The commemoration began at 11 a.m., with an honorary greeting from the honorary unit of the Serbian Army Guard, and after that, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic paid tribute to the victims by laying wreaths at the Monument to the Victims of the infamous execution site, with the anthem of God of Justice, performed by the Serbian Army Orchestra.

Brnabić said that the fallen heroes defended us and all generations that come from evil that we must never and nowhere take root and against whose manifestations we must all fight together with all available means everywhere and always.

“In this place which at the same time symbolizes the mass resistance that these great people offered to the occupier at the cost of their lives, and this time I repeat the same message of resolute struggle against every form of fascism that was as important then as it is today and as it will be forever. “Heroes suffered with their lives, defended us and my generation and all those generations that come from that evil that we must never and nowhere take root and against whose manifestations we must all fight together with all available means everywhere and always,” Brnabić pointed out.

She said that today, Serbia, taught by the turbulent history and suffering of our people during the 20th century, is firmly committed to the path of peace.

“They say that the future belongs to those who remember the past the longest and for the longest time and have just been taught by the turbulent history and suffering of our people during the 20th century. Today, Serbia is firmly committed to the path of peace,” the Prime Minister said.

Slavko Milovanović, a survivor of the camp, states that many children, including him, spent their early childhood in camps and refugees.

“We former children-camp inmates were born when the war started in Europe or reached our country. We spent our early childhood in refugees, dugouts and camps, and most did not survive. The liberation of the country from fascist occupation, most survived without surviving parents and relatives , burned hearths and looted property “, stated Milovanović.

The ceremony is also attended by the Minister of Labor, Employment, Voters and Social Affairs Darija Kisić Tepavčević, Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Army Milan Mojsilović, representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the Serbian Army, representatives of the National Assembly, war veterans, camp survivors, descendants of victims …

Wreaths were also laid by the President of the Belgrade City Assembly Nikola Nikodijevic, representatives of the municipality of Vozdovac, SUBNOR Serbia, the Association of Detainees 1941-1945, the Alliance of the Jewish Community, the Jewish Community of Belgrade, the National Council of the Roma National Minority, the Association of the 6th Lika Division.

Members of the diplomatic corps and representatives of 38 foreign embassies in Serbia also paid tribute to the victims by laying white roses.

The artistic program “They are our memory” was performed as part of the commemoration, and the actors Ivana Žigon, Vjera Mujović, Grigorije Jakišić will speak the poem “My soul is a killed bird”.

In the poem on the occasion of marking the Day of Remembrance of the Victims in Jajinci, the texts of songs by Branko Miljković, Dušan Matić, Mak Dizdar were used.

Jajinci was the largest place of suffering on the territory of occupied Serbia in the Second World War, where, according to official, although probably inaccurate data, from the summer of 1941 to the fall of 1943, the Nazis shot 80,000 Serbs, Jews and Roma.

Men, women, members of the People’s Liberation Movement, anti-fascists, but also randomly arrested civilians were killed in Jajinci, as part of the revenge of the German occupying authorities in Belgrade, which issued a proclamation that 100 civilians must be killed for every German killed and a German wounded. 50 people must be killed.

Detainees from the Banjica camp and from Sajmište were brought to Jajinci and shot.

Before the Second World War, the shooting range in Jajinci served as the “School shooting range of the Belgrade garrison” of the army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, so that the German authorities could turn it into a place for executions.

The memorial park, within which the monument to the victims is located, was opened on October 20, 1964, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the entry of partisan forces into Belgrade.

Aleksandar Vucic says he will attend the 20th anniversary ceremony after a UN vote condemning the massacre was postponed.

The Serbian Prime Minister has announced that he will attend the commemoration of the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, hours after the UN Security Council postponed the debate on a 20th anniversary resolution.

“Tonight the government unanimously decided that I, as Prime Minister, will represent Serbia in Srebrenica on July 11, if the conditions are met.” Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday at a press conference in Belgrade.

Tonight the government unanimously decided that, as Prime Minister, I will represent Serbia in Srebrenica on July 11, if the conditions are met

Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Minister of Serbia

A UN Security Council vote on a resolution condemning the Srebrenica massacre as genocide has been postponed to Wednesday as Britain and the United States try to persuade Russia not to veto the memorial ceremony, diplomats said.

Vucic’s participation in the July 11 ceremony in eastern Bosnia will mark a milestone in reconciliation between the former Yugoslav republics after the wars of the 1990s that killed around 135,000 people.

“When I talked about the conditions, I thought of the position of (Srebrenica’s mayor) Camil Durakovic, mothers (of the victims) and the Muslim member of the (tripartite) presidency of Bosnia,” he said.

Durakovic and other prominent Bosniaks have spoken out against Vucic’s visit, particularly after Naser Oric, Srebrenica’s war commander in Switzerland, was recently arrested on a Serb war crimes arrest warrant.

Greater Serbia ideology

Former Serbian President Boris Tadic attended Srebrenica’s 15th anniversary in 2010, but Vucic, a former nationalist, is more closely associated with Greater Serbia ideology which has fueled much of the bloodshed.

On July 11, 1995, towards the end of the Bosnian War 1992-95, Bosnian Serb troops overran the eastern enclave of Srebrenica, an area designated by the United Nations as a “safe area”, and executed around 8,000 Muslims in the days that followed.

Serbia admitted in 2010 that a “serious crime” was taking place in Srebrenica and condemned the massacre for seeking closer ties with the West but not calling it genocide.

More on this story: 20th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica

Vucic said he had received assurances that the UN resolution on Srebrenica, which he described as “humiliating” for Serbia and the Serbian Republic, would not be adopted “in its current form”.

“During the day we had an enormous number of consultations with various representatives of countries that are members of the UN Security Council, and to the best of our knowledge, the resolution in its current form, in which Serbia and the Bosnian-Serb Republic are accused, undoubtedly not adopted in the Security Council Council, “he said.

He also thanked Russia, China and “other countries” for opposing the resolution.

Serbia and Russia are traditional allies sharing the Orthodox Christian faith and Slavic ethnic origin.