The Doboj National Library organized an “Evening of Remembrance” dedicated to librarian Slobodan Lazendić. The event posthumously presented the results of his extensive research and publishing work on his hometown of Zavidovići.
Those who knew him describe Slobodan Lazendić simply as the chronicler of Zavidovići. He studied the history of his native town and published 19 books on the subject.
“We sat together every day, naturally exchanging experiences and opinions — we had similar areas of interest,” said Dragan Mićić of the Doboj National Library.
He was always ready, recalls Lidia Žarić, director of the Doboj National Library, to take the 5 or 6 a.m. train to Belgrade, finish whatever work he needed to do, return by train or bus around 2:30 p.m., and be back at his desk the next day.
“In the library he digitized, scanned, and archived materials — it was part of his job, and thanks to his work many Doboj periodicals have been preserved from oblivion,” Žarić said.
He digitized all issues of the Vozućica Udrim newspaper and, through one of his books, presented previously little-known data about the number of Serbs killed in the Vozuća area during the Second World War.
“He retrieved from the Sarajevo museum the full lists — every single person, their year of birth, place of birth, place of death — more than 1,700 victims from the Vozuća region,” said Zoran Blagojević of the Zavidovići Homeland Association.
All the material he collected, in both printed and digital form, he donated for preservation to libraries and archives. Slobodan Lazendić passed away in Doboj on 6 December 2024, following complications from a stroke.
Source: RTRS
