The Association of Fighters of the National Liberation War (UBNOR) and anti-fascists from Nikšić held a promotion of the book "Counter-Revolution in Montenegro - Chetnik and Federalist Movement 1941-1945" by Radoj Pajović in the summer house of King Nikola near Trebjes, a building used by the Montenegrin Orthodox Church as a parish house.
The original edition represents Pajović's doctoral thesis, and the phototype edition was published by the Association of NOR Fighters (SUBNOR) and Antifascists of Montenegro.
According to Prof. Dr. Milenko Perović's book "represents a classic work of Montenegrin historical science".
"The first reason that decided me to accept to come and speak here is the exceptional respect for the personality and work of Radoje Pajović. I believe that he deserves that respect with his work, personality and firm moral stance in science. Another reason is respect for the overall results of Montenegrin historical science, especially in the last 50-60 years and especially the last decades. Finally, which is the essential reason, which comes from the hustle and bustle of this revisionist time that tries to overwhelm all values, to carry out a revaluation of all possible values in understanding the meaning of life, science and even historical science, so this time could be called a great revaluation of values in anti values, in worthlessness, in anti-values, in non-human values and the negation of everything human", Perović said, according to the UBNOR press release.
With the fall of socialism, Perović said, it was as if "the basement beasts of the old, defeated fascist ideologies in the Yugoslav space were unleashed."
"In the first place, the Chetniks and the Ustastvo, and then also those smaller Chetnik ideologies and formations, and with them, hand in hand, came to the historical scene their 'intellectuals' and their historians who tried, and still do, with revisionist attempts they are trying to leave no stone unturned, not from the historical science that dealt with the period of the Second World War in Montenegro, but to leave no stone unturned from the historical truth that was established, researched and published in that science. That is why we need to understand the work of Radoje Pajović and its value today, which could be the most serious defense of its value in today's swept-up era of anti-values," said Perović.
Adnan Prekić said that it is unusual for a book to receive a reprint after almost 50 years, because it is not a book that is unknown to the professional public or a book that was not available in a certain way.
"Nevertheless, the times we live in have made this book by Radoje Pajović more important today than when it appeared in 1977. This book, when it was published, was a significant monograph, but only in expert-historical circles. A combination of circumstances led to the fact that today, almost 50 years after its publication, this monograph has a much greater significance for the entire society. What was supposed to be a testimony of a time and the role of Quisling forces in Montenegro during the Second World War, turned into material for the defense of anti-fascist values that won in 1945. Political changes from 2020 will show that the wave of historical revisionism will not bypass Montenegro, which in the previous period was the only republic of the former Yugoslavia where this process had not gained serious momentum. That's why this book has a much greater significance for Montenegrin society today than in 1977 when it was published, because policies, ideas and ideology, which we thought we were done with in 1945, are active again," said Prekić.
The moderator of the evening, Jasmina Nikčević, Ph.D., said that the initiative for a "re-publishing feat" came from Nikšić's UBNOR, and that it was supported by SUBNOR of Montenegro.
"The author used extremely extensive and complex material for this work - original documents, war diaries and memoirs, archival material, foreign and Yugoslav, emigrant journalism, documentation of both Partisan and Chetnik origin, such as the preserved significant part of the archives of the Chetnik Supreme Command, correspondence with by the émigré government... All of this is presented in an argumentative manner, with scientific analyses, clarity and precision of expressions and explanations", said Nikčević.
According to her, reaching for the mentioned book again, "in the light of the current bizarre and dangerous events in our twisted" reality, is proof that today we desperately need to re-read such scientifically proven lines in the fight against pseudoscience, attempts to falsify historical facts, growing revisionism and retrograde attitudes that can become a shock for Europe and for the world that inherits the anti-fascist tradition', as academician Radoje Pajović publicly stated to the Serbian media in 2015 upon the decision of the High Court in Belgrade on the rehabilitation of Draža Mihailović.
Radoje Pajović believed in the solid and unshakable foundations of anti-fascism as a permanent value category generally accepted in Montenegro and then added: "There is no court in Montenegro that would make a similar decision, unless everything was reversed," said Nikčević.
At the end of the promotion, on behalf of Radoj Pajović's family, his daughter Tanja Pajović Lučić spoke, who thanked the audience, the promoters of the promotion, and especially the presidents of SUBNOR and UBNOR, Zuvdija Hidžić and Slobodan Bato Mirjačić.
In 1970, Pajović defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Belgrade entitled "The Chetnik and Federalist Movement in Montenegro 1941-1945".
Bonus video:
