CENTRAL EVENT ON APRIL 27 IN DONJA GRADINA

BANJA LUKA, APRIL 16 /SRNA/ - The central event and a memorial service for the victims of the crime of genocide committed by the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/ in the Jasenovac concentration camp and its largest execution site, Donja Gradina, will be held on April 27, in the Memorial Area Donja Gradina, decided the Joint Organizational Committee of Serbia and Republika Srpska.

The Organizational Committee, which held its first telephone session under the chairmanship of Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, also decided that a memorial academy will be held on April 26 in Kozarska Dubica, according to a press release from the Office of the President of Republika Srpska.

April 22 will mark the 80th anniversary of the breakout of the last group of the Jasenovac concentration camp inmates.

In memory of the victims of the Jasenovac camp, the Government of Republika Srpska has submitted an initiative to all municipalities and cities in Srpska, requesting that local parliaments adopt a decision to name one street in each of them “Street of the Jasenovac Victims.”

Additionally, a special history class dedicated to Jasenovac and Donja Gradina will be held in every elementary and secondary school in Srpska, and the Public Institution Memorial Area Donja Gradina has initiated the creation of a commemorative postage stamp.

The president and vice-presidents of the Organizational Committee were elected at the session, members of the Executive Committee were appointed, and a framework program for the memorial service for the victims of genocide was established, the press release said.

The Government of Republika Srpska has declared April 27 a Day of Mourning in memory of the victims of the Ustashe genocide committed against Serbs, Jews, and Roma in the Independent State of Croatia from 1941 to 1945.

The breakout of the last group of inmates took place on April 22, 1945, to reveal to the world the horrific truth about the atrocities committed within the Jasenovac concentration camp system and its largest execution site, Donja Gradina.

The Jasenovac concentration camp was established in August 1941 and consisted of five sub-camps.

The village of Donja Gradina was incorporated into the concentration camp system. The Ustashe transported inmates via ferry across the River Sava to Donja Gradina, where they were executed.

Today, mass graves in Donja Gradina - 105 burial fields - stand as evidence of this.

According to data from the Croatian State Commission for Determining the Crimes of the Occupiers and Their Collaborators from 1945, the number of victims ranges from 500,000 to 600,000, with the emphasis that the exact number will never be known because many victims were "swallowed" by Paćilije's furnace, and many were carried away by the River Sava.

Research conducted in the 1960s and 1970s showed that 700,000 people were killed in the Jasenovac concentration camp system, of whom 500,000 were Serbs, 33,000 were Jews, 40,000 were Roma, and 127,000 were anti-fascists, including 20,000 children.