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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Full support of Serbia to International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance

Belgrade/Brussels, 20 January 2020

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that a ministerial meeting of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) was held yesterday in Brussels.

In a speech of First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Ivica Dacic, presented on his behalf by Ambassador of Serbia to the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Marina Jovicevic, it is emphasised that Serbia is fully supportive of the work of the Alliance and with its active participation it contributes that the horrors of the past are not forgotten, that the places of mass executions are properly marked and that future generations learn about the past, while looking to the future.

Due to the respect for the victims of the Nazi and fascist regime during World War II, the Government of Serbia decided to mark in a proper way the localities of Staro Sajmiste and Topovske Supe, the places where the largest number of Serbs, Jews and Roma were executed in the territory of Belgrade.

Serbia, as a signatory of the Terezin Declaration, also adopted in 2016 the Law on eliminating the consequences of confiscation of property of victims of the Holocaust who have no living legal heirs, and the procedure of adopting a working definition of anti-Semitism has begun.

Luxembourg, as a chair country of the IHRA, has praised all the efforts that Serbia has made in recent months to ensure the protection of the mass execution sites. This Alliance is ready to provide all the support needed for a successful completion of the process.

In his speech, the First Deputy Prime Minister recalls that this year the 75th anniversary of the liberation of one of the largest concentration camps in Europe – Jasenovac is also marked, which was located in the territory of the then Independent State of Croatia, in which hundreds of thousands of Jews, Roma, Croats antifascists, but mostly Serbs, were killed during World War II.

It is a duty of all to treat the innocent victims of the Nazi regime in the NDH with equal respect and remembrance as all other victims of the Nazis in World War II.

Neo-fascist and neo-Nazi movements and revisionism of history are gaining momentum in different parts of the world, and hate speech, racial discrimination and intolerance are more prevalent than ever in public life and in the media. It is therefore the duty of all of us not to forget the Holocaust and not to allow it to happen again.