With a commemoration, a memorial service and the laying of wreaths at the monument at Poljana in Drugovac, eight decades since the tragic killing of the villagers of this Smederevo village in the Second World War were marked today.
As a reminder, on 29 April 1944, four corps of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland attacked the village, where the Drugovac Partisan Battalion and a company of the Kosmaj Detachment were stationed.
After a battle lasting several hours, the Partisan fighters withdrew in the early afternoon, and the Chetniks then entered the village and rounded up a large group of villagers at two places in the centre of Drugovac, the so-called “Poljana” and the churchyard.
“In the memory of the people of Drugovac and Smederevo, 29 April 1944 remains a deeply tragic day. It is the day when we lost 72 residents of Drugovac, the day when 120 houses in the village were set on fire, the day when 200 households were looted.
We are here today to pay tribute to all the victims, to recall that terrible event and to remind ourselves that this tragedy must never happen again,” said Aleksandra Mijatović, Member of the City Council of the City of Smederevo, at the commemoration.
In addition to representatives of the local government and Local Community Drugovac, numerous other delegations and organisations also laid wreaths at the monument to the victims in Drugovac today.
