The Government of the Republic of Croatia expresses its gratitude to the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden for the organising this important conference.

The start of the new millennium, as we are turning a new page of the history of the world, offers a chance to completely unveil one of the darkest pages of history. It is only in this way, unburdened with the shadows of the past and united in the condemnation of crimes committed in the past, that the world can turn to a better future of mutual understanding and co-operation. Unfortunately, not even the horrors of World War II seem to have sufficiently brought home a lesson not to start new wars and conflicts, new violations of international, especially humanitarian law. At the close of the last century, atrocities happened in the heart of Europe as a result of an aggression designed to exterminate or resettle entire nations, accompanied by the plight of civilians, destruction of cultural and religious monuments and other property. It has been shown that the international community still lacks efficient mechanisms to prevent such acts and to bring to justice the principal instigators and perpetrators of war and other crimes against humanity.

This Conference, just as the two preceding ones held in London and Washington, should be a place where the international community, by remembering the victims of Nazi persecutions, will find ways and means to both pay homage to those who fell victims to such insane policies and give credit to those who rose against injustice risking their own lives. The previous two conferences were intended to establish facts and find ways of indemnifying the Holocaust victims. This Conference should strengthen the consensus of all governments on the need to promote the awareness of the values which should be protected in order to prevent new holocausts. These values can be cherished in a society in various ways. Education plays a foremost role in it, because this function of the society alone can systematically, permanently and efficiently shape the world outlook of future generations and their awareness of the insanity of the ideas whose tragic consequences humanity has so amply experienced, such as racial and religious discrimination, ethnic cleansing, xenophobia, etc.

Croatia, which on its territory underwent the horrors of the Holocaust and which has recently experienced the aggression and the ravages of war, welcomed the first Holocaust Conference convened in London in 1997. Shortly before the Conference, the Croatian Government set up a Commission for tracing the fate of Nazi victims and decided to waive its succession claims on the remaining funds of the Tripartite Commission in favour of the Jews and other Nazi victims. Thus, Croatia was among the first States to participate in establishing the Fund for Compensation of Holocaust Victims.

Croatia has passed a law defining the principles and procedure for the restitution or compensation of the property that was unjustly seized during and after World War II. Repeated objections addressed to Croatia and other countries in transition which have passed similar laws described the laws as discriminatory because they do not provide for a compensation to foreign nationals. This limitation, however, no longer exists in Croatia, because under the 1998 Compensation Act these rights also apply to foreign nationals. Thus all the Holocaust victims, including those who have acquired a new citizenship, are entitled to a just compensation.

The Croatian State Archive is accessible to those interested in investigating the plight of the Jews and other victims of Nazi persecutions. As agreed between the Croatian State Archive and the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, all the materials on the Holocaust are being microfilmed.

As a country in transition and after becoming independent, Croatia had to modify its educational system to suit the new requirements. Thus the communist ideology was removed from the curriculum and a series of new subjects related to human rights introduced. The chapter on the Holocaust also has its thematic place from primary school to university curricula. However, we cannot be quite satisfied with the degree in which these themes are represented, especially at the primary school level. Future curricula will certainly have to be prepared with more care, and the Holocaust will be presented in a broader and better perspective.

We expect the Conference to help us enrich our future curricula with the Holocaust theme by using the best experiences of other countries in terms of ideas, content and methodology. Except through the educational system, the Holocaust theme should be comprehensively and acceptably made accessible to the broader public through media or in other appropriate ways. We expect the Conference to come up with some useful ideas in this respect.

Finally, it should be pointed out that Croatia has shown enough strength and determination to demand the extradition of, institute proceedings against and punish a perpetrator of the war crimes committed during World War II in the Jasenovac concentration camp. Hence the words of the Croatian Foreign Minister Dr. Mate Granic during his visit to Israel and the Yad Vashem Memorial Museum in May 1998 are worth quoting: "Relying on its freedom-loving and anti-fascist roots, the modern democratic Croatia in the strongest possible terms condemns fascism, racial hatred, xenophobia and anti-Semitism". These words express not only a condemnation of the crimes but also Croatia’s determination to work together with other advanced democracies towards the creation of a better and more just society.