WASHINGTON, 26 Nov (Hina) - The Croatian Embassy in Washington D.C. yesterday issued a statement regarding a recent visit by the Croatian Ambassador to the U.S.A., Miomir Zuzul, to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on
November 13. A statement with the same contents was also issued by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
WASHINGTON, 26 Nov (Hina) - The Croatian Embassy in Washington D.C.
yesterday issued a statement regarding a recent visit by the
Croatian Ambassador to the U.S.A., Miomir Zuzul, to the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum on November 13. A statement with
the same contents was also issued by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum. #L#
Ambassador Zuzul visited the Museum with a group of senior
embassy diplomats. After touring the Museum's permanent exhibition,
the group met with Miles Lerman, Chairman of the Museum's governing
board, Walter Reich, Museum Director and senior Museum staff.
Ambassador Zuzul expressed a desire to develop future cooperative
projects between the Republic of Croatia and the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum. These included the copying of World War
II-era archives in Zagreb and other cities and the exchange of
scholars, the statement said.
In summing up his impressions after the tour, Ambassador Zuzul
said: 'The way the Museum is put together and the story of the
Holocaust is presented is most impressive. It is history, not the
story about history, and in this sense it sends the best lesson to
future generations about the need to remain eternally vigilant in
the face of evil'.
Noting that more than 7 million visitors have visited the
Museum since its opening in April 1993, Ambassador Zuzul stated
that many Croatians have been among these visitors. He also invited
Mr. Lerman, the Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum, to visit Croatia, and encouraged the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum scholars to continue this research, in
furtherance of an agreement between the Croatian State Archives and
the Museum.
Speaking on behalf of the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum, Mr. Lerman stated that while mutual cooperation is
desirable, the status of the Jasenovac Memorial site in Croatia
must be formally acknowledged. Mr. Lerman stressed that Jasenovac
was the site of murder of many tens of thousands of Jews and other
victims by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust,
and that the site must remain a place of memorialization of those
victims.
'The Jasenovac site must preserve for eternity the remains and
memory of those martyrs brutally murdered prior to 1945, and no
alterations can be made on the site that would diminish the unique
tragedy of the Holocaust. We must receive assurances from the
government of Croatia that no current or future plans will disturb
this sacred place,' said Lerman.
Ambassador Zuzul stated that the Croatian state and people,
while recognizing Jasenovac for what it is, have no plans to alter
the physical site or decontextualize the historical and emotional
symbolism of the Holocaust committed during the 1941-1945 period.
He further noted the tragic fact that, unlike elsewhere in Europe
where the war-time death camps were closed upon liberation by the
Allies, the Jasenovac camp was used by the communist authorities
for punitive purposes for several years after World War II.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the national
institution for the documentation, and interpretation of Holocaust
history, and serves as this country's memorial to the millions of
people murdered during the Holocaust. The Museum's mission is to
inform Americans about this unprecedented tragedy, to commemorate
those who suffered, and to inspire visitors to contemplate the
moral implications of their civic responsibilities.
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