COMMEMORATIVE PUBLICATION "ŽEPA, JUNE 1992" PRESENTED

PALE, JUNE 19 /SRNA/ - The commemorative publication "Žepa, June 1992" by Stefan Lopatić, which preserves the memory of 45 Serb soldiers who were killed in an ambush in the Žepa River canyon by members of the so-called Army of BiH, was presented in Pale this evening.

Lopatić said that the publication deals with the most tragic event in the modern history of Pale, specifically during the Defensive-Patriotic War, when 45 soldiers of the then Army of the Serb Republic of BiH, later the Army of Republika Srpska, were killed between June 4 and 6, 1992.

"I believe that this commemorative publication can rightfully be described as a pioneering undertaking, given the time in which it was created - when, colloquially speaking, the ground is still shaking beneath our feet, when it is too early for history and too late for memory," Lopatić added.

He said that, in such a context, the publication seeks to shed as objective a light as possible on the events that took place in the Žepa canyon, based on available historical sources, but, even more importantly, to preserve the memories of the people who directly participated in those events.

Lopatić noted that there is a limited number of primary historical sources on this event, namely documents from military and civilian authorities.

"But the memories of the people who took part in these events constitute a crucial source on which we relied, and a great deal of effort was invested in that," Lopatić added.

President of the Assembly of the Pale Veterans’ Organization, Radosav Živković, said that the events in Žepa have left a lasting collective trauma.

"With this commemorative publication, we tried to get closer to the truth by searching for documents, and then we succeeded in encouraging many veterans to share their recollections at the Documentation Centre of the Pale Veterans’ Organization," Živković added.

On July 3, a public forum will be held in Pale to facilitate an open discussion after people read the publication.

Živković stressed that "Žepa, June 1992" is the most important project of the Veterans’ Organization during its current term.

"This is our second commemorative publication in three years. We previously published the commemorative volume ‘80 Years of Silence,’ dedicated to civilian victims in Rakovac and Jelovci during the Second World War, and a third commemorative publication, dedicated to all civilian victims of the Second World War, is currently being prepared," Živković said.

He added that the Pale Veterans’ Organization seeks to ensure that the truth that the Serb people suffered twice during the 20th century is recorded and that they would have suffered a third time had it not been for the Army of Republika Srpska and the unity of the Serb people.

In addition to the publication’s author and Živković, speakers at the promotion event, held before a full audience at the Cultural Centre, included Jasna Lazarević Gavrilović, President of the Presidency of the Pale Veterans’ Organization, and Branislav Lopatić, a participant in the events in Žepa.

A convoy of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska was attacked on June 4, 1992, while moving toward Mount Zlovrh with the task of delivering food and water to 13 soldiers who were securing a radio relay facility at that location.

An agreement had been reached with the Muslim side to allow the Serb soldiers to pass peacefully. However, they violated the agreement and attacked Serb soldiers from behind in an ambush.

Members of the so-called Army of BiH confined 12 captured soldiers in a nearby barn and burned them alive.

This was one of the deadliest incidents involving members of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the Republika Srpska Army during the Defensive-Patriotic War.

A memorial to the killed Serb soldiers is located between Han Pijesak and Rogatica, on the line between the villages of Podžeplje, Stoborani, and Krivače, which belong to the Han Pijesak municipality, and the local community of Žepa in Rogatica.