SNP80: President Pellegrini: Elites Should Draw Inspiration from SNP

Banska Bystrica/Bratislava, August 29 (TASR) - All contemporary societal and political elites of Slovakia should draw their inspiration from the 1944 Slovak National Uprising (SNP), President Peter Pellegrini underlined during his speech at the celebration of the 80th anniversary of SNP in Banska Bystrica on Thursday.

The President lionised the courage, bravery and ability of the SNP guerilla fighters to make sacrifices for the Slovak nation.

"I hold you in the highest esteem for your inner strength, loyalty to the homeland and respect for the values of freedom, which you defended together with representatives of other nations in the fight against the ideology of evil and hatred," he stated.

According to Pellegrini, the uprising revealed how strong and indubitable was the yearning of the Slovak nation for freedom.

Pellegrini added that when he sees the SNP veterans he's reminded of our moral obligation to fulfil their historical legacy.

"A time is upon us when all of us must take from their hands the proverbial torch of bravery and freedom. Let's never allow our history to be distorted. Let's never allow hatred to completely prevail in Slovak society. And let's never allow Ostry Grun, Klak or Kaliste to ever happen again [villages burned down by Nazi anti-resistance units - ed.note]," noted the head of state and added that celebrations of the SNP must always be nationwide in character.

Pellegrini emphasised that several SNP veterans accentuated in their accounts that they had never felt hatred - despite all the horrors they had encountered on battlefields or in concentration camps. "That's a strong message to all of us: let's not allow ourselves to be swayed by hatred."

In Pellegrini's view, there's not even a smallest reason for hatred in contemporary Slovakia.

"No matter how grave our concerns might be, no matter how fundamental our disapproval of any politician, in comparison to the specter of war, our reasons and urges to hate are downright laughable and trite," he said, adding that Slovakia must steer away from the path of hatred.

In his speech, the President also pointed out that on the other side of Slovakia's eastern border, people have been dying in a war and that's why we come to realise, more than ever before, the importance of peace.

"In light of the suffering and heroism of the Slovak National Uprising resistance fighters, it is our duty to do our utmost to restore the European continent again as the land of peace and cooperation," he claimed.