30.10.2017.
A monograph on memorial rooms coming soon
Today, a working meeting was held at the Annex Hall of the Guards Club on Topčider concerning the creation of a monograph on memorial rooms in the Ministry of Defence, whose promotion is scheduled for 11th November 2018, when the World War I Armistice Day is celebrated together with 100 years since the end of that conflict.
Welcoming the attendees, State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence Aleksandar Živković reminded that highlighting of one part of the tradition and military history in these parts means also highlighting of a part of the history of the whole nation and the state.
Head of the Department for Tradition, Standards and Veterans in the Human Resources Sector, Colonel Slađan Ristić, emphasized that the Ministry of Defence actively participated in the celebration of the centenary of World War I, and that the monograph, whose creation is planned for this year, is the crown of this process.
- The monograph, dedicated to memorial rooms, would include the history of military traditions from 1804 until the end of World War I. The monograph would be created as single work, with the focus on the new age military history, Colonel Ristić said, adding that the monograph would be followed by a documentary film in which each of the 30 memorial rooms in the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, would find its place.
Director of Odbrana Media Centre Colonel Stevica S. Karapandžin stressed that the monograph would be only the beginning of a comprehensive organisation of Serbian military traditions with an equal attitude to all periods of the Serbian military history.
- I suggest that this monograph and all the subsequent ones that we are going to publish be a unique edition called "Culture of Memory". In this way, all the future ones will be connected with this monograph, in terms of idea and technically, Colonel Karapandžin said, pointing out that the collection and arrangement of archival material is a major task now.
Jasmina Nikolić, Director of the Historical Archive of Požarevac, presented an example of good cooperation between the Armed Forces and the City Archives, presenting a memorial exhibition from the Army Training Center in Požarevac dubbed "Two Centuries of the Army in Braničevo" which became part of the tourist offer of that city.
After the discussion of all participants, State Secretary Živković concluded that "The Great War deserves not only the appropriate way of ending the celebration of its centenary, but also preventing the revision of historical facts". He stressed that the monograph will give a driving force and provide the conditions for the start of the project of national importance in the permanent arrangement of evaluation, preservation and development of national military traditions.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the commands, units and institutions of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Ministry of Culture and Information, Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, representatives of local self-governments, institutes and archives.
