GREIF: SERBIAN AND JEWISH HISTORIES HAVE MANY THINGS IN COMMON

BANJA LUKA, NOVEMBER 3 /SRNA/ - Serbian and Jewish histories have many things in common, as the Jews lost millions of people to Nazi Germany and its collaborators, while the Serbs suffered mercilessly at the hands of the Ustashas and other enemies, said Israeli professor and leading Holocaust expert Gideon Greif.

"Studying these topics is not pleasant, but it is necessary," Greif told reporters in Banja Luka, where he opened a workshop at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Banja Luka for a month-long education program titled “The Holocaust and the Genocide against Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia: Sociological and Political Aspects.” Greif stated that the goal of this project is to enable young people in Republika Srpska to fight against various forms of discrimination and the distortion of their own history. He emphasized that knowing history is important because knowing one’s past means being prepared for the future and the challenges it brings. The education program was organized by the Center for Lifelong Learning of the Faculty of Political Sciences in cooperation with the Center for Socio-Political Research of Republika Srpska. Dean of the Faculty, Ranka Perić Romić, said that during the workshop, participants will be educated about new scientific and methodological approaches to the study of the Holocaust and the genocide against Serbs, as well as about introducing the concept of the humanization of victims, as opposed to the numerical listing of the dead. She added that 24 participants have enrolled in the program and will receive a certificate after attending all the lectures and completing an essay related to the lecture topics, which will be reviewed and graded.