Josipović: I am proud of the partisans

Croatian President Ivo Josipović said on the occasion of the Day of Anti-Fascist Struggle that Croatia is indivisiblely committed to anti-fascism and the Homeland War.

"I am proud both as president and as an anti-fascist that, for the most part, Croatia will always know how to stand on the side of justice - this was done by the partisans in the Second World War and the defenders in the Homeland War," Josipović said at the ceremony in the Brezovica forest near Sisak, which organized by the Association of Anti-Fascist Fighters and Anti-Fascists of Croatia.

He expressed his belief that Croatia will never give up those assets.

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"I am sure that we do not want a different Croatia, we want a better and more prosperous, but always anti-fascist Croatia," the president emphasized and said that he was proud of the partisans from the Second World War.

Josipović reminded that on July 1, Croatia becomes a member of the European Union, whose foundation is also anti-fascism, without which, as he said, Europe is not Europe, and Croatia would not be Croatia.

He warned, however, that there are also those who think that history and values ​​can be changed, that it is "a children's computer game that we lost, and then it resets".

"We will say to such people - No. Those who think that Croatia can become something else from anti-fascist Croatia are mistaken," Josipović pointed out.

He said that reconciliation is necessary for the sake of the future, but that, along with respect for every victim, it also implies a clear definition of what was good and what was bad.

"In the Second World War, it was good to be on the side of anti-fascism, and it was bad to help fascism, to be a fascist and advocate terror, crime and hatred," added Josipović.

The President of Croatia presented several decorations for special contribution to the anti-fascist foundations of Croatia on the occasion of the 72nd anniversary of the uprising of the people of Croatia and the 68th anniversary of the victory over fascism.

In Croatia, June 22 is marked as the Day of Anti-Fascist Struggle in commemoration of June 22, 1941, when the First Sisak Partisan Detachment, the first of its kind in Europe, was formed in the Brezovica forest near Sisak.