In the north of Greece, in the remote village of Hrisi, lies a place that holds one of the most important, yet underestimated, pages of Serbian history – the memory of soldiers who gave their lives in the First World War, listed in the book of Greek historian Vlasidis.
Although this area was a battlefield of fierce fighting and crucial moments for the Serbian army, it has been forgotten for decades. However, a team from the website kajmakcalan.rs – guardians of glorious Serbian history from oblivion – set out to find a memorial fountain dedicated to Serbian fighters from the area around Kajmakčalan and surrounding battlefields, but what they found moved them to the core!
Specifically, while searching for a landmark that would commemorate the suffering of Serbian heroes, they came across a local resident who led them to an old, ruined monument from 1917, hidden among dense bushes and neglected fields!
“We were looking for a monument and found both a monument and what appears to be a cemetery!” they wrote on their Instagram page, adding:
“We arrived in the village of Hrisi, in the municipality of Aridea in northern Greece, west of Thessaloniki. It is 20-40 km from Dobro Polje, Kozjak, Sokol, Veternik, Kajmakčalan. At the end of our search through the village, we met a man who said he didn’t know about a monument but knew where the cemetery was! ‘We used to play there when we were kids,’ he told us.”
“And we set off, first by car through some fields, and then on foot uphill, through dense bushes. Our hearts stopped. We found a ruined (probably mined) monument. We tried to decipher the inscription. The monument bears the year 1917,” they said in the video.
And then they read the verses engraved on one of the monuments:
“Under rugged Kožuh, fallen Timok men,
Veljko’s heroes, young Sinđelić’s, their bodies lie here.
Oh, wonderful Serbia, we stopped here,
When you punish Cain, remember our deeds!”
“Emotions overwhelmed us. We almost forgot them. This gentleman says it was a beautiful monument and that it collapsed. He also claims that there is a cemetery here and that it has not been exhumed. He even offered to clear the access to this place. It’s kind of him, but should others take care of our cemeteries?” the team wondered at the end of the video.
As they finally stated, they have since learned that they are not the first Serbs to visit the monument (cemetery). Namely, about 10 years ago, RTS had a report about this monument.
“This knowledge made us even sadder because we realize that this place is not unknown to our public, yet no one has seen fit to react and do something to mark this place, arrange it, or repair the monument. What should we do? Proposals, suggestions?” they asked in conclusion.
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Source: Blic, Photo: Printscreen Instagram @kajmakcalan1916