About initiative

International Tree of Peace (Slovak: Strom pokoja, German: Der Friedensbaum, French: L’Arbre de la Paix) is an international and global initiative that originated in Slovakia in the European Union. The project, created on the occasion of the 100^th Anniversary of the end of World War I, was initiated by Slovak landscape architect Marek Sobola from Žilina. The main goal of the project is to promote a message of peace by planting at least one Tree of Peace on every continent. The project was at the very beginning associated with World War I, which also had a great impact on Sobola’s family. His great-grandfather Ondrej Sobola (Andreas Szobola) died on the Russian battlefield in an unknown place. The story of the author’s family inspired him to memorialize the soldiers who died in World War I in unknown places and were buried without their names or identities. There is probably no country in the world which does not have a war victim or an unknown soldier. In addition to the victims of wars, we are now increasingly facing various natural disasters, including epidemics, the number of victims of which can be counted to thousands, maybe ten-thousands. The project is also a tribute to those people. From the very beginning, we have universally linked the project also with the memory of all unknown soldiers of global military conflicts whose remains lie in mass graves, but also in unmarked and unknown places. As the project is growing and gaining supporters, the idea of the project is also expanding. Our project is aimed at preservation of historical memory, fostering ideas of peace and friendship among the nations and spreading an ecological message by planting trees as a symbol of peace, remembrance and with a respect to nature. We want to focus more and more on sustainable development – one of the guarantees of sustainable peace.

This strictly apolitical initiative has the ambition to become a universal message of joining the nations. At present, the project is not being strictly linked to the year 1918 and World War I, but more generally to the need for peace and the avoidance of global military conflicts. Its main tool is the tree, a living organism that represents growth, prosperity and nature. The project would like to point its attention to the global environmental problems and to strengthen human solidarity in order to respect nature and its resources. In this way, the project has become universal and its application is made available also in all countries all over the world. By planting trees, we want to point out the senseless plundering of nature in all its spheres, because we think that all acts of conflict between nations, big environmental burdens and the misuse of natural resources lead to great human sacrifices.

The project is implemented as a voluntary and community service by Servare et Manere, Slovak non-governmental and nonprofit association. The Tree of Peace is a grassroots movement and this project is a collective activity which fulfills its mission on national and international level. All members of the board perform all their activities for the Servare et Manere pro bono.

Ondrej Sobola

Ondrej Sobola (*August 7, 1880 Lalinok, Austro-Hungarian Empire – † December 31, 1918 official date) was a soldier of Austro-Hungarian Army (German: Landstreitkräfte Österreich-Ungarns; Hungarian: Császári és Királyi Hadsereg). His death, in an unknown place during the First World War, inspired the Tree of Peace project. Ondrej was born in Lalinok into a farming family and the Sobola family have lived in Lalinok since the beginning of the 16^th century. Ondrej Sobola was married to Jozefína Rapšíková in July 31, 1900 in Dlhé Pole and was taken into the army in 1901. Ondrej and his older brother Štefan travelled to the United States in around 1906 and their place of residence was the borough Clifton Heights in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Ondrej returned to Lalinok between 1907 – 1910 and went back to the United States on November 30, 1910. Because of his stay in Pennsylvania he did not take part in the military manoeuvres in 1912. He definitely returned to Lalinok before 1914 and after the outbreak of the First World War he was enlisted in the 15^th Military Infantry Regiment (Hungarian: 15. Népfelkelő gyalogezred ütközetei). Ondrej Sobola was missing from about 1915 on the Russian battlefield. In Czechoslovakia, he was officially pronounced dead in 1930, with the official date of death: December 31, 1918. Ondrej’s name was written on a Memorial dedicated to WWI victims from Lalinok village in the local cemetery on November 11, 2018. His portrait made by sculptor Michal Janiga based on the only preserved photo is also incorporated on the Memorial. You can also find Ondrej’s name on a Memorial pillar in the Emperor’s park of Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl.

Friends of peace

The Grand Ducal
House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a territory in Northern Germany which was a sovereign state until 1918. The current Head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz is His Highness Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg. The House honours philosophical ideas based on the constant search for peace.

Sir
David Suchet,
CBE

Sir David Suchet, CBE is an English actor, known for his work on British stage and television. International acclaim and recognition followed his performance as Agatha Christie’s detective Hercule Poirot for which he received a 1991 British Academy of Film and Television Arts nomination.

