84TH ANNIVERSARY OF BREAKTHROUGH OF THE USTASHE ENCIRCLEMENT AT BILJEG COMMEMORATED

ZAGREB, MAY 16 /SRNA/ - The 84th anniversary of the breakthrough of the encirclement at Biljeg was commemorated on Petrova Gora in Kordun, where several thousand Serb civilians, mostly women and children, were rescued from the Ustashe–Home Guard encirclement.

On this occasion, attempts at historical revisionism were highlighted and described as dangerous, with a warning that the truth must not be forgotten. President of the Serb National Council Boris Milošević said that Kordun and Petrova Gora were freedom-loving and that all who carry that heritage have a duty to preserve the memory, which must not depend on political circumstances. “While institutions are silent, we are here. While time and political circumstances change, we return to this place,” said Milošević. He said that those who diminish and discredit antifascism as a civilizational value are becoming increasingly vocal, and that the Ustashe salute is increasingly heard in songs, in streets, and even in parliament, according to Croatian media reports. “Institutions are responding more and more weakly, while revisionists are becoming louder and louder,” Milošević warned. President of the Independent Democratic Serb Party Milorad Pupovac pointed to the absence of state delegations at Petrova Gora and recalled that representatives of the authorities attended the commemoration of the victims of Bleiburg, HRT reported. Deputy president of the Alliance of Anti-Fascist Fighters and Anti-Fascists of Croatia, Ada Damjanac, said that the breakthrough at Petrova Gora was a symbol of the people’s survival and an act of hope. “The values defended at that time - freedom, solidarity, and human dignity - are equally important today. Petrova Gora is a symbol of anti-fascist resistance and a reminder that freedom is never given,” Damjanac stated. According to her, there are attempts to relativize the nature of the Ustashe regime, diminish the horrors of fascism and Nazism, and equate victims with perpetrators. “Such attempts are historically inaccurate and dangerous. A people that forgets the truth about its past risks losing its moral compass for the future,” Damjanac said. President of the Anti-Fascist League of Croatia Zoran Pusić said that the breakthrough at Petrova Gora should be a historical topic, but that hatred and lack of empathy are still present in society. The commemorative program was organized by the Serb National Council in cooperation with the Alliance of Anti-Fascist Fighters and Anti-Fascists of Croatia, along with the municipalities of Vojnić, Topusko, Krnjak, and Vrginmost. Representatives of anti-fascist associations laid wreaths and paid tribute to fallen fighters and wartime victims from Kordun. The anniversary of the uprising of the people of Banija and Kordun was marked with a cultural and artistic program.