14.02.2017
The Heirlooms of the Field Marshal Petar Bojović in the Serbian Armed Forces Club in Novi Sad
Today, an exhibition “Field Marshal Petar Bojović – the Heirloom of Glory and Honour” was opened in the Serbian Armed Forces Club in Novi Sad. The exhibition was jointly staged by the General Secretariat of the President of the Republic of Serbia, Media Centre “Odbrana” and the People’s Museum of Čačak.This representative exhibition, under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Serbia, Tomislav Nikolić, is in the major part composed of the preserved decorations of one of the Serbian Field Marshals. The aim of the exhibition is to familiarise the wider public with the personality and the work of the Field Marshal Petar Bojović, having in mind that he has been unjustly put aside on the margins of history for decades, although he was one of our greatest warlords, who demonstrated his loyalty to his homeland and the crown in all the battles and wars and by his own life testified the saying that it is easier to be a hero in war than in peace. Until now, the exhibition was seen by the citizens of the capital, Kragujevac Niš, Kralјevo, Čačak and Vranje, and the main coordinator of the presentation of the exhibition in the military clubs is the Media Centre „Odbrana“.
At the beginning of the programme, the Commander of the First Army Brigade, General Želјko Petrović welcomed the guests on behalf of the host.
Mr Radivoje Bojović, the curator of the People’s Museum of Čačak and the author of the exhibition, pointed once again to the significance of the exhibits, the decorations in particular, which had been waiting for 56 years to shine again at the daylight owing to Mr Kosta Rakić, who received them as endowment by the Field Marshal’s son Dobrosov and who has carefully kept them until today.The Director of the Media Centre “Odbrana”, Colonel Stevica Karapandžin emphasised that we witnessed that day what undoubtedly was a historical moment, when “the immortal Field Marshal and martyr Petar Bojović resolutely went to another great heaven-to-ground operation and of course to victory – making a breakthrough from the oblivion here on the ground, bellow the heaven, unstoppably pushing forward through eternity and chasing the enemies”.
“Researching the personality and the work of the Field Marshal Petar Bojović, 72 years after his tragic death, it is necessary to ask ourselves why he was so neglected in our historiography. We know today that Petar Bojović was a great patriot, a man of exceptional war waging skills, who was a leader both in knowledge and education.
He was a war lord of high moral principles, honourable and dignified, a dedicated worker who even in the home of his parents build firm and adamant principles. That is why it is not easy to answer the question why he was so much neglected and in the end even humiliated, but still, it is possible to give an answer.
We from our generation have been given an opportunity to be worthy successors of our glorious ancestors from all the significant periods of our history. That is possible only if we finally return to ourselves and start righting great wrongs, because it is the only way for us to hope to last further through history. This implies both spiritual and moral restoration, to which all the noble warriors of our kind call upon from eternity, from immortal echelon. In this constellation, one of the brightest stars certainly is the Field Marshal Petar Bojović“, said Colonel Karapandžin.
The Secretary General of the President of the Republic of Serbia, Nedeljko Tenjović looked back on the personality of the Field Marshal Bojović, where at the same time with the warrior coexisted an ecclesiastic, writer, interpreter and a family man.“And just like the Battle of Kosovo, as one event and one date that became the backbone of the Serbian heroic vertical that is given sense by a willing sacrifice, the liberation wars in Serbia from the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th century wrote one of the brightest biographies of a warrior, soldier, war lord, a man born under our sky. It suffices to remember that he spent entire 46 years in war uniform and then to try to understand the greatness of the deed of an honest, self-sacrificing and benevolent hero such undoubtedly was the Field Marshal Bojović.
When we remind ourselves of just one part of significant events, the dates and persons, that is an opportunity and ask ourselves whether we regard with sufficient care and gratitude those who laid their lives at the altar of freedom and homeland. Their deeds silently ask us if we are true successors of our heroic ancestors”.
Reciting the verses of Milutin Bojić from the poem “Protivnici” (the Adversaries), Nedeljko Tenjović proclaimed the exhibition opened.
The artistic part of the programme included the appearance of the actress Željka Jelić who also recited Milutin Bojić’s poem “Plava grobnica” (The Blue Tomb) and the actor Miodrag Petrović who performed a monologue of Lieutenant Tasić from the play “Saint George kills the dragon” (by Dušan Kovačević), and the choir of the grammar school “Jovan Jovanović Zmaj” from Novi Sad.
Among numerous guests from defence system there appeared: Dr Zoran Milošević, the Provincial Secretary for High Education, Zoran Jelušić, the President of the Assembly of Novi Sad, Saša Vujić, the President of the city board of the Association of the Serbian Householders, and the representatives of clergy and religious communities.
PHOTOGALLERY
