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“Great School Hour” held in Sumarice

Kragujevac, 21 October 2023

The traditional “Great School Hour” commemoration, dedicated to the civilian victims of the war crime committed by the German occupation forces on 21 October 1941, was held in Kragujevac today, where many state and city officials laid wreaths at the monument in Sumarice.

After the playing of the national anthem, wreaths were laid at the “Monument to the Students and Teachers Shot“ by Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, Speaker of the Serbian parliament Vladimir Orlic, Envoy to the President of the Republic Milorad Veljovic, President of the Constitutional Court Snezana Markovic, students of the First Kragujevac Gymnasium, Mayor of Kragujevac Nikola Dasic and others.

The commemoration was also attended by German Ambassador to Serbia Anke Konrad, Austrian Ambassador Christian Ebner, Polish Ambassador Rafal Perl and Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina Aleksandar Vranjes, as well as representatives of the embassies of the USA, France, Great Britain, Slovakia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Tribute to the killed civilians was also paid by representatives of twin cities of Kragujevac from Romania, Poland, France, Germany and Republika Srpska.

The acting ensemble of the Princely Serbian Theatre from Kragujevac, under the direction of Marko Misiraca, performed Darko Cvijetic's poem "Murmur of Sumarice".

Before the “Great School Hour”, a prayer service was held near the “Monument to the Students and Teachers Shot“.

As retaliation for the resistance movement, in which 10 German Wehrmacht soldiers were killed and 26 wounded, 2,796 civilians from Kragujevac were executed by shooting.

Among those shot, there were 300 students and teachers of the First Kragujevac Gymnasium, who were taken from their classrooms to be shot in Sumarice.