About fifty anti-fascists, representatives of veterans’ associations and local and cantonal authorities, marked the 81st anniversary of the liberation of the city in the People’s Liberation War with speeches and the laying of flowers and wreaths in front of the “Papirna” Memorial Ossuary in Zenica, thus paying tribute to the partisans who died in this area during the Second World War from 1941 to 1945.
The President of the Association of Anti-Fascists and Veterans of the People’s Liberation War of the Zenica-Doboj Canton, Sretko Radišić, recalled that Zenica was liberated on the night of April 11-12, and that Nemila near Zenica was also liberated a day later.
The Krajina, Dalmatian, and First Proletarian Brigades, he emphasized, liberated Zenica, and after that, operations continued to liberate Žepče, Zavidovići, and Maglaj.
“After four years of occupation, it was the day of liberation. Regardless of the totality of political circumstances, April 12 means a lot to this city. No matter how many of us there are, citizens feel that date and April 12 is perhaps the most significant symbol of anti-fascism in this area.
He lives and we hope he will live forever. Glory to all those for whom we gathered here today and who gave their lives in NOR, but also respect to all those who innocently lost their lives in the four-year war for Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992-1995.,” said Radisic.
Adnan Sirovica, Minister for Veteran Affairs in the ZDK Government, emphasized the importance of preserving the culture of memory and what happened in the past period in these areas.
“Not only in the period 1992-1995. year, of course the period of the Second World War 1941-1945 is also important to us. year. We must not forget that. We must continue to preserve, nurture and repair monuments from that period,” said Sirovica, who announced that he would try to restore all these memorials with these associations.
The oldest living member of the Zenica anti-fascist association, 83-year-old Ivan Bilić, did not hide his disappointment that such a small number of fellow citizens gathered at today’s gathering, but also with the attitude of the authorities towards this historical date. He reminded that in that city there is no longer even a street called 12 April, nor ZAVNOBiH, on 25 November…
”Today I wonder, I will not say children, but serious people do not know what the word ZAVNOBiH means? It is an abbreviation! Please, what are we teaching children today?! To make them forget the bones of those people who gave us this life that we have – said Bilić, and reminded that the City of Zenica, at the time of liberation in 1945, had only 12,500 inhabitants and was a completely destroyed city.
Forgotten, he said, were the religious officials who fell for freedom. Not all partisans, he added, were communists, although the Communist Party of Yugoslavia organized an uprising against the German occupiers and domestic traitors.
Thus, Bilić reminded us, even the religious affairs officer of the First Proletarian Brigade was Hodja Zafir Havić from Foča, who was captured by the Chetniks and shot in the camp at Banjica in Belgrade. Such people, he said, are also forgotten, as are other religious officials from the ranks of the partisans.
1,370 Zenica residents participated in the NOR, of whom 349 laid down their lives in combat, while 857 residents of that city were victims of fascist terror.
The history lesson was held by Zenica historian Vernes Menzilović.
