ĐURĐEVIĆ STAMENKOVSKI: SERBS MUST NEVER AGAIN UNDERESTIMATE EVIL OR, UNDER PRESSURE, FORGET THEIR SUFFERING

KOZARSKA DUBICA, APRIL 18 /SRNA/ - The Minister of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs of Serbia, Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski, said on Saturday evening in Kozarska Dubica that it must never again happen for Serbs to underestimate evil or, under pressure, forget their suffering.

"Serbia and Republika Srpska are creating a shared space of remembrance and memory, a unified space in which we do not allow anyone to revise our history or to downplay what happened during the period of the NDH /Independent State of Croatia/," Đurđević Stamenkovski emphasized before the beginning of the memorial academy "Mother Kozara."

She added that the breakthrough of the Jasenovac prisoners was more than a fight for bare survival - it was a fight for truth.

"The Ustasha leaders did everything to ensure that no one would leave Jasenovac alive to testify to the truth, because they knew that the testimony of surviving prisoners would be enough for the entire world to learn what had happened there," Stamenkovski emphasized.

According to her, tomorrow’s state ceremony, jointly organized by Republika Srpska and Serbia, is proof that Serbia and Srpska are united in the struggle to preserve memory and to ensure that Serbs are never again a people standing before their own pits/graves.

"Truth is like water - it always finds its way. That truth has brought us together today as responsible people to preserve peace in the territory of Serbia and Srpska, and for this to be a space where such conflicts will never happen, it is necessary to preserve the political autonomy of Republika Srpska and its institutions," Đurđević Stamenkovski said.

The memorial academy “Mother Kozara” is being held in Kozarska Dubica, dedicated to the memory of the innocent victims of the Ustasha genocide in the Jasenovac concentration camp and its largest execution site, Donja Gradina.

With this event, the commemoration of the Day of Remembrance for the Genocide against Serbs, Jews, and Roma in the NDH from 1941 to 1945 has begun.

The memorial academy at the Cultural Center is attended by ministers in the Government of Republika Srpska: Minister of Education and Culture Borivoje Golubović, Minister for Scientific and Technological Development and Higher Education Draga Mastilović, Minister of Labor, War Veterans’ and Disabled Persons' Protection Radan Ostojić, and Minister of Administration and Local Self-Government Senka Jujić, as well as Serbia’s Minister of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski.

Also present are the Mayor of Kozarska Dubica, Igor Savković, the Director of the Public Institution Memorial Area Donja Gradina, Tanja Tuleković, cadets of the Military Academy in Belgrade, and other municipal officials and guests.