Mesic Rapes History With Jasenovac Statements

Mesic told the Slovene media that 80,000 Serbs, Jews and Roma people were killed in Jasenovac.

Serbian politicians again severely condemned Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and the media report criticism that he forged history and lessened crimes of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH, a puppet state of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy from 1941 until 1945]. Serbs looked back on Mesic`s statement to the media, claiming that some 80,000 people were killed in Jasenovac concentration camp.

Aleksandra Jankovic, member of the New Serbia (NS) party, assessed Mesic`s statement for the Kurir daily as not only forgery of history, but raping history as well.

- This best confirms how much Croatia has become democratised. This statement is the pinnacle of dishonour and political arrogance of a president of our neighbouring country with which we should construct good neighbourly relations. Serbs were killed in Jasenovac just for being Serbs – embittered Jankovic said.

Natasa Jovanovic, a representative of the radicals, said that Mesic`s statement only confirms what the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) has been saying ever since the “newly-established Ustasha regime” came into office.

- They not only want to minimalise their crimes over Serbs in the 20 th century, but they mock the Serbian people as well. The saddest thing of all is that Boris Tadic has never raised this issue, but just apologised to Croats. The Ustasha authorities will not have a different relationship towards our people, which was most hurt by the Ustasha knife and experienced all the horrors of their camps – Jovanovic told the Kurir daily.

- Croatian – Slovene relations are tense now, and certain Slovene politicians want Croatia to distance itself from the NDH and Jasenovac on its path towards the EU. Official Slovenia claims that a certain number of Slovenians was killed in Jasenovac, apart from others. Mesic`s number is just one in a line of assessed numbers of killed persons, but it is not the lowest number. What is the biggest problem in determining the exact number of killed persons not only in Jasenovac, but the entire Jasenovac complex, is that fact that there were no precise records during World War II in NDH, unlike German camps – Cedomir Antic explained.