The Peace Monument unveiling ceremony

By placing and unveiling the Peace Monument and name boards dedicated to fallen soldiers who lost their lives during the Second World War, Pogrebno podjetje Maribor d.d. concludes activities of the international project "The war graveyards at cemetery in Pobrežje".

The ceremony with unveiling the monument to peace and boards of name for fallen soldiers kept place on Friday 20th May 2011. Official speaker was dr. Ljubica Jelušič, Minister of Defence, who expressed her view of wars as wars of political ideas and ideology where single soldier face is not seen. In her opinion the Peace Monument is not only the opportunity to get to know who these soldiers were, but also the opportunity to realize that they were a part of a big European and World's generation that died in the Second World War.

The ceremony was also attended by Franc Kangler, Mayor of Maribor, Janez Janša, President of Slovenian Democratic Party, the Vice Minister of the National Assembly dr. France Cukjati and other politicians, diplomats and ambassadors.

The Peace Monument is the first such monument dedicated to peace and presentation of history that is free of any ideological dimension, not only in Slovenia, but anywhere in the world.

Mag. Lidija Pliberšek, the director of Pogrebno podjetje Maribor, believes that the event has a great symbolic and unifying value, which aims to build a common historical consciousness without dividing and without value judgments. She hopes the basic message of the project will spread further across Europe.

During the ceremony wreaths were laid to the new Peace Monument. Starting with Slovenian Armed Forces delegation and following by ambassadors and  military attaches from Cyprus, Greece, the United States, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, Montenegro, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Lithuania, France, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Serbia and Poland.

The project was a collaboration of Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs Slovenia, City of Maribor, the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia, Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe (ASCE) and the company Ostroga.