{"id":8377,"date":"2025-06-26T09:15:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T09:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fondacijasnd.rs\/a-memorial-plaque-with-text-by-dobrica-cosic-was-placed-at-slobodiste-in-krusevac-in-memory-of-over-700-serbs-jews-and-roma-executed-during-world-war-ii\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T08:06:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T08:06:29","slug":"a-memorial-plaque-with-text-by-dobrica-cosic-was-placed-at-slobodiste-in-krusevac-in-memory-of-over-700-serbs-jews-and-roma-executed-during-world-war-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fondacijasnd.rs\/en\/a-memorial-plaque-with-text-by-dobrica-cosic-was-placed-at-slobodiste-in-krusevac-in-memory-of-over-700-serbs-jews-and-roma-executed-during-world-war-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"A memorial plaque with text by Dobrica \u0106osi\u0107 was placed at Slobodi\u0161te in Kru\u0161evac in memory of over 700 Serbs, Jews, and Roma executed during World War II"},"content":{"rendered":"

In memory of more than 700 innocent executed Serbs, Jews, and Roma between 1941 and 1944, on 26 June 2025 a memorial plaque was installed in the Slobodi\u0161te Memorial Park in Kru\u0161evac as part of Vidovdan celebrations. The plaque features an excerpt from the text \u201cCharters in the Name of the Living,\u201d spoken by writer and academic Dobrica \u0106osi\u0107 at this very site exactly six decades ago. The Foundation \u201cFor the Serbian People and State\u201d donated funds for the creation and installation of the monument at a place that is more than just a geographical point on the map of Kru\u0161evac. It is a space of remembrance and a symbol of the struggle for values that must be preserved through generations.<\/p>\n

The unveiling ceremony was attended by Mayor Ivan Manojlovi\u0107, director of the National Museum Nikola Panteli\u0107, director of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments Kraljevo Office Katarina Gruji\u0107, representatives from the Ministry of Science and Technological Development, and representatives of public institutions and companies from Kru\u0161evac. The event was also marked by a performance of the children\u2019s choir of the Kru\u0161evac Cultural Centre, which sang the national anthem of the Republic of Serbia.<\/p>\n

The memorial plaque represents a moral backbone and conscience in stone, said Nikola Panteli\u0107, director of the National Museum in Kru\u0161evac.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this site, Bogdan Bogdanovi\u0107 created in 1965 not a monument, but a place of silence, respect, and eternal remembrance. A place that does not shout but speaks louder than many want to hear. With this, we do not intend to close the past, but to open new doors of memory and responsibility. To remind ourselves and others that freedom is not a gift. It is won. With blood, pain, and sacrifice. I would also add that the \u2018Charter in the Name of the Living,\u2019 a text by Dobrica \u0106osi\u0107, was spoken here exactly six decades ago. It is not a literary work in the narrow sense. It is conscience in speech. The pledge of a generation that survived the war but did not forget the sacrifice,\u201d Panteli\u0107 said, thanking the Foundation on behalf of all those who preserve the memory of the victims shot at Slobodi\u0161te for their noble donation that enabled the creation of this important monument.<\/p>\n

Slobodi\u0161te is not just a place of suffering. It is a place of pledge. And may this plaque be a new word in that book of remembrance. A quiet reminder that freedom is priceless, and that forgetting has consequences. In a time when history is often rewritten and values relativised, such places and words bring us back to what is essential \u2014 human dignity and truth.<\/p>\n

With this act, it has once again been confirmed that the culture of remembrance in Serbia is not a burden of the past, but an obligation towards the future.<\/p>\n