JASENOVAC MUSEUM COLLECTION RETURNING TO CROATIA

WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Hina) - The exhibits and archive of the Ustasha concentration camp Jasenovac, which have been on display at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum since October last year, are returning to Croatia. Representatives of the Croatian embassy in Washington have officially taken over the exhibits, which have been classified and sealed in several metal boxes, to be transported to Zagreb by plane via New York and Frankfurt. After more than ten years the museum exhibits are returning to Jasenovac, from where they were taken during the Homeland War, mostly during October 1991, while Serb paramilitaries controlled the area. Parts of the collection were taken to Banja Luka and Bosanska Dubica and other towns in the Bosnian Serb entity. The US memorial museum took over the Jasenovac museum archive from Bosnian Serb authorities in October last year and at the same time signed an agreement with the Croatian Culture Ministry on returning the exhibits. The Washington Holocaust Museum invested around USD150,000 in the protection and conservation of the museum collection, the making of copies and classification. Copies of the exhibits will be handed over to the Banja Luka Archive, the Yugoslav authorities and the Yad Vashem memorial museum in Israel. (hina) sb rml