NY Mayor Bloomberg: April 17th Will Be Jasenovac Memorial Day
While it might have not gotten much attention from the press, the Jasenovac 60th anniversary commmemoration in New York seems to have made a big impact. NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg officially decreed that April 17th will hereafter be remembered as the official memorial day of the gruesome Croatian WW2 death camp. And the ceremony was also attended by several notable officials and ambassadors, including the Israeli ambassador, while also receiving the official sanction from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Below we reproduce the press release that was received belatedly today from the organizers (Jasenovac Research Institute, details below). Items that seem notable for one reason or another have been bolded.
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 17 APRIL 2005
FIRST MONUMENT TO VICTIMS OF JASENOVAC IS UNVEILED IN NEW YORK CITY'S HOLOCAUST PARK AT JASENOVAC DAY CEREMONIES
On Sunday April 17, 2005 the first public monument ever established for the Jasenovac death camp outside of former Yugoslavia was unveiled at ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust held at the Holocaust memorial Park in Brooklyn, NY. Some 200 attended the ceremonies including U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner, New York City Ombudsman Ralph Perfetto, Radio Commentator Barry Farber, eight Survivors and Jewish Partisan fighters from Yugoslavia, and diplomats representing three countries: Israel, Serbia & Montenegro, and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
The Mayor of New York City, Hon. Michael Bloomberg, officially proclaimed April 17, 2005 as "Jasenovac Day of Commemoration throughout New York City" in a decree issued on April 14th.
Greetings were read from President Tadic and Prime Minister Kostunica of Serbia. At the ceremony John Ranz, Buchenwald Survivor, wartime Partisan and JRI Director, noted that it was "an historic day for from this day forward Serbian and Roma victims of the Holocaust shall forever be remembered with their fellow Jewish brothers and sisters with whom they shared the same fate, and the same graves."
The monument was established through the efforts of the Jasenovac Research Institute which has organized the annual Jasenovac Day of Commemoration at the park for the past four years. The Roma organization Voice of Roma sent a delegation to the ceremony and spoke to the audience praising the monument and the Holocaust Park and criticizing other institutions for failing to pay sufficient attention to Roma and other non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
On behalf of the Survivors and victims' families, JRI Founder Barry Lituchy thanked the Mayor, Congressman Weiner, and New York Ombudsman Ralph Perfetto for their help in obtaining the monument. Holocaust Park founders Pauline and Ira Bilus warmly welcomed the participants and the inclusion of Jasenovac on an equal footing with Auschwitz, Dachau and Buchenwald.
A letter from U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Chairman Fred Zeidman did the same. On behalf of the New York City Public Advocate's office, Ralph Perfetto awarded the Jasenovac Research Institute and the Holocaust Park Committee special awards "For Extraordinary Service to New York City." The awards were received by Barry Lituchy and Pauline Bilus. Religious services were conducted by Father Djokan Majstorovic of St. Sava's Serbian Orthodox Church in New York who also blessed the monument. After Father Djokan, Rabbi Dr. Ephraim Isaac, a member of the JRI Advisory Board and head of the Department of Semitic Studies at Princeton University, also said Kaddish for the victims.
In an equally moving ceremony the names of dozens of victims of the Jasenovac camp and the Holocaust in Yugoslavia were read while seven large candles were lit for each hundred thousand of the estimated 700,000 victims of Jasenovac. The first candle was lit by one of the Roma participants in memory of the many tens of thousands of Roma victims. Another candle was lit by a nine year old Serbian girl at the ceremony in memory of the many tens of thousands of Serbian, Jewish and Roma children brutally exterminated at Jasenovac. Elisa Gutman lit a candle in memory of her father killed at Jasenovac while Anna Beck lit another in memory of the Jews from other parts of Yugoslavia killed by German, Croatian, Muslim and Albanian fascists.
A seven foot wreath was placed next to the monument and many lit individual candles to remember victims. Anna Beck spoke movingly prior to the candle lighting of how she personally witnessed the mass murder of Jews and Serbs on the frozen Danube River in Novi Sad in January 1942. Ricki Danon Soltan and Michael Danon recalled how they survived, while their fathers were murdered in Jasenovac along with many other members of their family. Alexandar Mosic spoke on behalf of fellow Jewish Partisans and Survivors from former Yugoslavia. Survivor Eva Deutsch Costabel recalled how members of her family were killed by the Ustashe.
The Ambassador of Bosnia and Hercegovina to the U.S., H.E. Igor Davidovic, spoke movingly about the murder of his grandfather at Jasenovac.
Dan Kapner, representing the State of Israel, warmly congratulated the JRI and all participants for the establishment of the Jasenovac monument and reminded all of the dire need to strengthen our remembrance activities in the face of growing threats from anti-Semitism, racism and neo-Nazism.
Reflecting JRI's commitment to furthering education about the Holocaust in Yugoslavia, Lituchy announced the winner of the JRI's first annual Jasenovac Essay Contest - Alexander Osman of Hopewell Junior High School in Aliquippa, PA., who will receive a $500 prize for his work.
A small Croatian group arrived toward the end of the ceremonies. The state of Croatia was not formally invited on this occasion because the monument was not engraved until April 12th. However, Croatia will be invited to participate next year.
JRI Founder Barry Lituchy reminded the participants that justice and recognition for the victims of the Holocaust in Yugoslavia has not come without hard struggle: "The lessons of the Holocaust were bitterly learned and on this day we must remind ourselves of them as we honor the victims. The victims speak to us still, reminding us "Da Se Ne Zaboravi!" ("So that you may not forget!"). On April 17th we did not forget - we honored our martyrs in a manner they long deserved, with a permanent monument, forever."
