Victims of genocide remembered

A ceremony has taken place in Belgrade to mark remembrance day for the victims of genocide in World War II. Surviving camp inmates were disappointed at the failure of senior state officials to attend the event. Victims of genocide remembered At the ceremony organized by the Labor and Social Policy Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the city assembly, wreaths were placed and tributes paid to the victims with full state and military honors in front of the Second World War memorial, located at the site of the former Staro Sajmiste death camp in Belgrade,. Wreaths were laid by a delegation of surviving camp inmates and soldiers, Labor and Social Policy Ministry officials, a delegation from the Serbian Army’s Headquarters, the City of Belgrade, and representatives of national minorities whose members perished in camps during the Second World War. In a statement, the president of the Association of Camp Inmates and former camp inmate herself, Brigita Knezevic, expressed her disappointment at the failure of state and local authority representatives to come and pay their respects to the victims. “On Sunday we were in Jasenovac, to pay tribute to camp inmates in the presence of senior Croatian officials headed by President Stjepan Mesic. We feel a little sad that none of our politicians came here today,” she stated. According to President of the Serbian World Congress Zoran Jovicic, the fact that senior state officials had not come to today’s commemoration was “something unforgivable.” The commemoration day for genocide victims is held on April 22 to mark the day in 1945, when the last group of surviving camp inmates at the ustasha concentration camp in Jasenovac tried to force a breakout, during which the majority of them were killed. Today's ceremony (FoNet)

Victims of genocide remembered

At the ceremony organized by the Labor and Social Policy Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the city assembly, wreaths were placed and tributes paid to the victims with full state and military honors in front of the Second World War memorial, located at the site of the former Staro Sajmište death camp in Belgrade,.

Wreaths were laid by a delegation of surviving camp inmates and soldiers, Labor and Social Policy Ministry officials, a delegation from the Serbian Army’s Headquarters, the City of Belgrade, and representatives of national minorities whose members perished in camps during the Second World War.

In a statement, the president of the Association of Camp Inmates and former camp inmate herself, Brigita Knežević, expressed her disappointment at the failure of state and local authority representatives to come and pay their respects to the victims.

“On Sunday we were in Jasenovac, to pay tribute to camp inmates in the presence of senior Croatian officials headed by President Stjepan Mesić. We feel a little sad that none of our politicians came here today,” she stated.

According to President of the Serbian World Congress Zoran Jovičić, the fact that senior state officials had not come to today’s commemoration was “something unforgivable.”

The commemoration day for genocide victims is held on April 22 to mark the day in 1945, when the last group of surviving camp inmates at the ustasha concentration camp in Jasenovac tried to force a breakout, during which the majority of them were killed.