Croatia marks Anti-Fascist Struggle Day

A wreath-laying ceremony was held at the Brezovica Memorial Centre on Wednesday on the occasion of Croatia's Anti-Fascist Struggle Day. 

The national holiday is observed in memory of June 22, 1941, when the first Partisan detachment and the first anti-fascist unit in this part of Europe were founded near the central Croatian town of Sisak.

President Zoran Milanović, the Supreme Commander of the Croatian Armed Forces, attended the day's central commemoration in Brezovica earlier today, saying that the principles of anti-fascism were deeply rooted in Croatia and the national identity.

"That detachment and the movement that grew out of it put the Croatian people on the more peaceful, safer, more beautiful side of history. Because without those people and without those who organized them, the Croatian name and national reputation would be tainted as they have never been tainted before in history," said Milanović.

"It's a feeling. It's an emotion. It's an integral part of Croatia's journey and one of the segments that make us who we are," said the president.

Justice Minister Ivan Malenica, who laid a wreath on behalf of the government, said that anti-fascism was part of the identity and past of the Croatian people, it is deeply intertwined in Croatia's statehood, and accepting both one's own good and bad things in the past is a sign of the maturity of a nation, the minister added.

Sisak Count Prefect Ivan Celjak said that soldiers in the 1991-95 war in Croatia made it possible for Croatia to see its dream of independence come true, and the borders of the country were defined by anti-fascists and the anti-fascist struggle in World War II.

Also in attendance at the ceremonies were two former presidents, Stjepan Mesić and Ivo Josipović, as well as Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević.