GREAT INTEREST IN ST. PETERSBURG FOR PRESENTATION ON SERBIAN SUFFERING AND USTASHA IDEOLOGY

KOZARSKA DUBICA, OCTOBER 16 /SRNA/ – A presentation on the tragedy of the Serbian people during World War II and Ustasha crimes in the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/ drew considerable interest at an international history forum in St. Petersburg, as participants were unfamiliar with this part of Balkan history, Tanja Tuleković, director of the Donja Gradina Memorial Site, said in a statement to SRNA.

Although certain parallels can be drawn between the suffering of Russians and Serbs during World War II, Tuleković said participants at the fifth international history forum, "The Great Patriotic War 1941," reacted with deep emotion as they listened to the causes and consequences of Ustasha ideology in the NDH.

She said Donja Gradina was discussed in academic circles at the gathering, which brought together academics, professors and researchers from institutions in Russia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, as well as a large number of students.

"This is the first time that the tragedy of the Serbian people during World War II and the Ustasha genocide against Serbs, Jews and Roma have been discussed at this venue, the Hermitage Museum," said Tuleković, who was one of the speakers at the plenary session.

She said participation in the international history forum in St. Petersburg was also important because it opened up new opportunities for cooperation with institutions in that part of the world.

"We presented a photo-monograph on the Donja Gradina Memorial Site to Andrey Zhdanov, the grandson of General Zhdanov, who was shocked by the Ustasha and the ideology of the NDH," Tuleković said, adding that descendants of other marshals also attended the forum.

Tuleković attended the two-day forum, which concludes today, at the invitation of the State Memorial Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad.

The forum is being held with the support of the St. Petersburg government, together with civic organizations and educational institutions from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Belarus and countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Senior curator Mirko Dimić spoke about the importance of museum projects at Donja Gradina in preserving memory and promoting education.

The forum was held at the State Hermitage Museum, Russia's largest museum and home to Europe's largest gallery space.