The step forward that took place with the new Zagreb Administration is extremely important, and with the announced return of the memorial plaque, after more than 30 years this place will be appropriately marked so that people know what happened here during the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), said Saša Šimpraga
By: Nenad Jovanović / Novosti
Photo: Nenad Jovanović / Katarina Zlatec (Dotrščina Virtual Museum)
The participants and visitors of this year’s tenth consecutive memorial art intervention organized by the Dotrščina Virtual Museum (VMD), held on the evening of September 10, 2022, at the Dotrščina Memorial Park, on the occasion of the International Day of Peace, did not have the opportunity to experience it fully as planned due to poor weather conditions. Since it looked like there would be no rain and showers despite all the clouds accumulated in the sky, at the beginning of the event, the head of the VMD, Saša Šimpraga, spoke to the gathered crowd about the information plaque that, as promised, the new City Authorities placed at the entrance to the Memorial Park in June of this year.
– This year’s memorial intervention is taking place on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Museum, which I believe has managed to bring Dotrščina back to the collective memory, at least that of the cultural public, in the past decade. The step forward that took place with the new City Administration is extremely important, and with the announced return of the memorial plaque that was part of the original design of the Memorial Park at the time, after more than 30 years this place will be appropriately marked, and people will know what happened here during the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) – Šimpraga told us.
He especially emphasized the five-year-long cooperation with the Council of the Serbian National Minority of the City of Zagreb (VSNM ZG), without whose help it would not be possible to implement the programmes.
– I think that this support resulted in some good and very important things. One of them is the educational program that the Museum held for the first time this year for history teachers and high school students in the first half of the year, and as a result of that we had several high schools that included their students’ visit to Dotrščina in their respective curricula. We expect other participants to do the same at the beginning of this upcoming school year – Šimpraga pointed out.
The author of the exhibition, academic painter Diana Sokolić, emphasized that it would be held only that evening.
– I was amazed and surprised by the number of victims who were executed at Dotrščina and the fact that one cannot comprehend how many people that really is. Then I came across a piece of information on how many stars are visible to the naked eye and found that it was approximately the same number, which gave me my initial idea. Today, around 7,000 people live in Opatija, Crikvenica, Novska, or Gospić, which means that an entire town perished in Dotrščina. It is very nice that on the occasion of the International Day of Peace these sufferings are commemorated, sufferings which are not only a crime against these victims, but also against all those we loved and who died in any war. Those under the age of 28 are the only ones who have not experienced a single war during their lives, and the oldest among us have experienced two. I would not want it to happen again and that is why I applied for this tender: because every family was damaged in the war by the loss of their loved ones. Each generation carries and transmits memories to the generations to come – emphasized Sokolić.
Among the participants was Maja Anzulović from Sarajevo, who brought a portrait of one of the victims – her grandfather Jovo Bravačić, a native of Dubrovnik, who was the director of the Serb Bank (Srpska Banka) and was only 53 years old on the day of his liquidation.
– He had three children, one of whom is my father. They did not want to talk about that event; they wanted to protect their children from passing on the fear. But in spite of that, we have to face history and facts, however terrible and harsh they may be. We have to come to terms with them somehow and move on – she said while, defying the rain, she stood next to a portrait made in prison before her grandfather’s execution, the work of painter Vlaho Bukovac, based off of a smaller portrait from his childhood.
During the part of the intervention that managed to go down as planned, those present counted their steps in a silent walk between the two monuments, thus paying tribute to the victims in accordance with the author’s idea. Unfortunately, the heavy downpour that occurred soon afterwards prevented the full experience of the artistic intervention to take place.
PHOTOGALLERY:
The 1Oth Memorial Art Intervention Organised By The Dotrščina Virtual Museum (Vmd)