Machine translation, 11-8-22
Original Serbian

When, in September 1991, Croatian paramilitary formations attacked the Jasenovac Ustasha Genocide Camp Memorial Center, the archival and museum materials were transferred for rescue to Kozarska Dubica, to the custody of curator Sime Brdar.

Given the significance of this material, the Museum of Genocide Victims advocated for the preservation of material-evidence about the crimes of genocide. They spoke with representatives of the Government of the Republic of Srpska, with Minister Aleks Buha. In a letter to the vice president of the Republic of Srpska, prof. Dr. Nikola Koljević, 26, in May 1995, it was proposed that this material be transferred to the Museum of Victims of Genocide, microfilmed, and when conditions normalize, the authorities will make a decision on the permanent place of preservation (number: 1/0-22/001/6). . A special interview was held at the Museum of Genocide Victims with the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports of the RS, Nedeljko Rašula, on May 10, 1996. Minister Rašula, informed of the measures taken to protect the museum materials from Jasenovac, promised to inform the members of the Government of the RS. During his visit to Banja Luka on March 13, 1997, the Director of the Museum had a long conversation with the President of the RS, Dr. Biljana Plavšić. Talks were held with Prime Minister Milorad Dodik, Vice Presidents Tihomir Gligorić, Suzić, Lončar and others.

After the notification that the government of the Republic of Croatia is raising the issue of the return of materials to Jasenovac at the highest level, at the time of the preparation of the charges and witnesses against the former commander of the Jasenovac camps Dink Šakić and Nada Tanić-Šakić, the Genocide Victims Museum requested the government of the Republic of Srpska to secure this material. The Ministers of Science and Culture (Number: 06/6-61-488/99) and for the issues of combatants and victims of war (Number: 05/5-1960/99) maintained this request, indicating that “Republika Srpska could be left without evidence of committed genocide, because it is only one copy-original”!

On September 26, 1997, the Minister of Science and Culture of the RS, Velibor Ostojić, sent a written order to the director of the “Memorial of the Donja Gradina Area”, Simi Brdar, to make an “inventory of the available materials, documents and exhibits of the Jasenovac Memorial Center, which are located in a public institution The ‘Memorial of the Gradina area’, which you should submit to the Genocide Victims Museum, jointly determine what is missing after the desecration of the Jasenovac Memorial Center in September 1991” (No. 01-103/97). It was announced in writing that the exhibits, material and especially the exhibition’s three-dimensional exhibits “can be temporarily ceded to the Museum in Belgrade for the purposes of the exhibition, in accordance with the Law on Cultural Property (Official Gazette of RS, No. 11/95)”.

Given that director Simo Brdar did not follow this order, the new Minister of Science and Culture, prof. Živojin Erić, Ph.D., sent a new letter on March 2, 1998 in which he orders “to immediately start the implementation of this cooperation” “in order to determine the available fund in the system of the Jasenovac Ustaše camps”. (Number: 6/01-653-1/98)

At an official meeting on July 30, 1998, with the Minister of Justice of the FRY, Zoran Knežević, the Deputy Prime Minister of the RS, Ostaja Kremenović, and the Minister of Justice, Petar Čančar, with the participation of the director of the Museum of Genocide Victims, Dr. Milan Bulajić, agreed to temporarily transfer the material to the Museum of Genocide Victims. photocopy (scan) and return to Banja Luka. The Federal Minister of Justice took over transport insurance and security.

This agreement was not honored. Minister of Science and Culture of the RS, prof. Dr. Živojin Erić informed the Minister of Justice of the FRY and the director of the Museum of Genocide Victims on September 21, 1998: »Regarding the use of material on the sufferings in the Jasenovac camp, which as a cultural asset of exceptional importance cannot be taken out of the country, appreciating the importance of this documentation for trial of Dink Šakić, the position of the Government of Republika Srpska is to enable micro-filming and copying of the necessary documents in Banja Luka. For further direct cooperation, we refer you to the director of the JU ‘Memorial of the Donja Gradin area’, Mr. Sima Brdar (contact phones: 079/43-008; and 070/40-780)” (Number: 067-6-61-620/98).

To this end, the Museum of Genocide Victims sent curator Nenad Antonijević to director Sime Brdar, who stayed in Kozarska Dubica from October 13 to 18, 1998. About 25,000 sheets of various formats were selected from the archive material for photocopying. The curator returned with unfinished business, because the director Brdar asked for a German stamp (“Computer engineering” from Prijedor, owned by Dragan Balaban!) for photocopying one sheet, at a time when in Belgrade you could get a price for a large number of photocopies from 6 to 10 dinars. . This would mean that over 25,000 German marks had to be provided for photocopying.

Given that at that time active preparations were being made for the trial of the former commander of the Jasenovac camps, Ustasha criminal Dinko Šakić, the Federal Minister of Justice of the FRY sent a letter on December 23, 1998 to the new Minister of Justice of the RS, Milan Trbojević, “to once again consider the request of this of the Ministry for the temporary handing over of archival materials related to the Jasenovac concentration camp to FR Yugoslavia”, “where all the conditions exist for its complete research, photocopying and microfilming” (page no. 2/1-501/98-13).

The curator returned with unfinished business, because the director Brdar asked for a German stamp (“Computer engineering” from Prijedor, owned by Dragan Balaban!) for photocopying one sheet, at a time when in Belgrade you could get a price for a large number of photocopies from 6 to 10 dinars. This would mean that over 25,000 German marks had to be provided for photocopying. Given that at that time active preparations were being made for the trial of the former commander of the Jasenovac camps, Ustasha criminal Dinko Šakić, the Federal Minister of Justice of the FRY sent a letter on December 23, 1998, to the new Minister of Justice of the RS, Milan Trbojević, “to once again consider the request of this of the Ministry for the temporary handing over of archival materials related to the Jasenovac concentration camp to the FR Yugoslavia, “where there are all the conditions for its complete research, photocopying and microfilming” (p. p. no. 2/1-501/98-13).

On the spot to act on the order of the Ministers of Science and Culture of the RS Ostojić and Erić, which was his primary duty as the director of the JU »Memorial of the Donja Gradin area, Simo Brdar during the visit of the director of the Genocide Victims Museum in mid-May 1999 to Kozarska Dubica during his three-day stay » he didn’t have time to show him the material he was keeping. What’s more, he gave an interview to the Croatian “Globus”, the title of which shows the content: “The archive and museum collection of the Memorial area of ​​Jasenovac has been rotting in the apartment of Sime Brdar in Bosanska Dubica” since 1991!

The president of the wartime presidency of the municipality of Kozarska Dubica assured the Genocide Victims Museum in writing that the materials “are adequately housed and will share the fate of the people of this municipality” (Number: 03-15/95). In the note on the visit of the curator of the Museum of Genocide Victims from October 18, 1998, it was stated: »The museum’s materials are placed correctly, physically and climatically completely safe. The use of museum materials is quite limited due to the narrowness of the space, which has the character of a depot.”

After this startling interview with the Croatian newspaper, the Government of the RS decided at the 64th session held on July 9, 1999 that the documentation of the Jasenovac Memorial Area be transferred from Kozarska Dubica and placed in the Archives of the RS (Ministry of Science and Culture No. 06-61- 188/99).

Experts believe that the material should have been handed over to the Museum of the RS, as a public institution, and not to the Archives of the RS, as an administrative body, to which the Government can order.

Simo Brdar, acting director of the “Donja Gradina” Memorial Area, and Vječeslav Miljić, an independent professional associate at the Ministry of Science and Culture, were appointed to the commission for the handover of the documentation of the Jasenovac Memorial Area in front of the lecturer. Dušan Vržina, acting director, was appointed to the commission in front of the recipient – Archives of the RS; Verica Stošić, head of the Department for Processing and Presentation of Archive Materials; and Zoran Mačkić, Head of the Sector for General, Legal and Personnel Affairs (Archive RS No. 042-445/99). “The commission has the task of making an inventory of the material with the submitter, organizing transport to the Archive’s headquarters and placement in depots. (Number: 06-6-61-488/99).

The responsibility of the Acting Director of the “Memorial Area of ​​Donja Gradina” is that from September 1991 to July 1999, he did not carry out an inventory of the salvaged material from the Jasenovac Memorial Area, in order to determine what was destroyed during the armed conflicts in this area, what was handed over to the Archives for safekeeping RS. He was obliged to do so by his official function. He is responsible because he did not execute the written order of the Minister of Science and Culture of September 26, 1997 and March 2, 1998.

The responsibility of the appointed commission for the handover of the Archives of the RS is that a list of the archive and museum material taken over was not made, based on the decision of the Acting Director of the Archives of the RS dated July 27, 1999.

The Museum of Genocide Victims referred curator Jovan Mirković, former director of the Jasenovac Memorial Area, to the Archive of the RS in Banja Luka, who contacted acting director Dušan Vržina on April 21. It was proposed to carry out a detailed inventory, determine priorities for scanning and photographing three-dimensional objects, and to train a professional team of curators, archivists, IT specialists, recorders and photographers. The Archives of the RS did not show readiness for the necessary cooperation, indicating that it does not have the necessary technology.

Despite the fact that the Government of the RS approved DM 50,000 for the acquisition of the necessary technology for scanning, the Archive of the RS did not complete its task. The necessary technology was acquired, but, allegedly, the Archive did not have trained personnel. The Museum of Genocide Victims offered its expert IT specialist. Instead of accepting this proposal, the director decided to train experts from the beginning (“from the mouse”), at a time when the danger of the SFOR action was eminent.

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In Banja Luka, on October 27, 2000, an agreement was signed on the handover of archival and museum materials of the Jasenovac Memorial area between the Prime Minister of the Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, and the director of the USA Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, Daniel Salcman. The Museum of Genocide Victims, which has been conducting negotiations on the preservation and availability of this material since 1991, was not informed about the signing of the agreement; rabbi of the Republica Srbske on behalf of about 25,000 Jewish victims; Roma representatives on behalf of over 40,000 Roma victims; The section of the former detainees of the Jasenovac camps, whose testimonies are included in that material, nor the president of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Živka Radišić, who himself was a prisoner of the Jasenovac camps.

The director of the “Donja Gradin Area Memorial”, Simo Brdar, “confirmed that the representatives of the Holocaust Museum from Washington contacted him before making the decision”, “that he met with the representatives of the Holocaust Museum from Washington in October of this year at their request. When we met, I told them that the collection was in the Archive of the RS in Banja Luka, where we went together to have them examine it. They were very correct and specific in their proposal for cooperation, but he did not agree to hand over the documentation… On that occasion, I said that no one can deliver the collection and that, according to all valid laws, it cannot be moved from its authentic place, but that, regardless of everything, all discussions on this topic can be conducted with the Ministry of Science and Culture of the RS and the Institute for the Protection of Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of the RS. … »We tried and expected American and local experts to work here on the restoration of the Memorial Center, but due to the decision of Milorad Dodik, this intention failed … a few days after that meeting, he accidentally learned that the collection was delivered to the Holocaust Museum.«

The Acting Director of the Archives of the RS, Dušan Vržina, states at the hearing before the Inquiry Commission of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska that on October 27, the representative of the USA Holocaust Museum, Mr. Daniel Salecman, with uniformed men (SFOR), representatives of the US Consulate, came to the Archives of the RS to take over archival and museum materials of the Jasenovac Memorial area. It is very significant that not a single representative of the RS Government was present at that important act!!

The public was informed only when the materials were taken from Banja Luka, only in the second half of December 2000.

Secrecy is explained by the content of the agreement: “By handing over these objects, RS waives care and control, as well as all possible claims against the Museum in relation to these objects … After receiving the objects, the Museum will have the authority to take care of them in an appropriate manner, in accordance with its legal and ethical obligations and with its task of preserving the memory of the Holocaust … The Holocaust Museum assumes responsibility for transporting the objects to custody … With their signature, the Republic and the Museum agree to be bound by the provisions of this Agreement.”

The Government of Republika Srpska did not allow that archival material and museum exhibits cannot be transferred across the Drina to the Museum of Genocide Victims in Belgrade, and the Prime Minister allows them to be permanently transferred across the Ocean to Washington without right of claim!!

What is behind this handover of “cultural property of exceptional importance”!?

The Minister of Culture of the Republic of Croatia stated on HTV that “the temporary departure to America is only a stage in the return to Croatia, which will be reached by the end of the year”. Namely, Prime Minister Milorad Dodik, on the eve of the election, did not feel comfortable handing over the material about Jasenovac to the Republic of Croatia immediately, so he used the mediation of the USA Holocaust Museum and SFOR!

The new director of the Jasenovac Memorial Area informed the Section of the Survivors of the Jasenovac Camps, Ljiljana Ivanišević, that she was preparing for Washington to take over that material.

At the meeting of the Commission of Inquiry, Rabbi Josef Atijas openly stated, referring to Israeli sources, that money was involved for carrying out this affair!

