15.02.2021.
Exhibition “War Image of Serbia in Second World War, 1941–1945” opened in Memorial Museum in Kragujevac
On the occasion of Serbia’s Statehood Day and the 45th anniversary of the "21st October" Memorial Museum, Kragujevac, the exhibition "War Image of Serbia in the Second World War, 1941-1945" was opened tonight in that cultural institution.
The exhibition by a group of authors from the Military Archive, Military Museum, Požarevac Historical Archive and Media Centre "Defence", organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia and the City of Požarevac, was officially opened by Katarina Tomaševic, Assistant Minister of Defence for Human Resources.
She congratulated everyone present on the Statehood Day and conveyed the greetings from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović, PhD, emphasizing that this was a representative exhibition which, through a large number of museum exhibits and archival documents, showed the suffering, but also the constant defiance and fighting spirit of our people during the Second World War.
- It is no coincidence that, after the galleries of the Central Military Club in Belgrade, Kragujevac is hosting this exhibition. Because this is a city that suffered a lot, and it is our obligation to remind future generations what this city, like many other cities in Serbia, has survived, so it is the custodian of the testimony of some of the most tragic events during the war - said the Assistant Minister and added that the exhibition was an attempt to present the fateful period of the Second World War in our area in a clear and easy to understand way.According to her, Serbia suffered heavy casualties during the Second World War, but despite that, the people remained committed to preserving their freedom, religion and tradition in most difficult times.
- The occupier and its Nazi ideology never had our people’s support, and the desire for liberation could not be shaken by any threats, terror, mass crimes or even genocide. Liberation did not come at the point of foreigners’ bayonet, but as a result of the resolute fight of the Serbian people for freedom, said Katarina Tomašević and added that the exhibition managed to paint the full picture of the struggle of the Serbian people who had always had only one thing in mind, freedom.
Serbia chooses to remember, the Assistant Minister concludes, "not to forget, it chooses to respect what belongs to others, but it never relinquishes to others what belongs to us. Serbia has chosen to build a secure future on such a path."At the opening of the exhibition, which was also attended by the MoD’s Head of the Public Relations Department, Colonel Mihailo Zogović, PhD, presidents of the City Assemblies of Kragujevac and Požarevac, Miroslav Petrašinović and Predrag Mijatović, the director of the Šumarice Memorial Park Marijana Stanković and the director of the Požarevac Archive Jasmina Nikolić, also spoke.
The exhibition comprising 160 archival photographs and 80 documents from 30 funds and collections of 13 cultural institutions from seven cities in the Republic of Serbia, is the result of the research into archival materials, as the primary historical source and testimony about the events that marked the war years in our country in the early forties of the 20th century.
The guided tour of the exhibition was led by the authors, Jasmina Nikolić, PhD, Marijana Mraović, PhD, Nataša Milošević Dulić and Dragana Miloradović, PhD, as well as the authors of museological and art exhibitions, Vuk Obradović and Jelena Knežević.
The exhibition will be open in the “21st October“ Memorial Museum in Kragujevac until 15 March.
