JASENOVAC - NAME THAT HURTS AND SCREAMS THE TRUTH

BANJA LUKA, APRIL 25 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska Prime Minister Radovan Višković told SRNA that Jasenovac is the hardest word that can be pronounced - a name that hurts and "screams" the truth.

"A word full of pain, fear and suffering. But that's exactly why - it must be uterred, it must be repeated, it must remain in the memory of our people and humanity. Forgetting is danger, silence is complicity," Višković said on the occasion of the upcoming commemoration of the Day of the Victims of Ustasha Genocide in the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/ and 80th anniversary since the breakout of the last group of Jasenovac camp inmates.

He pointed out that the NDH state administration cynically named this death camp "Jasenovac Concentration and Labour Camp", while in reality it was one of the cruelest places of torture and mass executions in the history of Europe, primarily against Serbs, Jews, Roma and political dissidents.

"In the process of `purifying the Croatian nation,` the Ustasha regime first targeted the children. Serb children. They were mercilessly killing them along with the mothers who were still nursing them. The youngest were still in cradles, the oldest were no more than 14 years old," Višković said.

He emphasized that the NDH was the only country in occupied Europe that had specialized camps exclusively for children, which is the fact that goes beyond the limits of any concept of humanity.

According to him, the cruelty of Jasenovac was unprecedented - it was even greater than what the Nazis did.

"These are not words of pathos, but a historically documented fact. That is why Jasenovac is not just a wound - it is our deepest historical open wound. The word Jasenovac must hurt us, but it must also wake us up, to avoid something similar from repeating. It is a vow - that the truth lives, that the memory does not die," said Višković.

The prime minister of Srpska pointed out that Jasenovac is a symbol of genocide and systemic extermination, but also a warning to all humanity.

According to the data of the Donja Gradin Memorial Zone, 700,000 victims of Ustasha crimes perished in the infamous Jasenovac camp during World War II, including 500,000 Serbs, 40,000 Roma, 33,000 Jews, and 127,000 anti-fascists. 20,000 children died in Jasenovac.