Why was there silence about this, why neither the director of the “Memorial of the area of ​​Donja Gradin”, Simo Brdar, nor the director of the Archives of the RS, Dušan Vržina, spoke up. Brdar is now proposing at a press conference to ask the Holocaust Museum in Washington “to process the collection and for this world institution to help create at least the Protectorate Museum of the Jasenovac Memorial Area”, because “with the departure of the Collection, the memorial area of ​​Jasenovac – Donja Gradina has become a space of absolute silence and weeds and it was put ‘ad acta’”!

x x x

Former Prime Minister Dodik claims that handing over materials to the USA Holocaust Museum is “a good thing for the Republic of Srpska” because, allegedly, the whole world will have the opportunity to learn about the crimes of genocide in the Ustasha NDH. Why was this obligation of the USA Holocaust Museum not included in the contract it signed on behalf of the RS Government on October 27?!

What right does the USA Holocaust Memorial Museum have to assume “custody” of the archival-museum materials of the Jasenovac camps, given that it refused to show the exhibition at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, and it was only shown in October 1997 in New York at Kingsborough College. What’s more, during the meeting with the director of the Museum of Genocide Victims, M. Bulajić, on June 23, 1994, the Director of the Holocaust Museum, J. Weinberg, accepted the showing of the exhibition about Jasenovac in Washington, and advocated the need to organize a round table and documentaries with the aim of dispelling Tuđman’s “Jasenovac Myth”. and the morbid project about Jasenovac as a joint memorial for victims of genocide and Ustasha criminals. After the agreement with director Nowakovski in Belgrade, on November 10, a written notification followed that the Holocaust Museum “is not able to sponsor the exhibition about Jasenovac”! The “Jasenova policy” was openly explained orally.

Was it politics when the Holocaust Museum invited the President of Croatia Tuđman to Washington in 1993, but did not invite the President of the FRY?

Does taking over the materials of the Jasenovac camps represent a continuation of “politics”?

This was explained in his own way by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, Dr. Antun Vujica, that “the temporary departure to America is only a stage in the return to Croatia, which will be reached by the end of the year.” The Holocaust Museum in Washington received a huge collection of material on the crimes of genocide on the territory of the Ustasha Independent State of Croatia from the Museum of Genocide Victims, the Archives of Yugoslavia, the Institute for Contemporary History and other Yugoslav institutions. But not even a small part of that documentation was shown to the public in the Holocaust Museum. The USA Holocaust Museum in Washington could rightly request certified photocopies of the archival and museum materials of the Jasenovac camps, where dozens of Jews were killed in the most brutal way. But no one has the right to provide original documents.

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From a legalistic point of view, in 1991, archival and museum materials were taken from the Memorial area in Jasenovac, from the territory of the Republic of Croatia, in wartime conditions and transferred to Banja Luka. In a conversation with the director of the Museum of Genocide Victims, Prime Minister Dodik announced that the question of returning this material was raised three times at the highest level by the Republic of Croatia.

The statement of the president of the Jewish community in Croatia, Dr. Ognjen Kraus, who expressed his satisfaction with the possibility of returning the artifacts to Croatia, is also surprising. Because, after the destruction of the second Yugoslav state by the Sava River, the Jasenovac Memorial Area – a system of Croatian Ustasha genocide camps, which in a narrower circle covers about 210-240 square kilometers. That division left the place of Jasenovac with a stone flower monument in the Republic of Croatia, and on the other side in the Republic of Srpska (BiH) the largest execution ground in the Balkans – Donja Gradina, where there is an inscription that states that “360,000 Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-fascists” were killed. . The largest number of three-dimensional objects originates from the area of ​​the Donje Gradina execution site. The financing of the Jasenovac Memorial area during the SFR Yugoslavia is regulated on the basis of special legal regulations of the SR of Croatia and the SR of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Finally, it is about the evidence of the crime of genocide against Orthodox Serbs, Jews and Roma, which was committed by Croatian Ustasha criminals. The comparison could be made as if the Federal Republic of Germany considers that it has the primary right over the evidence of the Holocaust in the Nazi camps! Therefore, it cannot be said that “the Jasenava collection was stolen and moved”, because the Republika Srpska also has the right to the material – evidence of the Ustasha crimes of genocide against hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Serbs.

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It is not yet known what was alienated from the “cultural property of exceptional importance”.

The former prime minister of the Republika Srpska government claims that “he handed over only 20 percent of the museum material”, “the part that required restoration”.

