Distinguished Citizens of the Republic of Macedonia,

Respected Participants in the Liberation and Anti-Fascist Struggle,
Esteemed Members of the Families of Our Heroes,

Dear Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Tomorrow, October 11, the Republic of Macedonia celebrates 72 years since the start of the people's uprising for liberation of Macedonia from the fascist occupiers. On the eve of this great holiday, we respectfully remember all fighters and heroes of Macedonia, all sons and daughters of our country who took part in the great struggle for freedom of Macedonia. We remember the 66 national heroes of Macedonia; 44 of them died during the National Liberation Struggle.

We live in freedom which was devotedly fought by the brave fighters in the National Liberation and Anti-Fascist Struggle. Our children grow up safe under the flag of freedom, flag under which Ilinden and ASNOM fighters fought. Thanks to them, we are now on our own. Therefore, we are eternally grateful to them.

Distinguished Citizens of the Republic of Macedonia,

For many European countries, the anti-fascist struggle was ideological struggle against fascism and Nazism, being the greatest evils of the 20th century. For the Macedonian people, however, the anti-fascist struggle was also a struggle for national liberation of Macedonia.

Participants in the National Liberation Struggle considered themselves as followers of the deeds of the Ilinden fighters, as chosen to fulfill their dream, dream for free and independent Macedonia.

Among the partisan units in Macedonia, we come across the names of the famous Ilinden fighters, Goce Delchev and Dame Gruev, Pitu Guli, Pere Toshev and Jane Sandanski.

Among the participants in the National Liberation Struggle, we find survived veterans of the famous Ilinden Uprising: Brasnarov, Vlahov, Shatev, Germov and hundreds of others.

As Goce Delchev was the ideological father of the Ilinden Uprising, Kuzman Josifovski-Pitu was the leader of the National Liberation Struggle, known among the people as the second Goce Delchev. In organizing the National Liberation Struggle, he was guided by the ideal of Ilinden. On August 2, 1943, at Prespa Counseling, in the document dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Ilinden Uprising, Kuzman, among other things, said:

"Today, when the Macedonian nation is determined to fight for its national freedom, the memory of Ilinden should glow more than ever before in the eyes of the entire Macedonian people, in the face of all decent and freedom-loving Macedonians, who love their country ..."

Dear Guests,

We celebrate October 11 as the day when the armed resurrection of the Macedonian people against the fascist occupiers was launched. However, Macedonian people were much earlier involved in the anti-fascist struggle.

From the outset, the penetration of the occupying forces in the Macedonian cities and villages was welcomed with strong opposition. This is illustrated with the Ilinden demonstrations and strikes of August 2, 1941, the day of Ilinden.

In May 1941, the Military Committee for acceleration of the preparations for armed insurrection was established. In August 1941, the first National Liberation Partisan Detachment in Skopje was formed. At the beginning of September, at Slavej Planina, the units "Slavej" and "Drimkol" were formed. On September 12, the Partisan company in Prilep was formed, on October 11, the Partisan Detachment "Goce Delchev" in Prilep was formed and on October 12, the Partisan Detachment in Kumanovo.

It is known that the party organizations in Skopje, Veles, Prilep, Bitola formed special sabotage groups which caused great troubles to the occupiers. Armed conflicts of various sabotage groups were noticed in the summer 1941. One of the first sabotage actions was the destruction of the German aircraft near the airport in Skopje on June 4, 1941. In August, there was sabotage in the mine "Radusha" for explosives. The first armed confrontations with the occupiers began in September in the tunnel "Bogomila", on the railway line Veles-Prilep and in Vodno.

On October 11, 16 fighters from Prilep Partisan Detachment "Goce Delchev", divided into three groups, launched an attack on the Bulgarian police station in Prilep and killed the guard. In prison were political prisoners and Macedonian patriots. The next day, on October 12, in response to the attack, the Bulgarian police arrested about 700 Prilep citizens, including several members of the detachment.

October 11, 1941, later became a symbol of the uprising of the Macedonian people against the fascist occupiers. Uprising with hot-spots already burning in several places in Macedonia.

Macedonians were among the leaders of the anti-fascist resistance. Macedonians are one of the first, not the last, Yugoslav peoples to start the fight against the fascist occupiers. It is, indeed, an expression of the unyielding thirst for freedom.
Our past is our history. Historians have an obligation to clear up all the moments of our epopee, and to learn all the aspects of the Macedonian Struggle.

Respected Attendees,

With sadness we remember the victims of the fascist occupation regime, thousands of sons and daughters, thousands of children of Macedonia. The memory of them shall remind us even today of their executioners. But it is not always like that. Nowadays, very easily strong words are used. There are so many things that people speak of as fascism and Nazism, without understanding the meaning of this evil.

Fascism and Nazism are totalitarian ideologies that gravitate around the concepts of organic nationalism, racism and anti-semitism. As extremely etatist ideologies, they completely deprive the individual of individualism and impose total loyalty to the state. The relation towards the individual, the different, is reflected on the environment as an area to be conquered, cleaned from the diversity and then exploited.

"The greatest ally of any totalitarian ideology is the feeling of guilt, which is so highly developed in modern man that it diminishes his belief in the value of his own perceptions and judgments", Czeslaw Milosz said. Exactly that feeling of guilt makes fascism and Nazism followers destroy the witnesses of that guilt. Hence, the witnesses of that guild are always the different.

Fascism and Nazism brought more death than any other human idea. 55 million people lost their lives in the World War II. A war that launched fatal ideologies.

Nobody knows better what fascism and Nazism mean than the members of those groups and communities that suffered, who were persecuted and destroyed. Nobody knows better what fascism and Nazism mean than those who fought against that evil, than the fighters in the National Liberation and anti-fascist struggle. Fighters who actively contributed to the victory over the evil of the 20th century.

But it turned out that these fatal ideologies are not yet deceased, they still flourish among individuals and groups with closed and blurred minds. Fascism and Nazism, unfortunately, have not yet been fully eradicated in Europe. They change their form, but, in the essence, they remain unchanged. Radical individuals and groups still need enemies to survive in their extremist views. They need illusionary images of clean nations.

We follow the emergence of radicalism and extremism in Europe and in our immediate neighborhood with concern. We encourage efforts for their suppression. However, it is necessary to tackle the causes, not only the consequences of these negative phenomena that have harmful effects on the friendly relations between peoples and states.

Fascism and Nazism have emerged from the ruins of Europe after the World War I. The provisional Versailles peace and global economic collapse led to a great European crisis. A crisis that gave power, in some of the defeated states, to regimes focused on exclusion, intolerance and hatred towards the different. Fascism and Nazism have arisen as a result of the European crisis, but have evolved because there was a fertile soil in the indecisiveness of the world and European leaders.

It is said that all that is needed for evil to prevail, is good people to stand aside and do nothing. If we open the door to evil, evil will come. If there is room enough, it will spread. If tolerated, it will be strengthened, until it is too late.

In February 1938, Hitler annexed Austria. The free world was silent. In March 1939, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia. The free world was silent again. In September 1939 Poland was occupied, too. It was exactly then when the free world decided to respond and stop the evil.

In this sense were the words of Winston Churchill, who said: "If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."


Ladies and Gentlemen,

Without memory, there is no future. The European Union should learn from the past of disintegrated Europe.

The lesson of the World War II is that in a time of crisis, we should be proactive, instead of passive. In a time of crisis, we should seek for solutions instead of excuses. It is precisely in time of crisis that the common values of liberty, democracy, human rights and human dignity should be defended. A compromise with the basic values always undermines the foundations of liberty and democracy.

The end of the World War II and the victory of the anti-fascist coalition meant a new age in world, European, but also Macedonian history. The dysfunctional League of Nations was replaced by the United Nations. The international order was additionally strengthened with the international law. This time, from the European ruins an idea was born for a united Europe as a peace project; Idea that motivates and inspires and willingly moves societies towards reforms.

Today, however, that idea is facing crisis. Today, Europe faces the consequences of the last global economic and financial crisis. Crisis that cannot be overcome without respect for the basic principles on which the European Union is founded: peace, democracy, rule of law, human rights, the right of self-identification and human dignity; Principles in which we see the reason and very meaning of our euro-integration. The Republic of Macedonia and the Macedonian citizens are a benefit for the Union only if they enter as equal in the European Union's mosaic of diversity, with their identity and their dignity.

Dear Citizens,

Many things have changed. But, there is one thing that remains. Now, just as then, Macedonia and the Macedonians are on the side of justice, the right, the good. In 1941, Macedonian fighters lined up on the right side, unlike others who sided with the evil of the 20th century.

If once Macedonians fought against the evil of fascism and Nazism, today, the Republic of Macedonia fights for the achievements stemming from the victory over fascism and Nazism. Today, the Republic of Macedonia fights for the respect of International Law as one of the basis of the international order. Law that is an achievement of the World War II victors.

72 years ago, Macedonian people actively joined the great anti-fascist coalition of freedom-loving peoples and nations; Coalition that succeeded in defeating the Axis of Evil. Today, Macedonian peacekeepers, as part of the great anti-terrorist coalition, are defending liberty, democracy and human rights in the world.

Fascism and Nazism denied, persecuted and annihilated the very thing that Macedonia and Macedonians safeguarded and promoted for centuries – coexistence among people, irrespective of their ethnic, religious, linguistic or other background. While fascism and Nazism destroyed coexistence, Macedonia safeguarded and promoted coexistence as its greatest value.

Faithful to these values that are carved in the Krushevo Manifesto, Kuzman once said:

"All honest Macedonians, regardless of their previous orientation, ethnicity, religion and gender should join the Macedonian national front".

A lasting value of our struggle against fascism is that it brought together all ethnic and religious communities in Macedonia. Macedonians, Albanians, Serbs, Turks, Vlachs, Roma... they all joined the struggle. Christians, Muslims, Jews, all freedom-loving children of our mutual homeland Macedonia joined the struggle. Out tradition of coexistence, pressed by dark times and even darker ideologies, persevered and did not break. Today we can live together due to the firmness of our ancestors who did not cross the line and did not allow this land to be poisoned by hatred.

We witness that some in our neighborhood lack tolerance. Some have tolerance. Others accept differences. However, Macedonia always looked far beyond these concepts and nurtured something that is more than tolerance and acceptance, and that is respect for diversity. You tolerate only what you have to, but you respect only what you like strongly.

We are firmly committed to endure in our righteous path; Path that was devotedly breached by the greats in our history – the Ilinden fighters and the participants in the great National Liberation and anti-fascist struggle of Macedonia.

Let us celebrate forever the Day of the national uprising against fascism!
Long last our freedom!
Long live the Republic of Macedonia!