An exhibition dedicated to the persecution of educators in Vojvodina during World War II has opened at the Memorial Museum in Mrakovica.
The exhibition is the result of cooperation between Kozara National Park, the Archives of Vojvodina and the Historical Archives of the City of Novi Sad.
Titled They Still Teach Today: Teachers and Schools in the Turmoil of the 1942 Pogrom, the exhibition focuses on the suffering of teachers and professors during the Hungarian Raids in southern Bačka in early 1942. It presents the stories of 48 teachers and professors who were killed during the pogrom.
“The Novi Sad Raid is the most widely known because Novi Sad was the largest city, so it received the most attention. However, many surrounding places also suffered greatly. The raids took place in Čurug, Žabalj, Đurđevo, Gospođinci, Mošorin, Stari Bečej, Srbobran and Ilok,” said Ljiljana Dolžić, exhibition co-author and historian at the Archives of Vojvodina.
Snežana Serdar Filipović, co-author of the exhibition and historian at the Historical Archives of the City of Novi Sad, noted that educators, doctors, lawyers and wealthy merchants were among those most heavily targeted.
“Of course, many people suffered, but we believe that wealthier and more influential members of society were deliberately targeted,” she said.
The Memorial Museum at Mrakovica houses a permanent exhibition dedicated to events on Kozara during World War II. This is only the third time that the permanent display has temporarily made way for another exhibition.
“We wanted to show that the goal and intention of all occupying authorities was essentially the destruction of the Serb people, and that this approach toward the Serb population was the same across all occupied territories. At the same time, we wanted to highlight the importance of education, because when you destroy a people’s education, you destroy their identity,” said Marina Ljubičić Bogunović, curator of the Memorial Museum at Mrakovica.
The exhibition will remain on display at the museum until August.
Source: RTRS
