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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

State officials pay tribute to fallen soldiers in First World War

Belgrade, 11 November 2021

Speaker of the Serbian parliament Ivica Dacic and Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs and President of the Committee for Nurturing the Traditions of the Liberation Wars of Serbia Darija Kisic Tepavcevic laid wreaths today at the Memorial Ossuary of Belgrade Defenders in the First World War at the New Cemetery.

Wreaths were also laid by delegations from the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Army, Deputy Mayor of Belgrade Goran Vesic, representatives of associations committed to nurturing the traditions of the liberation wars of Serbia, descendants of the Karadjordjevic royal family and the diplomatic corps.

On this occasion, Dacic said that today is a day of great pride for our people and pointed out that we are obliged to remember their sacrifice not only today, but every day.

Dacic said that in the summer days of 1914, it was clear to our ancestors what they had to do and they did not ask why they had to put on a uniform and take a rifle, even though only a year had passed since they left their rifles and took off their uniforms which they had worn in the Balkans wars.

There is no house in Serbia that did not make a sacrifice. The whole world admired our country and bowed to our heroes, said Dacic and reminded that at the peace conference in Versailles in 1919, it was said that Serbia lost 1,250,000 of the total population, which represented a third of its population, and 60 percent of its male population of working age.

He underlined that few countries could raise from the ashes after that and recover.

Who, apart from Serbia, moved on as the winner into renewal? There are few such peoples, he stated and added that we are not the only ones talking about our heroes in this way. He cited the words of French General Franchet d'Espèrey who said that these heroes are peasants, free and proud of their race, masters of their fields.

Dacic underlined that the price we paid was huge, but it also shows the value of what we defended.

Serbia remembers its grandfathers and great-grandfathers, its mothers of a century ago, their desire to be free and live as they want. We may have forgotten that heroism in the past, but today we are here to say that it will never happen again. They had a reason to live, we have something to remember and celebrate, Dacic said, and on behalf of the whole of Serbia, he paid tribute to the heroes who were buried in Belgrade, but also throughout Serbia, the Balkans, Europe and the world.

Dacic recalled that on this day in 1931, many people from all over the world came to the New Cemetery in Belgrade to attend the consecration of the Memorial Ossuary to the defenders of Belgrade in the First World War, and stated that even then, the defenders of Belgrade were honoured, as well as all those who gave their lives for freedom.

Armistice Day in the First World War is marked in memory of 11 November 1918, when a truce was signed in the French city of Compiegne, which put an end to the war.