Holocaust most shameful and hideous crime in history

BELGRADE - Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said on Tuesday at a commemoration ceremony marking January 27, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, that the Holocaust is the most shameful and hideous crime in entire human history, underscoring that Serbia will never forget the crimes that were committed against its own citizens and the friendly Jewish people.

With state and military honors, the president, who laid a wreath at the Memorial to the victims of genocide in World War II, reminded the present that this year marks a significant anniversary- 70 years since the victory over fascism.

"Seventy years ago, the wire gates of the camps for destruction of one people were torn down. Inside the walls, there were people who built a wall within themselves, people who did not believe that freedom is possible any more. Efforts have been invested for 70 years now in determining the truth about the suffering in the Holocaust. Will the truth be imprinted in the memory of the generations to come, this depends on the efforts put in by each and every one of us," Nikolic said, laying a wreath at the memorial, erected within the former death camp at Staro Sajmiste in New Belgrade.

For that reason precisely, insisting on marking the anniversary of the victory over fascism is today more significant than ever, he stressed.

Around 35,000 Jews who had lived in Serbia before World War II were discriminated against, stripped of their rights and robbed during the occupation, with the final goal being the mass extermination of the entire nation, the Serbian president said.

As a result, over 67,000 Jews and 650,000 Serbs in the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia lost their lives, added Nikolic.

"Staro Sajmiste, where we are now, is one...