An exhibition paying tribute to Serbia’s First World War soldiers has opened in Paris, with a display of photos, letters, medals and other historic items at the Serbian Cultural Centre.
The organisers say they ‘bear unique witness to the heroism and suffering of Serb soldiers, far removed from the pages of official history’.
An appeal for photographs and First World War documents was made for the Centenary exhibition by the Union of Descendants of Serb Soldiers 1912-1920.
100 years ago, Belgrade fell as the Central Powers, joined by Bulgaria, launched a new invasion of Serbia.
Serb forces were forced to retreat with great losses during autumn 1915 to the Adriatic coast of Albania for evacuation by the Allies.
Britain and France sent troops from the Greek port of Salonika in an unsuccessful attempt to intervene.
The exhibition highlights a tribute paid by Marshal Louis Franchet d’Espèrey, commander of the victorious Allied campaign in the Balkans in 1918.
The Serbs, he said, were ‘persistent in misfortune…they cannot be broken; they are free men, proud of their race and masters of their land.’
The exhibition, entitled ‘Album in memory of our First World War Ancestors’ runs at the Serbian Cultural Centre, Rue St Martin, Paris, from October 22nd-November 14th 2015. The event is supported by the Serbian Ministry of Culture & Media.
Information and images courtesy of Union of Descendants of Serb Soldiers 1912-1920
Posted by: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News