His Excellency
Sir Iakoba T. Italeli
CMT, GCMG

His Excellency Sir Iakoba Taeia Italeli CMT, GCMG is the former Governor-General of Tuvalu. He is the Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George. The Governor-General of Tuvalu is the representative of the Tuvaluan monarch (currently Queen Elizabeth II) and performs the duties of the Queen in her absence.

Marek Sobola

Marek Sobola PhD. was born on July 3, 1981 in the town of Žilina, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) into a Roman Catholic family from Lalinok and Divina villages. He spent the first years of his life in Divina. Marek Sobola is an authorised landscape architect, designer and heraldic artist. Sobola studied landscape architecture at the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra (SUA) at the Horticulture and Landscape Engineering Faculty. He graduated in 2004 and began working in own studio. Alongside the architect’s practice he continued doctoral studies at SUA at the Faculty of European Studies and Regional Development, the Department of Sustainable Development in 2004 – 2007. After finishing his PhD. study he again continued his studies at the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra at the Faculty of Arts as an historian for another five years.

Since 2011 he has been a member of the Slovak Chamber of Architects. From 2017 is a member of the Liturgical Commission of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Žilina. He is also a member of the Scientific Board of the Kysuce Museum in Čadca and a member of the Council of the Episcopal Conference of Slovakia for Science, Education and Culture. Since 2020 is a member of the Heraldry Society of New Zealand and the Orders & Medals Research Society. In 2018 Marek Sobola founded the international initiative “Tree of Peace”. Since 2010, he has been the main representative and head of the NGO Servare et Manere.

Awards

• Romanian royal family: Royal Medal for Loyalty (Medalia Regală pentru Loialitate).
• House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies: Bronze Benemerenti Medal of the Franco-Neapolitan-Two Sicilian Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George.
• House of Romanov: Imperial Commemorative Medal “In Memory of the 100^th Anniversary of the Great War, 1914-1918”.
• Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic: National competition Phoenix – National Cultural Monument of the year 2017, Honourable recognition for exceptional realization of the restoration project of the Statue of St. John of Nepomuk in the village of Divina. 
• Association for Garden Design and Landscaping of Slovakia: Garden, Park, Garden detail of 2016, III. and II. place for two garden projects in a national competition.

Members of team

Dominika Sobolová

Deputy Secretary-General
and Treasurer

Dipl. Ing. Dominika Sobolová was born on January 9, 1989 in the city of Žilina, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia). She studied at the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra at the Faculty of European Studies and Regional Development during 2011 – 2016. Dominika is the wife of Marek Sobola and is a great supporter of the Tree of Peace project. Dominika is the Deputy Secretary-General and Treasurer of the NGO Servare et Manere.

Róbert Machciník

Assembly Member

Dipl. Ing. Róbert Machciník was born on March 2, 1981 in Žilina. In the years 2000 – 2006 he studied at the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra at the Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources. Róbert is in charge of technical support within Servare et Manere.

Michal Janiga

Member

MgA. Michal Janiga was born on October 12, 1991 in the town of Považská Bystrica, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia). Michal is a sculptor and lives and works in Prague, Czech Republic. Michal studied at The  Academy of Fine Arts in Prague at the Studio of Figural Sculpture and Medal. He graduated in his studies with the title MgA. (Magister Artis / MFA). This young and talented sculptor has had several author exhibitions in Slovakia, Norway, Italy and the Czech Republic. Michal is the author of the portrait of Ondrej Sobola.

Supporters

Žilina
self-governing
region

Žilina region is unique for its natural, cultural and historical heritage, and especially great people. The Žilina self-governing region significantly supported our project in 2018 – 2019.

GOOD
IDEA
SLOVAKIA

The international project Tree of Peace officially represents the Slovak Republic under the brand called “GOOD IDEA SLOVAKIA – IDEAS FROM SLOVAKIA”. Under the brand name “GOOD IDEA SLOVAKIA”, Slovakia as a country presents itself at home and abroad. The Trademark License is granted by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic.

Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia

The Project is being carried out with the support of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic.

Ambassador
Ľubomír Rehák
PPSP

Ľubomír Rehák, Ph.D. is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Slovakia to Russia. His Excellency is a great friend and supporter of the  “Tree of Peace” project since its inception. The NGO Servare et Manere awarded the Ambassador with the highest award of the association called the Tree of Peace Memorial Plaque.