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Croatian president Stipe Mesic: "We remember the Holocaust not only because this heinous crime should never be forgotten in order to prevent its repetition, but also since it was happening also here on Croatia' territory and since Croatians also took part in it."
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ZAGREB (AFP)---Croatian President Stipe Mesic said on Saturday, the
eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, that Croatia must face up to its World War II if it wants to fully integrate into Europe.
"We remember the Holocaust not only because this heinous crime should never
be forgotten in order to prevent its repetition, but also since it was
happening also here on Croatia' territory and since Croatians also took part in it," Mesic said in a statement.
"Let the Holocaust Remembrance Day become another opportunity to warn that
facing with all the facts of the past... is an imperative condition for
Croatia's Europeanisation."
During World War II Croatia was ruled by the Nazi-allied Ustasha regime,
which killed hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-fascist
Croatians in concentration camps.
The United Nations has established January 27 as an annual International
Holocaust Remembrance Day to coincide with the liberation of the Auschwitz
death camp in 1945.
Croatia aspires to join the 27-nation European Union by 2010.
It also hopes to receive an invitation to join NATO at the military alliance's next summit in April in Romania.