KARAN: CENTER'S TESTIMONIES - INVALUABLE TREASURY OF TRUTH

BANJA LUKA, MAY 19 /SRNA/ - President of Republika Srpska Siniša Karan said that the testimonies collected in the Memorial Centre`s database are the voice of the Serbian people, and that more than 1,500 recorded testimonies represent a unique and invaluable treasury of truth about the suffering of the Serbian people in the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

Karan stated that the collection includes the words of mothers and fathers still searching for their sons, children who grew up without their loved ones, and soldiers and civilians who, in the most difficult times, defended the right to life, the Serbian name, and existence.

"Today we are gathered around truth, the culture of remembrance, but also the obligation to ensure that what the Serbian people have endured is never pushed aside, hidden, forgotten, silenced, or erased," Karan said, addressing a ceremonial academy of the Memorial Centre in Banja Luka.

He stated that the Centre`s database is an epicentre of social, scientific, and institutional memory of Serbian suffering, as well as of historical dignity and the struggle for freedom.

"The fact that it includes testimonies from the territory of Republika Srpska, BiH, Kosovo and Metohija, the former Republic of Serbian Krajina and Croatia, as well as deeply moving testimonies about the genocide against Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/ during the Second World War, gives this work special significance," Karan said.

He added that the Memorial Centre is a place where truth will be preserved for future generations.

"With its database of recorded testimonies, the Memorial Centre ranks among the most important institutions in the field of oral history, not only in the region but far beyond. This is important not only for science and historiography, but also for justice, the culture of remembrance, and our future. A people that loses its memory risks losing itself as well," Karan stressed.

He added that it is the duty of Republika Srpska to preserve and develop the database and pass it on to future generations as a historical document and a foundation of national existence.