The President stressed that 22 June 1941 epitomises the anti-fascist struggle in Croatia as one of the important steps in the historical walk toward Croatian freedom and independence.
"It was the beginning of the fight to liberate Croatia from occupation which the Ustashi regime supported in an effort to obtain a Croatian state, compromising it, however, by surrendering historical Croatian regions to occupying forces and with atrocities and persecution based on racial and political grounds. These are historical facts that today, 74 years later, we can and must identify without ideological or other disputes," President Grabar-Kitarovic said.
She underscored that, led by the ideals of freedom and social justice, the anti-fascist movement in Croatia developed as nowhere else in Europe - with around 200,000 fighters, Croatia had the largest resistance movement at the end of the war and it had relatively the highest number of victims - around 64,000.
In parallel with the armed struggle, she added, the State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH) paved the path of Croatia's statehood as a federal unit within the former Yugoslavia.
"With the state and legal basis gained then, half a century later the Croatian people proclaimed independence and defended Croatia in the Homeland War. That was the end of our historical struggle for freedom and independence. Today's ceremony reminds us that one of the stages of that long path began here," she said.
Nevertheless, in respect of the historical truth, we are mature enough to admit what occurred after World War II - massive executions and persecution, confiscation of property and other measures against those proclaimed as enemies of the state, which cannot be justified by anything or positively valued, she said.
"We wish to preserve anti-fascism as a historical value, not communism or any other totalitarian order. Speaking about the value of anti-fascism, it is necessary to distinguish the justified struggle against occupation and the totalitarian ideologies of fascism and Nazism and Ustashi and Chetnik atrocities from what the entire democratic world rejects as a negative legacy of the totalitarian communist ideology," Grabar-Kitarovic said.
She pointed out that Croatia today, as a sovereign state and member of the European Union included in all important international political and economic processes, should not be burdened with the past.
"We wish to objectively and soberly judge history because only that way, free from unilateral focus from whichever side, can we finally jointly dedicate ourselves to building the future. And the basis for that is always freedom and peace which we jointly achieved in the Homeland War and mutual respect. The unity achieved then can and should be an inspiration to our unity and self-confident dedication to building a stable and successful country with all the good of a wealthy society. Everyone is responsible for that, everyone can and should contribute and history has to be our signpost and lesson," the President said.
She underscored that the Croatian people and all citizens of Croatia must be united in the wish for a better and more prosperous Croatia.
"For a Croatia in which there is no room for hate, discrimination, glorification of fascism, totalitarianism and dictatorship, a Croatia where equal respect is shown to the Croat people and all ethnic minorities, where there is no talk of 'us and them' but where a better society is built based on the truth, patriotism and unity," she concluded.