Media: Croatia acknowledged, for the first time; It was genocide against the Serbs

It all happened, as stated, on December 2, when representatives from Zagreb presented a plan for the improvement of the Jasenovac Memorial Area in accordance with the instructions given by the IHRA last year.

These instructions were the result of the ascertained unsatisfactory state in the memorial area, but also in Croatia in general when it comes to the places of suffering in the Second World War, which IHRA delegations were convinced of during their visits a year ago, when Croatia hosted the session.

After the presentation by the representative of Zagreb, the Austrian delegation asked Croatia directly whether it recognizes the long-proven genocide it committed against the Serbs in Jasenovac and the entire territory of the NDH, given that the former director of the memorial area, Ivo Pejaković, resigned after he, as said, demanded that Serbian suffering, unlike Jewish and Roma, should not be called genocide, reports Novosti.

In response, Sara Lustig, head of the Croatian delegation, said decisively that no one can deny the genocidal nature of the NDH regime and the crimes committed against Serbs.

Then the delegations of the USA, Israel and our country asked her to repeat it, which she did. Thus, it officially confirmed Croatia's position - that this country committed genocide against the Serbian people who lived on the territory of the NDH during its existence, from 1941 to 1945.

This is a huge turnaround compared to everything that happened during last year's Croatian presidency of the IHRA, the news reports point out.

Among the recommendations that were given to official Zagreb at the time, and which the latter initially kept quiet from its own public, there is a request that the billboards in front of the Jasenovac museum clearly show who were the victims and who were the executioners, then that genocide was committed, who committed it and to try to determine the exact number of those killed by name and surname, it is written further in the text.

It has also been suggested that Croatia, with the Stone Flower, a monument to Bogdan Bogdanović in the Jasenovac memorial area, should apply for a protected cultural property on the UNESCO list.

A member of the British delegation, Gilly Carr, also insisted that new surveys of the terrain be carried out and, eventually, potential mass graves or other historical artefacts be found.

Even historians are not convinced of the existence of the remains of mass graves filled with lime, since this area was often flooded, but there are possible remains of camp life, i.e. objects from the daily life of camp inmates, and perhaps weapons and tools with which they were tortured. It was also requested that all the camps in NDH be mapped.