The Mayor of Smederevo, Jasmina Vojinović, together with her associates Vesna Kiš Kostić and Aleksandra Mitić, today hosted a reception for Dr Lea Ganor, a guest from Israel whose work focuses on the Holocaust and the suffering in the Jasenovac camp.
Lea Ganor is a recognised expert, the founder and director of the Mashmaut Centre, a social historian and an international lecturer at universities across Europe and the USA. She has received numerous awards for her academic work.
The conversation between the Mayor of Smederevo, Jasmina Vojinović, and Dr Lea Ganor highlighted the importance of preserving the culture of remembrance and standing up for historical truth, and of educating young people about the suffering in the Second World War and about the universal values of tolerance, respect and peace.
“The culture of remembrance and educating young people about the suffering of the past play a key role in building any responsible and humane society.
Nurturing the truth about the Holocaust is not only a question of history, but also a question of the future of all peoples.
The City of Smederevo supports initiatives that contribute to a better understanding of history and to preventing the tragedies of the past, a cause also championed by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. We are fortunate to have at the head of the state a President who strives to resolve everything peacefully and through negotiation with all neighbouring countries, the countries of the former Yugoslavia and other states, while not allowing the victims of the Serbian people in the past to be forgotten.
We are grateful to Dr Lea Ganor for her contribution to the education of young people and for her readiness to share her knowledge and research with the pupils and teachers of Smederevo Grammar School,” the Mayor said, among other things.
Expressing her thanks and calling for cooperation between Smederevo and Kiryat Motzkin, the city she comes from, Dr Lea Ganor spoke to her hosts about her mission of making known the truth about the Holocaust.
She invited the City of Smederevo to cooperate on projects she is planning for the future, and in a video call at the end of the reception, the Mayor of Kiryat Motzkin invited the leadership of the City of Smederevo to visit his city in Israel.
Before the talks at the City Administration, Dr Lea Ganor, accompanied by the head teacher of Smederevo Grammar School, Aleksandar Marinković, toured Smederevo Fortress and then gave a lecture for the school’s history club and third-year pupils entitled “The hell called Jasenovac, a history of remembrance and testimony: the diary of Ervin Miler”.
