IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO REFUTE NUMEROUS PIECES OF EVIDENCE OF GENOCIDE AGAINST SERBS IN NDH

All material evidence points to the genocidal nature of that crime. There is no scientific way to refute that genocide was committed against Serbs in the NDH /Independent State of Croatia/, Arbutina emphasized. By Vesna ŠURBAT

BELGRADE, APRIL 19 /SRNA/ - Bojan Arbutina, Director of the Belgrade Museum of Genocide Victims, told SRNA that the numerous pieces of evidence that genocide was committed against Serbs in the NDH cannot be refuted, and he pointed out that it is very important that Republika Srpska and Serbia jointly commemorate the Day of Remembrance for the Victims in Jasenovac. Arbutina pointed out that it is the duty of Serbia and Republika Srpska to nurture a culture of remembrance, and expressed hope that the practice of jointly marking the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Ustasha crime of genocide in the Jasenovac concentration camp and its largest execution site, Donja Gradina, will continue. “The significance of joint commemoration is great, because the suffering in the NDH is the shared suffering of the Serbian people. It is the suffering of the Serbian people wherever they were — whether in the territory of present-day BiH, Croatia, or Serbia. That is what binds us and what should be commemorated together,” Arbutina emphasized. Arbutina said that the fact that genocide was committed against Serbs in the NDH cannot be refuted, as this is confirmed by numerous material pieces of evidence, as well as documentation preserved in the Croatian State Archives, the Military Archives in Belgrade, and many other archives, museums, and libraries. “All material evidence points to the genocidal nature of that crime, and there is no scientific way to refute that genocide was committed against Serbs in the NDH,” Arbutina said. He noted that numerous experts are researching the crimes committed by the NDH, and that the Museum of Genocide Victims continuously receives new findings, photo documentation, and video recordings, on the basis of which it is possible to determine very objectively, using historiographical methods, what took place in the territory of the NDH. Arbutina added that in this way it is possible to challenge the claims of all revisionists who attempt to minimize that crime. “There are truly many examples, from wartime victim lists to documentation, as well as documentary-feature films we produce. There are also the lists of Diana Budisavljević concerning the children she saved, and then the question simply arises - why was such a large number of children imprisoned in the Jasenovac system of cdeath camps?” Arbutina pointed out. IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE OF SERB SUFFERING Arbutina said that all evidence of the crimes in Jasenovac is deeply disturbing, both in terms of the fate of the victims, the ways in which they were killed, and the perpetrators themselves. “No single case can be singled out in particular. When we talk about Jasenovac, I usually highlight the example of mother Ana Vila, who was slaughtered together with her five children on a ferry on the Sava River,” he said, adding that there are countless such examples. Mother Ana Vila was 29 years old in 1944 when, on an August day in the NDH, she perished together with her five children, including an unborn child, at the Lonja ferry on the Sava River, which the Ustashe used to transport victims to the Jasenovac camp. Arbutina also recalled the fate of teacher Stana Arnaut in Prebilovci, who was killed by the Ustashe in a horrific manner, as well as the story of Milica Tepić /a woman from Knežopolje who symbolizes the suffering of mothers with children/, among many other destinies of women, children, men, and freedom fighters. “Each example is irrefutable evidence of the suffering of the Serbian people, but also of the Serbian people’s struggle for freedom,” Arbutina emphasized.