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Zagreb - The delegations of the Parliament, Government, ethnic minorities and the Alliance of Antifascist Fighters and Antifascists (SABA) participated in a remembrance ceremony at the Jasenovac Memorial Centre on Friday to mark the 77th anniversary of the breakout of prisoners from the WW2 death camp.
In the early morning of 22 April 1945, the remaining 600 inmates attempted to break out of that camp run by the pro-Nazi Ustasha regime for 1,337 days, and about 100 of them survived. According to the data provided by the Jasenovac Memorial Centre, 83,145 people were killed at Jasenovac, mostly ethnic Serbs (47,627), Roma (16,173) and Jews (13,116).
The delegations of the parliament and the government, led by Speaker Gordan Jandroković and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, laid wreaths at the Stone Flower monument. Flowers were also laid by the SABA delegation led by its president Franjo Habulin, former Croatian president Stjepan Mesić, the Serb National Council headed by Milorad Pupovac, the Kali Sara association of ethnic Roma led by MP Veljko Kajtazi, and representatives of the surviving inmates and families whose dearest ones were killed at Jasenovac.
Also present were delegations of 26 foreign embassies, including the Israeli Embassy, as well as delegations of several political parties (HDZ, the Social Democrats, the Workers' Front, the HSS) and nongovernmental organisations.
Only the Coordinating Body of Jewish Communities, led by Ognjen Kraus, decided to organise a separate commemoration, which will be held on 28 April to coincide with the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It decided not to attend today's commemoration because it is dissatisfied with the government's attitude towards the Ustasha salute and insignia.
President Zoran Milanović held a separate commemoration on Friday morning. He said he would join the Jewish community in its commemorative event on 28 April.
Prime Minister Plenković later visited the Uštica cemetery and the Roma Memorial Centre to pay tribute to the Roma victims of World War Two.
Uštica, located about 110 km southeast of Zagreb, is the site of mass executions of Roma who were deported there from the Jasenovac camp. The memorial centre there includes a cemetery with 21 mass graves.