World Jewish Congress Condemns WWII Bleiburg Mass in Sarajevo

The World Jewish Congress, an international organisation representing Jewish communities, said on Wednesday that the Catholic mass due to be held in Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina on May 16 glorifies people involved in crimes committed by Croatia's WWII-era Nazi-allied Ustasa regime.

The event is one of two replacements for a controversial annual gathering usually held at Bleiburg in Austria, which has been cancelled this year because of restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Two smaller events have been announced instead in Sarajevo and Zagreb.

The World Jewish Congress said that for the past 24 years, the Bleiburg remembrance events have been "used to glorify individuals who supported or were actively involved in the activities of a regime which had executed hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children only because of their ethnic or religious identity".

In May 2016, the Croatian parliament decided to reintroduce state sponsorship of the Bleiburg event after it was withdrawn in 2012 due to concerns that it served to rehabilitate the ideology of the Ustasa regime.

"The fact that Croatia's parliament is sponsoring such a controversial event, under the banner of honouring and remembering those who gave their lives for Croatia's freedom is a slap in the face of all innocent victims of the Ustasa regime," said Menachem Rosensaft, general counsel of the World Jewish Congress.

The plan to hold the mass in Sarajevo has also been condemned by the Israeli embassy in the city, several politicians, anti-fascist activists and many public figures. On Tuesday, a group of Sarajevo residents protested in front of the city Catholic cathedral against the planned mass.

The annual Bleiburg event is controversial...

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