GLINA SHOULD BE MARKED GLINA, Oct 30 (Hina) - President Stjepan Mesic said in Glina, about 50 km south of Zagreb, on Thursday that a site where local Serbs had been executed in World War Two should be marked, but that the matter
should not be politicised.
GLINA, Oct 30 (Hina) - President Stjepan Mesic said in Glina, about
50 km south of Zagreb, on Thursday that a site where local Serbs had
been executed in World War Two should be marked, but that the matter
should not be politicised. #L#
"Places like these should be marked for moral reasons, but this
should not be turned into a political issue," Mesic said in response
to the question if he was in favour of the idea that the site should
be marked.
"I'm in favour of marking places where people were killed (...). The
dead need peace. (...) But we should turn to the future and address
vital issues in this region," the president said.
During the communist rule, an adult education centre was built on
the site of a Serb Orthodox church which was destroyed in WW2 and in
which Ustashas killed local Serbs. A monument, "A Mother with a
Child", made by sculptor Antun Augustincic, and a fountain were
placed outside the building as symbols of rebirth and life.
Before they occupied Glina in 1991, Serb extremists illegally
erected a large monument in front of the education centre. After the
liberation of the town in Operation Storm in 1995, the monument was
removed by town authorities.
Augustincic's sculpture remained in front of the building, which
has in the meantime been renamed as the Croatian Home.
(hina) vm sb