27.01.2015.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day marked

On the occasion of marking January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the central state commemorative ceremony was held today at the complex of the former concentration camp at Staro Sajmiste in New Belgrade.

The commemoration was headed by President of the republic of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic ho laid wreaths at the Monument to Holocaust Victims in the Second World War, with state and military honors.

Reminding that this year we also mark the jubilee of victory over Fascism, President stressed that Serbia will never forget the crimes committed against its and friendly Jewish people.

- The holocaust is the most shameful and most disgraceful event in the entire human history, specific for its ways and unique for its fanaticism, so, in a short period of time, an immeasurable number of lives was gone, and this should never be forgotten – President Nikolic said, stating that the demise during the Second World War changed the course of civilization and left an inerasable mark.

He stated that anti-Semitism was supposed to be an idea that would connect the entire German people and unite Europe under German leadership, and that it was followed by propaganda that portrayed the Jewish people as culprits for the difficult living conditions and for all problems, which was a lie.

- Prior to the Second World War, around 35,000 Jews lived in Serbia only, while during the occupation, on the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, over 67,000 Jews and 650 thousand Serbs were killed – Nikolic stressed and pointed out that even today we can hear the troubling paroles of extreme right-wing groups followed by requests for equal division of responsibility for the causes and consequences of the wars.

President stressed that the modern, friendly Germany, as a backbone of the European Union is united with the entire world in the fight for a world of the just and the equal.

- Today’s Serbia, home to many friends, members of the Jewish people will not engage in mindless destructions at any cost, but will do anything not to become collateral damage in someone’s achieving of their own interests. Serbia lives the life worthy of a man, where people do not fear, gathered around one flagpole of freedom – President Nikolic concluded, greeting the guests with Jewish cheer “Yitgadal v'yitkadash sh'mei raba!”

On behalf of the Government of Serbia, wreaths were laid by Minister of Defence Bratsilav Gasic, and on behalf of the National Assembly, wreaths were laid by Vice President Veroljub Arsic.

The ceremony of paying respects was attended by the holocaust survivors, and descendants of the victims and former prisoners of death camps in WWII, representatives of the Association of the Jewish Municipalities of Serbia, President of the National Council of the Romani Minority, Serbian ministers, representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Mayor of the City of Belgrade, members of the diplomatic corps, associations and citizens.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day was established on November 1, 2005, by the Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations. In choosing the day when in 1945 Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated – the most notorious extermination camp in the enslaved Europe, motives of the General UN Assembly were the need for reaffirmation of human rights, prevention and punishment of the crimes of genocide, and the constantly present danger of racial, national and religious hatred based on prejudice.

WWII took, among others, over six million innocent victims – members of the Jewish people. Auschwitz, Treblinka, Mauthausen, Dachau, Majdanek, Jasenovac, Staro Sajmiste, Jajinci, “Red Cross” concentration camp in Nis – there are just some of the mass killing fields of innocent victims.