04.10.2015.

Respects paid to the victims in Jajinci

The state memorial ceremony dedicated to preserving the memory of the tens of thousands brutally killed during the Second World War took place today in Jajinci near Belgrade, with highest state and military honours.

The memorial service, which began with paying of respect to the victims, was headed by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, and on behalf of the Government of Serbia, wreath was laid by Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic. Speeches were given by President Nikolic and President of the Association of the Jasenovac camp inmates survivors Milinko Cekic.

Serbian President emphasized that the past had been built and marked by the good people, who had deserved perseverance in the fight for a prosperous Serbia, as a place of lasting peace. He said that forgetfulness and denial of truth are bad allies, especially in the Balkans, which had been trampled by invaders and where wars had raged.

“Today, Serbia participates in the events on the global and the European stage in a positive way, even though the fight for an equal position of Serbia in the world politics is difficult and sometimes distressing”, Nikolic stated and added that “it is good, it will be better, but there are much more obstacles and sacrifices upon us in order to place ourselves among the countries that live normally and happily”.

"Along with the efforts to boost the economic recovery of Serbia and create new jobs, we continue our fight to prevent the self-proclaimed state of Kosovo from becoming a member of the United Nations. We are making a tremendous effort to convince the reasonable people around the world that Kosovo cannot join the UNESCO, that the cultural heritage and the history of Kosovo are, in fact, Serbian” Nikolic said and stressed that Serbia had safeguarded that heritage over the past 11 centuries, and the Serbs would continue doing so, because the geography, the fact that it is located in the territory of Kosovo-Metohija, does not make it Kosovo's but only and always Serbia's.

“The heroes who gave their lives in this place oblige us of this. It is our duty to demonstrate with our actions that their suffering was not in vain. Let us do everything so that we, as their descendants, can proudly say that we live in Serbia and that we wish to remain in the country they created with their sacrifice," Nikolic said. As he stated, these victims are remembered by Serbia, but it does not condone crimes, just as it will not forget the victims or the crimes.

"Today, I rank among the ultimate values of Serbian society the fact that, in spite of everything, we, the descendants of the martyrs, are creating a society in which there will be no hatred, which condemns and sanctions chauvinism and any form of violence, a society that does not have revenge as its goal," Nikolic said.

Stating that the most shameful page of mankind had been written with the desire of the Nazis to exterminate entire nations with the aim of advancing only one people, supposedly superior, Nikolic said that we gathered for the seventy first time in order to preserve the memory of the tens of thousands brutally killed at the execution post in Jajinci, the place of gravest suffering in the entire territory of Serbia: "With no mercy, Serbs, Jews, Roma, citizens of Serbia and former Yugoslavia were killed. Horrific is the fact that 120 children, mostly Jewish, were killed, just as they had entered into life. The figure of 60,000 casualties is not final, because innocent people were killed constantly, without record, and the perpetrators had done everything to conceal the evidence of the crime. But the crime of such magnitude cannot be hidden," Nikolic said.

The state ceremony in Jajinci was attended by President of the Assembly of Serbia Veroljub Arsic, ministers in the Serbian Government, Chief of General Staff General Ljubisa Dikovic, representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the City of Belgrade, diplomatic and military-diplomatic representatives from more than 40 countries, representatives of the Roma National Council, Union of Jewish Municipalities, a large number of war veterans and descendants of victims.

Tanjug