The event's objective is to educate teachers about the Holocaust and encourage pupils to think, research and consider historical facts.
Everything we have done so far in teaching about, researching and remembering the Holocaust is the result of the government's clear determination to create tolerance and to prevent and condemn every crime, Science and Education Minister Dragan Primorac said in a note read out by his assistant Martin Orsolic.
Primorac said the past had been manipulated for politicking purposes in this region for a long time, with generations being taught differently about the same historical events. He cited the example of the number of victims of the death camp at Jasenovac, saying that Croatian science was now adjusted to world science on this point. He also called on scientists, notably historians, to be conscientious in their work so that manipulation could be avoided in the future.
Speeches were also delivered by Assistant Culture Minister Branka Sulc and the head of the Education Institute, Vinko Filipovic, who said the Holocaust should be taught about through various classes so that pupils could gain an integral insight.
Also in attendance was Israeli Ambassador to Croatia Meirom Shmuel.
Participants also discussed daily life in the 1941-45 Nazi-styled Independent State of Croatia, the Zagreb synagogue, and how to teach about the Nazi ideology and the "final solution".
The seminar was organised by the Science and Education Ministry, the Culture Ministry, the Jasenovac Memorial Centre and the Education Institute, in cooperation with the task force for international cooperation in teaching about, remembering and researching the Holocaust, and with Yad Vashem.