Croatia’s Jews boycott Holocaust Remembrance in protest
ZAGREB, Croatia — Croatia’s Jewish community on Friday boycotted the official Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, saying the conservative government is not doing enough to curb pro-Nazi sentiments in the European Union’s newest member.
Ognjen Kraus, the co-ordinator of the Jewish communities in Croatia, said the decision was made after authorities failed to remove a plaque bearing a World War II Croatian pro-Nazi salute from the town of Jasenovac. The town is the site of a wartime death camp where tens of thousands of Jews, Serbs and Roma perished.
“This should have been solved urgently, with a government decree or a law, but nothing happened,” Kraus told The Associated Press. “Instead, we are witnessing an escalation … And who is going to stop it?”
The Jewish community also boycotted a commemoration in Jasenovac last year. On Friday, a Croatian state delegation laid a wreath at a Jewish memorial in Zagreb.