"RIGHTEOUS AMONG NATIONS" AWARDS PRESENTED

ZAGREB, Jan 27(Hina) - New Righteous Among the Nations, an award granted by Yad Vashem to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. are Ana Jakic, Joza Jagodic, Olga Neumann, Vera Oberiter, Ludvik Valentincic and Dane Vukovic. They were presented with the award at the ceremony of marking Holocaust Remembrance and Preventing Crimes Against Humanity Day at a Zagreb hotel on Tuesday. Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked for the first time in Croatian schools.#L# The awards were presented either to the winner or to their offspring, given that some were awarded post-humously, by Israeli Ambassador to Croatia Yael Rubinstein. Ambassador Rubinstein said that those brave people who were ready to risk their own lived during WWII to save their Jewish fellow citizens could be an inspiration to younger generations. Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, who attended today's ceremony, said it was extremely important to prevent those who were trying to revise history from fabricating Croatia's history. Education, Science and Sports Minister Dragan Primorac expressed conviction that the Croatian society, particularly young people, was ready to invest efforts into building a democratic society in which ethic values, human rights and the rule of law would be imperative He said the Croatian government would do its best to help the realisation of that goal. After the ceremony, two-day seminars on the Holocaust started. The seminars were organised by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and the Institute for the Promotion of Education in cooperation with the Council of Europe. (Hina) it sb