Minister Stefanović visits Banjica Concentration Camp Museum

On the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović, PhD, visited the Banjica Concentration Camp Museum in Belgrade. According to him, these horrific crimes remind us of why it is important for Serbia to be strong enough to protect its people.

According to the Minister of Defence, today we must remember all the people who gave their lives for freedom, who were killed just because they were Serbs, Jews or Roma, and because they were anti-fascists.

 - Those people believed in freedom. It is important that we do not forget them, so that such crimes would never happen again. I am glad that the Military Academy organises visits to this Museum for its cadets. I think it is important that all the children should come to this museum and visit the Sajmište concentration camp site and all the other similar places where people were killed because they loved their country. It is important that our children do not forget this and that they share this awareness so that such crimes would never happen again – Stefanović said, explaining why it was also important for our country to always be strong enough to protect its people.

He points out that the Banjica Concentration Camp Museum shows the horror experienced by tens of thousands of people, including children, women, the elderly, the victims of fascists and the Quisling regime.

- It is important that we remember and show that we have never come to terms with this, that we have always loved freedom and fought for it. Even today, Serbia is a truly freedom-loving and anti-fascist country, fully committed to those values. That is why we are strengthening our military and security forces, because we will not allow anything so horrible and monstrous to happen to any citizen of our country again. That is why Serbia has to be strong, to build strong armed forces and institutions and to always remember the people who gave their lives for freedom. I think that a message from a concentration camp prisoner ending in the following words “at least you will live, beloved Serbia“, speaks about the strength of our people’s spirit and the fact that we will never give up the fight for freedom, the Minister of Defence concluded.

 The Banjica Concentration Camp Museum is dedicated to the memory of the prisoners and victims of the Second World War Nazi concentration camp, where 24,000 prisoners were held.

During his visit to the Museum, Minister Stefanović laid a wreath at the monument to the people killed in the Banjica Concentration Camp on the occasion marking the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.