ILIĆ: THE CRIMINAL DID NOT KILL AN INDIVIDUAL, BUT THE POTENTIAL OF THE SERBIAN PEOPLE

BIHAĆ, JULY 27 /SRNA/ - Historian Dragoslav Ilić said today that Garavice is the largest and most horrific place where Serbs suffered in these areas at the beginning of the Second World War, in which the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/ committed genocide against the Serbian people. He pointed out that here the criminal did not kill an individual, but rather the biological, economic, and cultural potential of the Serbian people.

"The dynamics of executing the crimes against Serbs were conceived, planned, and implemented practically from one mind," Ilić pointed out, addressing the attendees in Garavice near Bihać, on the occasion of marking 85 years since the suffering of Serbs in this place during the Second World War. He said that the first Serbian victims in Bihać were merchant Ilija Smiljanić, and prominent Serbian hosts Petar Bojić, Rade Bisija, and Budo Mileusnić. Ilić said that about 12,000 Serbs were killed in Garavice alone, emphasizing that in the area of the then districts of Bihać, Cazin, Petrovac, Bosanska Krupa, Ključ, and Sanski Most, about 45,000 people were killed, of which more than 35,000 were civilians, with the majority being the reproductive population and children. Ilić, who is a historian at the Republic Centre for Research of War, War Crimes and Search for Missing Persons, concluded that the Serbian people have an obligation to remember and testify about these events to current and future young generations. He said that the Republic Centre for Research of War, War Crimes and Search for Missing Persons, in accordance with its resources, is dedicatedly working to ensure that every crime committed against Serbs, every execution site, and every victim is recorded and published. At the beginning of the Second World War in 1941, the Ustashe killed 12,000 Serbian civilians in Garavice, and among the victims was a large number of children. According to British intelligence data, between 14,000 and 14,500 people were killed in the wider Bihać area, and the authorities of the former Yugoslavia covered up the massacres and murders of Serbs due to the proclamation of the idea of brotherhood and unity, which completely equated the executioner and the victim. Today in Garavice near Bihać, the 85th anniversary of the Ustashe crime against 12,000 Serbs, among whom were a large number of children, was commemorated. The commemoration was attended by the Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, Savo Minić. The Holy Hierarchical Liturgy was officiated in the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, after which wreaths and flowers were laid at the memorial in the Memorial Park. The commemoration of this event was organized by the Republika Srpska Government Committee for Nurturing the Tradition of Liberation Wars.