The Battle of Sutjeska fell on half of the textbook page - the biggest grave of Montenegrin partisans, during the decades-long government that declaratively swore to the achievements of the People's Liberation Struggle.
On the day when Tjentište commemorates the 78th anniversary of the battle in which almost 7.500 partisans died, including about 2.000 from Montenegro, the History for the 9th grade contains only a few paragraphs about the epic that decisively influenced the fate of the partisan movement, and team and to the post-war SFRY and Montenegro.
Unlike primary school students who once studied in detail the Fifth Enemy Offensive and the heroism of the proletarians, knew all the important toponyms for the outcome of the battle and its heroes - from Krekov, Donji and Gornji bars, Ljubina grob, Vučevo and Balinovac... - Montenegrin high school graduates today only know little things.
Because, as history professor Slobodan Savović says, history is reduced to a picture book.
"History cannot be treated like a picture book, like Ivica and Marica. It is a story that must send strong messages, on which you will educate those students. Sutjeska was one of the biggest battles of the Second World War, not only here, but also on a wider scale. The Germans wanted, because they had already seen that they were losing the war, to destroy the partisan movement and whatever the Chetniks thought with one blow. To solve the problem of the Balkans and to try to calm it down, because they were afraid of the allied landing on the Adriatic", says Savović for "Vijesti".
If history was not "reduced to a picture book", students would have a lot to learn about the exploits of their ancestors. They would know about the legendary commanders Sava Kovačević and Vasilij Vak Đurović, national heroes who died during the battle in which twenty thousand partisans, with around three thousand seriously wounded, "slaughtered" 15 thousand Germans from May 15 to June 1943, 120. , Italians, Bulgarians and domestic traitors, and managed to break through the hoop...
They would also know about the legendary message of the defenders of Ljuba's grave - fighters of the Fourth Proletarian Montenegrin Strike Brigade: "As long as you hear the shots of our rifles at Ljuba's grave, the Germans will not pass." And when that doesn't happen, know that there are no more living proletarians on it".
The last defender of Ljubina's grave - Zarija Vukašinović from Podgorica, a fighter of the Second Company of the Third Battalion of the Fourth Montenegrin Proletarian Brigade, who stood a hard time protecting the retreat from the main part of the Partisan forces, testifies to this feat.
Vukašinović turned 98 years old in January, and he told "Vijesta" two days ago that he is in a poor state of health, but also that he still clearly remembers the skirmish on the pass on Zelengora, which was remembered by the message that the fighters sent to the Supreme Headquarters and Titus.
The vital old man clearly remembers the details of the famous battle that generations of students in the former Yugoslavia learned about, because the hill they were defending was not allowed to fall.
Two and a half years ago, "Vijesti" published a story about Vukašinović, who at that time knew every name, every toponym, vividly explaining how the battle went:
"The Germans attacked with mortars and infantry, so when we repelled those attacks, we retreated from the very top of the pass, because then planes - 'pikes' - attacked. The balance of the two-day battles is that out of fifty partisan fighters, all from Montenegro, thirteen of them survived. I think we were sacrificed, our company, Tito told us that Ljuba's grave must be defended at the cost of our lives. The majority in our company were from Bjelopavlić, three of us from Zeta and one soldier from Bugojno (BiH). Radisav Raspopović was the company commander," Vukašinović told "Vijesti" at the time.
Both then and now, his desire is to see what Ljuba's grave looks like today, even though he moves with the help of a cane...
Savović says that students should be taught that the Battle of Sutjeska is an example of sacrifice, faith in an idea...
"Tjentište is just the final operation, it started a few months earlier. From the partisan Durmitor Republic to the Sandzak operation... The Germans were throwing leaflets all the time, that's nowhere in the textbook. They called for surrender, a very small number of partisans surrendered, they believed. The fighters of the Third Division under Sava Kovačević remained with the wounded until the end... I should send that message to my students, that even today, in similar situations, we must sacrifice for each other. These are messages, and we don't have that, we have the Battle of Sutjeska in three theses, one of which is an introduction, a small elaboration and a conclusion.... Now the students are looking at the pictures in the textbook, there is no mention of Ljuba's grave, of the heroism of Sava Kovačević, who knew he couldn't break through. He had two options as a commander - to leave the wounded and save the fighters or to stay with the wounded. It's history, he won't leave them, not even typhus. That should be taught, that they didn't want to leave someone at the cost of death..."
