MEMORIAL TO 173 MURDERED SERB CIVILIANS IN JELOVCI CONSECRATED

PALE, NOVEMBER 14 /SRNA/ - A monument was consecrated, and a memorial service was held today in Jelovci, in the municipality of Pale, for 173 Serb civilians from the area, including 63 children under the age of 14, who were killed by the Ustashas on this day 83 years ago.

Kojo Vučićević, a member of the initiative committee for the construction of the monument, said that the monument, bearing the names of those killed, was a sacred place for the residents of Jelovci.

"History lessons should be held here so that children know what happened here and who was responsible," Vučićević said.

Boško Jugović, Speaker of the Istočno Sarajevo City Assembly, told reporters that the crime committed against the Serb people in Jelovci was an example of the suffering inflicted on Serbs by the Ustashas during the Second World War.

He stressed that the construction of the memorial at this site demonstrated unity, as there had been no obstruction at any point and everyone had agreed that this site of Serb suffering must be commemorated.

Radosav Živković, Chairman of the Pale Veterans' Organisation Assembly, said that the consecration of the monument was one of the most important events in the cultural and historical life of Pale, marking the completion of a process launched four years ago, when a decision was made to produce a memorial book and a film about the suffering in Jelovci.

According to him, patriotic awareness among young people cannot be fostered by the education system alone, but must primarily be instilled at home.

“Most families have surviving war veterans who should be involved in fostering patriotic awareness among young people,” Živković said.

Pale Mayor Dejan Kojić said that Jelovci was a site of great suffering for the Serbs of this area.

The principal of Mokro Elementary School, Dragana Lučić, said that today a pledge had been made to all those whose names are inscribed on the memorial in Jelovci that their sacrifice would be remembered forever.

In 1943, Ustasha forces brutally murdered 173 Serb civilians in the villages of Jelovci, Prutine, Jokića Brdo, Gradac and Kračule.

The Ustasha Black Legion, under the command of Franjo Sudar, brutally murdered 325 Serb civilians from Rakovac, Jelovac, and surrounding villages, including 143 children.

The villages were burned to the ground, and most of those who survived were people who were not at home at the time.

The Ustasha crimes committed against Serb civilians in the Pale-area villages of Rakovac and Jelovci from November 11 to 16, 1943, are documented in the memorial publication and documentary film 80 Years of Silence.