ZAGREB, 27 Jan (Hina) – A memorial walk, accompanied by warnings about the horrors of Nazi concentration camps, marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Zagreb on Monday with the message that such atrocities must never be repeated.
he day is commemorated in remembrance of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Poland, which was freed by the Red Army of the former Soviet Union on this day 80 years ago. The memorial walk was organised by the Anti-Fascist League of Croatia, the Serb National Council (SNV), and Document Centre for Dealing with the Past.
In Praška Street, at the site of the synagogue destroyed in 1941, the gathered participants were addressed by SNV President Milorad Pupovac, who emphasised the need to rebuild the synagogue on this same spot.
He recalled that this was just one of many synagogues destroyed in Croatia, and that synagogues were demolished across Europe, with countless lives lost in death camps. Pupovac stressed that Auschwitz, along with the Ustaša-run camps in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), were driven by racial and national ideologies and the belief that a pure race would secure the future of humanity.
“The belief that cleansing those who do not belong to the pure race can secure the future of humanity, that the cleansing of nations and peoples of those who are not members of that nation and people could ensure the future of humanity, did not secure humanity’s future, but rather brought about humanity’s defeat and the destruction of humanity itself,” Pupovac warned.
However, humanity found the strength to overcome and defeat this destruction and to rebuild life, he said and added that for this reason, out of duty and solidarity with Jewish citizens, it is time to build a new synagogue on this site, a new cultural centre for the remaining Jewish community in Zagreb and Croatia.
The memorial walk continued to the monument commemorating the victims of the Holocaust and the Ustaša regime at the Central Railway Station, where the President of the Anti-Fascist League of Croatia, Zoran Pusić, and the Deputy Mayor of Zagreb, Luka Korlaet, gave speeches.
Pusić: Courage and integrity are the means to prevent society from straying down dark paths
Pusić shared the testimony of a commander of the Red Army unit that liberated Auschwitz, as well as that of Croatian sociologist, philosopher and psychologist Rudi Supek, who had been imprisoned in the Buchenwald camp in Germany. He also mentioned the writer and political activist Elie Wiesel, who, as a child, had also been in that camp.
Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 40 years later, and in the explanation of the award, Pusić noted, it was stated that Wiesel’s actions were driven by the suffering of the Jewish people, which he expanded to include all oppressed peoples and nations.
“I think that’s a good message to mark this day. To prevent human societies from straying down such dark paths again, I think people have only one tool, and that is human courage and integrity,” he said.
Korlaet emphasised that the culture of remembrance is very important to the City of Zagreb administration, and that it also means resistance to oblivion and the rise of the far-right in Europe and the world. “We stand in defence of democratic values and the promotion of Zagreb as an open city, a city for all,” he stated.
“This city was largely built by members of the Jewish community, both literally and figuratively, and for that, we owe them, as we do all the others who suffered,” he added.
Korlaet also mentioned that the process of planning a new synagogue has begun, and he hopes that an international architectural competition will soon be announced.
The memorial walk and commemoration in Zagreb were attended by the ambassadors of France and Germany, and representatives from the embassies of Serbia and the United States.
