DONATION EXHIBITION OF STUDENT WORKS MARKING 84 YEARS SINCE ŠARGOVAC SCHOOLCHILDREN SUFFERING

BANJA LUKA, FEBRUARY 6 /SRNA/ – A donation exhibition of student artworks titled “An Unfinished Lesson” was held this evening at the Milanović House in Banja Luka, marking 84 years since the suffering of the Šargovac schoolchildren in an Ustasha crime.

The proceeds from the exhibition, which symbolically features 52 works by pupils of the Đura Jakšić Primary School and 52 handmade yellow chicks, will serve as the first donation for the construction of a memorial park near the school, in memory of the 52 Šargovac schoolchildren killed in 1942. The principal of the Đura Jakšić Primary School in Šargovac, Darko Tomić, told SRNA that this crime must not be forgotten. “Eighty-four years have passed, but only now are we talking about building a memorial park. That is the price of brotherhood and unity that we have paid, as well as of some other times after it, because it was never considered the right time to build this memorial park,” Tomić said. He emphasized that the Đura Jakšić Primary School strives not only today, but throughout the entire year, to nurture a culture of remembrance for the pupils killed on February 7, 1942. Senior expert associate in the Office of Republika Srpska National Assembly Speaker, Mišo Radaković, expressed hope that all funds collected from the sale of the student works would contribute to making the future memorial park a place of remembrance for everything that happened in that horrific year of 1942. “We are not here merely to witness an expression of the talent of these children, the authors of the works, but to say that the culture of remembrance has not been neglected and that we are teaching our children to remember everything that happened in history,” Radaković told SRNA. Republika Srpska National Assembly Speaker, Nenad Stevandić, also contributed to the donation exhibition by purchasing a drawing by pupil Una Balaban. “The children whose names and destinies oblige all of us to remember, to speak the truth, and to teach younger generations what happened. These works, prepared by the pupils, are not only an expression of talent, but also proof that the culture of remembrance lives on and is being passed on to those who come after us,” Stevandić posted on X. He emphasized that the memorial park near the primary school will be a place of lasting remembrance, but also a place of learning in order to avoid such evil from repeating. The exhibition was organised by the Banja Luka-based association “Odgovorno/Responsible”. One hour before the opening of the exhibition of student works marking 84 years since the tragedy of the Šargovac schoolchildren, an exhibition of competition entries for the memorial park was also opened at the Milanović House. The public was thus presented with conceptual designs that preserve the memory of the suffering of the 52 pupils murdered in the Ustasha massacre of February 7, 1942, in a contemporary and dignified manner. The exhibition opens space for remembrance, reflection, and dialogue, and allows the public to follow the process of creating a memorial that will be a lasting symbol of collective memory and warning. The exhibition will be available to visitors until February 20. On February 7, 1942, Ustasha forces, in the most brutal manner, massacred more than 2,300 Serbs in the Banja Luka villages of Motike, Šargovac, Drakulić, and at the Rakovac mine, among whom were 551 children. Among those brutally murdered, without a single shot fired, were 52 pupils of the Đura Jakšić Primary School in Šargovac.