Representatives of Town of Trogir and Anti-Fascist Association Present to President Milanović Plan for Establishing El Shatt Memorial Center on Drvenik

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović received today representatives of the town of Trogir and the Association of Anti-Fascist Fighters and Anti-Fascists of Trogir. The Mayor of Trogir Ante Bilić, Deputy Mayor of Trogir Viktor Novak, President of the Association of Anti-Fascist Fighters and Anti-Fascists of Trogir Drago Mindoljević and member of the association Mladen Krnić informed President Milanović of their activities related to preserving the memory of the El Shatt refugee camp in Egypt.

The association, with the support of municipal authorities of Trogir and experts, has already reconstructed and arranged the existing monument “Mourning Mother – Mother of the Homeland” on Drvenik Island, and the installation of additional stone tablets with the names of the deceased fugitives in El Shatt is underway. At the meeting, they said that their plan is to establish a Memorial Center on Drvenik that would permanently preserve the memory of El Shatt, a refugee camp in the desert on the Sinai Peninsula that housed almost 25,000 Croatian refugees, mostly from Dalmatia. These were civilians who had to be evacuated from Croatia during the Second World War and found temporary refuge in Egypt, where they spent 18 months.

President Milanović extended his support to the idea of establishing a Memorial Center alongside the existing monument on Drvenik Island. During his recent official stay in Egypt, President Milanović visited the memorial cemetery in El Shatt and paid tribute to more than 800 Croatian refugees who died during the escape and were buried there.

President Milanović was accompanied by the Adviser to the President of the Republic for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan