BUDIMIR: SERBS MUST REMEMBER ŠUŠNJAR MARTYRS

SANSKI MOST, AUGUST 2 /SRNA/ – The Minister of Scientific - Technological Development and Higher Education of Republika Srpska, Željko Budimir, has stated today that Serbs must remember the 5,500 fellow Serbs killed in the Ustaše massacre 84 years ago in Sanski Most, in order to ensure such atrocities never repeat.

Budimir said St. Elijah's Day massacre committed by the Ustaše against Serbs in Sanski Most in 1941 was a warning that was forgotten even by fellow Serbs and descendants of the victims, and that the truth about this tragedy was long hidden in communist Yugoslavia so as not to "offend" anyone.

"These martyrs were not mentioned for years after World War II, and it wasn’t until the 1970s that memorials started being erected here. Over 5,000 people were killed in just a few days on St. Elijah's Day alone in Sanski Most, around 10,000 in the surrounding area, and between 150,000 and 200,000 in this part of the Krajina region," Budimir told the press at Šušnjar, where the 84th anniversary of the Ustaše crime against Serbs is being commemorated today.

He explained that such a demographic assault, driven by senseless hatred from the Ustaše and the so-called Muslim militia of that era, makes it clear that what happened in 1995 was simply a continuation of the same process.

"After 1995, Serbs in the municipality of Sanski Most, where I myself am from, became a statistical error. Except for the elderly, there’s almost no one left. No young people. The return failed. There are still villages here with no electricity or water," Budimir emphasized.

He stressed that what Republika Srpska is doing should serve as an example to the cantons of the Federation of BiH - returnee areas must not be left without basic infrastructure.

"Šušnjar is a place that, if not mowed by companies from Oštra Luka or Prijedor, remains overgrown. Šušnjar is a place that some, unfortunately, think should be left to the weeds. But if those weeds grow in our minds, I fear this historical lesson will, as many times before, be repeated," Budimir warned.

He concluded that Serbs must remember, and pray to God and to the martyrs of Šušnjar who were killed simply for bearing a Serb name and the Orthodox faith.

"Because they are our intercessors before God, and only in this way can we endure and survive as a people," Budimir said.