The monument would be a cast of the original monument made for the same purpose after the Second World War by Croatian sculptor Vanja Radaus. By decision of the Yugoslav Communist authorities, the original monument was not put up in Villefranche, but on Pula's waterfront.
"Today circumstances are ripe to erect a monument with new casts based on original plaster figures and moulds. A cast of the original monument will be placed in the (French) town and the costs will be covered by the Croatian Ministry of Culture," Drandic said.
Roques said that the monument would be set up not just to pay tribute to the Croats who had been killed in the town but that it would also be a symbol of future cooperation between France and Croatia. He proposed that Villefranche and Pula should be twinned, which Drandic accepted.
The French ambassador said that cooperation was welcome because Croatia was getting ready for European Union membership.
Croatian Muslims and Catholics serving in a German SS division rebelled in Villefranche, southern France on 17 September 1943, killing five German officers and taking over the town for a while. After the rebellion was crushed, about 20 of them were executed, while many were deported to death camps.