At the end of July, citizens of Cazin successfully completed renovation of monuments to the victims of Ustasha crimes from World War II, and it is interesting that the monument, which was built in honor of Serbian victims, was renovated by Bosniaks.
The initiative for the renovation of the monument, which was originally built by the Municipal Committee of SUBNOR in 1956, was started by the association “I, Josip Broz Tito” and the Association of Antifascists from Cazin two years ago, but the idea was not instantly transferred into work due to the lack of financial resources.
However, with some good will and organization, numerous contributions from members of the association and other citizens of Cazin, and funds allocated from the Office of the Vice-President of the FBiH, the project was successfully brought to the end and the monument was restored.
“The monument was built in honor of the innocent civilians that Ustashas killed back in 1941. The Serbs were gathered from the surrounding villages, primarily Osredak and Miostrah, and they were brought and killed here, and according to the data, there is a total of 800 bodies in this grave,” said Klicic.
He said that he is proud that citizens of Cazin were first to initiate a similar project in this area, and he is hoping that this project will not be the last of its kind.
“Since Muslims are the majority here, our association wanted to do something different, but also to show to the Orthodox, i.e. Serbs and Catholics i.e. Croats, to follow our example. The message that we want to send is that everyone should point out at some evil that has been done, whether to make something, repair it, or build it. We are pleased that the opening of this monument was attended by delegations of anti-fascist associations from other parts of BiH, as well as from Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia and all of them promised to follow our example. We are honestly hoping for that,” said Klicic.
(Source: M. C./Klix.ba)
