22.08.2024.

Exhibition “Liberation of Serbia in 1944” opens to mark Military Museum Day

To commemorate the Military Museum Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Serbia, the exhibition "Liberation of Serbia in 1944" was opened today in the gallery of this cultural institution in Kalemegdan Park. The exhibition was opened by Acting Assistant Minister for Human Resources Siniša Radović.

He congratulated all employees on the Military Museum Day and said that since its foundation, the Military Museum had played a significant role in Serbian museology and culture and that it had always shared the fate of its people, army and country.

According to Assistant Minister Radović, Serbian history remembers and chronicles invasions by the greatest powers and empires known to mankind, from which the Serbian people had to defend themselves in order to preserve their very existence and the right to freedom.

- Our people endured enormous and unimaginable sacrifices and suffering, made efforts beyond endurance and did not give in. It is our duty to remember and document that. That is the culture of remembrance, and this day is part of it, as well. In 1941, a never-seen-before force fell on our country. In a battle resembling that between David and Goliath, the soldiers of the Yugoslav Royal Army, mostly made up of the Serbian people, once again performed incredible feats, but they could not prevent the occupation of the country - recalled Assistant Minister Radović.

According to him, squadrons of soldiers were organized in all areas populated by Serbs to fight against the occupation, and “driven by the spirit of freedom, they tirelessly dealt blows to a much stronger opponent."

- The exhibition before us is a way to pay tribute to the great struggle, but also to remember the sacrifices our ancestors made so that today we could have this country to live in and the freedom to enjoy - said Assistant Minister Radović and added that "the exhibits are a testament to the fact that the road to freedom is difficult and full of suffering, but also that the readiness to sacrifice is what makes a winner". He concluded his speech by declaring the exhibition open.

Addressing the audience, the acting director of the Military Museum, Major Mile Miković, said that the Military Museum was one of the symbols of Belgrade's recognizability and the guardian of the history and traditions of our armed forces, but also of all the achievements in our people’s centuries-long fight for freedom.

- The museum's collections hold objects that are witnesses of time and events in our territory from the birth of human civilization to the present day. The work and efforts of generations of experts are woven into this establishment - said Major Miković.

According to him, the exhibition “Liberation of Serbia in 1944” is dedicated to one in a series of victories won by our people in its long history, to a fight whose main motive was a pure and just thought –liberation from the occupiers.

The authors of the exhibition are the Military Museum curators, Petar Žarković and Nikola Todorović. "Liberation of Serbia in 1944" illustrates the turning points in the fight for freedom, through special segments displaying the weapons and military equipment used in the fight against the occupiers during the Second World War, as well as unit insignia and personal belongings of the participants in military operations conducted to liberate Serbia.

The Military Museum Day celebration was attended by the Head of the Training and Doctrine Department, Serbian Armed Forces General Staff, Brigadier General Muharem Fazlić, the Head of the Department for Tradition, Standards and Veterans, Colonel Đorđe Kalanj, members of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, and representatives of cultural institutions.

The exhibition “Liberation of Serbia in 1944” is open until October 13.