He points out that before the nineties of the last century, history was represented by several classes, and that today there is only one per week.
"With this number of classes and an idealess society, you can't have better textbooks than this. Even if you bring any historian from Oxford and Lomonosov - you can't do anything. The situation is even worse in secondary schools. History has been abolished more or less in all secondary vocational schools, it has been reduced to the level of optional teaching. It is a crime against our children..."
The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports informed "Vijesta" that the Second World War is covered in the ninth grade, and it is represented by two topics:
"The Second World War and the modern world and Montenegro and Yugoslavia in the Second World War. The Battle of Sutjeska is mentioned twice in the textbook, in the introduction to the topic "Montenegro and Yugoslavia in the Second World War" and somewhat longer within the same topic in the text with the subtitle "The Chetnik Movement in Montenegro".
The department of Vesna Bratić did not answer the question whether they think that enough space is devoted to the Fifth Enemy Offensive, but also to the Second World War, in the history textbook.
They stated that the organization of visits to monuments from the Second World War is in the domain of schools, but that they must be foreseen in the plan and program, with their and parents' consent.
According to historical sources, the ring was broken on the morning of June 10, near Balinovac, when the First Proletarian Army defeated the German forces in an assault. In the next few days, the remaining partisan forces, including the Supreme Headquarters and Commander Tito, who was wounded a few days earlier, also passed in that direction.
7.454 fighters, including almost 600 women, paid for the heaviest partisan battle with their lives. Practically all brigades had a third of the total number of casualties. Many partisan commanders and prominent revolutionaries died: Sava Kovačević, Vasilije Vako Đurović, Nikola Nino Marković, Veselin Masleša, Dr. Simo Milošević, Nurija Pozderac, Ivan Goran Kovačić, Olga Popović Dedijer, Pero Ćetković...
258 fighters from Sutjeska were awarded the Order of National Hero, including 45 who died, as well as 16 brigades.
Creepy images and two years after the battle
Savović pointed out that in 1945, his late father, as a member of KNOJ, passed through Sutjeska, with the aim of preventing the withdrawal of the Chetniks towards Slovenia.
"Two years after the battle, according to his testimony, the picture was terrible - with excavated bones, remains of corpses... When they crossed Tjentište, he testified that all the time they had a feeling of such anxiety as if they were not alone".
Savović says that today we study so many deaths "in three paragraphs".
"Because we are a society without ideology, that's the point".
A few sentences about color over colors
In the textbook for the 9th grade, on page 102, after short paragraphs about the Battle of Kozara and the Battle of the Neretva, it is written that "in the middle of May 1943, a new offensive followed, known as the Battle of Sutjeska".
"In addition to destroying the Supreme Headquarters and the main part of the partisan forces, the Germans intended to disarm the Chetniks as well. They considered them unreliable allies, who could go over to the side of the Anglo-American troops in the event of a landing in the Balkans. In the area of Sandžak and northern Montenegro, there were 19.000 fighters and four thousand wounded and partisans suffering from typhus. A ring of 120 occupying soldiers and quinslings tightened around them. This operation was the biggest test for the NOP. Partisan losses were huge (seven thousand people), but the Supreme Headquarters with part of the units managed to break out of the ring in mid-July. Even with the engagement of numerous forces, the occupier was unable to destroy the NOP. While such offensives were taking place in some part of the country, fighting was flaring up in other parts. At the time of the Battle of the Sutjeska, the British and in September 1943 the British-American mission stayed at the Supreme Headquarters. The first Soviet mission arrived in 1944".
That's all that elementary school students can learn from textbooks about the bloodiest partisan battle.
There is no history without a value system
Savović states that in the XNUMXs a system was destroyed, and we still do not have a new system of values.
"We have Montenegro in free fall. It is like that everywhere in the region. Here, they inherit anti-fascism, but they don't know what anti-fascism is... To approach civil society, it's just a shell, a packaging, some ideology has to do it. Civil society everywhere in Europe has its own strong bourgeois ideology, a system of middle capitalism, a free society, a free market... And they inherit that ideology, and history serves them to educate these children and teach them by example. That is my goal of the lesson, to teach children by positive examples... We all grew up on positive examples. An hour could not pass without you talking about the letter of the proletarian from Ljuba's grave... When you don't have a new system of values, you can't even have history as a teacher of life".
Bonus video:
