SNP80: Pellegrini Marks Uprising Anniversary in Central Slovakia

Brezno, August 31 (TASR) - Horehronie area in central Slovakia was the heart of the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) during the Second World War, President Peter Pellegrini said in his speech at regional celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the SNP in the town of Brezno on Saturday, noting that the region was the stage of heavy fighting between partisan groups and the Germans and that the iron fist of cruel Nazi retaliation ultimately fell on this area. "To this day, the blood of the massacre in Nemecka and fallen partisans on the slopes of Prasiva and Chabenec has not dried. The flames of revenge still smoulder in Kaliste and Balaze, which were the centre of the Partisan Republic. The nearby village of Cierny Balog also witnessed multiple tragedies. Rarely in our homeland does this sad but also glorious chapter of our history come alive before our eyes in such a plastic and three-dimensional way as here, in central Slovakia," Pellegrini said. The president praised the fact that in addition to national SNP anniversary celebrations held in Banska Bystrica, other regions and areas, including Horehronie, have commemorated the anniversary as well. In his speech, Pellegrini also thanked the participants of the SNP, calling the former fascist regime a system that relied on violence, hatred and racial and religious superiority. "Millions of people across Europe lost their rights, dignity, identity and future, only to be deprived of their very lives, often in an extremely cruel manner, by a totalitarian power. By rising up against this evil with arms in hands, our ancestors contributed to the final defeat of Nazism," the president remarked, adding that via the SNP, Slovaks espoused the values of freedom, democracy and equality between people and between nations. zel