The memory of bloody Senjak

In the cove between two hills in the town of Senjak, in Pljevlja, the fascists shot eighty partisan fighters, from July 1941 to November 20, 1944, and most of them were executed eight decades ago - on May 4, 1942 - when they were on the shooting range performed 33 Pljevljaka.

Among them was Salko Aljković, whose name is one of the three elementary schools in Pljevlja.

Long-time president of the Association of Fighters of the National Liberation War (NOR) 1941-1945 Vidoje Despotović, says that all but Aljković were shot in Senjak Simo Despotović, Dear Jacmenica, Petar Jovic, Aleksa Jovićević, Živko Knežević, Miloš Matović, Radomir Popović, Miloš Purić, Petar Todorovic, Ilija Stefanović, Djole Colovic, Neđeljko Tošić, Lazar Tošić, Nikola Tošić, Raso Popovic, Milan Ćacić, Milisav Šćepanović, Milosav Bojović, Radosav Ivanovic, Jezdimir Jakic, Vojislav Jegdic, Savo Jegdic, Milika Knezevic, Mihailo Knezevic, Ivan Kovaljski, Ljubomir Kovaljski, Nikola Marićević, Branko Mijović, Drago Mirkovic, Vojin Pavićević, Mitar Radovanović i Veselin Tausanovic.

Despotović says that the attitude of the Italian army towards the citizens was initially "calm", that after the Thirteenth of July Uprising and the attack on their column on July 20, 1941 in Odžak, they shot the first four citizens of Pljevlja already on July 21.

"After that comes the Battle of Pljevlje, in which, in addition to 236 dead soldiers, 23 citizens of Pljevlja were killed, and then the Italians took action and took revenge, shooting 47 people in Crljenice, among them twenty-some from the Terzić family. During that time, with the help of Chetnik units that were formed in December 1941 and Muslim militia units, they toured the city and its surroundings and arrested a number of citizens. Some are sent to prison, some are kept, so that by the verdict of the military court on May 1942, 4, thirty-some patriots from the Pljeval region were taken to the shooting range in Senjak," said Despotović at the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the shooting in Senjak.

He said that until 1961 and the construction of the monument on Stražica, the remains of the shot patriots were in the tomb on Senjak.

A monument was erected at the place of their suffering.

"In Senjak, 80 people from Pljevlja were shot. With the construction of the monument on Stražica on the 412th anniversary of the Battle of Pljevlja, a memorial ossuary was built in which the bones of 214 fallen soldiers were transferred, of which 80 died in the Battle of Pljevlja, 118 were shot at Senjak and 94 from all over Yugoslavia who died and were buried in the area of ​​Pljevlja. It is one of the mass graves in the former Yugoslavia, and the largest in Montenegro. In addition to this grave, we have four more mass graves on the territory of our municipality. In Bobovo (buried 43 fighters), Kruševo (buried 42 fighters), Kosanica (buried 27 fighters) and in Šule (buried XNUMX fighters)," said Despotović.

Italians and Chetniks killed 2.500 people

During the Second World War, he stated, close to 2.500 citizens and soldiers died in the Pljeval region, of which 567 were NOR fighters, and almost 2.000 were victims of fascist terror.

"The biggest sacrifices were made by Chetnik units Pavle Đurišić i Nikola Bojović, in March 1943. Then, in a short time, 800 children, mostly Muslim, 273 women, 272 men were killed or slaughtered in the Pljeval area, so that the Chetniks killed close to 1.600 civilians. We do not forget those victims and we remind young people not to forget that," said Despotović.

President of the association of fighters and anti-fascists in Pljevlja Goran Cavic he wondered if "these brave men gave their lives in vain and if we, their descendants, are worthy of their sacrifice".

"We have entire generations, even pedagogues in educational institutions, who today celebrate and glorify those who captured Salk and their comrades and handed them over to the Italians. We have political parties that openly promote that movement and their misdeeds. We have mayors who openly support treason and cooperation with the occupier who committed all the terrible crimes, and that movement wholeheartedly helped in this. Petty political and populist souls, for the sake of a grain of power, poison their brothers and neighbors with hatred, divide us into this religion and that and tell us that only one of their models can be a good member of any nation. We all know what kind of model it is. Do we as people and anti-fascists have the right to remain silent? And the patriots executed in this place could have remained silent and not ended up in this and similar killing fields, and yet they did not remain silent. Have we lost our courage? No, this is not politics, this is our reality, which must be said in this very place, openly, bravely, at least a fraction of the bravery of how these patriotic people met machine gun bullets," Čavić said.

Anti-fascism will exist as long as it is fascist

He said that "we must do everything as people, anti-fascists, as the last line of defense against the evil of nationalism and fascism, so that the knowledge of these and similar places reaches the people".

"We have to stand up to all those who promote some new histories and tell them that they are lying. We have to teach the young generation to be a barrier to evil fascism, because the one who does not clearly stand on the side of justice in bad times is helping evil... If we do not do so, perhaps no one will come to this monument in the next ten years, and the monument will once again be overgrown with thorns and grass. Ask how many other authorities in some other cities have restored NOR monuments, and this one was restored, Stražica was also restored, and we will restore some other monuments. Let's remember the dishonorable treatment of the monument Ljuba Čupića in Nikšić... Funding for anti-fascist organizations is terminated, their work is prevented. They ask us how long we will be anti-fascists and what kind of anti-fascists we are. As long as there are fascists and their servants, until then there will be anti-fascism."