TOPALIĆ: HEROIC SACRIFICE OF SERBIAN CHILDREN WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

ISTOČNO NOVO SARAJEVO, MARCH 11 /SRNA/ - Citizens of Istočno Sarajevo will never forget, nor can they forget, the suffering of 118 children whose heroic sacrifice must never fall into oblivion for the freedom-loving Serbian people, said Željka Topalić, principal of the Elementary School Saint Sava in Istočno Novo Sarajevo.

Topalić emphasized that the largest number of children were killed in Srpska Ilidža and Ilijaš. Milena Dragićević was killed in Ilijaš, while in the village of Ledići, the eighteen-month-old Milun Tešanović was brutally murdered, and the oldest child killed was 17 years old. She recalled that March 11 was symbolically chosen as the date marking the deaths of pupils Nataša Učur and Milica Lalović from this school, noting that from 1992 to 1995 four more pupils were also killed: twelve-year-old Goran Bozalo, fifteen-year-old Dijana Ćosović, first-grader Zorica Divčić, and fourteen-year-old Viktor Lale. According to her, a monument has been erected as a tribute and in memory of the 118 Serbian children killed during the war, referred to as the “little angels.” "We strive, through this commemoration at the school, as educators, to ensure that the bells of our school never fall silent in reminding people of this tragedy," Željka Topalić told reporters. They also try, she added, to teach children about the importance of remembering their fallen peers, and to ensure that this remembrance is built on love deeply rooted in the heart. Topalić stressed that the school strives to ensure that the remembrance of Serbian children who were killed does not become merely a historical date or a statistical figure, but that these memorial events serve as a voice of remembrance. Grieving mothers Rada Cvijetić and Milena Vitković recalled with pain the tragedies in which they lost their children, emphasizing that the wounds in their hearts have never healed. "Almost every day, we go from grave to grave. Our fighters never even thought of harming other people's children, let alone brutally killing and torturing them as Muslim butchers did. We judge no one, but we want both earthly and divine justice to reach them," they said. The Elementary School Saint Sava in Istočno Novo Sarajevo today organized a commemoration marking the Day of Remembrance for the children of Serbian Sarajevo who were killed during the war, including pupils Nataša Učur and Milica Lalović, who were killed by sniper fire on March 11, 1995, while playing in front of their building.