Jasenovac, Croatia - Peres: Croatian WWII Camp Was a Show of 'sadism' |
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News Source: AP
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President of Israel Shimon Peres, attends the ceremony at the site of Croatia's notorious WWII-era extermination camp in Jasenovac, Croatia, Sunday, July, 25, 2010. President Peres concluded his three day official visit to Croatia by commemorating victims of Jasenovac camp. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)Jasenovac, Croatia - Touring the site of Croatia’s World War II concentration camp, Israeli President Shimon Peres said Sunday it was a demonstration of “sheer sadism” and that Iran’s president, who has denied the Holocaust, should visit it.
Peres and Croatian President Ivo Josipovic toured Jasenovac, where a memorial honors about 85,000 of Jews, Serbs, Gypsies and anti-fascist Croats who died here in 1941-45 at the hands of Croatia’s pro-Nazi regime. Thousands of people also were deported from Croatia to Nazi-run camps where they died.
Peres used the opportunity to refer to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s denials of the Holocaust. “I wish I would see him here,” Peres said.
“And I’m asking myself why does he deny (it)?” the Israeli leader said. “To permit the legitimacy of continuity to kill.”
Jasenovac, the worst of about 40 camps in Croatia at the time, didn’t have a gas chamber. Inmates, including the elderly and children, were killed with guns, knives and hammers. Many were tortured or starved to death. About 30,000 Jews died in Croatia during the war, most of the Jewish community’s prewar population.
Peres said Croatian pro-Nazi guards “were not as elaborate and organized as Germans and that he believed the Nazis forced Croats to be brutal. “I think they wanted them to have a demonstration of sheer sadism,” he said.
On Sunday, Peres was concluding his three-day visit to Croatia — another sign of warming relations between Israel and Croatia.
Israel shunned Croatia in the 1990s and held off on recognizing its 1991 independence until 1997 because Croatia’s government at the time was sympathetic to the World War II regime and its late president, Franjo Tudjman, who had downplayed the fascists’ crimes.
Since 2000, Croatia’s pro-Western governments have openly denounced fascism, and ex-President Stipe Mesic apologized for Croatians’ crimes while visiting Israel in 2001.
Peres’s predecessor, Moshe Katsav, traveled to Jasenovac in 2003, the first Israeli head of state to officially visit the country.
On Sunday, President Josipovic thanked Peres for “joining us to bow to the victims and to help us to face our past.”
Peres told him he was “proud that the two of us are trying to raise the civilization of humanity, respect and human rights.”
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Read Comments (10) — Post Yours »
1
Jul 25, 2010 at 10:56 AM Anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
shimon peres is a statesman!
2
Jul 25, 2010 at 11:15 AM Anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
I was there a few times already because my grandfather and family were killed there and they have a museum over there which shows whom and how they killed I think its one of the worst places with such a rishas and brutal way they killed the Jews there can't describe it hsham yinkom dumom
3
Jul 25, 2010 at 12:08 PM Beckford Says:Report as Inappropriate
“ shimon peres is a statesman! ”
“ shimon peres is a statesman!”
You have only just noticed? Peres served twice as t Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister. He has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years. He was elected to the Knesset in November 1959 and, except for a three-month-long hiatus in early 2006, served continuously until 2007, when he became President.
He held several diplomatic and military positions during and directly after Israel's War of Independence. His first high level government position was as Deputy Director-General of Defense in 1952, and Director-General in 1953 through 1959.
Peres won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize together with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat for the peace talks which he participated in as Israeli Foreign Minister, producing the Oslo Accords.
He was nominated in early 2007 by Kadima to run in that year's presidential election, and was elected by the Knesset for the presidency on 13 June 2007 and sworn into office on 15 July 2007 for a seven-year term. He is the first former Prime Minister to be elected President of Israel.
4
Jul 25, 2010 at 02:22 PM David Says:Report as Inappropriate
“ shimon peres is a statesman! ”
Shimon Peres is also probably the most famous descendent of the Rav Chaim Volozhiner.
5
Jul 25, 2010 at 02:42 PM anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
This camp is a stain on Croatia but also on the Catholic . Ante Pavelic was devout Catholic and Bishop Draganovic a Croatian Nazi helped after the war escape Nazis to South America. My respect Shimon Peres because very few people have heard of that infamous camp
6
Jul 25, 2010 at 06:54 PM Anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
“ “ shimon peres is a statesman!”
You have only just noticed? Peres served twice as t Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister. He has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years. He was elected to the Knesset in November 1959 and, except for a three-month-long hiatus in early 2006, served continuously until 2007, when he became President.
He held several diplomatic and military positions during and directly after Israel's War of Independence. His first high level government position was as Deputy Director-General of Defense in 1952, and Director-General in 1953 through 1959.
Peres won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize together with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat for the peace talks which he participated in as Israeli Foreign Minister, producing the Oslo Accords.
He was nominated in early 2007 by Kadima to run in that year's presidential election, and was elected by the Knesset for the presidency on 13 June 2007 and sworn into office on 15 July 2007 for a seven-year term. He is the first former Prime Minister to be elected President of Israel. ”
Peres happens to have more Jewish blood on his hands than any other Jew alive today. He will stop at nothing to eliminate opposition, be it personal enemies or perceived dangers to his vision of the State. He is indeed the longest serving - and for a good reason: his opponents are all dead.
Why is he wearing a yarmulke in the photograph? Is that the only way he can demonstrate to the Croatians that he is a Jew? Funny how these 'diplomats'/ chameleons always manage to do just what is expected of them and always have some jerk ready in the wings to sing their praises.
Moreover: Peres said “... that he believed the Nazis forced Croats to be brutal...” What an inane comment. Who asked him to comment on something he knows nothing about. He has clearly never read any history of the area.
7
Jul 25, 2010 at 10:28 PM Yisroel Says:Report as Inappropriate
“ Peres happens to have more Jewish blood on his hands than any other Jew alive today. He will stop at nothing to eliminate opposition, be it personal enemies or perceived dangers to his vision of the State. He is indeed the longest serving - and for a good reason: his opponents are all dead.
Why is he wearing a yarmulke in the photograph? Is that the only way he can demonstrate to the Croatians that he is a Jew? Funny how these 'diplomats'/ chameleons always manage to do just what is expected of them and always have some jerk ready in the wings to sing their praises.
Moreover: Peres said “... that he believed the Nazis forced Croats to be brutal...” What an inane comment. Who asked him to comment on something he knows nothing about. He has clearly never read any history of the area. ”
Shimon Peres may have done more for Jews and Israel than any other single individual. He literally built up the IDF in the 1950s and 60s and it was he who pushed for an Israeli nuclear capability, almost single-handedly dealing with France and de Gaulle to get Israel is nuclear plant in Dimona. Ben Gurion was actually opposed, fearing world reaction. And Peres was defense minister at the time of the Entebbe resuver - -he pushed Rabin to take military action to save the Jewish hostages.
8
Jul 26, 2010 at 03:27 AM Anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
“ Shimon Peres may have done more for Jews and Israel than any other single individual. He literally built up the IDF in the 1950s and 60s and it was he who pushed for an Israeli nuclear capability, almost single-handedly dealing with France and de Gaulle to get Israel is nuclear plant in Dimona. Ben Gurion was actually opposed, fearing world reaction. And Peres was defense minister at the time of the Entebbe resuver - -he pushed Rabin to take military action to save the Jewish hostages. ”
He did nothing for Jews. He did only for the medine which caused as much spiritual shmad as the soinim caused physical shmad. Now, at the end of his life he is cozying up to charedim, using Chabad for photo ops etc all in a last ditch attempt to end up a little further from the boiler than his buddy Arafat.
9
Jul 26, 2010 at 06:58 AM Yisroel Says:Report as Inappropriate
“ He did nothing for Jews. He did only for the medine which caused as much spiritual shmad as the soinim caused physical shmad. Now, at the end of his life he is cozying up to charedim, using Chabad for photo ops etc all in a last ditch attempt to end up a little further from the boiler than his buddy Arafat. ”
You are just ignorant and filled with hate. "He did nothing for Jews," you say. That shows where you're coming from and how closed your mind is.
10
Jul 26, 2010 at 09:32 AM anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
“ He did nothing for Jews. He did only for the medine which caused as much spiritual shmad as the soinim caused physical shmad. Now, at the end of his life he is cozying up to charedim, using Chabad for photo ops etc all in a last ditch attempt to end up a little further from the boiler than his buddy Arafat. ”
Because you have spewed forth all this bile and vituperation it is fitting that you list your achievements and deeds in behalf of klalt yisroel