16.03.2018.
Renewal of the Monument of Gratitude to France is a renewal of grateful memory
- One hundred years is not too long for Serbia to forget how much good and evil it shared with France, Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin said at a press conference at the French Embassy in Belgrade on the occasion of marking and announcing the events related to the centenary of the end of the First World War.
- Serbia did not forget that it spent the time of the First World War fighting on the same side of the world, for the same values and the same ideas with the people of France. Both in the First and the Second World War we shared the same troubles, the same values and the same hope that freedom would be possible and achievable. Both Serbia and France experienced crimes, expulsions, occupations and did not stop fighting for freedom. In these hundred years, Serbia did not cease to remember this great friendship and therefore the renewal of the Monument to France at Kalemegdan is the renewal of the grateful memory and renewal of the values that connect us and for which France and Serbia were on the same, better side of the world, the Minister of Defence said and added that this is our way of saying that Serbia is proud of its history and those with whom it shares it, and that it will never allow its revision.Minister Vulin pointed out that a hundred years was too short time to forget who was where.
- It is short for us to forget who shared the misfortunes, the troubles and the joy of winning along with Serbia - Minister Vulin said and thanked the Government of the French Republic for a great understanding and assistance to make famous jubilees so important and dignified.
Minister Aleksandar Vulin thanked all citizens of the Republic of Serbia who, even in difficult times, "when politics used to interfere with the feelings of our people", they never stopped respecting and loving this monument.
- The Monument of Gratitude to France is a monument of our collective self-esteem just as it is a sign of our sincere respect and honest affection that the Serbs feel towards the French people. I look forward to its renewal just as I look forward to meeting the high-ranking officials who I believe will discover it, and I look forward to continuing the sincere support and cooperation of two great and important European peoples, the Serbs and the French - said the Minister of Defence.Speaking about the co-operation between the two armies during the First World War, Frederic Mondoloni, Ambassador of the French Republic in Belgrade pointed out that large victories in the battlefield would not be possible if since the beginning of the war, in the summer of 1914 already, an active military cooperation was not established between the French and the Serbian armies.
- France sent military experts and financially assisted Serbia to equip itself, and entry of France into a major military conflict did not occur in 1915, as it has often been stated. During the German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian offensive in 1915, the French fleet evacuated more than 200,000 people - civilians and soldiers to the island of Corfu, where the Serbian army recovered - the Ambassador of the French Republic in Belgrade reminded.
He said that, in order to pay tribute to the great history and common memories of our ancestors, who fought together shoulder to shoulder, France will organize a series of events during the year. Ambassador Mondoloni pointed out that works on the renewal of the Memorial of Gratitude at Kalemegdan are under way, and in this regard, he thanked Minister Vulin, who on behalf of the Government Commission, signed the documents necessary for the commencement of the renewal.
The Ambassador announced that the French Institute in Serbia will organize a traveling exhibition that will make a tour of many cities in Serbia, and will consist of documents and photographs collected by historians, especially of documents and stories that Serbian citizens will wish to share with the organizer, and in this regard, he sent an invitation to all those who dispose of such material to deliver them in order to make the exhibition as successful as possible.
The Ambassador of the French Republic has announced other events to mark the great jubilee - projections of films, manifestations, award ceremonies and sacral ceremonies, and as he said, there will be academic debates and historical analyses.
At the press conference he presented a logo dedicated to the friendship of France and Serbia and said that his country is proud because it is a friend of Serbia.
- We are marking the past but we are oriented to cooperation in the future.
State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Veterans and Social Affairs, Negovan Stanković, pointed out that Serbia has always waged liberation and never invading wars. He recalled that our country started with marking the important dates of the Great War in 2014.
- Serbia has more than 6000 war memories and they are evidence how and where all our ancestors left their lives. The Monument of Gratitude to France is the only memorial that is not dedicated to our people or the army, but to a foreign country, Stanković said and confirmed that the Serbian Government allocated 22 million dinars for its reconstruction.
The plan of reconstruction and the future appearance of the Monument of Gratitude to France was presented by the director of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Belgrade, Nela Mićović, who expressed the expectation that the works on the monument will be completed by the end of August.
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Zoran Djordjević and ambassadors of Allied states in the First World War of Morocco and Belgium attended the press conference at the Embassy of the Republic of France in Belgrade.
