Identities of the victims executed in Kraljevo in October 1941

„Since 1945, the city of Kraljevo has been commemorating its tragic „October 1941“. Although it seems that event has long since become history, a past filled with the memories and pain, the attempt to research it and rationalize the number of victims reveals the fact that it is still not free from political connotations.

In all the previous decades, politicians and propagandists have played an important role while historians have featured only partly in the „construction of memory“ of the 1941 Kraljevo victims. Hence, the researh carried out by fellow historian Krejaković has inevitably raised the important question of the relationship to the past historians are exploring (that relationship must be rational and critical) and the relationship of politicians to the events they commemorate (that relationship must be filled with reverence for the victims).

„Emphasizing“ an arbitrary number of those executed in Kraljevo in 1941, without insisting on connecting it with the names of brutally killed people, is just another form of dehumanizing tjhe „Kraljevo October“ victims and an insult added to injury. The research of fellow historian Krejaković „gets in the way“ of that bad and widespread habit.“ – Ph.D. Prof. Ljubodrag Dimić (academian, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Belgrade)