Painful memories of the horrors and victims of the Second World War in Ulcinj stood in the obelisk on the most prominent point of Pinješ - above Pristan.
"In honor of the fallen fighters, numerous monuments were erected, the most famous of which is 'Sloboda' above Mala Plaža, which symbolizes brotherhood, unity, freedom and peace, and the monument to the patriots shot in 1943 under Bijela Gora", it is briefly written in an old brochure about Ulcinj monuments.
"Sloboda" powerfully dominates the attractive space for decades and defiantly bears witness to the 172 victims of the anti-fascist movement in the southernmost city.
Built in the eighties of the last century, according to the conceptual design of the Belgrade architect Miodrag Živković, the monument has not shone in its full glory even after almost four decades.
"Only an obelisk was built without any other content, without notice and a plaque with the names of those in whose honor it was erected: fighters for the liberation of Ulcinj from 1878 until the end of the Second World War... Instead of testifying to tens of thousands of tourists and guests about the sacrifices and love of freedom members of three peoples living in Ulcinj and its surroundings, 'Sloboda' has become a witness of forgetfulness, negligence and inattention to the city's rich history", the then president of Ulcinj SUBNOR, the late Blažo Jančić and his associate Žarko Mirović, wrote to the leaders of the republican SUBNOR at the time .
It is still the same today, and the monument is defaced with graffiti.
Only last year, the municipality announced a tender for the selection of the most favorable bidder for the project of ground-level landscaping around "Sloboda".
The value of the works is around 30 thousand euros, the most favorable bidder was chosen, but the works are delayed due to the epidemiological situation in the city and a draft in the city coffers. No one mentions the name plate and the whitewashing of the building...
Ulcinj was liberated on November 26, 1944, but the Municipality has not celebrated that day for more than two decades, but the first Saturday of April, which symbolizes the beginning of the season, the end of the olive harvest and the departure of sailors to the ships. Until a few years ago, fighters from Ulcinj regularly gathered to celebrate Liberation Day...
"Citizens of Ulcinj can be proud of their contribution to the victory of the anti-fascist coalition, even though they lived in particularly difficult conditions and were mostly cut off from other parts of Montenegro. We have nothing to be ashamed of, we have preserved unity and friendship in our municipality despite attempts to disrupt it." , said Jančić at one of the last celebrations of the Liberation Day in Ulcinj.
He then recalled that the Italian and German occupiers persistently tried to quarrel Albanians and Montenegrins in Ulcinj, in order to prevent the momentum of the National Liberation Movement (NOP).
"Different composition of the population, religious and national diversity, low educational level, close proximity to the sea and Lake Skadar, where there were strong occupation forces, and a number of other circumstances, influenced the mass of the NOP in Ulcinj. Propaganda also influenced this, but and the fact that Ulcinj was cut off from other parts of Montenegro," reminded Jančić, writes in one of the information bulletins of SUBNOR Montenegro.
Jančić then said "that experience has shown countless times that revolutionary processes and changes are never initiated by the nation as a whole, but always by the progressive and social strata of each nation, and there were few such cases in our area".
In order to prevent the NOP from gaining wider support from the Albanian population, the occupiers did not shy away from brutal confrontations...
"When they failed to get the cooperation of Marko Nuculović, they caught him by deception and shot him on August 17, 1941. He was the first victim of the NOP, which was not accidental, it was the intention to intimidate the Albanian population, which in the movement took more and more participation," the archive says.
The municipal leadership saw through the intentions and actions of the occupier "to divide the traditional friendship and coexistence of Albanians and Montenegrins".
"The NOP of Ulcinj established a connection with the NOP of Montenegro through Shkodra, because we were cut off. But even that route was threatened by the treachery of the occupation's collaborators and helpers, when Vaso Strugar and Savo Gašić were caught and shot in Rijeka Crnojevića," the archive material says about it. how NOP members from Ulcinj died at the hands of the enemy.
The people of Ulcinj, it is said, do not forget the shooting of unarmed young people in Bijela Gora, the crime at the Pistula school when two Albanians and two Montenegrins were killed, the crime in Bojana, the bombing of the town when more than 50 residents died...
"The core of the NOP in the Ulcinj area was made up of well-known fighters and members led by Boško Strugar, Vido and Božo Matanović, Andrija Bogojević, Vojo and Nikola Srzentić, Đorđije Kovačević, Zarija Janković, Niko, Đuro, Jovo and Stevo Đakonović, Blažo Mašanović , Radovan Ražnatović, Dragica Srzentić, Luka Knežević, Andrija and Blažo Petričević and many others. The occupier took a series of actions to suppress that resistance and in one of them, on 28.12.1941/XNUMX/XNUMX, our fearless fighter Veljo Bogojević was killed, after which it was abandoned field," stated Jančić in one of his addresses to the fighters.
Dragica Srzentić will be remembered because she took Tito's "no" to Stalin after the Informburo Resolution... She lived to a very old age and passed away at the age of 103. "Sloboda" could talk and testify about all this as a beacon of freedom from Ulcinj...
The war road of the Ulcinj company from Kolašin, Krnov and Sarajevo to the Zidan bridge
After the capitulation of Italy, a group of my fellow citizens and I became fighters of the Ulcinj Company of the First Battalion of the Lovcen Detachment. In most cases, we fought against domestic traitors and Italian soldiers, and later also Germans who came from Albania, Dušan Brajić from Ulcinj wrote in his article in the Gazette of SUBNOR Montenegro from 2005.
When they found out that they would become part of the Seventh Youth Brigade, he said, there was no end to their enthusiasm.
"Her history will begin on the same day when we Ulcinians stood under her flag - Niko Đakonović, Drago Dragović, Jovan Gobović, Vido Đakonović, Rade Ivanović, Pavle Knežević, Mitar Mirović, Bogdan Perić, Vaso Radović, Idriz Tulić and myself. were three Skojevics," wrote Brajić.
He stated that the battles in Kolašin, Berane, Bijelo Polje, Mojkovac, Krnov, Sarajevo, and across Croatia all the way to Zidani Most in Slovenia, left a strong impression on him.
"I still had the strongest impression when we destroyed the Chetnik 'iron' regiment at Krnovo".
From that group of Ulcinians, Pavle Knežević died at Gradina near Bijelo Polje, Mitar Mirović, a machine gunner, in the battle with the ballistas and Jovan Gobović, also a machine gunner, who held the retreat of the Fourth Battalion in the battle with the ballistas in Petnjica...
Stopped the truck and prevented a tragedy
Almost two decades ago, "Sloboda" was the main "actor" of an unusual incident when it "prevented" a larger-scale tragedy...
As "Vijesti" reported at the time, a local resident accidentally left a truck in reverse on the street that leads past the monument. The truck sped off the road and hit "Sloboda"...
Almost vertically, a few tens of meters below the monument, at the same time, catering facilities were open...
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