Wiesenthal Center Urges Bosnian Government To Ban Memorial Mass For Ustasha Murderers

Jerusalem –The Simon Wiesenthal Center today urged the Bosnian government to ban a memorial mass scheduled forSaturday, May 16 in Sarajevo to honor the memory of Croatians murdered in Slovenia by Tito's partisans. The overwhelming majority of the people being commemorated were Ustasha Nazi collaboratorsattempting to escape justice in the immediate aftermath of World War II.

Among those to be honored is, for example, prominent Ustasha Maks Lubuvic, who was in charge of all the concentration campsestablished in the Independent State of Croatia, where hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma, and anti-fascist Croatians were brutally murdered.

The ceremony is scheduled to be performed by Archbishop Vinko Puljić, the highest ranking clergyman of the Catholic Church inBosnia.

According to Zuroff:
"Honoring one of the biggest criminals of the genocidal Ustasha state (NDH) is not only an insult to itsvictims and their families, but also to all those who opposed the crimes committed by the Ustasha.
"We would greatly appreciate it if your government would prevent this travesty of memory and justice fromtaking place."

For additional information please contact the Israel Office of the Wiesenthal Center: Tel: 972-2-563-1274 or Tel: 972-50-721-4156, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal @EZuroff for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament(Parlatino).