As part of the commemoration of the Day of Resistance against the Occupier, historian and teacher Darian Lorenčič organized an event for students at Sveta Trojica Primary School with a lecture by Prof. Boris Hajdinjak and the hosting of our exhibition Red Army in Prekmurje, with photographs owned by Marko Krenn and materials from the Museum of Modern and Contemporary History of Slovenia in Ljubljana and the Pivka Military History Park.
Prof. Hajdinjak, director of the Center for Jewish Cultural Heritage Synagogue Maribor, explained where his ardent interest in World War II came from. His father was born in 1939 in Serdica in Prekmurje. Therefore, one of his earliest contacts with the Second World War was his father’s story about the arrival of the Red Army in Serdica when he visited his relatives in Prekmurje in 1973. He said that around Easter 1945, that is, after April 1, 1945, the Red Army soldiers fought with the Germans on the neighboring Serdiški breg and at Sv. Ana just across the border in Austria. The Red Army soldiers who fell in these battles were buried on Serdiški breg. The headquarters was at the neighbors, the Brezarjes, who had a larger and better house, and therefore the officers slept there. In the small and modest house of his father’s family, ordinary soldiers slept in the barn. Most of the Soviet soldiers were very young and friendly. The case of a Soviet soldier convicted and executed at the Šinkovs’ in Serdica shows that violations of discipline were punished draconianly. His father’s memories were supplemented by his uncle and professional photographer Alojz Šbüll (1898, Serdica – 1995, Sotina) from Sotina, who photographed many Soviet soldiers, and the Victory Monument in the center of Murska Sobota. Soon afterwards, Hajdinjak became an avid reader of books about World War II and realized that the arrival of the Red Army in Prekmurje was part of the largest military operation of World War II, otherwise the most fatal war in the history of mankind.
History gives young people tools for thinking, not just knowledge. It helps them become more independent, responsible and well-rounded people. Therefore, it is crucial that our exhibitions tour, as this way we spread knowledge and raise awareness among young people about history and its importance for today.
