Celebrating Anti-Fascist Day, we remember an important date in Croatia's history: 22 June 1941 when the first group of Croatian anti-Fascist fighters, motivated by the ideal of freedom, organised the struggle against the Fascist occupation of Croatia. That is how the troops of the Sisak Unit launched the struggle, aligning Croatia with the victorious forces in the Second World War.
Marking that day we express our gratitude and respects to anti-Fascis fighters and their huge contribution to the victory over Fascism, the president said in his note.
This served as pillars to preserve the historical foundations of the Croatian statehood and as a constitutional and legal basis for establishing the present-day democratic and independent Republic of Croatia, Josipovic stated in the note.
The first anti-Fascist armed unit in Croatia was set up by the Partisans in Brezovica Forest near Sisak (50 kilometres southeast of Zagreb) on 22 June 1941 . Vlado Janic Capo was its first commander.