In Houston, due to pressure from the Serbian Association of Texas and the visit of historian Gideon Greif , the memorial plaque that minimized the significance and monstrosity of the Jasenovac death camp has finally been removed.
The controversial memorial plaque, erected in 2023 in the Holocaust memorial park in northern Houston, contained an inscription that reduced the number of Serbs killed in Jasenovac to 45-52 thousand, which caused negative reactions and condemnation from the Serbian community in Houston.
At the time of the memorial park’s opening, the Republic of Croatia was the chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which the Serbian community in Houston interprets as the main reason for falsifying the truth about Jasenovac and the forensically established fact that the government of the Independent State of Croatia killed over 700,000 people in Jasenovac, mostly Serbs.
CONTROVERSIAL PLAQUE REPLACED: The first plaque with the wrong number of victims was removed, the second remained
On this occasion, the newly formed Serbian Association of Texas sent protest letters to the owner of the memorial park, Ms. Rosalie Jerome of the Holocaust Remembrance Association, which resulted in promises that the controversial inscription would be removed.
However, this did not happen at that time, neither at the insistence of the Serbian Association of Texas nor at last year’s appeal by Mr. Damjan Jović, then the Consul General of the Republic of Serbia in Chicago, to whom Ms. Jerome also promised to remove or correct the inscription.
The Serbs in Houston were finally helped by the celebrated Israeli historian Gideon Greif , a world expert on the issues of Jasenovac and Auschwitz, who responded to the invitation of the Serbian Association of Texas to visit the United States. Mr. Greif gave a series of lectures in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Houston in the past two weeks, about which the Serbian Times wrote and was one of the sponsors and organizers.
HIS ARRIVAL ACCELERATED THE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM; Professor Gideon Greif in Houston
Although Ms. Jerome avoided meeting with Mr. Greif in Houston, on Friday, March 21, the delegation of the Serbian Association of Texas and Mr. Greif found a new memorial plaque in the memorial park, while the controversial one had been removed, to the joy of the Serbian community.
One of the donors to the memorial park was also the Republic of Croatia, which the Serbian community in Houston interprets as the main reason for falsifying the truth about Jasenovac and the forensically established fact that the government of the Independent State of Croatia killed over 700,000 people in Jasenovac, mostly Serbs.
Mr. Greif also gave a lecture at the Holocaust Museum in Houston in defense of the Jasenovac truth, comparing Auschwitz and Jasenovac and emphasizing the monstrosity of the Ustasha crime, which surpassed the Nazi one.
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CRIMES IN JASENOVAC: Professor Greif’s lecture
The Serbian Association of Texas particularly emphasizes the lack of reaction from the leaders of the Serbian diaspora in America, from whom support was sought, and especially from church dignitaries. Moreover, according to our source, Houston parish priest Dejan Tiosavljević spoke at the opening of the memorial park in November 2023 and blessed the event.
Text: Serbian Times Photo: Udruženje Srba Teksasa
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