COMPANY MARKS 30 YEARS SINCE RELOCATION, TESTAMENT TO DETERMINATION AND UNITY

BIJELJINA, FEBRUARY 20 /SRNA/ – Tomorrow, the defense industry company "Orao" will mark 30 years since the exodus of Serbs from Sarajevo and the relocation of the enterprise from the Sarajevo suburb of Rajlovac to Bijeljina, when employees managed, through extraordinary efforts over three months, to transfer all production capacities to Semberija.

Executive Director for Quality and Laboratories Slobodan Četić emphasized that recognition should be given to everyone, from the management, headed by Milan Prica, to the worker who carried the final load during the relocation.

“Thousands of trucks of equipment, hundreds of buses transporting workers, families of the fallen and their lives to a new environment, all of that is painful and difficult, yet worthy of remembrance,” Četić said.

Reminding the most difficult period of their professional careers, Četić said he remembers the relocation as extremely hard work, but also as a display of incredible will and strength, according to a statement from "Orao."

“In 1995, we operated as a Military Post Office of the Republika Srpska Army. We were of strategic importance to Republika Srpska, and at the beginning of December an order arrived from the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff - relocation to Bijeljina,” Četić stated.

He noted that the company, built over 47 years, had to be transferred down to the last detail within three months.

“There were estimates that this could take several years, but we succeeded in just three months. I believe that speaks volumes about the will and strength of our people,” Četić said.

He stressed that there was tremendous unity and teamwork, despite harsh weather conditions and temperatures dropping to minus 10 degrees Celsius.

The President of the "Orao" Veterans’ Organization Tomislav Paunić reminded that 23 members of the company were killed during the Homeland Defense War, while 75 were wounded.

“We held the line at all times, never yielding, while at the same time managing to maintain the production process. When the order for relocation came, we put down our weapons and set about what seemed an impossible task in such a short period. However, we worked from the heart, and that is why we succeeded,” Paunić assessed.

He noted that this generation is aging and that in a few years there will no longer be veterans from that time, which is why it is important to preserve the memory of the achievement they accomplished together, as well as the sorrow for the homes left behind.

President of the "Orao" Trade Union Organization Dragan Lontoš stated that the company has more than one hundred retirees who participated in the 1995 exodus and relocation.

He said the emotions from that time remain heavy, recalling days of disbelief when people were leaving what they had heroically defended with blood.

“We began a new life in Bijeljina; many had children born here, but emotions toward one's homeland remain. We endured all that sacrifice primarily for 'Orao', and also for the younger generations who will replace us and continue building the company in the future,” Lontoš concluded.

A ceremony marking 30 years since the exodus of Serbs from Sarajevo and the relocation of production capacities from Rajlovac will be held tomorrow at the premises of "Orao" in Bijeljina.