Descendants Bow to Their Ancestors: Memorial for 116 Yugoslav Officers Unveiled in Osnabrück — Večernje Novosti Reports
The Serbian daily Večernje Novosti reported on the unveiling of a memorial at the Eversburg cemetery in Osnabrück for the 116 royal Yugoslav officers who died in the Allied bombing of camp Oflag VI C in December 1944. Among those paying their respects were 28 children and young people from Serbia together with their German peers — including descendants of the imprisoned officers.
The Serbian daily Večernje Novosti (author: Ljiljana Preradović, 15 June 2026) reported on the unveiling of the new memorial at the Eversburg cemetery in Osnabrück. We quote the report: "At the Eversburg cemetery in the German city of Osnabrück, the unveiling of a memorial for 116 royal Yugoslav officers who died during the Allied bombing of camp Oflag VI C in December 1944 was a deeply emotional moment. Twenty-eight children and young people from Serbia, together with their peers from this German city in Lower Saxony, bowed to their memory."
"Among those who paid their respects to the victims of the Second World War — in a camp where around 6,500 officers of the Royal Yugoslav Army were imprisoned — was thirteen-year-old Đorđe Ničota from Belgrade, the great-grandson of one of the captured officers. For him, as he said, visiting the place where his great-grandfather is buried — whose name he himself carries — was a special and emotional moment. That encounter with family history left a powerful impression on young Đorđe and his family. Beside the memorial, which was ceremonially unveiled by Katharina Pötter, the Mayor of Osnabrück, a wreath was laid by Milun Čurović from Novi Sad, grandson of the prisoner Arso Čurović, while his cousin Arso Čurović, also a grandson of this officer, travelled from Podgorica. Both were deeply moved that, after more than eight decades, the memory of their grandfather is being kept alive — and that neither he nor the others will ever be forgotten."
"The most emotional moment of the entire ceremony was the performance of the youngest members of the group from Serbia. Led by teacher Zagorka Kričković from the Branko Radičević Primary School in Ravno Selo near Vrbas, second- and third-grade pupils Marija, Sofija, Neda, Dunja, Greta and Tijana sang the song 'Tamo daleko'. Listening to the children's voices, recalling the suffering but also the dignity of the Serbian officers who spent the hardest years of their lives far from their homeland, none of those present could hide their emotion." The report also describes the Serbian tricolour raised in the guests' honour in front of the New Town Hall in Hanover, where Deputy Mayor Thomas Klapproth hosted a reception — a gesture the guests experienced as a sign of respect and friendship between the two peoples.
The president of the association "Help for Young Life", historian Dr. Željko Dragić, who has been researching the history of camp Oflag VI C for years, emphasized the importance of the culture of remembrance in the report: "Every year I bring young people to this place, because I believe it is our duty not to forget those whose freedom was taken away. These officers were far from their families, their country was occupied and devastated, and they spent years behind barbed wire. Remembering them is not only a question of history, but also a question of human dignity. When young people understand the past, they build a more peaceful and better future more easily." Among those paying their respects were also Radmila Nikolić, daughter of Vasilije Dakić, taken to Germany by the occupation authorities in 1941; Branka Životić, daughter of Svetozar Bjelopetrović from Primišlje in Lika, who never saw his homeland again after the war; and Milena Jazavac Guthof, daughter of Slavko Jazavac, born in Šibine near Glina, deported to Germany as a forced labourer in the Hermann Göring Werke factories.
Source: Večernje Novosti, "POTOMCI SE POKLONILI SENIMA PREDAKA: U Osnabriku otkriveno obeležje za 116 jugoslovenskih oficira zatočenika nemačkog logora", by Ljiljana Preradović, 15 June 2026. Read the original (in Serbian) at: https://www.novosti.rs/reportaze/vesti/1618280/potomci-poklonili-senima-predaka-osnabriku-otkriveno-obelezje-116-jugoslovenskih-oficira-zatocenika-nemackog-logora
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