The President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Andrija Mandić, today in Kamniška Bistrica laid a wreath at the memorial dedicated to the victims of the Zidan Bridge, saying that cultivating a culture of remembrance and condemning the crimes of all totalitarian regimes is key to social reconciliation.
As announced by the Parliament, during their visit to the Metropolitanate of Zagreb-Ljubljana, Mandić and the President of the Board of Directors of the Electric Power Company (EPCG), Milutin Đukanović, spoke with the administrator of the Metropolitanate - Bishop Kirill of Buenos Aires and South Central America.
Mandić thanked fellow politicians from Slovenia who attended the service, and whose efforts, among other things, led to the construction of a chapel in Kamniška Bistrica.
He added that he is convinced that on the path to full membership in the European Union (EU), Montenegro will adopt all European acquis concerning the condemnation of the crimes of all totalitarian regimes during and after World War II, because, as he said, this has proven to be the key recipe for reconciliation on the Old Continent.
"Cultivating a culture of remembrance for the innocent victims is precisely the way to heal all those wounds that have divided our society for generations," the statement says.
Mandić noted that the New Serbian Democracy (NSD) has already twice initiated the adoption of a Resolution condemning the crimes of totalitarian communist regimes, in accordance with Council of Europe Resolution 1481/2006.
He added that he is confident that over time he will secure the necessary majority for Montenegro to adopt this European acquis as the first future EU member state.
Mandić, as announced by the Parliament, spoke the day before at the promotion of the book "The Path of Suffering - Chronicle of the Golgotha of the People of Montenegro and Boka Kovac 1944-1945" by author Srđa Trifković, in the parish hall of the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Ljubljana.
"Professor Srđa's book is not an ordinary historical study. It is a call to look into the eyes of a long-silenced wound of our people - calmly, with dignity, without hatred, but also without fear of the truth," said Mandić.
As he stated, that path of suffering, from Montenegro and Boka Bay, from the Vezir Bridge to the Zidani Most and the Slovenian execution sites, was not just a military retreat.
"It was the Golgotha of a people, clergy, wounded, families, people who, in the whirlwind of the end of World War II, brought with them the hope of saving their lives, and many of them received neither a court, nor a grave, nor a name on the cross," said Mandić.
He added that this is why the book is important.
"It does not open old wounds to divide us again, but to show that there is no true reconciliation without the truth. A healthy future cannot be built on silence. One cannot seek brotherhood if one does not acknowledge one's brother's pain. And a state cannot be just if it forgets its suffering citizens, no matter what their names were, which army they belonged to, what ideas they were guided by or what fate they carried," said Mandić.
As he said, Trifković did an important scientific and human job with this work.
"As was emphasized at the promotion in Podgorica, this is a work that strives for an objective, fact-based and calm view of the tragic events of late 1944 and the first half of 1945. This is exactly the approach we need - not shouting, not revenge, not new division, but the truth that heals," added Mandić.
He pointed out the importance of all those who have preserved the memory for decades when it was easier to remain silent – "our Church, the blessedly departed Metropolitan Amfilohije, Metropolitan Joanikije, the families of the victims, researchers, witnesses, as well as people like Dušan Niklanović and Čed Vukmanović, who, with their work and testimony, lifted the veil of oblivion from this tragedy."
"Tonight, in the parish house of the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius, like these great saints, we send a fraternal and Christian message: we remember, but we do not hate; we seek the truth, but we do not seek revenge; we respect the victims, but we do not want new divisions," said Mandić.
He stated that Trifković's book should be another cornerstone in the culture of remembrance, but also the foundation of future reconciliation.
"May it help every innocent suffering receive its name, every victim its prayer, every family the right to the truth, and our society the strength to rise above the ideological trenches of the past," said Mandić.
He congratulated Trifković on his significant work and thanked everyone who helped bring it to readers.
"Eternal remembrance of all the innocent victims. May their sacrifice be the seed of our reconciliation, our unity and our responsibility before God, history and descendants," concluded Mandić.
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