Students executed by Nazis remembered 70 years later

Students executed by Nazis remembered 70 years later

KRAGUJEVAC -- The traditional anti-war event '"The Great School Class" was held on Tuesday at the Šumarice Memorial Park in Kragujevac, central Serbia

Those gathered honored the memory of the students, professors and citizens of Kragujevac executed by occupying German Nazi forces during the Second World War.

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić said at the event that he was pleased to see so many children attending the commemoration ceremony, noting that they are here to learn more about this tragic event.

"No matter how many years have passed, each Great School Class feels as if this tragedy is taking place before our very eyes," Nikolić told reporters after the ceremony in Šumarice.

The event held to commemorate the execution of thousands of innocent people including students and professors of the First Kragujevac High School, "Kragujevac and Serbia are sending a message to the world that crimes such as this one must never be allowed to repeat."

Actors from Belgrade and Kragujevac staged a musical performance comprised of excerpts from 30 poems and plays written by authors from Serbia and abroad in memory of victims of the Kragujevac massacre.

The commemoration and the wreath laying ceremony was also attended by officials of the Serbian National Assembly and government, ambassadors of Germany, Russia, Belarus, Slovakia and Palestine, representatives of Serbian Armed Forces and religious communities, delegations of 14 sister cities of Kragujevac, students and professors of the First Kragujevac High School, and numerous citizens, including the descendants of the victims.

Several thousand civilians in Kragujevac were executed...