The dignity of memory

The dignity of memory

Support for the preservation and against the act of destruction of the Partisan Cemetery monument in Mostar

On Wednesday, June 15, 2022, unknown vandals completely destroyed all the commemorative plaques of the Partisan Cemetery in Mostar, which was built in 1965 according to the plans of the outstanding architect Bogdan Bogdanović. Although it has the status of a national monument and has been protected by video surveillance and illuminated since 2018, the monument is destroyed. It is a deliberately planned attack on the dignity of memory for the fallen fighters for freedom during the National Liberation Struggle in the IIWW, among whom there were a large number of children. Therefore we are addressing the undersigned organizations, movements, initiatives and individuals with a letter of protest in which we strongly condemn and demand a public apology and clarification and investigation of the events on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, when strangers vandalized the Partisan Cemetery monument in Mostar. We also demand the conviction and prosecution of the perpetrator.
 
Bogdanović often told the story of how two cities would one day look face to face forever - the city of dead anti-fascist heroes and the city of the living for whom they gave their lives. In this idea he created a partisan necropolis in Mostar, a great astrological model, where he gave the right to the beauty of dreams to the fallen Mostar anti-fascist fighters, boys and girls. In his work, he questioned whether "the children of our children will also see in the monument the image of a proud and humane city that rises like a mirage somewhere between heaven and earth - whether they will recognize their place in it in a difficult time when the most difficult thing was to be and to stay a man?”
 
For the ideals of equality, freedom and love, 750 mostly twenty-year-old youth from Mostar fell and their names are engraved on the stone slabs of the monument in the form of felled trees: Esad Elezović - 21 years old, killed in Jasenovac, Pero Markulin - 21 years old, killed on Sutjeska, Vinko Džidić - 29 years old, killed on Mamula, Dr. Leon Štem - 35 years old, killed in Janjina, Nedžad Arpadžić - 19 years old, killed in Stara Gradiška, Slavko Balać - 27 years old, killed in Lepoglava, Nazif Dolić - 35 years old, killed in Dachau, Ahmet Dizdar - 29 years old, killed in Norway , Milivoje Vučetić - 21 years old, killed in Mostar, Salih Islamović - 34 years old, killed in Benghazi, Luka Janjić - 23 years old, killed in Trieste, Ismet Milavić - 33 years old, killed in Norvik, Tripo Uljarović - 23 years old, killed in Nevesinje.
 
The collaborators of the project Architecture. Sculpture. Memory. The art of monuments of Yugoslavia 1945–1991 have randomly read names of victims from the destroyed stone slabs of the monument in honor, respect and dignity of memory.
 
DESSA Gallery
Ljubljana, 07/01/2022

 
 
Sign petition
https://www.peticija.online/dostojanstvo_spomina?fbclid=IwAR0Mk7HvePp61NVQo5DQix49w93NYWSSpyMF1TG9M3fIXY-Zi8Sx5g7rMqs