09.05.2021.

Ceremony commemorating Victory Day held at National Theatre

President Vučić: Lies must not defeat the truth, and the executioners must not become victims

The President of the Republic of Serbia and the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić, attended the ceremony held tonight at the National Theatre in Belgrade to mark the Victory over Fascism Day.

The ceremony was also attended by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Nebojša Stefanović, PhD, and the Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff, General Milan Mojsilović.

President Vučić began his address with the verses of "Krvava bajka", a poem by Desanka Maksimović, emphasizing that those verses, as well as the poem "Stojanka majka Knežopoljka" by Skender Kulenović, best described the tragedy of the Serbian people and everything that had happened in the Second World War.

“It is difficult for me to speak today, because although everyone in the modern world today says that they respect the victims of the horrors of war, there are a large number of people who are trying to change the course of history in every way and at any cost, and to declare the victim to be an executioner and the executioner a victim," said the President of Serbia.

According to President Vučić fewer countries than ever mark the Victory over Fascism Day, our region is witnessing a daily rewriting of facts and attempts to completely falsify history, so it is therefore up to us not to hide the truth, but speak openly about everything, so that lies do not defeat the truth.

He also points out that it is not a coincidence that the role of the Red Army is being underestimated today as well as the fact that 22 million Soviets, mostly Russians, gave their lives for the freedom of Europe.

“Serbia and the Serbian people firmly said NO to fascism in the 1940s, and no other people in the former Yugoslavia said it so clearly and so loudly." Fighting for bare life, Serbian people led the anti-fascist struggle making it a nationwide movement in the former Yugoslavia, which led to the final liberation," said President Vučić.

“To say that it wasn’t so is the same as saying that we are worthless, unnecessary and superfluous, and that is something that Serbia will not agree to," President Vučić emphasized.

“We do not have the right to do that, because forgetting what fascism was, what its goal was and what it did, would result in only one thing - allowing it to re-emerge in an even more grotesque form. That is why today we remind and warn everyone that the winners write history only when they are ready not to lie about it, while in all other cases history comes back to finally defeat them, and the Serbian people cannot and must not agree to that defeat after all the sacrifices we have made, which are measured in millions of human lives," said President Vučić.

President Vučić also added that there were too few Serbs to be able to withstand the devaluation again and that they would not agree to it.

“We will not agree to that, especially to that kind of humiliation here in the region, and especially not from those who greeted Hitler's army with flowers while Belgrade was bombed, destroyed and trampled upon and who carried out the most horrible pogrom and destruction of the Serbian people, worse than any other nation had ever experienced in this area before" said President Vučić, adding that it was no coincidence that they were trying to cover up and hide the truth in a bestial way.

“Perhaps that would be understandable, if it were not for the brutal and senseless attempts to make Serbs, who are victims, executioners and culprits for other people’s crimes. Thus, Serbs are also guilty today of having opposed the Ustasha," said the President of Serbia, adding that he was proud of the fact that he was leading a generation of people who wanted and would keep peace, who would protect their past, present and future bravely and with dignity, and not bow their heads and tell lies to please anyone.

“Our ancestors vowed to make solidarity, cooperation and understanding reign in this region and that is a vow we must fulfil, because they fought for that and for nothing else. They fought for us all to have the same chances and the same rights, to be appreciated for what we do, and not for being supporters of one policy or another. Those who defeated fascism knew all this very well", said President Vučić and added that the real victory over fascism was the unification of all the people on this continent through the principles of equality, solidarity and cooperation, through the rejection of all theories about more and less valuable people.

“None of this will be possible if we forget what caused fascism and with what moral principles we defeated it. To give those principles up means to give up the future where there is room for everybody, where no one will be superfluous and worthless," President Vučić emphasized.

Besides President Vučić, the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik and the President of the Union of War Veterans
of the National Liberation Wars of Serbia Vidosav Kovačević, also addressed the audience.

At the end of the ceremony, a fireworks display was set off.

The ceremony, organized by the Serbian Government’s Committee for Nurturing the Traditions of the Liberation Wars of Serbia, was also attended by representatives of the National Assemblies of Republika Srpska and the Republic of Serbia, ministers, Second World War veterans, representatives of associations and others.

The Second World War Victory over Fascism Day - May 9, which is the national holiday in Serbia, was marked by a series of events at the weekend, from laying wreaths to concerts and fireworks, to a gun salute fired from the Sava Terrace with the highest military honours.