85TH ANNIVERSARY OF MASSACRE OF SERBS IN DURALE BY USTASHA COMMEMORATED

BANJA LUKA, JULY 26 /SRNA/ – The 85th anniversary of the killing of 30 Serbs from the settlements of Durale, Dragočaj, and Ramići in an Ustasha massacre was commemorated today in the village of Durale, in the Banja Luka suburb of Prijakovci.

A memorial service was held on the occasion, followed by the laying of wreaths and flowers at the monument in Durale. Republika Srpska National Assembly Speaker Nenad Stevandić said that no crime committed against Serbs, regardless of its scale, should ever be concealed. "Since the establishment of Republika Srpska, we have spoken the truth and erased the falsehoods previously told about our people. Srpska has erased all lies and revealed all truths. It enables us to preserve the memory of our victims, as we are doing today in Durale," Stevandić said. He stressed that Serbs should understand that all internal divisions are meaningless. "Our only obligation is to stand together. Srpska exists so that future generations will be protected from tragedies like the one that occurred in Durale," Stevandić told the press. He also claimed that many in the political leadership in Sarajevo and elsewhere would like Serbs in BiH live under conditions similar to those of Serbs in Kosovo, but Republika Srpska would not allow that. "Republika Srpska is the pledge of our unity and our future. All divisions among us are meaningless, and our determination to preserve Republika Srpska must only grow stronger," Stevandić said. Wreaths and flowers were laid at the monument in Durale by Stevandić, representatives of the Republika Srpska Government, descendants of the victims, delegations of SUBNOR, BORS, the Banja Luka City Administration, and others. The memorial service at the massacre site was preceded by a Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Prijakovci. During the night between August 1 and 2, 1941, Ustasha forces brutally killed 30 Serb civilians from Prijakovci, Dragočaj, and Ramići in Durale. The massacre was one of the first large-scale atrocities committed by the Ustasha in the Krajina region during the Second World War.