ANJA \u0160IMPRAGA, the Vice President of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, in her speech in Glina reminded of the importance of remembering all the victims of one of the first Ustasha crimes against Serbs, when the first systemic crime was committed against the inhabitants of a community, after the massacres in Gudovac and Blagaj, with an order to imprison and liquidate all men between the ages of 16 and 60.<\/p>\n
\u201cImmediately after the establishment of the new government, the Ustasha regime started killing people, passing racial laws, and establishing concentration camps. Glina becomes the scene of mass Ustasha crimes. One of the first crimes was this one here in Glina. That was a regime that legalized the terror perpetrated against Jews, Serbs, and Roma and that completely dehumanized them in its brutality. At that time, no one could have guessed the crime that would forever be connected to the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God, which we are commemorating at the end of July,\u201d said Anja \u0160impraga.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor these victims, the worst would be oblivion, not because we want to remember the crime and its perpetrator, but because the victims do not deserve to be forgotten. One had to be human in those times, and one of those who remained human and helped save human lives was Franc \u017du\u017eek, a parish priest in Glina during the war, who later said that at that time he \u201conly did what every Christian and human being is obliged to do and that is to help those in need,\u201d reminded the Vice President of the Croatian Government and finally pointed out that \u201cthe Town of Glina suffered great violence in the 1990s in which Croats were killed as well. We must carry all of them in our memory. Despite the suffering, I am sure that Glina has the capacity to be bigger than its difficult history, to distance itself from all forms of revisionism, and to turn towards the future,\u201d said \u0160impraga.<\/p>\n
The Glina commemoration, during which the prayer memorial, or \u201cParastos,\u201d for the victims was led by the Bishop Garasim of Gornji Karlovac, together with the priest brothers and gathered citizens of Glina, was attended by: Ivan Jankovi\u0107, Mayor of Glina, Branka Bak\u0161i\u0107, Deputy Mayor of Glina, Dejan Mihaljevi\u0107 and Nikola Arbutina on behalf of the Serb National Council (SNV), as well as representatives of the Serbian Embassy in Croatia and anti-fascist associations.<\/p>\n
Representing the families of the victims at the commemoration was Milorad Arlov.<\/p>\n