The news of the “Beta” agency appeared that “the Serbian Orthodox Church preserved more than half of the original museum collection of Jasenovac – Donja Gradina and stored it in a safe place, in one of its monasteries”, “that it is the most significant part of the museum collection that testifies to NDH crimes against Serbs, Jews and Roma, during the Second World War in the Jasenovac and Donja Gradina concentration camps”. “The SPC decided to save that part of the museum’s collection after learning that the prime minister of the Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, would sign an agreement on the irrevocable transfer of the collection to that museum, as well as that the collection would be delivered to Croatia via Washington,” says Beta’s source. A source from the SPC also stated that the church has started work on the reconstruction of the preserved part of the Jasenovac – Donja Gradina museum collection.

Even after the author’s conversation with Bishop Vasilije, Metropolitan Nikolaj and the secretary of the SPC Synod of Bishops, this news was neither denied nor confirmed. It is not explained how the SPC got this material, was there no other way to preserve the material legally than to hide it in monasteries, as in the Turkish era. If this somehow happened, what is the purpose of public statements, other than calling for responsibility and handing over the illegally alienated person?!!

In the record of the handover from September 9, 1999, it was stated what was handed over or taken over:

a) 12 tin boxes, dimensions 75x35x40 cm.

b) 6 wooden crates, dimensions 86x34x19 cm.

v) 1 box of relics (remnants of a woman’s hair),

g) 8 inventory collection books,

d) 3 books of the list of detainees,

f) 4 memory books,

e) 1 index of Parketarnica Jasenovac,

h) 2 archive boxes of documentation material,

z) 7 rolls of documentary film,

i) cardboard boxes of museum materials,

j) artistic pictures,

• »Camp Gate«, 150×100, canvas, mixed oil,

• “Bridge”, 130×100 with frame, oil on canvas,

• oil on plywood, 52×38 cm,

• Ivo Jugović, »Bridge over the Neretva«, 44×38 cm,

• Sava Šumanović, Šid in 1941, “Alley” 48×35 cm.

k) Folder on the topic “Pit”;

l) Tito’s “Rose”, length 25.5 cm, weight 80 gr.

m) Seal of the Jasenovac Memorial area and sealing cushions,

n) Exhibition panels (30 pieces) medium frieze permanent installation,

nj) Stanko Jančić: sculpture “Logoraš”, bronze,

o) Sculpture of a child on the railway – propaganda material, 4 crates,

p) 178 packages of books published by the Memorial area,

r) 2 boxes of brochures of the Memorial area,

s) a plan of the Jasenovac camp with an artistic vision of Jasenovac hell on the back linocut (?) in a large oak frame.

It is urgently necessary to determine what was actually received and what was handed over from archival and museum material, what is in the Archives of the Republic of Srpska, what was “hidden” by the Serbian Orthodox Church!

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In conclusion, it should be noted that the President of the Government of the Republic of Srpska is worthy of his contribution as the President of the Organizing Committee to the Second International Conference “Jasenovac – the system of Croatian Ustasha Genocide Camps” being held from May 8 to 10, 2000, and to the exhibition “Ustasha Genocide” over children”, published the book by Drago Lukić “They were only children – Jasenovac grave of 19,432 girls and boys”, Jovan Mirković “Published sources and literature on the Jasenovac camps”, English translation of the announcement of the Croatian National Commission “Jasenovac camp”. The signing of the contract on the secret and permanent handover of archival and museum material “The monument of the Jasenovac area is a crime for which he must answer.

The Acting Director of the “Donja Gradin Memorial Area”, Simo Brdar, bears the responsibility for not, in spite of explicit orders, taking inventory of the materials taken from the Jasenovac Memorial Area, and before handing over the materials, photocopying (scanning) them. The material has not been processed, even photocopied, in the past nine years. He did not respond to the invitation of the Genocide Victims Museum to come to the Museum and work together. As a member of the Organizing Committee for the II International Conference on Jasenovac, he is now making statements to the public that “he decisively refused to participate in that conference at the first organizing committee”, which is not true. Why didn’t he come to the meeting at the Archive of the RS where the issue of the fate of the archival and museum materials of the Jasenovac Memorial area was considered?! Why did he demonstratively refuse to participate in the meeting of the Inquiry Commission of the National Assembly of the RS on January 25, 2001?! Acting director of the Archives of the Republic of Srpska, Dušan Vržina, for not completing the task of listing the received materials: for not performing a timely scan of the pea, even though he received the necessary technology in the value of DM 50,000, for not accepting the professional help of the Museum of Genocide Victims – curators and IT specialists.

