Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Other Victims of Fascism is marked in Serbia each year on 22 April. HRH Crown Prince Alexander sends his message of compassion and remembrance for all the innocent victims of these extreme ideologies.
“The dark days of World War Two brought terrible suffering and fear to millions of innocent Serbs, Jews, and Roma, who were killed in the most notorious, unimaginable ways in the occupied Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the so-called Independent fascist State of Croatia. We remember one of the most tragic periods in history, not only for our people and our country but for mankind, when Nazis and their Ustasha collaborators carried out their blood-shed campaign.
When we say the words Jasenovac, Jadovno, Jastrebarsko, Staro Sajmiste, Banjica, and all other death camps in occupied Yugoslavia, we still feel stress, anxiety and above all, desperation and sadness, and it is good that we are overwhelmed with these feelings. It shows that we are still human beings, that we know how deep and painful the wounds of our people are, and that we respect them. No matter how hard it is for us to remember, and that oblivion is sometimes the easier path, it is our duty and sacred obligation.
We are not keeping the memory alive so that we can maintain the spark of anger and rage towards those who did these unimaginable atrocities, no, we are remembering so murdered victims can live forever in our prayers and loving memory. Their suffering and martyrdom, concentration camps, all marked and unmarked pits in which even today lay the earthly remains of the savagely murdered children, women, and men, are carved in our minds and hearts, so the society of free and equal people is our ideal, with which anti-Nazi and anti-fascist values kept alive, that is our obligation”, said Crown Prince Alexander.
The Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Other Victims of Fascism in the Second World War is a national holiday, i.e., the day of remembrance, which is marked in Serbia every year, on 22 April. It is dedicated to the memory of Serbs, Roma, and Jews, who died in mass crimes during the Second World War in the Independent fascist State of Croatia and occupied Yugoslavia.
That date was consciously chosen because, on the night between April 21st and 22nd, 1945, two groups with more than 1,000 prisoners tried to break out of the Ustasha concentration camp Jasenovac. Only 91 were saved.