Speaking at a commemoration at Zagreb's Mirogoj cemetery, Ognjen Kraus, president of ZOZ and of the Coordinating body of the Jewish communities in Croatia, said that the Jews were joined in observing that day by the entire civilised world because Yom Hashoah had long ceased to be only a Jewish day of mourning but was a general day of remembrance of the victims of unprecedented genocide.
Kraus said that this year Yom Hashoah was observed in the context of two anniversaries - the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz and the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.
Pointing to a global increase in anti-Semitism, Kraus quoted one of the few living Auschwitz survivors, Roman Kent, who, while speaking at the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, said "You should never, never be a bystander."
For Kraus, attempts to equate Ustasha ideology and anti-fascism in Croatia, revise history and equate "the victims and their executioners", are unacceptable.
"It is owing to anti-fascism that the borders of our Croatian homeland are as they are today, and that the number of (Croatian) Jewish Holocaust victims made up 'only' 80% of the local Jewish community," said Kraus.
"That is why we want the authorities and the police to take concrete steps so that existing laws are enforced and the Constitution, to which we always refer, is implemented."
Kraus added that the Jewish community wanted the truth about ideas on which Nazism and fascism were founded and their consequences to be presented systematically and not only on certain occasions and when it was considered suitable.
He added that if this were done, it would not be possible "for the mayor of a big Croatian city to lay a wreath at a monument on the occasion of a commemoration that is marked, as an act of provocation, on the day when the so-called Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was proclaimed or for the head of a municipality to shorten office hours so that April 10 could be commemorated."
Kraus said that anti-Semitism was on the rise globally, as were ethnic and religious extremism, genocide and culturecide, and daily attacks on people who were different.
He added that such incidents occurred in Croatia as well, criticising the spreading of aggressive and intolerant messages by media, politicians and religious dignitaries.
Attending the ceremony at Mirogoj were also Parliament Speaker Josip Leko, Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic, former President Stjepan Mesic, Justice Minister Orsat Miljenic, a delegation representing President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, the head of the government's Council for Ethnic Minorities, Aleksandar Tolnauer, and representatives of several embassies in Croatia, including Israeli Ambassador Zina Kalay Kleitman.
A religious service was conducted by ZOZ Chief Rabbi Lucian Mose Prelevic. Attending the commemoration were also representatives of other religious communities in the country.