09.05.2010.

Reception on occasion of The Victory Day

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Mirko Cvetkovic gave a reception on occasion of the Victory Day in the Great War Hall in the old HQ Building. The reception was attended by WWII participants, National Assembly Chairperson Slavica Djukic Dejanovic, Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac and other Government ministers, representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the Serbian Armed Forces as well as foreign diplomats and numerous guests from public and cultural life.

Prime Minister Cvetkovic at the beginning of his address said that the Victory Day was a day of peace and victory in the whole world, when justice finally triumphed, stressing that this was the day when we should remember all the atrocities of WWII, he reminded the present that it should serve as an opportunity to honor the memory of those who perished in this worst of all wars in modern history. Furthermore, on this day we should remember our promise to preserve these lessons learned from WWII.,

-This day is also the Day of Europe as modern Europe laid its foundations battling Fascism and Nazism, on principles of peace, understanding, tolerance and cooperation.

-This day serves as a reminder of what consequences result from racial, religious discrimination, genocide and violence.

World War Two, as he reminded is the most tragic armed conflict in human history ever, claiming 50 million lives. The victory on this day finally put a stop to a war that spread over 61 countries, and almost 80 % of human population.

We are here today to honor the bravery of all those who stood up to Nazism, especially to those who laid their lives so this day actually is the day when humanity was saved. The then Yugoslavia suffered immeasurable loss in human lives, leaving in its wake a completely destroyed infrastructure and economy.

-Our country was the among the first to confront and oppose death, fear and humiliations brought on by fascism. It is our duty to remind our posterity that the countries all over the world and nations have a duty to foresee any attempt at promoting such retrograde and inhuman ideas. The main lessons learned in the wars are that tolerating violence, indifference can take catastrophic proportions.
The ideal of freedom still remain as a universal category, and is the foundation of our society. The Victory Day is a Day of Joy as well as sorrow for all the victims of the war.

This remembrance obliges us to understand each other, and to create and defend main civilization legacy to continue creating civilization legacies, knowing that by respecting others we respect ourselves. Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Jajinci, Jasenovac, Staro sajmiste, Novi Sad, Nis and other genocide sites are all open wounds still bleeding and still deeply felt in the collective memory, warning us that such atrocities should never be forgotten.

Cvetkovic called on the present and the public to honor the memory of all those who died for freedom, members of all nations and of the Soviet army, as well as all those who fought against this evil.

They knew what it was worth to live or die for, liberty and peace. Just because some victims are of different ideology we must nut diminish their worth or the tragedy of losing their lives. Serbia has always been on the Balkan crossroads where the interests of many powerful states clashed for centuries. However,m today Serbia knows it has to fight for peace and liberty through peaceful means, as that is the only way to preserve its national potentials, as the PM underlined, adding that fascism was not welcome in Serbia or any other evil, as that is a question of civilization and a matter of personal and state dignity.

In the newer history, criminals cannot hide behind the people, nor can they be allowed to flee justice.