JERINIĆ: I STRONGLY BACK EFFORTS TO DEFEND HISTORICAL TRUTH ON NDH CRIMES

BEOGRAD, MARCH 28 /SRNA/ – Former child camp inmate and chronicler of crimes committed by the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/, Dušan Jerinić, told SRNA that the adoption of a resolution by Republika Srpska condemning the relativization of NDH ideology represents moral satisfaction for him, adding that he strongly supports Serbia taking similar steps and both countries finally implementing projects to build memorial centers for victims of genocide in the NDH.

"I dream of this and have previously supported similar initiatives with my signature. Even now, I have notebooks and pens on my desk and I am constantly working on collecting data about crimes against Serbs, especially children. It means a lot to me," said Jerinić, an 88 year old man. He stressed that the Ustasha aimed to kill as many children as possible, with the intention of preventing the Serbian people from having descendants, noting that in his native Slavonia and across Croatia they largely succeeded in that goal. "If you look at the population of my native village of Paučje near Đakovo before the war, during the war when we left, and after the war in terms of how many were born, we never returned to the pre-war number of 645, and we ended the war with 108 people," he said. Jerinić added that after what he referred to as "Tuđman’s war", the number of Serbs further declined, and today only about 50 people live in that village. "No one can deny that because the Ustasha themselves recorded it. We did not count," he said. He noted that the Ustasha of Ante Pavelić were among Hitler’s most consistent followers and that even newborn Serbian children were considered enemies. "They killed our children in children’s camps and elsewhere to leave us without descendants, and the world should know that," Jerinić said. He stated that a document from the office of Ustasha leader Ante Pavelić noted that the Jasenovac camp could receive an unlimited number of prisoners. "That was possible because when a new group was brought in, the previous one was eliminated," he said. Jerinić stated that, according to some estimates, up to 300 people were killed or died daily in Jasenovac and other camps, including many children. Jerinić, who was taken out of the Stara Gradiška camp and saved in an operation led by Diana Budisavljević, said that the fight for truth about the victims and those who never had a chance to grow up must be both individual and institutional, and must never cease. The Parliamentary Forum Serbia–Republika Srpska decided at its session in Belgrade to send a request to the governments to accelerate the implementation of plans to build memorial centers in Donja Gradina and Belgrade for victims of genocide in the NDH, and to form a joint committee for the realization of the project.