KARAN: PREBILOVCI - ETERNAL WARNING THAT HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF IF WE FORGET OUR VICTIMS

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 5 /SRNA/ – The Herzegovinian village of Prebilovci is a symbol of the suffering of Serbs, but also a warning that history will always repeat itself if we allow our victims to fall into oblivion, Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan said.

"That is why today we are not speaking only about the memory of one village, but about a truth that obliges every person to pay tribute to the martyrs of Prebilovci and never allow them to fall into oblivion," Karan told SRNA on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the Ustasha crime against the Serb people in Prebilovci.

He recalled that in August 1941, Ustasha criminals attempted to wipe out an entire people in Herzegovina.

"Mothers went to death holding their children by the hand, children who were killed before they even had the chance to experience life. The goal of the distorted Ustasha monsters was to erase the memory, the families, the roots and the future of the Serb people.

"When we speak of Prebilovci, we are not speaking only about numbers, no matter how horrifying they are. Behind every name remained an empty home, an extinguished candle, a parent's embrace violently cut short, and a child's smile that never had the chance to grow. That is a pain that belongs not only to the descendants of the victims, but to our entire nation," Karan emphasized.

He said it is particularly painful that, even after the war, the victims did not receive the peace they deserved because the truth about Prebilovci was concealed for decades.

"The pits into which the innocent people of Prebilovci were thrown were sealed with concrete, as if concrete could hide the truth and erase memory. When the remains of the martyrs were finally recovered from those Herzegovinian pits and given a dignified burial in 1991, they still did not find peace.

"The very next year, the memorial ossuary was blown up in yet another attempt to destroy the memory of their suffering. But Prebilovci survived that attempt as well, because the truth cannot be blown up, nor can memory be buried," Karan said.

As long as the name of Prebilovci is spoken and tribute is paid to its victims, Karan says, those responsible have not, and will not, succeed in their intention to erase an entire people and its history.

"Remembrance is not revenge, but our duty to those who never had the opportunity to grow old, raise children, welcome grandchildren, and live a life worthy of a human being. It is a duty to truth and to the future, because a nation that forgets its victims risks having history repeat itself. Prebilovci will always remind us that peace, freedom and human dignity are the greatest values we must preserve," the Republika Srpska president said.

"May the innocent victims of Prebilovci be granted eternal glory and our deepest respect," Karan added, stressing that their suffering continues to remind us that preserving the memory of them is our greatest obligation.