ZUROFF: THERE MUST BE BOTH A BAN AND PUNISHMENT FOR DISPLAYING USTASHA SYMBOLS

BANJA LUKA, FEBRUARY 23 /SRNA/ - Historian Efraim Zuroff stressed that there must be both a ban and a punishment for displaying Ustasha symbols, and that the European Union should sanction Croatia for tolerating such practices.

Commenting on the increasingly frequent use and tolerance of symbols linked to the Ustasha regime and the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/ in public spaces, especially at Marko Perković Thompson's concerts recently held in BiH and Croatia, Zuroff assessed this as a very dangerous phenomenon, showing that many people have not learned the lessons of the horrific crimes committed by the Ustashe.

Efraim Zuroff reminded that the songs and symbols at Marko Perković Thompson's concerts are symbols of the mass killing of Serbs, Jews, and Roma.

"There must be both a ban and a punishment for the display of such symbols. If that does not exist, it is proof that nothing has been learned either from the trial of Dinko Šakić or from the horrific crimes committed by the Ustashas," the former director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center told Glas Srpske.

He stated that such events offend the memory of the victims of the Ustasha regime and the Holocaust, but that in Croatia, there is no concern for this.

"There is very little education about the Holocaust in the former Yugoslavia, except in Serbia and Republika Srpska. The glorification of the Ustashas is like a curse for all the people who suffered under the Ustasha regime," Zuroff said.

Efraim Zuroff added that he did everything in his power to bring most World War II criminals to justice, and that his greatest effort was focused on apprehending the Ustashe.

"Thank God I had the privilege of bringing the horrific criminal Dinko Šakić before a court and putting him in prison. And that is exactly what should have been done with all those commanders of Jasenovac and other concentration camps run by the Ustashe," Zuroff emphasized, adding that the "Šakić" case was the most important in his career.

He noted that there were cases in which he was disappointed by the cooperation of states in prosecuting criminals, citing the example of Austria, which, he said, did everything possible to avoid bringing Nazis to justice.

"Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, all the same. All the countries of Eastern Europe want to pretend that they bear no responsibility for anything," Zuroff concluded.