Vučić after the meeting with Porfirije: "We reached an agreement" VIDEO / PHOTO

Vučić after the meeting with Porfirije: "We reached an agreement" VIDEO / PHOTO

Historian Dejan Ristic also attended the meeting in the premises of the Patriarchate of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

"We discussed the ways to strengthen the culture of memory, how to do everything not to forget the victims, what the state can do to help the church... We finally reached an agreement to build a memorial center in Donja Gradina... To remember the Serbian name and surname. We will talk about the situation in the Jasenovac complex, where the Serbian church owns a lot of properties", Vucic told a news conference after the meeting.

"We think that it is very important for history, that we participate in the support and renewal of the Ustasha hospital," said Vucic.

He added that he would try to open pavilions in the area of the Old Fairground, which would be the best place for the Museum of Genocide Victims, from April next year. Vučić also announced that the state will deal with something that has been neglected for decades. "We will submit an initiative for the left bank of the Sava to be named 'Coast of Jasenovac victims'," said the President of Serbia.

He stated that there were talks on how to show the world public what the Serbian people went through 80 years ago.

"I am satisfied that we can participate in something that is of great importance and I am proud that the Serbian people remember and will never forget the crimes in Jasenovac. Serbia can do that, it is not ashamed of its victims, they are our heroes and we will do everything so that the heroic deed will never be forgotten", Vučić added.

Patriarch Porfirije expressed his gratitude to Vučić and Bishop Jovan for the great work and care they show "in relation to all the victims of our people", speaking about Jasenovac.

"The word sanctuary, used by the president, is the right word to describe the place of suffering. Whenever I entered Jasenovac, I had the impression that I had entered a different zone of existence, a mystical zone. In that sense, that zone and other sites of suffering show that it is a metaphysical space. Nothing could have happened better than for a nunnery to spring up there", Porfirije explained.

"We meet with great hatred on every side of the world. Remembrance, memory and reminiscence is prayer. Through prayer remembrance we heal our wounds. May that remembrance never turn into resentment. God knows why we have a monastery in Jasenovac and a memorial center across and the Museum of Genocide Victims", Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church added.

Porifirije expressed joy that they met and stated that "he is even happier that we agree on what should be done in the future," said Porfirije.

Bishop Jovan Ćulibrk of Pakrac-Slavonia addressed the journalists after the meeting and said that "we must forgive, but we must not forget".

Concentration camp in Jasenovac

The Jasenovac camp was the largest concentration and death camp in the occupied Kingdom of Yugoslavia during the Second World War. It was formed by the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in August 1941.

The camp was destroyed by the Ustashas in April 1945 in order to hide the traces of the committed crimes. The state administration of Croatia called the place of torture and killing of Serbs, Jews and Rome "the Jasenovac labor camp".

The exact number of victims in the systems of the Jasenovac camp has never been determined. By 2012, the Jasenovac Memorial Park has established a list of about 83.000 victims, while the Museum of Genocide Victims has compiled a list of about 88.000 victims.

President of Serbia and the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church will also discuss the renovation of the Jasenovac monastery complex, which had begun at the end of August. The reconstruction of the church dedicated to the Birth of Saint John the Precursor, which was damaged and desecrated several times during the civil war of the 1990s, is financed by the state of Serbia.

Vučić and Patriarch Porfirije met three days ago, after the enthronement of Metropolitan Joanikije of Montenegro and the Littoral in Cetinje, when they discussed the completion of the Temple of Saint Sava.