Montenegro is strengthening the culture of remembrance and its future is built on truth and reconciliation, said the head of parliament and president of New Serbian Democracy Andrija Mandić.
He was in Krnovo yesterday, at the Lobanje Glave site, where, as announced by the Budimlje-Niksic Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, a memorial service was held for "the young men who perished in this area on August 25, 1944" organized by the association "Kosovo Peony of Niksic".
On that date, during World War II, the Partisan 7th Montenegrin Youth Strike Brigade in Krnovo launched an attack on the positions of Pavle Đurišić's Chetnik 8th "Iron" Regiment.
The memorial service was conducted by Metropolitan of Budimlje-Nikšić Serbian Orthodox Church Methodius.
The gathering, as announced by the diocese he heads, sent "a unified message to erect a memorial, a temple, at the site of the massacre in Krnovo, to collect all the names of the approximately 350 killed."
Methodius: The minority committed a crime against the majority
Metodije claims that there were thousands of members of the "Yugoslav army in the homeland" in Montenegro, and that "only two brigades were Montenegrin partisans."
"The whole of Montenegro at that time, and almost every male head, having jumped away from the criminals at the beginning of World War II, because of the 'dog graveyards' and the horrific crimes committed by the communists, went to the Yugoslav army in the homeland to defend their country. That's why there were thousands and thousands of members of that movement, only two brigades were Montenegrin partisans. And that was a minority that was later installed here in this area, committing crimes against the majority. That's why they killed hundreds without trial or verdict, including here in this place," said Metodije, in a video recording of the event released by Radio-Television Nikšić.
Mandić: Crime against the youth of Montenegro
Mandić said that in 1944, "a crime against the youth of Montenegro" occurred.
"Today, I attended a memorial service in Krnovo, which was served by the Metropolitan of Budimlje-Niksic, Mr. Metodije, with numerous clergy of that metropolis, and on that occasion laid a wreath in memory of over 300 beardless, mostly minor, young men of our country, who were brutally shot in a terrible war crime of fratricide in our homeland during World War II, and for which even today there is no known grave or marble. The fact that only one of them had his own offspring at the time he was killed speaks volumes about the magnitude of this crime against the youth of Montenegro," Mandić wrote on Iks.
He says that more than three hundred "bearded young men" died "by a fraternal hand, unarmed and without firing a single bullet", simply because they "believed in the Western allies and the kingdom that was their home before the occupation".
"Every human being has the right to a grave. Every Christian has the right to a funeral, and in this way we want to send a message that Montenegro is strengthening the culture of remembrance and that its future is built on truth and reconciliation. Precisely so that those who died in that fratricidal war are not forgotten, so that the truth can be reached and fraternal wounds can be healed, it is our duty not to allow their bones to continue to cry out in the numerous pits of Montenegro, but to enable them to have their own burial place as a sign of reconciliation for our country," said Mandić.
"To erect a memorial, a temple"
The Eparchy of Budimlje-Niksic of the Serbian Orthodox Church announced that Methodius, with the clergy and monks of that eparchy and the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral of the Serbian Orthodox Church, served a memorial service for "the youth who were killed 81 years ago on the Krnovo mountain ridges."
The event was attended, it was added, by descendants, relatives and admirers of the "innocent victims of the murdered young men" who, as Metodije said, "still have no known graves" even after so much time.
The president of the association "Kosovo Peonies of Nikšić City", Ilija Miljanić, said that they are organizing a tribute through a memorial service, in order to "rescue from oblivion and revive the memory of innocent suffering, in these desolate abysses of Krnovo."
"The memorial was commented on by the archpriests of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Mijajlo Backović and Predrag Šćepanović, and a unique message was sent to erect a memorial, a temple, at the site of the massacre in Krnovo, to collect all the names of about 350 people killed on August 25, 1944. The event was also attended by the President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Andrija Mandić," the diocese announced.
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