Rep. n° 06/2025
Zvolen and Trenčianska Teplá, April 25, 2025. Marek Sobola, Honorary Consul of Romania and Servare et Manere Secretary-General, together with Romanian Ambassador Călin Fabian, attended a memorial service at the Central War Cemetery of the Romanian Royal Army in Zvolen. The delegation of the Romanian Ministry of National Defense was led by Brigadier General Cristinel-Dumitru Colibaba and was also attended by the military chaplain and general inspector of the army clergy, Father Sorin Pitic.
A large delegation of soldiers from all branches of the Romanian army came to pay tribute to the Romanian heroes who fell on the Western Front. The Zvolen cemetery, which is the largest cemetery of Romanians outside Romania, is home to 10,384 soldiers. The delegation began its journey in the Romanian village of Oarba de Mureș, continued to Budapest, and after Zvolen, their final stop was in Brno.
In Zvolen, Marek Sobola also met with representatives of the National Office for the Cult of Heroes (Oficiul Naţional pentru Cultul Eroilor), because he undertook to help identify the remains of a (so far) unknown Romanian soldier from World War II. The grave from 1945 was discovered by an illegal detectorist, who fortunately reported the find to the authorities. The exhumation and documentation of the remains of the unknown soldier was carried out by the Regional Monuments Office in Žilina on May 27, 2020. This was followed by processing, drafting of assessments, reports and research. Now Marek Sobola, together with the Romanian side are working on the most difficult thing – they will try to find out the name of the soldier, which would be the least amount of satisfaction for his sacrifice for the liberation of Slovakia. Preserving the memory of war victims is one of the basic activities of Servare et Manere. Preserving the memory of war victims is one of the basic activities of Servare et Manere.
In Trenčianská Teplá, the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the village was commemorated
The Municipal Office and the Regional Organization of Retired Soldiers of General M. R. Štefánik Trenčianska Teplá again after a year, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the village this time, organized a memorial service for the victims of World War II, at the monuments to the victims of both world wars. The ceremony itself was attended by the leadership of the Trenčianska Teplá village, headed by Mayor Milan Berec, who in his speech summarized the basic facts of the liberation: “It is necessary to constantly remind young people of these events. This world is moving in a direction where it should not be. Life is beautiful and should be enjoyed in peace and tranquility. We should look to the future so that peace can be maintained in the long term.” The special guest of the memorial service was the Honorary Consul of Romania to Slovakia, Marek Sobola. “Romanian soldiers were risking their lives, essentially for a foreign country. They were fighting on another territory, not their own. But they were fighting for pan-European freedom,” said Marek Sobola.
