Wiesenthal Center calls on Croatian authorities to ban Holocaust deniers
The Croatian Revolutionary Movement Ustasha was a Roman Catholic, fascist, racist, ultranationalist and terrorist organization that promoted genocide against Serbs.
By CASSANDRA GOMES-HOCHBERGUpdated: JANUARY 13, 2019 13:53A flower-shaped stone monument in Jasenovac, 100 km east of Zagreb in Croatia.(photo credit: REUTERS/ NIKOLA SOLIC NSO/WS)
The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem called on Croatian authorities to ban works which deny crimes committed by the Ustasha regime in Croatia during World War II.The Center condemned the event to take place at a Zagreb church sponsored by the Society for Research of the Threefold Jasenovac Camp, which denies the mass murders of Serbs, Jews, Roma and Croatian anti-fascists that took place at the Jasenovac concentration camp during World War II.Jasenovac is referred to as "the Auschwitz of the Balkans" and "the Yugoslav Auschwitz.""The Society for Research of the Threefold Jasenovac Camp which is sponsoring this event was created to hide the horrendous crimes committed by the Ustasha, which were unparalleled in the Balkans," said Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the chief Nazi-hunter and Director of Eastern European Affairs at the Wiesenthal Center."These crimes are corroborated by historical documents, testimonies of survivors and the scholarly research of numerous reputable historians," said Zuroff.The event, The Jasenovac Lie Revealed, is scheduled for January 16.The Croatian Revolutionary Movement Ustasha was a Roman Catholic, fascist, racist, ultranationalist and terrorist organization that emphasized the need for a racially "pure" Croatia and promoted genocide against Serbs.Established by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia in 1941, the Jasenovac concentration camp was operated solely by the Ustasha regime. Its members murdered hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews and Roma."As a member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial (IHRA), Croatia should take all possible steps to prevent Holocaust denial and distortion," said Mark Weitzman, Director of Government Affairs for the Wiesenthal Center and past Chair of the IHRA."The continued positive attention given to efforts to rewrite and distort history in Croatia directly contradicts the international commitment made by Croatia in joining IHRA," Weitzman added.