President Milanović Visits World War II Croatian Refugees’ Memorial Cemetery at El Shatt
The President of the Republic of Croatia Zoran Milanović visited the Croatian memorial cemetery of World War II Refugees at El Shatt, Egypt, where he laid a wreath and lit a candle in tribute to more than 800 Croatian refugees who died and were buried there during their exodus. The visit to the Croatian memorial cemetery at El Shatt launched President Milanović’s Official visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt where he arrived with his wife Professor Sanja Musić Milanović at the invitation of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
After the visit to the cemetery, President Milanović stated that the memorial cemetery is one of those impressive famous places. “You hear how those people, our Dalmatians, ended up here in an exodus in 1944 because there were probably not enough provisions in Italy. They came here, 800 people died, but nonetheless the majority of them returned home”, President Milanović noted. He added that there are considerations to relocate these memorials to Croatia.
“I am Dalmatian on my father’s side, from those areas, although there weren’t people from there in the exodus, but just a few kilometres farther, people fled from there. I feel like I am part of this, it could have happened to my father. It didn’t because a few kilometres made the difference”, President Milanović stated after visiting the Croatian memorial cemetery at El Shatt.
The Croatian memorial cemetery is where the El Shatt refugee camp was located in the Sinai Peninsula desert. There were approximately 25,000 Croatian refugees, mostly from Dalmatia, who were evacuated to Egypt during World War II, and spent 18 months there. Following the visit to the memorial cemetery, President Milanović met with the Governor of the Suez Governorate Abdul Majid Saqr and the Commander of the 3rd Army of the Egyptian Armed Forces Major General Shereef Gouda Elaraishy.
Alongside President Milanović and his wife Sanja Musić Milanović were the Head of the Office of the President of the Republic Orsat Miljenić, the Adviser to the President for Foreign and European Policy Neven Pelicarić, and the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to the Arab Republic of Egypt Tomislav Bošnjak.
During his visit to the Sinai, President Milanović will visit the city of Ismailia where he is scheduled to meet with the Suez Canal Authority and its President Admiral Ossama Rabie. The President will attend a presentation of the operations of the Suez Canal.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas