KUZMANOVIĆ: WOUNDS OF SERB PEOPLE CAN ONLY BE HEALED THROUGH TRUTH AND JUSTICE

BELGRADE, JULY 4 /SRNA/ – Director of the Archives of Vojvodina Nebojša Kuzmanović stated to SRNA, on the occasion of 33 years since the crimes committed by Bosniaks against Serbs in central Podrinje and Birač, that the wounds of the Serb people, who suffered greatly in the 20th century, can only be healed by truth and justice.

Kuzmanović emphasized that the West's refusal to acknowledge that Serbs suffered in the wars of the 1990s in BiH is a logical product of the imperial attitude of Western European culture.

"The injustice from the West is endemic because Western European culture has an imperial, Eurocentric attitude towards all nations and peoples who do not belong to their cultural or civilizational code. We belong to that group – both as Serbs and as Slavs, and also because of our geopolitical position," Kuzmanović pointed out.

According to him, under such familiar circumstances, the problem lies in the fact that not enough is being done to document and appropriately mark the victims among the Serb people throughout the entire 20th century.

Kuzmanović reminded that hundreds of thousands of Serbs were killed in the past century, yet not all the victims were recorded, neither after the Balkan Wars, nor after the First and Second World Wars, all because of the ideology of "brotherhood and unity," that is, integral Yugoslavism.

"It is becoming clear that these lofty ideas that guide people do not help to heal wounds. Wounds can only be healed by seeking the truth and achieving justice. Seeking the truth means recording who the victims were – including Serbs, Croats, Muslims, Jews, and Roma," Kuzmanović stressed.

He noted that the Serbian Orthodox Church /SOC/ is one of the rare bright elements in society because it has treated the suffering of the Serb people in the right way for years.

Kuzmanović recalled that only the SOC, during socialist Yugoslavia, marked the anniversaries of the great crime committed by Hungarians against civilians, mostly Serbs and Jews, in January 1942, known as the Raid in southern Bačka.

He expressed hope that a large memorial would be erected in Donja Gradina and in Belgrade, to testify to the suffering of Serbs, Jews, and Roma in the Second World War at the hands of the criminal NDH.

"I also hope that perhaps a large memorial will be built in the Podrinje area, where the most Serbs were killed. No one has the right to be offended – neither Muslim brothers nor Croats nor anyone else. We also have the right to mark the suffering of our ancestors. We will do so and will not give up on that," Kuzmanović emphasized.

He stated that Serbs will not and cannot give up the truth about their suffering.

"The souls of our ancestors cry out for us to pray for them and not consign them to oblivion," Kuzmanović said.

He noted that the state of Serbia, as well as Republika Srpska, have for a long time been addressing this issue in the right way, and he particularly highlighted the work of Republika Srpska's institution – the Republic Center for Research of War, War Crimes, and the Search for Missing Persons.

"The people in the Republic Center for Research of War, War Crimes, and the Search for Missing Persons have, by our standards, achieved a miracle, because they began collecting data from the very first day," Kuzmanović said.

He also emphasized the work of exceptional individuals such as Milivoje Ivanišević, the founder of the Institute for Research of Serb Suffering in the 20th Century, who collected data on the suffering of Serbs in Podrinje from 1992 to 1995, and noted that the Archives of Vojvodina published two of Ivanišević’s books.

Kuzmanović said that the Archives of Vojvodina are involved in the search for truth and have been publishing archival material as well as other records and books on the suffering of the Serb people for several years.

According to him, patriotism is mere propaganda if it is not based on facts and documents, and although myths are useful because they can help create national awareness, "everything cannot be based solely on myths".

"You must work, because who will if we don’t, and when if not now!" Kuzmanović concluded.

Tomorrow in Bratunac, 33 years since the suffering of the Serb people in central Podrinje and Birač will be marked, where 3,267 Serbs were killed during the past war.

That day has been declared a Day of Mourning in Republika Srpska, and a memorial service for the victims will be held by His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, with the attendance of the highest officials of Republika Srpska and Serbia.