04.10.2026.
Remembrance Day for Serbian, Roma, and Jewish Victims commemorated
A state ceremony commemorating Remembrance Day for Serbian, Roma, and Jewish Victims of the Second World War was held today at the "Jajinci" Memorial Park.
The state ceremony was led by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Đuro Macut. Accompanied by an honour guard and the playing of the national anthem, the Prime Minister laid a wreath at the monument to the victims killed at the infamous execution site.A wreath was also laid by the Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff, General Milan Mojsilović, accompanied by Major General Mile Vitezović and Brigadier General Slađan Hristov.
Following the wreath-laying ceremony, Prime Minister Macut stated that during the darkest years of the Second World War, the lives of tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, and Roma, men and women, the elderly and children, had been cut short in Jajinci.- When we say “tens of thousands” we speak in numbers, but behind every number is a real person, a name, a family, and a home left empty. That is the reason why we bow today before all the innocent victims and remind ourselves that no victim is just another statistic. Each victim was someone's world. It is our obligation to remember, without hatred, yet without forgetting, to speak the truth about the wrongdoers, and to ensure that this memory never becomes a reason for new divisions. We must teach our children that every ideology that divides people into those who matter and those who don’t leads to tragedy. We must teach them that every human life is worthy of respect, and demonstrate through our own example that Serbia advocates for peace, stability, and dialogue, because our strength lies in peace and stability – Prime Minister Macut stated.
The commemoration began with a memorial service officiated by Bishop Dositej of Lipljan, the Vicar of the Serbian Patriarch, Porfirije, alongside Serbian Orthodox Church priests, followed by prayers for the Serbian, Roma, and Jewish victims.Also in attendance were representatives of state institutions, the Serbian Orthodox Church, city municipalities, and the diplomatic and military-diplomatic corps. Wreaths were laid by representatives of concentration camp survivor, Roma, Jewish, and veteran associations, as well as surviving concentration camp inmates and descendants of the victims.
The commemoration held in Jajinci is dedicated to keeping alive the memory of the tens of thousands of Serbs, Roma, Jews, members of the National Liberation Movement and anti-fascists killed during the Second World War.
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