Exhibition "Field Marshal Petar Bojovic, symbol of glory and honour"
In the Grand Gallery of the Central Military Club, exhibition "Field Marshal Petar Bojovic – symbol of glory and honour", organized by the General Secretariat of the President of the Republic of Serbia, Odbrana Media Centre and Cacak National Museum, officially opened. It has been for the first time that the public was shown medals that the great Serbian Field Marshal had possessed.
The ceremony was attended by Defence Minister Zoran Djordjevic and Serbian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff General Ljubisa Dikovic with associates, Secretary General of the President of the Republic of Serbia, representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church and other numerous guests from the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces.
Opening the exhibition, Minister of Defence Zoran Djordjevic stressed that this act, seventy years after the death of the great military leader and a warrior, corrects the injustice and repays the debt of descendants to the man who, according to Nikola Pasic, is "one of our outstanding military leaders, who proved his allegiance to the fatherland and the Crown in all battles and fights. He has a big heart and an even bigger soul. He proved by his own life that it is easier to be a hero in war than in peace ... Guided by the officer’s knowledge and the officer's honour, he became a symbol of true loyalty to the fatherland and the people".
- How modern is the thought of Field Marshal Bojovic is testified by his writings on the military profession. "The army is organised and armed force of a country whose tasks are to defend the homeland from enemies outside and be support for law and order inside" ... Bojovic said. The Field Marshal has always been among the best, from school to the rank of field marshal. He was an intellectual, a writer, translator, and prominent personality among the soldiers and officers by his authority and reputation. In recent years, a sort of rehabilitation of his work and personality, merit and honour has started. For a long time, a large number of decorations thought to be lost, but by the behest of his family they survived and were formally exhibited for the first time after 56 years, at the Presidency of Serbia. With this exhibition we join in the celebration of 100 years since the First World War and present to the public and future generations the figure and the work of Field Marshal Petar Bojovic. It is a sort of reminder of who our ancestors were and what they were, Minister Djordjevic said, among other things.
Director of the Media Centre, Colonel Stevica Karapandzin, said something more about Petar Bojovic and the injustice that followed him through his career, pointing out that the number of those who fight for the refreshment of memories and elimination of injustices done to Field Marshal Petar Bojovic increases from day to day.
- This is a man of equal war-waging abilities compared to his peers, who was the leader in knowledge and education, a man sincerely pious, of very patriarchal upbringing, selfless in love for the younger ones and incontestable in listening the elders. But he was not submissive. He was a soldier of high moral principles, who built as early as in his parental home strong and firm positions of honour and dignity. Therefore, it is not easy to answer the question why was he neglected and humiliated for so long, Colonel Karapandzin said, adding that in order to answer this question one needs to possess the knowledge, dedication and hard work, and courage.
In the cultural and entertainment part of the ceremony, there participated String Quartet of the Stanislav Binicki Orchestra, actor Zdravko Maletic from Royal Serbian Theatre in Kragujevac, which evoked the figure and work of Field Marshal Petar Bojovic in a monodrama "On the carts to eternity" and Mixed Choir of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces.