P I L G R I M A G E S
Ljubomir Saramandić, curator of the Serbian House in Corfu
years”, the young men replied gently, stroking the hair of the weakly heir. TIMES OF PAIN AND PRIDE Even today, the local people still remember the stay of Serbian army and the refugees. There is almost not a place on the island that does not cherish the memory of that time. Exhausted, hungry and helpless, they were dislocated all over the island. The local population, with fear and disapprovingly welcomed the poor men ousted from their homeland, carrying in their dried eyes and withered lips memory of their homes. Skepticism and distrust in the uninvited guests disappeared like the sea foam. Vibration of the soul of brothers in religion soon bridged all the barriers of fear of unknown, and some Serbian names are still widely used among the local population. “Within a period of two and a half years, which is how long they stayed in
Opportunity “The upcoming jubilee, a centennial of evacuation of Serbian army in Corfu, is an opportunity for more school trips to come for a pilgrimage”, says Ljubomir Saramandić. He hopes that the state, on this occasion, would renovate the Serbian House, restore the museum exhibits that is almost a quarter of a century old, organize and publish all available lists of soldiers and civilians who escaped over Albania and stayed in Corfu.
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SRPSK A БРОЈ 10-11 2015
Corfu, no incident has been recorded. Not a single branch was broken, not a single theft, fight, no problem was reported to the allied administration”, says Ljubomir Saramandić, curator of the Serbian House in Corfu, adding that nowhere else had the camps been so neat like in Corfu. “In open spaces in between the olive groves they erected tents decorated with flowers and greenery. With fine gravel and rocks of different shades they wrote names of units and insignia of the Serbian army and state. Camps of the Serbian army looked like fantastic castles built on a sandy sea shore”, says to the visitors this guardian of memory of Serbian Golgotha, whose grandfathers Stojan Saramandić and Dragić Milošević crossed Albania and stayed in Corfu. After arriving in Corfu, all Serbian state institutions continued to work. “Serbian state, as formulated in the order of the Supreme Command, did not lose its being, although on a foreign land, for as long as the Ruler, Government and the army are here, no matter what its strength might be.” The building of the Corfu theatre became the seat of the Parliament, government and most state institutions. Warm welcome grew into lasting fri endships, certain attractions gave birth to love, crowned by marriage. Janis Gazis, owner of “Bella Venetia” Hotel, where the