1. Any discrimination, ethnic, religious, gender, sexual
orientation, social or regional origin, or any other basis, is
unacceptable.
2. Croatia rejects all forms of extremism, intolerance and
xenophobia.
Justice that does not make exceptions and patriotism
that is not based on personal interests, which does not
remain only in words, but patriotism, which is
confirmed by the works and is reflected in the results -
it is a model of our society.
Each of us creates our behavior, or deny justice. So do
not be afraid, we must not keep silent, we should not
turn our head!
3. Courage is the one who conquers injustice, which
achieves a better, fairer society.
But not in the history of this area was not always so.
The wars and post war periods have written different
stories. Here are some examples of intolerance and
injustice happened during the Croatian history:
4. Jasenovac was a concentration camp in Croatia as a result of
policies of racial and ethnic intolerance. In Jasenovac were
killed about 60 000-90 000 people.
A large number of Serbs, Jews, Romani and Croats (Ustasha
regime opponents) were killed there in the time of the
Independent State of Croatia NDH by the 10th April 1941.
under direct influence of Nazi Germany. Today there is The
Memorial Museum Jasenovac.
5. Stara Gradiška was the most notorious concentration and
extermination camp in Croatia during World War
II, mainly due to the crimes which were committed against
women and children. The camp was specially constructed
for women and children of Serb, Jew, and Romani ethnicity.
It was established by the regime of the Independent State
of Croatia ("NDH") in 1941 near the village of Stara
Gradiška as the fifth subcamp of the Jasenovac
concentration camp.
6. Jazovka is a pit in the Žumberak area of Croatia where the
bodies of approximately 500 Croatian soldiers and civilians
were dumped during and after the Second World War. The
first victims were Croat soldiers captured by Partisan forces
in 1942 in the vicinity of Krašić.
Although locally known, the pit was rediscovered in
1990, after the fall of communism in Croatia. Jazovka is the
symbol of communism system intolerance.
7. Goli otok is an Adriatic island, in 1949 officially made into a
high-security, top secret prison and labor camp .It was used
to incarcerate political prisoners. Many anticommunist
(Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Albanian and other
nationalists etc.) were on Goli Otok. Non-political
prisoners were also sent to the island to serve out simple
criminal sentences and some of them were sentenced to
death. Numbers of total prisoners and massacred victims
are unknown but some theories says about 32,000 male
prisoners. Today the island is free for tourists and visitors.
8. The last case was in the very near past, in the time of the
Croatian War of Independence which was fought from 1991
to 1995. Thousands and thousands were killed and missing.
The Vukovar massacre, also known as Vukovar hospital
massacre or simply Ovčara, was a war crime that took place
between November 20 and November 21, 1991
9. When the battle ended, the scale of the destruction came
as a shock to many who not been out of their shelters in
weeks. Siniša Glavašević, a reporter for Croatian Radio and
a native of Vukovar, who had stayed in the town
throughout the battle, described the scene as the survivors
emerged:
The picture of Vukovar at the 22nd hour of the 87th day
will stay forever in the memory of those who witnessed it.
Unearthly scenes are endless, the smell of burning, under
the feet the remnants of old roof tiles, building
materials, glass, ruins, and a dreadful silence. ... We hope
that the torments of Vukovar are over of Vukovar.
10. The murders occurred at the end of the Battle of Vukovar.
Ovčara is located 5 kilometers southeast of the city of
Vukovar.
The Serbian forces turned Ovčara into a prison camp in
early October 1991. Aside from the massacre, 3,000 to 4,000
men prisoners were temporarily held in the camp before
being transported to the prison in Sremska Mitrovica or to
the local army barracks, which was the transit point for the
Serbian concentration camps Stajićevo, Begejci and others.
11. The men brought to Ovčara included wounded
patients, hospital staff and some of their family
members, former defenders of Vukovar, Croatian political
activists, journalists and other civilians. Ovčara was closed
on December 25, 1991. Its total count was around 200 men
killed and 64 missing prisoners on Ovčara only.
In Vukovar and Ovčara you can visit: Vukovar
hospital, Ovčara Memorial Centre, Vukovar cemetery
12. We will be the force of positive changes in the
future, destroy the foundations of injustice and creates
a new Croatia. This will be the country we deserve, it
will be beautiful, desirable home to all honest people.