85TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE KOZARA AND POTKOZARJE UPRISING AGAINST FASCISM COMMEMORATED

KOZARSKA DUBICA, JULY 27 /SRNA/ - The 85th anniversary of the uprising of the people of Kozara and Potkozarje against fascism during the Second World War was commemorated in Knežica near Kozarska Dubica.

Deputy Mayor of Kozarska Dubica Marko Tankosić recalled the immense suffering of the people of this area during the Second World War, in which half of the population of Kozarska Dubica lost their lives, either in combat or in Ustasha camps. Member of the Republika Srpska National Assembly Darko Banjac said that July 27 serves as a lasting reminder of the suffering and the importance of the struggle for freedom, but also of the fact that an entire people was driven into exile and sent to Ustasha camps and prisons, where women, children and innocent civilians were killed simply because they were Serbs. He stressed that this date also sends a message that Serbs will never again suffer in such a way, as they are prepared to fight for their freedom and Republika Srpska. "The popular gathering at Milića Gaj and July 27 are deeply rooted in these people and these villages, and they can never be erased," Banjac said. Assistant Minister for Veterans' and Disabled Persons' Protection Mladen Radić stressed that the fighters who were honoured were of exceptional importance in bringing an end to the suffering of the Serb and other peoples in this and other regions during the Second World War. "We are eternally grateful to them for that," Radić told reporters. President of SUBNOR of Kozarska Dubica Milorad Bukva said that the anti-fascist character of the Serb people's struggle during the Second World War must not be forgotten. Flowers were also laid at the Partisan Cemetery in Knežica by National Assembly member Dragan Brdar, municipal officials, delegations of the municipal Veterans' Organization and the Republika Srpska Army officers and veterans, SUBNOR representatives and other admirers of the legacy of the National Liberation Struggle. The organizers of the commemoration were the Committee for Nurturing the Tradition of Liberation Wars of the Government of Republika Srpska, the Kozarska Dubica Municipal Administration and SUBNOR of Republika Srpska. The uprising broke out on July 27, 1941, almost simultaneously in Grahovo, Drvar, Grmeč and Kozara, while in the Knežopolje area it began with an attack on the gendarmerie station in Knežica. In the first days of the uprising, Grahovo, Drvar, Oštrelj, Kostajnica and Dobrljin were liberated. The uprising spread across the entire Krajina region, with dozens of guerrilla detachments being formed with uneven organization, and insurgent fronts established around Prijedor, Dobrljin, Kostajnica and Dubica. The anti-fascist and freedom-loving spirit of the Serb people of Kozara and Potkozarje was not extinguished by numerous enemy offensives, not even by the major German-Ustasha offensive in the summer of 1942.