SDP leader opposes proposed Macelj memorial site

Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), has criticized the plan to establish a public memorial institution in Macelj, calling it ‘deeply wrong’. The proposal, supported by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Homeland Movement (DP) leader Ivan Penava, aims to create a memorial site that the SDP argues attempts to equate different sides of historical conflicts following World War II.

Hajdaš Dončić stated that the initiative is ‘pure politics’ and would deepen societal divisions. While acknowledging the tragedies faced by young men forcibly mobilized into the Croatian Armed Forces in 1945, he rejected the specific institutional model proposed by the HDZ and DP. Instead, he suggested that a ‘law on democratic remembrance’ could be developed through serious societal dialogue to honor victims from all mass graves without the current controversial framework.