Exhibition on Jasenovac at the UN Pits Serbia and Croatia Against Each Other

NEW YORK, (Patria) - Croatia has accused Serbia of "manipulating and disseminating false information" with its exhibition on Jasenovac at the United Nations headquarters, and of using the suffering of victims in that Ustaše camp from World War II for "propaganda purposes," reports Slobodna Evropa.

- The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs condemns the attempt to use the UN space for manipulation and dissemination of false data by setting up a Serbian exhibition about the Jasenovac camp - the Croatian Ministry's statements were reported by Hina agency.

The Ministry assessed that organizing exhibitions in such a way "does not contribute to reconciliation, confidence-building, and the development of good neighborly cooperation in Southeast Europe" and pointed out that experts and institutions in Croatia were not even informed about the exhibition.

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić stated earlier, on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition "Jasenovac-The Right to Remember" at the United Nations headquarters in New York, that it is important to highlight the crimes that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and must not be forgotten, reports Beta.

Dačić said in New York that for the first time in the history of the UN, an exhibition dedicated to the Holocaust and the genocide against Serbs, Jews, and Roma in the Jasenovac concentration camp and other death camps located in the territory of the former Independent State of Croatia is being opened.

- We believe it is very important, in the general movement that advocates for the relativization of crimes and the rehabilitation of criminals, to once again highlight the crimes that must not be forgotten, the crimes that led to hundreds of thousands of people losing their lives. This exhibition is not directed against anyone, except against the criminals and those who want it to be forgotten and erased - said Dačić.

Dačić said that this is why it was named "The Right to Remember," in memory of the Holocaust, of the genocide that occurred in the Jasenovac concentration camp.

- This is an opportunity for the whole world, at the headquarters of an international organization, to learn the details, because the Jasenovac concentration camp was the only camp in Europe that was not under Nazi administration; it was run by the Ustaše. In other concentration camps, death was, in a way, put into a phase of industrialization - not identifying those who committed crimes with the victims. In Jasenovac, the hatred towards people was expressed precisely in the way of killing. The greatest victims were Serbs, Jews, and Roma - said Dačić.

He thanked the surviving camp inmates who will attend the exhibition, according to the statement.

- The desire is that this is not forgotten and that the relativization and rehabilitation of crimes are not allowed - said the head of Serbian diplomacy in New York, adding that there was "a lot of resistance from one country, within the United Nations, to organize this exhibition."

The Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that this is the largest and most monumental exhibition that will be presented for the first time at the UN about Jasenovac, with seven tons of equipment and exhibits that will present Serbia in a multimedia way through a Serbian-Jewish project on the occasion of the commemoration of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27.

The exhibition "Jasenovac – The Right to Remember" is the first exhibition by the international GH7 expert group of historians from seven countries at the United Nations, 72 years after World War II.