PRESIDENT MESIC, PM SANADER COMMENT ON "WARSAW GHETTO 1943" EXHIBITION

ZAGREB, Jan 25(Hina) - The message of the photo exhibition "Warsaw Ghetto 1943" is that the terrible crimes committed by Nazis and fascists must not be forgotten and that efforts be made to make the world a more tolerant and better place, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said at the opening of the exhibition in the Jewish Community offices in Zagreb on Sunday.#L# The exhibition, which is staged in Zagreb for the first time, consists of photos taken secretly by German soldier Joe Heydecker in the Warsaw ghetto in March 1941. The author of the exhibition, Mara Kraus, said the photos were not only a modern document of the tragic past century, but they bore witness to the photographer's deep sympathy for the doomed victims whom he paid tribute by showing their dignity. President Stjepan Mesic considers important the fact that the photographs were taken by a German pacifist and that the exhibition will be visited by Zagreb high school students. Among the 30 selected photos there is a photo of a girl from the Warsaw ghetto, which Mesic believes "should be sent to all those who feel nostalgia for fascism so they can see the results of the policy they obviously know nothing about". "The crimes of Nazism, fascism and all totalitarian systems of the last century were the end of man," Prime Minister Sanader said adding that "today there is a high level of awareness throughout Europe and the rest of the world that such crimes must never happen again". Asked whether he would visit Israel, Sanader said that Science, Education and Sports Minister Dragan Primorac had visited Israel two weeks ago, when the Israeli side proposed that the Croatian prime minister visit Israel, which he said he would accept. (Hina) rml