The Municipality of Pljevlja has requested that the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property include in the Spatial Plan the "Church of Reconciliation", which would be built not far from the monument on Stražica, dedicated to the partisans who fell in the fight against the fascists and their domestic servants.
President of the Municipality Dario Vranes (NOVA) confirmed to "Vijesti" that the initiative has been submitted and that the church is planned above the pit into which 1944 Chetniks were allegedly thrown in 1945 and 25.
President of the Movement for Pljevlja and President of the Committee for the Construction of the Church of Reconciliation Novica Stanić says that he has information that the Ministry accepted the municipality's request and included the church in Stražica in the Spatial Plan of the Municipality of Pljevlja, which is currently being drafted.
"We have information that the Ministry has included the church in the Spatial Plan of the Municipality of Pljevlja, but until I see it - I don't trust anyone," said Stanić.
Vraneš emphasized that the Municipality of Pljevlja "strongly supports the project to build the Church of Reconciliation", in whose crypt, according to earlier announcements, the remains of "those captured at Stražica" would be buried.
"The municipality has already contacted the Ministry of Urban Planning to include the church on Stražica in the Spatial Plan. If we want to truly inherit the civilizational achievements of modern Europe, one of the necessary conditions is to ensure the right to dignity of every human being, including the right to a grave. More than 80 years have passed since this crime, and neither the victims nor the executioners have been alive for a long time. It is time to finally put an end to our historical fratricide tragedies, for the descendants of both victims and executioners to truly reconcile, and one of the conditions is to ensure these martyrs the right to a dignified grave. The Municipality of Pljevlja firmly supports the project to build the Church of Reconciliation," Vraneš told "Vijesti".
For more than a quarter of a century, Stanić has been demanding that the Pomirnica church be built next to the monument to the Partisans on Stražica, in whose crypt, as he says, the martyrs from Stražica would be buried.
His idea was not accepted by the then ruling DPS, nor by the Socialist People's Party, with which Stanić's party was in power in Pljevlja at the time, so the project was put on hold.
"If during the DPS regime there was no possibility for this civilizational step forward, I believe that the time for a moral revival has finally come. Pljevlja is the only city in Europe where there is a pit into which the communists threw 1944 martyrs, members of the Yugoslav Army in the homeland, on two occasions, in 1945 and 25, without trial or trial. Unfortunately, Montenegro is one of the rare places where anti-fascists threw their political opponents into pits. Today, when cemeteries for pets are being planned in all European cities, Pljevlja lives with the stigma of not having the strength and courage to bury these martyrs' bones according to God's and human laws. Especially since this was done, even with occupying soldiers," said Stanić, a long-time MP for the People's Party, the Serbian People's Party and the New Serbian Democracy.
The Committee for the Construction of the Church of Reconciliation was formed in the quarters of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Pljevlja in 2002, with the blessing of the then Bishop of the Mileševo Diocese. FilaretaVraneš has also been a member of the Board for two years.
“The task of the committee is to build the Church of Reconciliation at the crime scene, next to the pit on Stražica, and to bury the bones of the martyrs in its crypt. Since then, every Vidovdan, a memorial service has been held next to the pit on Stražica, where a cross and a wooden tablet in the form of parchment with the names of the martyrs have been placed on a tree. In addition, the committee initiated and financed two editions of the book 'The Time of Fratricide, Civil War in Pljevlja 1941-1945.', by the historian Slobodan Radović"The book publishes for the first time the obituaries of members of the Yugoslav Army who died in the homeland and civilians who were killed by the communist authorities on suspicion that they were sympathizers of the Yugoslav People's Army," said Stanić.
This year, on Vidovdan, priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church, in the presence of Vraneš, members of the Committee and relatives of the "martyred", served a memorial service next to the pit on Stražica.
"This year, we have gathered here around the pit on Stražica, into which the communists threw 1944 martyrs on two occasions, in 1945 and 25, and first killed them without trial or trial. These days, the trend is to talk about liberators, collaborators with the occupiers and war criminals. I will continue what the Metropolitan mentioned. Methods and just a few facts to present. The German occupiers killed 84 priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Italians killed eight, the Ustashas killed 181, and our brothers, neighbors and relatives, the communists, killed 213 priests. Today, their descendants have the nerve to talk about war criminals and collaborators of the occupiers. But this is not the only pit. There are many more," said Stanić, adding that the "painful tradition of pits" continues in the new Montenegro.
He thanked Vranes for the support he provided to the Committee, and also invited the Montenegrin Prime Minister. Milojko Spajić to join them next year at the memorial service at Stražica.
"We will invite him and I hope that, as a Pljevljakian, he will not refuse," said Stanić.
Addressing those present, Vranes said that the Chetniks were "martyred because they bore witness to the faith of Christ, the faith of Saint Sava, because they protected their people and their homeland."
"Modern civilizational Europe inherits culture, inherits tradition and inherits the right of every person to their own grave. Unfortunately, this is not yet the case in today's Montenegro. The delegation of the Municipality of Pljevlja was in Slovenia for the first time two weeks ago, in Kamnička Bistrica at Zidani most and Kočevski rog, where over 400 Pljevlja residents were also arrested for the same reasons. I believe that in the coming period, the Government of Montenegro and state authorities will enable the basic civilizational right of our ancestors to have the right to a grave," said Vraneš, emphasizing that he also expects the Government to support this project.
Stražica - a protected monument of culture and revolution
The monument on Stražica was erected in 1961 on the twentieth anniversary of the Battle of Pljevlja - the most significant partisan operation during the first year of the war after the July XNUMXth Uprising.
It was then called the Monument to the Fallen Fighters in the Battle of Pljevlja on December 1, 1941 and to the Victims of Fascist Terror Who Died in the National Liberation Struggle and the Socialist Revolution of the People of Yugoslavia.
It was entered into the Register of Cultural Monuments as a monument of the revolution and placed under protection, while the Stražica hill was declared a place of mass execution and shooting in 1971.
In the crypt of the monument there is a sarcophagus containing the remains of more than 400 people, of whom more than 200 were participants in the Battle of Pljevlja.
The battle took place on December 1 and 2, 1941, and ended with the partisans retreating, despite the fact that they managed to penetrate certain parts of the city...
According to historical sources, around 250 Italian soldiers were killed and wounded, almost 100 soldiers and officers were captured, while partisan losses amounted to more than 200 dead and almost 300 wounded...
Bonus video:
