ZAGREB, April 12, 2018 – Wreath-laying ceremonies at the “Mother and Child” monument in Osijek’s Oscar Nemon Park were held on Thursday to observe Yom HaShoah Day, that is Holocaust Remembrance Day, in that eastern Croatian town, with representatives of the Osijek Jewish Community warning against those who even today negate the Holocaust.
Wreaths were laid by delegations of the Jewish Community, Osijek-Baranja County, the Town of Osijek and the Hungarian Consulate General in Osijek.
The chairman of the Jewish community in Osijek Željko Beissman stressed that nothing united Jews more strongly and permanently than memories of the Holocaust, adding that despite that, “some are still negating the Holocaust, even today.”
He said that unfortunately there were such tendencies in Croatia, which is why the Jewish Community decided to hold its own commemorative event at the site of the the Jasenovac WWII concentration camp, independently of the government.
Currently, there are approximately 100 members of the Jewish community in Osijek, while before the Second World War, there were some 3,000, Beismann said.
