TODIĆ: EXECUTIONERS WANT TO DECLARE VICTIMS CRIMINALS TODAY

PRIJEDOR, JULY 11 /SRNA/ - Vice-President of the Association of Veterans of the National Liberation War of Republika Srpska /SUBNOR/, Drago Todić, said at Mrakovica, where the 84th anniversary of the Battle of Kozara is being commemorated today, that the descendants of Ustasha criminals want to portray the children of innocent Serb victims as criminals.

Todić stressed that Serbs would have faced the same fate at the end of the 20th century had they not learned a lesson from the suffering of their ancestors, because those who do not remember their history will be forced to relive it.

"We are commemorating 84 years since the famous Battle of Kozara in the Second World War, in which 3,500 Partisans and unarmed civilians defended themselves against attacks by 45,000 heavily armed enemy troops - Nazis and local collaborators from among the Croatian and Muslim populations. The aim was not only the destruction of the Partisans, but also of civilians of all ages," Todić said in his address at Mrakovica, where officials from Republika Srpska and Serbia gathered for the commemoration of the 84th anniversary of the battle.

He recalled that the fighters of the National Liberation War /NOR/ and unarmed civilians put up an epic resistance during the 50 days of the battle, after which 68,600 civilians were taken to concentration camps of the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/, primarily Jasenovac, where many children were also killed.

"Few of them returned, the villages were left deserted, and the true number of victims will never be established, because after the war there was no one left to pass on the story. The Potkozarje region produced 17,000 fighters of the National Liberation War /NOR/, of whom 7,700 were killed. In Potkozarje, Kozara, Podgrmeč and Grmeč, 105,000 people perished, 95 percent of whom were Serbs, including many children," Todić said.

He pointed out that 74,642 Serbian children were killed in the territory of Yugoslavia in the former NDH.

The Battle of Kozara is a symbol of the suffering and resistance of the Serb people in the fight against the Nazis and Ustasha forces, during which around 40,000 civilians were killed, and 68,000 were taken to concentration camps, including more than 23,000 children.

The outcome of the enemy offensive on Kozara was the largest mass suffering of the Serb civilian population in this area.