The International Holocaust Remembrance Day was commemorated at the Square of the Serbian and Jewish Friendship in the Bagremar residential complex in Kragujevac. The commemoration was organized by “AHAVA” - the Association of Serbian-Israeli Friendship, and the City of Kragujevac. The flowers were laid near the Monument to the Shot Jews and Serbs by mayor's assistants Dr. Gordana Damnjanović and Marko Janković, the president of "AHAVA" Predrag Vukašinović, the representatives of SUBNOR, Memorial Park and cultural institutions.
Reminding that the International Holocaust Remembrance Day was established by a Resolution of the United Nations in 2005, Dr. Gordana Damnjanović assessed that, although this may have happened too late, it is important that this Day was established so that we prevent the rewriting of history and the minimization of notorious misdeeds that happened during World War II. There are many monuments at the Memorial Park "Kragujevački oktobar" which remind our citizens, especially the new generation, of what the Holocaust was, as well as of what racism and the glorification of one and humiliation of another race can lead to. Every year in October messages of peace are sent from freedom-loving City of Kragujevac to all of humanity, and today, from the place where Jews, Serbs and Roma lost their lives, we remember all the victims of the Holocaust. It is our duty, said Dr. Damnjanović, to preserve history from oblivion as a lesson for the future so that such crimes never happen again.
On this day and in this way, we want to remind that the International Holocaust Remembrance Day is not just one day, it is our everyday life, said Predrag Vukašinović, the president of “AHAVA”. As we build our present and future, we must remember history and we must not forget the facts, and the Holocaust is a historical fact. What we all need most is peace, and that is why we are sending a message that peace is something inviolable, that there is no alternative to peace, and that we must protect it, said Vukašinović, stressing that the Holocaust must never be repeated.
