemoration will be attended by top state officials.
More news about the Jasenovac commemorations can be found in the Politics section.