JASENOVAC RESEARCH INSTITUTE
PO BOX 10-0674
BROOKLYN, NY 11210 USA
Contact: Fax/Tel.: 718-338-2576
www.jasenovac.org
Below we reproduce the press release that was received belatedly today from the organizers (Jasenovac Research Institute, details below). Items that seem notable for one reason or another have been bolded.
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 17 APRIL 2005
FIRST MONUMENT TO VICTIMS OF JASENOVAC IS UNVEILED IN NEW YORK CITY'S HOLOCAUST PARK AT JASENOVAC DAY CEREMONIES
On Sunday April 17, 2005 the first public monument ever established for the Jasenovac death camp outside of former Yugoslavia was unveiled at ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust held at the Holocaust memorial Park in Brooklyn, NY. Some 200 attended the ceremonies including U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner, New York City Ombudsman Ralph Perfetto, Radio Commentator Barry Farber, eight Survivors and Jewish Partisan fighters from Yugoslavia, and diplomats representing three countries: Israel, Serbia & Montenegro, and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
The Mayor of New York City, Hon. Michael Bloomberg, officially proclaimed April 17, 2005 as "Jasenovac Day of Commemoration throughout New York City" in a decree issued on April 14th.
Greetings were read from President Tadic and Prime Minister Kostunica of Serbia. At the ceremony John Ranz, Buchenwald Survivor, wartime Partisan and JRI Director, noted that it was "an historic day for from this day forward Serbian and Roma victims of the Holocaust shall forever be remembered with their fellow Jewish brothers and sisters with whom they shared the same fate, and the same graves."
The monument was established through the efforts of the Jasenovac Research Institute which has organized the annual Jasenovac Day of Commemoration at the park for the past four years. The Roma organization Voice of Roma sent a delegation to the ceremony and spoke to the audience praising the monument and the Holocaust Park and criticizing other institutions for failing to pay sufficient attention to Roma and other non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
On behalf of the Survivors and victims' families, JRI Founder Barry Lituchy thanked the Mayor, Congressman Weiner, and New York Ombudsman Ralph Perfetto for their help in obtaining the monument. Holocaust Park founders Pauline and Ira Bilus warmly welcomed the participants and the inclusion of Jasenovac on an equal footing with Auschwitz, Dachau and Buchenwald.
A letter from U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Chairman Fred Zeidman did the same. On behalf of the New York City Public Advocate's office, Ralph Perfetto awarded the Jasenovac Research Institute and the Holocaust Park Committee special awards "For Extraordinary Service to New York City." The awards were received by Barry Lituchy and Pauline Bilus. Religious services were conducted by Father Djokan Majstorovic of St. Sava's Serbian Orthodox Church in New York who also blessed the monument. After Father Djokan, Rabbi Dr. Ephraim Isaac, a member of the JRI Advisory Board and head of the Department of Semitic Studies at Princeton University, also said Kaddish for the victims.
In an equally moving ceremony the names of dozens of victims of the Jasenovac camp and the Holocaust in Yugoslavia were read while seven large candles were lit for each hundred thousand of the estimated 700,000 victims of Jasenovac. The first candle was lit by one of the Roma participants in memory of the many tens of thousands of Roma victims. Another candle was lit by a nine year old Serbian girl at the ceremony in memory of the many tens of thousands of Serbian, Jewish and Roma children brutally exterminated at Jasenovac. Elisa Gutman lit a candle in memory of her father killed at Jasenovac while Anna Beck lit another in memory of the Jews from other parts of Yugoslavia killed by German, Croatian, Muslim and Albanian fascists.
A seven foot wreath was placed next to the monument and many lit individual candles to remember victims. Anna Beck spoke movingly prior to the candle lighting of how she personally witnessed the mass murder of Jews and Serbs on the frozen Danube River in Novi Sad in January 1942. Ricki Danon Soltan and Michael Danon recalled how they survived, while their fathers were murdered in Jasenovac along with many other members of their family. Alexandar Mosic spoke on behalf of fellow Jewish Partisans and Survivors from former Yugoslavia. Survivor Eva Deutsch Costabel recalled how members of her family were killed by the Ustashe.
The Ambassador of Bosnia and Hercegovina to the U.S., H.E. Igor Davidovic, spoke movingly about the murder of his grandfather at Jasenovac.
Dan Kapner, representing the State of Israel, warmly congratulated the JRI and all participants for the establishment of the Jasenovac monument and reminded all of the dire need to strengthen our remembrance activities in the face of growing threats from anti-Semitism, racism and neo-Nazism.
Reflecting JRI's commitment to furthering education about the Holocaust in Yugoslavia, Lituchy announced the winner of the JRI's first annual Jasenovac Essay Contest - Alexander Osman of Hopewell Junior High School in Aliquippa, PA., who will receive a $500 prize for his work.
A small Croatian group arrived toward the end of the ceremonies. The state of Croatia was not formally invited on this occasion because the monument was not engraved until April 12th. However, Croatia will be invited to participate next year.
JRI Founder Barry Lituchy reminded the participants that justice and recognition for the victims of the Holocaust in Yugoslavia has not come without hard struggle: "The lessons of the Holocaust were bitterly learned and on this day we must remind ourselves of them as we honor the victims. The victims speak to us still, reminding us "Da Se Ne Zaboravi!" ("So that you may not forget!"). On April 17th we did not forget - we honored our martyrs in a manner they long deserved, with a permanent monument, forever."
JASENOVAC RESEARCH INSTITUTE
PO BOX 10-0674
BROOKLYN, NY 11210 USA
Contact: Fax/Tel.: 718-338-2576
www.jasenovac.org
posted by Balkanalysis Blog Editor @ 4/25/2005 08:54:00 PM
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