Invitation to donors

Invitation to donors to support the organisation of the International “Jadovno 1941” Conference

Ћирилица | English

Dear Sirs,

I address you on behalf of the Association of Descendants and Supporters of the Complex of Ustasha Camps Jadovno 1941.

Although our fathers and grandfathers were murdered almost 70 years ago, we, their descendants, still feel that loss as a deep wound.

In the area of the complex of Ustasha camp in Jadovno, a predecessor of Jasenovac, in just 132 days, 40,123 Serbs, Jews and other “unsuitable elements”, from the whole of what was the NDH at the time, were murdered in the cruellest ways. The murdered victims were thrown into pits on Velebit, into the sea of the Velebit Channel or covered with rocks on the island of Pag. The locations where they were murdered are still unmarked and inaccessible today.

At the initiative of our Association, June 24 has been declared the “Jadovno 1941 Remembrance Day”. On Saturday, June 26, 2010 for the first time in 69 years the “Jadovno 1941 Remembrance Day” was marked on Velebit at the Šaranova bottomless pit and in the Slana Bay on the island of Pag. On that occasion we also uncovered two restored Memorial Plaques. The Association was the initiator and the main co-organiser.

So far, there has never been a single conference or a roundtable about Jadovno.

At our initiative, in Banja Luka on the 70^th anniversary, June 24, 2011 there will be held:

“First International Conference on the Complex of Ustasha Camps Jadovno – Gospić 1941”

The organisers are the Institute for Modern History in Belgrade and our Association. During the conference, participants from Israel, Italy, USA, Japan, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Republika Srpska are going to present their papers.

One day after the Conference, on the 70^th anniversary of the suffering, the “Jadovno 1941 Remembrance Day” is going to be marked on Velebit and the island of Pag.

We consider that adopting the suffering of our people into the permanent memory is not only our duty to our forefathers, but also a responsible attitude towards our future generations in order to prevent genocide.

I ask you to support and help the organisation of the Conference and the commemoration.

Banja Luka, January 27, 2011

Dr Dušan Bastašić

Association President

Address: Kralja Alfonsa XIII 49A, 78000 Banja Luka, R. Srpska, BIH