The Association of Fighters of the National Liberation War (UBNOR) and the anti-fascists of Nikšić, on the occasion of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, organized a rally at the Freedom Square in Nikšić near the monument to Ljub Čupić, in order to pay their respects to all victims of the Holocaust, most of whom were Jews, and to send a message that freedom, peace, coexistence, equality and equality are what should unite the entire progressive world, but also express "Montenegrin's commitment to libertarianism and anti-fascism".
Ana Pejović, member of the presidency of UBNOR and anti-fascist Nikšić, reminded that over three million Jews and 800.000 Roma, out of a total of over six million, were killed in concentration camps and death camps, "the most hellish of which were those in Poland and Germany". victims.
According to her, the brightest pages of Montenegrin anti-fascism and anti-Semitism are also written by the fact that there were never death camps in Montenegro, as was the case with Serbia and Croatia, where the infamous "SS and Ustasha NDH units carried out genocide against innocent people".
"Jasenovac, as the only death camp that was not under German administration, but under the ferocious Ustasha, as well as the infamous Belgrade Fairground, along with the famous death trucks called 'dušegupka', became specialized facilities for mass and brutal destruction of the 'Near-Aryan' race," she said. Pejović.
As she pointed out, Nikšić is not called the fortress of Montenegrin anti-fascism and anti-Semitism for nothing - it is a city that has 48 national heroes, 502 memorial bearers, 12 dead anti-fascist priests, 1516 dead fighters...
As she pointed out, Nikšić and Montenegro have well remembered fascism as the most dangerous plague of humanity, so they will not allow its vampirization.
"You tried to humiliate the defiant smile of Ljub Čupić and the pride of Joka Baletić by shamefully writing down Ljub's monument, desecrating the NOB's monumental assets, canceling the mandatory part of funds to UBNOR, and you failed because young people boldly opposed you with flowers in his bound hands the bearers of their monuments, which even today, in this square, shine in their eyes. You rushed on July 13 last year with cockades, bloody daggers in your eyes and the slaughter of Turks on your lips, to the brightest Montenegrin holiday with which we celebrated liberation from fascists and domestic traitors. We answered you with the most beautiful lines of songs that are equally sung from opera halls to the streets, 'Oh white goodbye', and 'The cursed hordes of others are coming through the night/ my heroes are charging, we must pass', and we left you with epic-chauvinistic laments and they take comfort in the huts because the Serbian flag will never fly either in Prizren or over Rumija," said Pejović.
She added that they can talk about reconciliation only when those who celebrate "domestic traitors kneel down and bow to the victims of Nazism".
"Until then, our roads will remain the transfer areas of scientific, cultural and every other progress, and your roads and shores with thick deposits of mud and moral waste that will soon place you where you came from so brazenly, ignorantly, uneducated, and eyelessly thinking," she concluded. Pejović.
Psychologist Vladan Šturanović said that the past reminds us that different forms of discrimination due to belonging to a certain nation, religion, gender, job, sometimes do not remain just hate speech, but that it can turn into a crime.
"Montenegro has always been a home for all those who felt threatened, for all those who needed help and rescue, although they did not show gratitude too often. But it is still the same today, even though we live in a strange time when some common values seem to be lost and obscured", said Šturanović and said that what we must spread as a common value is love for the other and different, but also what is "eternal Montenegrin catchphrase, which is freedom".
Student Nevena Baletić said that January 27 is a reminder and admonition that the ground on which the ideologies of darkness step remains desolate.
"That's why it's important today, when in Montenegro the outlines of long-lost fascist ideologies reappear, which manifest themselves no less than through the political activism of those who aspire to be or are in leadership positions, for which they are paid in a state they do not respect , and many don't even admit it, let's send a strong and important message that in Nikšić, which has always been a libertarian and anti-fascist beacon of freedom, there is no place for vampirization," said Baletić.
Alek Barović, Master of Political Science, said that Montenegro and the Montenegrin people can be proud of the fact that a large number of Jews found refuge in Montenegro
"Montenegro is perhaps the only country in Europe where the number of Jews today is much higher than it was in 1941. And that serves to our honor," said Barović.
He pointed out that history repeats itself, that today once again the big ones don't care about the little ones.
"Today, when the freedom of a nation and state is threatened by its first neighbor. Today, when the worst execution sites of the Second World War are repeated, Buča is the new Babin Jar, and Mauriopolj the new Warsaw. All these are proofs that the Nazi-fascist ideology was not defeated on May 9, 1945. No one could believe that war would again hit the old European continent, let alone that the stench of the decaying corpses of innocently killed children, women, old men and men would ever again spread through the air. Unfortunately, Srebrenica arrived quickly as a product of reluctance to suppress an ideology that collaborated with the perpetrators of the Holocaust. The inheritors of their thought are guilty of the most terrible genocide in Europe after January 27, 1945 here," said Barović.
He pointed out that today Montenegrins are being persecuted by those who see a spiritual father in Nikolaj Velimirović, the creator of the holy world, who wrote eulogies to Adolf Hitler.
"Followers of that same concept today deny Montenegrins the right to existence, nation, religion, language, culture and tradition. And what is that but the worst form of fascism? The worst crimes took place in the negation of the above, and it is obvious that those who have been defeated in war once again strive to repeat their misdeeds. They will not be allowed to do that, and they are deluded if they hope for that. Clerofascism has bound our homeland with the worst chains and we must do our best to free ourselves from those shackles as soon as possible. It is not a characteristic of Montenegrins to endure chains, nor can they," concluded Barović.
The speakers paid tribute to the victims who died in Ukraine and said that their hearts were with the Ukrainian people.
In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly declared January 27, the day the Red Army liberated the infamous Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in 1945, as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Since then, this day has traditionally been celebrated in over 100 countries in Europe and the world, including Montenegro.
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