Zoran Milanović shaken in Auschwitz: ‘Such crimes must never happen again…’

Zoran Milanović on Wednesday, by laying a wreath at the Polish memorial museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, he paid tribute to the victims of the Holocaust, “the most monstrous crime in human history”, announced the office of the Croatian president.

Riječ is about Milanović’s first visit to the museum since he became Croatian president.

“This Museum permanently preserves the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, the most monstrous crime in human history, a pogrom that was aimed at Jews and Judaism as a religion. It was a period of the twilight of civilization in which unimaginable atrocities were committed in which millions of people were killed, including a large number of children,” wrote Milanovi, among others, in the museum’s memorial book.

Photo: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek

He added that the visit to the museum deeply shook him and that “such crimes must never happen again”.

The museum covers the former Nazi camps Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau, where more than 1.1 million people perished during the Second World War, of which 960,000 were Jews, and since 1979, it has been on the UNESCO list of world heritage as a permanent testimony of the Holocaust and genocide.

Milanović also visited Block 17, “one of the pavilions within the museum dedicated to the commemoration of victims from the former Yugoslavia”, which was closed in 2009 due to dilapidation and has since been renovated.

The President’s Office emphasized that Croatia is included in the reconstruction project and that it has undertaken the obligation to “co-finance part of the works in the amount of 23 percent”.

Photo: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek

“This project has a special significance for Croatia because it will be a dignified way to honor the victims from Croatia and neighboring countries who lost their lives in this camp,” the announcement reads.

Milanović arrived on Wednesday on a working visit to Poland in order to participate in the meeting of heads of state of the Arraiolos Group in Krakow on Thursday and Friday.

The Arraiolos group was founded in 2003 on the initiative of the Portuguese head of state Jorge Sampaio, named after the place in Portugal where the first meeting was held that brought together the presidents of Austria, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Hungary and of Italy. Later, more countries joined, so in 2023, 14 countries participated in the meeting in Porto.

“The main topic of this year’s meeting in Krakow will be prospects for strengthening transatlantic relations at a time of global challenges and threats,” announced the office of the Polish president.