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The procedure with archive and museum materials of the Jasenovac Memorial area explains why nothing has been done to implement the Declaration of the Second International Conference “Jasenovac – the system of Croatian Ustaše genocide camps”, adopted in Banja Luka on May 10, 2000.

This Declaration gives an assessment of the trial of the former commander of the Jasenovac genocide camp; the question was asked why he was not convicted for crimes of genocide but for war crimes against the civilian population; why was Ustaša Nada Šakić, decorated by the Ustaša chief, illegally acquitted “in the absence of evidence”, when not a single witness from the FRY or the RS was even heard. No one took care of the appeal procedure anymore.

The issue of the economic aspects of the crime of genocide was raised for the first time at the Conference. In the USA, a court case was initiated for the compensation of Serbian genocide victims (»Re: George Zivkovich, et al. v. Vatican bank, et al..) from the law firms Zimmerman – Reed and Jonathan Levy, based on the experience of the results achieved by Jewish organizations. Neither Yugoslavia nor Republika Srpska has initiated a request for compensation for the Serbian victims of genocide, while there is quite a lot of talk about compensating those who were forced to do forced labor, nor has cooperation been achieved with law firms.

The Museum of Genocide Victims indicated that the Federal Republic of Germany (Central and Eastern Europe Fund for Holocaust Survivors – CEEF in Frankfurt) does not recognize the status of the Jasenovac concentration camp, unfortunately, with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which accepted the list of Reichsführer SS camps. No one showed any interest in this attempt to transfer Germany’s responsibility to the non-existent Independent State of Croatia under international law.

Support was given to the project of young Serbian engineers and their professors to research the Donje Gradina killing site using the latest technology (radar, satellite images, remote detection). Nothing has been done since the conference.

Support was given to the international legal protection of the Jasenovac Memorial Area, divided into two sovereignties, inclusion in the “World Heritage” institution of UNESCO, following the precedent of the Nazi Auschwitz concentration camp (No. 80). Instead of creating special Jasenovac Memorial Area and Donja Gradina Memorial Area, preserve the unity of the genocide camps on both sides of the Sava. The proposal of the Museum of Genocide Victims to the Director General of UNESCO (1995) was supported in writing by the Government of the FRY – the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs and H.E. St. Serbian Patriarch Pavle. The Holocaust Museum in the USA (Dr. Michael Berenbaum) has pledged support. The Prime Minister of Republika Srpska supported the proposal before the II International Conference in 2000 and invited the Director General of UNESCO to the conference.

Since the proposal of the Museum of Genocide Victims and the First International Conference in New York (1997) for a joint project to investigate the truth about Jasenovac was rejected in Croatia, the International Commission of Experts for the Truth about Jasenovac was formed at the Second International Conference in Banja Luka (2000). It is the path of depoliticization and illumination of the roots of the contemporary tragedy of all the peoples of Yugoslavia, especially the Serbian one. The archive and museum material of the Jasenovac Memorial area should have been made available to that commission.

And while the Museum of Genocide Victims has been advocating for the implementation of the conclusions of the II International Conference since May 10, without a response from the Government of the RS, the news about the surrender, which was not believed at first, leaked through private sources. Therefore, the fate of the archival and museum materials of the Jasenovac Memorial area only dramatizes the issue of establishing the truth about the Croatian Ustasha camps of genocide against Orthodox Serbs, Jews and Roma, war crimes against Croatian anti-fascists. It seems that the fate of Jasenovac continues as the “Dark Secret of the Holocaust 1941-1945 in Former Yugoslavia”, as the American hosts called it in 1997.

The real solution is the urgent convening of the International Commission of Experts for the Truth about Jasenovac, established at the II International Conference. In this direction, the “Jasenovac Remembrance Committee” (Chicago) and the “Jasenovac Research Institute” (Detroit) should be activated, the use of the “Jasenovac Concentration Camp” exhibition, which has been in the basement of the FRY Mission in New York since its display in October – November 1997. At the Third International Conference, which was proposed to be held in Jerusalem, the truth about “Jasenovac – the system of Croatian Ustasha genocide camps” should be disclosed internationally, in the interest of the Serbian, Jewish, Roma, Croatian and Muslim peoples, the future of the peoples of the Balkan region.

Belgrade, January 27, 2001.

Dr. Milan Bulajić
director