The December 8, 1997, issue of the Split weekly'Feral Tribune' brought the article by Zivko Gruden, which takes a look at the recurring initiatives by president Tudjman and the Croatian regime to jointly bury the Jasenovac victims and the Ustashi dead at the same camp site.

The information published in the Zagreb (semi-official daily) 'Vecernji List' came as a really unpleasant surprise last month concerning the fact that 'the intention is that Jasenovac becomes the place of remembrance for all those who suffered in the Second World War and after it'. This indicated that this idea as such is still current, and moreover, that the preparations for its implementation are intensively under way.

The President of the Zagreb Jewish community, Dr. Ognjen Kraus, who is at the same time the President of the Co-ordination of the Jewish communities of Croatia, sent the letter to the culture minister Bozo Biskupic, asking him to inform him as soon as possible of the initiatives which his ministry is undertaking concerning the renewal of the Jasenovac Memorial Sites. Similar letter was sent to the head of the Institute for Modern History, Dr. Mirko Valentic, stressing that the Jewish community in Croatia, taking into consideration the large number of victims among them who were victims in Jasenovac was to know 'what the changes are envisaged'.

So far, and a few weeks have passed, Dr. Kraus did not get any response. The information of 'Vecernji List' with the statement of the official of the Culture Ministry about the intention that 'Jasenovac would become the place of remembrance for all those that suffered in the Second World War and after it', published on November 13, was not denied, so it remains as a relevant fact.

President Tudjman spoke for the first time about the possibility of turning the memento to Ustashi victims into something else, as far back as 1993. He then came out with the idea that the victims of 'Bleiburg and Cross Road' be transferred there. The Jewish Community of Croatia immediately sent him a letter, expressing their dismay at the thought that the bones of the victims of the Ustashi terror be joined with the remains of those who are guilty for their pain and suffering.

Two years later, in the statement devoted to five years of independence of the Croatian state, president Tudjman brought out the idea on turning the Jasenovac Memorial Area into 'a Croatian memorial area for all war victims'. Croatian president did not even react to all the protests that this statement provoked. Soon after, in his Adress on the State and Unino in 1995, he stressed that the organization of the memorial area 'of all Croatian victims' in Jasenovac is needed out of 'historical, but also current political reasons'. This then, provoked reactions from the world.

Under their pressure, president Tudjman 'modified' his plan, uncovering suddenly that Jasenovac remained a camp even after the Second World War, and that there, along with the bones of victims of Fascism, are also the remains of those who were returning from Bleiburg, so that the bones are already mixed.