73rd anniversary of Novi Sad raid

NOVI SAD - The 73rd anniversary of the Novi Sad raid, when Hungarian fascists killed more than 1,300 Serbs, Jews and Roma in only 3 days in January 1942, was marked in Novi Sad on Friday.

Serbia's Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic and Autonomous Province of Vojvodina Parliament Speaker Istvan Pastor laid wreaths at the memorial called Family and dedicated to the victims of the raid.

Novi Sad Mayor, Serbian Orthodox Church officials, Israeli Ambassador Yossef Levy, Hungarian embassy officials, representatives of the Novi Sad Jewish community, officials of the Association of Jewish Municipalities, officials of Matica Romska and representatives of the victims descendants were also at the commemoration.

During the raid, which lasted from January 21 to 24, 1942, the Hungarian forces drove Serbian and Jewish civilians out of their homes, killed them in the streets or on the bank of the Danube and threw them into the ice-covered river.

Places like this one are where we pass the exam of life and forgiveness, Novi Sad Mayor Milos Vucevic told the crowd.
"If we pass this exam, we will live forever in peace and happiness," he noted, stressing that Novi Sad was presently sending a message that to accept differences guaranteed that such an evil would not come to pass again.

Selakovic told reporters that Hungarian fascists had killed more than 3,800 Serb, Jewish and Roma civilians in South Backa, an area in Vojvodina, in January 1942.
"Our gatherings and commemorations to the victims show that these crimes are remembered and that we are resolved to never let them be forgotten," he stated.

Chief rabbi in Serbia Isak Asijel performed a religious ceremony on behalf of the Jewish community, while Serbian Orthodox Church...