Wilhelm: Care for German cemetery - good signal from Serbia

BELGRADE - By deciding to restore the monuments of the German military cemetery from the time of the First World War, Serbia is sending a positive signal to the world, German Ambassador to Serbia Wilhelm Heinz said Wednesday, adding that relations between Serbia and of Germany had never been better.

I am happy about the Serbian government making the decision to restore the monument and I think the timing is just right. This is an excellent signal being sent to the world - that Germany and Serbia want to restore this very monument together, Wilhelm said at the presentation of a project to restore the memorials of the German military cemetery from 1915 in Belgrade's Kosutnjak park.

Wilhelm said at the Republican Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments that German General August von Mackensen erected not only a monument to honor fallen German soldiers, but also a monument to the Serbian soldiers who died defending Belgrade.

It is this high quality of relations between Serbia and Germany that allows us to look back together and remember how painful it used to be and how difficult those times were, said Wilhelm.

He recalled that Serbia had the greatest number of deaths in the First World War in terms of percentage of the population.

Serbian Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy Aleksandar Vulin said today that the restoration of the monument was a proof that the Serbs respect their history the way it had been.

"The Serbs respect their enemies, the Serbs respect their history, the Serbs respect those who fought them," said Vulin.

"We recognize history the way it is and acknowledge the courage of our enemies just as they recognized the courage of the Serbian army,"...