The first clap of documentaries that will bring to small screens the story of invisible heroes of Greece who hosted thousands of Serbian children during the war in the 1990s fell a few days ago, and the emotions from the filming left no one indifferent, said the Minister of European Affairs of the Republic of Srpska Zlatan Klokić, stating that the documentary is based on the testimonies of Greeks who are the main actors in that work.
– With the film we want to present the Greek side of the story, ie how the help they provided to our people during the civil war in BiH was experienced in the eyes of Greeks, how they felt when they received orphans, frightened children who did not even know Greek – says Klokić.
He stated that the shooting started a few days ago, the pilot project was completed, and the film is expected to be finished next year.
– There is a possibility that it will be filmed in the form of a series because a lot of people called us. The first filming was in Ormilia, Halkidiki, and it caused a lot of emotions because due to the circumstances on the set, there was a girl whose father was killed, who was hosted by a Greek family whose story we filmed in 1995. Everyone remembers the sentence she said that day: Sometimes we lose something and we gain something. I lost my father, but God gave me a new family in Greece – Klokić pointed out.
He emphasized that the Republic of Srpska Representation in Greece came to launch the campaign with the aim of further strengthening Serbian-Greek ties, but also that this humane gesture of the Greek people should never be forgotten.
– The help that the Serbian people received from Greece is a unique event in recent world history, where one nation gave so much love to another nation and that is exactly one of the reasons why we decided to support the project on invisible heroes and, through this campaign, we find and make visible for all time. We want to send a big thank you to the Greek people in this way, through the institutions of Srpska – Klokić added.
He said that after the publication of the video in which they invited Greek humanists and benefactors who hosted children from Srpska during the war to contact them, that they received many positive reactions on the first day, which now arrive every day.
– More than 200 people have already contacted us, both Greeks who hosted our children and young people who were in Greece. Our people recognized the project as the only way to thank the Greek people, and the Greeks enthusiastically accepted the idea of preserving this unique act of humanity from oblivion in this way – Klokić pointed out.
He added that about 12,000 children from Srpska stayed in Greece during the 1990s.
– However, the Serbian Orthodox Church was also involved in the action, as well as various other associations that also took Serbian children from the then war-torn BiH to Greece, so the number is certainly much higher and according to estimates it is around 20,000 children – Klokić believes.
He points out that the ties between the two nations are unbreakable.
– Looking through history, the Greek people were one of the few who always helped the Serbs. The biggest examples of that unbreakable connection are the reception of our army in Corfu after the Albanian Golgotha, then mass demonstrations in support of the Serbian people during the bombing in 1999, the existence of a Serb military cemetery in Thessaloniki and the like. The fact that Greece is one of the countries in which Serbia has a representative office speaks of how important those ties are – Klokić pointed out.
He states that the campaign has already, in ten days, producing new projects, about which the public will be informed in a timely manner.
– What I can say is that in agreement with the Republic of Srpska Representation in Greece, we plan to organize a large gathering of Greek and Serbian families next year, if the situation with the coronavirus allows, and to mark one day in the year that would be dedicated to this selfless help of Greek people – said Klokic.
TST
