Ambassador Suzana Boskovic Prodanovic and Jasmina Petrovic, First Counsellor, attended the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Norway-Western Balkans Friendship Society, from 13 to 15 September. The ceremony began on 13 September by laying a wreath at the tomb of Gunar Karlgard, the first President of the Norwegian chapter of the Society.
Ambassador Suzana Boskovic Prodanovic emphasized that friendship, based on suffering, had lasted much longer than fifty years, regardless of political and any other circumstances. Madam Ambassador underlined that direct people-to-people contacts, without which it would not have been possible to maintain a friendship, cherish the memory of a difficult historical period and pass it on to younger generations, were crucial. She pointed to the symbolism of the trip to Levanger, as Yugoslav internees built the E-6 highway connecting Oslo and the north of the country. She extended special thanks to Norway for taking care of the monuments and sites of Yugoslav internees' plight.
The participants as well as members of the Serbian Diaspora from Trondheim and Levanger surroundings, gathered in front of a memorial plaque in the woods near the Falstad Center to pay tribute to the prisoners of war, victims of World War II. The commemoration ended with a gala dinner at which the guest of honor was a ninety-two-year-old Norwegian woman who was named an honorary member of the Society because in 1945, as an eighteen-year-old girl, she was in a group of Norwegians who organized humanitarian aid and social activities for surviving inmates, until their transport to the former Yugoslavia.
The anniversary commemoration in Norway was attended by representatives of the Society from Norway and Serbia, Norwegian officials, as well as Norwegian and Serbian friends of the Society, some of whom, especially for the occasion, traveled to Levanger from remote parts of Norway.
The Norwegian-Yugoslav Friendship Society was founded in 1968 in Trondheim and its sister organization was established in Niš a year later.Original Article
