DODIK: STARI BROD - A PLACE OF GREAT SUFFERING, SERBS AS WITNESSES OF SURVIVAL

VIŠEGRAD, JUNE 26 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik said today in Višegrad, where he visited the memorial complex in Stari Brod together with American politician of Serbian origin and former Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich, that this is a place of great suffering, which was hidden by the communist regime, but that today Serbs stand as witnesses that they are still alive as a people.

"Whenever one comes here, the dominant feeling is sorrow. Sorrow for the murdered children and innocent people during the Ustaša onslaught, whose only goal was to kill everything that was Serbian in this area," Dodik told reporters.

He emphasized that, in addition to the suffering itself, what also hurts is the fact that the communists hid the truth for nearly 60 years, but that today, Serbs stand as witnesses to the survival and existence of the Serbian people.

Dodik stressed that Serbs today testify that they were not exterminated, that they are alive as a people, and that they will continue to preserve the memory and commemorate the victories that the Serbian people achieved in both the First and Second World Wars.

“This is a place of great suffering that was hidden by the communist regime. It was not allowed for the truth to be written or known,” Dodik said, emphasizing that only in recent years have surviving relatives and residents from this area come forward to testify about the crime.

The President of Republika Srpska thanked the Serbian Orthodox Church for its dedicated work in preserving this place of remembrance and the memory of the crimes committed.

Dodik stated that the memorial complex in Stari Brod, Višegrad, will be expanded and made more accessible to all Serbs, regardless of where they live.

He emphasized that it is very important for Blagojevich, who is visiting Republika Srpska, to not only see the beautiful things, but also to visit, witness, and experience places of such sorrow.

"I am grateful that he accepted our proposal to visit this place, and I believe that the impression he is forming now will stay with him for a lifetime," Dodik said.