Ministry of defence Republic of Serbia
 
23.01.2013.

Remembering the Novi Sad raid



The City of Novi Sad, the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Jewish Community have marked today together 71 years since the tragic Novi Sad raid. The event was attended by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vucic, Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary Tibor Navracic, Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Ljubisa Dikovic, representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, the ambassadors of Israel and Hungary, representatives of all the religious communities, Mayor of Novi Sad Milos Vucevic and many others.

At noon, representatives of Novi Sad, the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Jewish Community laid wreaths together at the plateau of the monument "Family" on Quay of Victims of the Raid. Appropriate speech and preaches were given by Mayor of Novi Sad, Supreme Rabbi of Serbia Isaac Asiel and Bishop of Backa Irinej who served Memorial Service for the victims with co-celebration of Orthodox priests and deacons.

On the occasion of the marking of the anniversary of the Novi Sad raid, a memorial board for numerous innocent victims of this fascist pogrom was discovered in Novi Sad beach "Strand".

After the religious ceremony, the representatives of Serbia and Hungary dropped wreaths from the ship of the Serbian Armed Forces River Flotilla into the water of the Danube.

Minister Vucic said that he was proud of today’s marking the anniversary with a message of peace and love, and that he is thankful to the Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary that he came to Novi Sad.

- Today we have discussed the promotion of cooperation and friendship between the two countries and I am convinced that this is an important point not only for the stability of the region but also for the concrete actions that will prove that our countries can go ahead of that our peoples can cooperate even better and more effectively. The crown for all is the treatment of all the problems we had in the past and I think that by overcoming of all the differences we must establish not only better political but also the economic relations, Minister Vucic said.

He expressed his gratitude to the representatives of all religious communities and the ambassadors of Israel and Hungary who attended today's event. I think this is the first time that we celebrate this day in Novi Sad together, and it shows that we have all learned a lot and have learned from our mistakes, otherwise convinced that we can build relationships in the future, Minister Vucic said.

On this day we are marking the memory of the tragic event of the Second World War, in which mass casualties civilians. Execution of civilians in Novi Sad, 21 to 23 January 1942. years some of the raids and massacres of Serbs, Jews and Roma in south Backa, who carried out the Hungarian occupation forces. During the raid the Hungarian fascist occupation authorities killed or pushed live under the frozen ice of the Danube, between 1,300 and 1,700 mostly Serbs, Jews and Roma inhabitants of Novi Sad, including a large number of women, children and the elderly.


photoPHOTOGALLERY