ZAGREB, June 22 (Hina) - Anti-Fascist Struggle Day must and is written by golden letters in Croatia's history, as on that day (June 22, 1941) the Croatian people qualified among the victorious nations, Croatia's President Stjepan
Mesic said on Thursday evening when he addressed a ceremony held in Zagreb on the occasion of Croatia's Day of Anti-Fascist Struggle and the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the first Partisan unit near the Croatian town of Sisak, which was the first established anti-Fascist unit in the then occupied Europe. "It is sad that even today we have to prove that Croatia was and remains faithful to anti-Fascism. However, in the last ten years there were flirtations with ideas and tenets of Nazi-Fascism, whereas anti-Fascism was equalised with Bolshevism, which has created some opposition among the Croatian people to the anti-Fascist movement," Mesic said in his sp
ZAGREB, June 22 (Hina) - Anti-Fascist Struggle Day must and is
written by golden letters in Croatia's history, as on that day (June
22, 1941) the Croatian people qualified among the victorious
nations, Croatia's President Stjepan Mesic said on Thursday
evening when he addressed a ceremony held in Zagreb on the occasion
of Croatia's Day of Anti-Fascist Struggle and the 60th anniversary
of the establishment of the first Partisan unit near the Croatian
town of Sisak, which was the first established anti-Fascist unit in
the then occupied Europe.
"It is sad that even today we have to prove that Croatia was and
remains faithful to anti-Fascism. However, in the last ten years
there were flirtations with ideas and tenets of Nazi-Fascism,
whereas anti-Fascism was equalised with Bolshevism, which has
created some opposition among the Croatian people to the anti-
Fascist movement," Mesic said in his speech.
The Croatian head of state stressed that "the Ustashi movement,
which was really rooted in the resistance to the greater Serbian
hegemony, was already in 1941 the extremely rightist, racist and
terrorist movement, which came to power not by the will of a
majority of the Croatian people but thanks to the will of Italian
Fascism and German Nazism.
The set-up of the Sisak unit marked the beginning of mass resistance
to the occupying forces, and thus the Croatian people ranked among
the victorious nations and secured the starting point from which
Croatia embarked on the path towards its independence in 1990, he
added.
WW II Anti-fascist war veterans must be put on the equal footing
with veterans from the Homeland Defence War, as both - the former
and the latter - fought for freedom, he said.
Recalling crimes committed by the Ustashi authorities of the
Independent State of Croatia (NDH), Mesic said crimes - both as
incidents and as mass phenomena - occurred in the anti-Fascist
struggle (NOB) as well.
He condemned the desecration and demolition of monuments to the NOB
struggle as well as erection of monuments to notorious criminals.
(hina) ms