Hungarian War Grave Care Experts Visit the Balkans

Szöveg: P. V | 2015. június 7. 13:01

The staff members of the MoD Public Relations and War Memorial Service Department (MoD PRWMSD) recently paid a visit to the Balkans. They were looking for the traces of thousands of mainly anonymously buried soldier heroes resting in the countries of the region.

As part of the works done to mark the centenary of the Great War, the department has set itself the goal of establishing a memorial site in each country. A two-man working group – government official Lajos Horváth and Lt. Péter Vulevity – surveyed the planned sites in search of potential remains in Serbia (Nis), Kosovo (Pristina and Priznen) and Albania (Tirana, Durres, Vlora). A book written by Gábor Margittai, “Ghost Soldiers of Asinara" published in 2014 by Zrínyi Publishing House helped a lot with their work, because it covers the topics of a death march in the Balkans during the Great War in great detail, as a result of thorough and meticulous research. The authorities in Serbia, Kosovo and Albania were helping the Hungarian war grave care experts all along their tour.

At the same time, the Hungarians chose a memorial site for the Linz passenger steamboat that sank with hundreds of people on board in 1918, and established contact with local researchers to find the resting place of the persons who lost their lives when the SMS Lika destroyer sank in the Bay of Durres.

In Debriste, the Hungarian experts held a joint commemoration with the Austrians at a monument erected in memory of the troops of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy fallen in World War I. This year’s commemoration marked the National Defence Day of Hungary, the Memorial Day of the Hungarian Heroes and the centenary of the Macedonian front of 1915. Wreaths of remembrance were laid at the event organized by Austria’s military attaché in Belgrade in cooperation with the Embassy of Hungary. The commemoration was also attended by researcher Maryan Dimitriyevski and Gen. (Ret.) Boris Stoyanovski who published a co-authored book on foreign military gravesites in Macedonia in 2011.

After the ceremony, the representatives of Austria, Hungary and Macedonia jointly planted a tree of remembrance.