The Shot City
The Morning Liturgy at the church in the Memorial Park “October in Kragujevac”served by the Right Reverend Bishop of Sumadija Jovan, marked the beginning of the commemoration of October 21, the day when back in 1941 a great number of high school students, professors and citizens of Kragujevac were shot dead.
Afterwards, the Moleban to the shot high school students and professors was served burial mound. The ceremony was attended by the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Mrs Slavica Djukic Dejanovic, the Serbian Ministers Mr Vuk Jeremic and Mr Zarko Obradovic, the Ambassadors of Italy HE Mr Armando Varricchio, Slovakia HE Mr Igor Furdik, Romania HE Mr Ion Macovei and Bosnia and Herzegovina HE Mr Borisa Arnaut in Serbia, the Ambassador of Serbia in the USA HE Mr Vladimir Petrovic, also the delegations of the sister and partner cities- Pitesti, Carrara, Regio Emilia, Ohrid, Foca, Kozarska Dubica, Prijedor, Bar and Sremski Karlovci, the Serbian Military and Police officials, and the representatives of the neighboring municipalities, various institutions and political parties, along with numerous citizens and school students from Kragujevac.
This year’s peace message from Sumarice was addressed by the Italian Ambassador HE Mr Armando Varricchio who thanked the Mayor of Kragujevac for the honor shown by inviting him to make an address at the commemoration dedicated to the event that occurred long time ago, but which we all wish to preserve in living memory. Showing honor to the ones that were killed in 1941, means to raise the voice wishing for “the reason never to fall asleep again, the Ambassador bespoke. “Transmitting to the young generations memories of the past, we wish to entrust to the future protagonists in society the task of engaging in finding out the reasons for dialog and peace. Kragujevac, the city that managed to resurrect after a long crisis, and which intends to become a center of economic development and social progress, today it appreciates those very values. Therefore, we hope and believe that a strong message will arouse from here, from this sacred place, that will oblige all of us to complete jointly the European unification as soon as possible”, said the Italian Ambassador to Serbia.
This year on the Great School Lesson a poem “The Shot City” by the Italian author Anna Santoliquido was performed by the actors of the Knjazevsko Srpski Theater and the Drama Studio of the House of Youth, and the academic choir Liceum and the solists Jadranka Jovanovic and Jelena Tomasevic. The show was directed by Zivojin Ajdazic, while the music was composed by the Polish composer Piotr Kumurovski.
