Karling klub Vukovi

On Sunday, September 8th, NUSANTARA got back to Podrinje – this time the aim was to tour places and landmarks for which there was no time or opportunity to be seen in the hectic agenda of the Association of Serbian-Indonesian Friendship by now.

Members of the NUSANTARA Association of Serbian-Indonesian Friendship were first welcomed by father Boško Jakovljević, archpriest of the rural church in the village of Jarebice. After a welcoming speech and a story about Jarebice, the church itself, congregation, a well-known and not less active painting colony, what followed was some refreshments served for the excursionists in the parochial home, and then lunch at the “Cale“ restaurant.

In Draginac, “the biggest place of execution of peasants on the Balkans“, members of the NUSANTARA Association of Serbian-Indonesian Friendship heard from Mr. Milisav Jovanović a moving story about the killing of the population in this part of Upper Jadar – in October 1941, a German punitive expedition assassinated almost 3.000 people, mostly the oldest ones and children. The fascist crime in Draginac and nearby villages in Podrinje was kept secret for decades and mentioned only sporadicly. The Sunday excursion was an important occasion not only for guests from Indonesia, but also for members of the NUSANTARA Association of Serbian-Indonesian Friendship to learn this part of the history of Serbia, which implies that NUSANTARA remains faithful to its commitment to discover less known spots as well, and therefore insufficiently revealed parts of the national history.

In the Memorial Centre at Mačkov kamen, on the Jagodnja mountain, the visitors honoured the shadows of Serbian warriors who had given their lives in a bloody battle led in trenches, which had marked the total breakdown of the Austro-Hungarian army – which, from its part, had marked the end to violent fights in August and September 1914. First the visit to Tekeriš in October 2018, then the visit to Gučevo last month, and the Sunday tour of the Memorial Centre at Mačkov kamen, NUSANTARA went a full circle – members of the NUSANTARA Association of Serbian-Indonesian Friendship honoured the illustrious soldiers of voivoda Stepa, whose II Army’d had the duty and afterwards the merit of defending Cer and Podrinje.

At Mačkov kamen, NUSANTARA handed archpriest Jakovljević the annals with an article concerning its visit to Jadar, which represents a specific honour in itself. Every Orthodox church is obliged to possess a chronicle; in the annals it’s being meticulously recorded everything relevant to the existence of the church and life of the local social community. The portrait left in the chronicle by the author of these lines will persist in time as long as the church of St. George in the village of Jarebice.

Members of the NUSANTARA Association of Serbian-Indonesian Friendship spent the Sunday afternoon in Loznica as they chose, and ended the excursion with a visit to the Petkovica monastery in a village of the same name on the foot of the Cer mountain.

Biljana Đorđević

Photos: Trio Wahyu Pramono, Vladimir Ilić, Marko Jelić, Novo Tomić i Biljana Đorđević.