Politika
- A Conversation with Mr. Pašić
- At the Grave of the Unknown Hero
- Our Envoy in Warsaw
Politika's front page of 6 October 1926 carried former prime minister Nikola Pašić's sharp denial of remarks attributed to him through Šuvaković of the Agrarian Reform ministry: he insisted he had said nothing about Svetozar Pribićević and could make no political statements until he reached Belgrade. A report from Avala described visiting Czechoslovak deputies hearing Klofáč's words on an unbroken shared spirit, laying a wreath on the Unknown Hero's grave and posing with peasants and soldiers. Short wires relayed an unconfirmed Budapest rumour of a Split free zone for Hungary and the arrival in Warsaw of the new envoy, Ljuba Nešić.
This reading covers three low- to medium-confidence excerpts. Garbled or cut-off words are marked [?], and the fragments of neighbouring columns that follow the Pašić item are translated as they stand. The Masaryk school report and parts of David's speech are too faint to transcribe. The sources consulted here do not explain what Šuvaković reportedly said about Pribićević. They also do not establish the background of Ljuba Nešić's posting to Warsaw or the Budapest free-zone rumour, which the paper itself said could not be verified, so the commentary does not cover these items.
Translation
A Conversation with Mr. Pašić
[?] Ministry of Agrarian Reform. [?] you, says Mr. Pašić, deny at once, most categorically, through [?]. I made no statements whatsoever to Šuvaković, and least of all did I talk about Mr. Pribićević. I [?] the journalists did not understand Šuvaković properly. The political situation is such that I could not have given any political statements, nor can I give them even if I wanted to, because I myself [?] about the circumstances, and only when I [am] in Belgrade will I be able to form a picture of everything. So, deny Šuvaković's [?] and all those other [?]
[?] What [?] Under the signature [of the] Commercial Court and [?] these days voluntary contributions [?] books, which the court [?] for collecting contributions [?] means, so that [it would have] harmed more [?] toward the Commercial [?] Hungary in [?]
(Vl. M.)
At the Grave of the Unknown Hero
[?] Mr. [?] [?] then also most sincerely [?] difficult [?] brotherhood [?]. It [?] victory [?], he said, will rejoice when [?] the unification of brothers. True are the words of Mr. Klofáč: The enemy could rule both our people and yours physically, but he could never break our spirit. Brother with brother, kin with kin, we shall go forward and tear down every obstacle. The ceremony ended with the guests laying a wreath on the grave of the Unknown Hero. After that Mr. Agatonović told the guests the history of the grave of the Unknown Hero, and then the guests and our deputies were photographed with the peasants and the soldiers. Then they strolled up to the Avala fortress and returned by car toward Topčider.
Our Envoy in Warsaw
[?] Budapest, October 5. Some papers carry the sensational news that the Yugoslav government has offered Hungary a free zone in Split as an answer to Hungarian aspirations for rapprochement. Yugoslavia would thereby wish to secure its position on the Adriatic against Italy. This news should be received with reserve, and so far it has been impossible to verify it.
Our Envoy in Warsaw
Warsaw, October 5. The new envoy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Mr. Ljuba Nešić, has arrived in Warsaw. At the station [there] was [?]
Context
Pašić's standing when he issued the denial
Nikola Pašić spoke here as a former prime minister. His last government had run from November 1924 into 1926, and he was no longer in office in October. That explains why he says he cannot give any political statement, "even if I wanted to", until he reaches Belgrade and forms a picture of the situation. As the paper prints it, the denial is aimed at two things: the claim that Šuvaković of the agrarian reform ministry had passed on statements from him, and any suggestion that he had talked about Svetozar Pribićević. Pašić blamed journalists who misunderstood Šuvaković. A senior figure of the Radical Party evidently still counted enough that words attributed to him needed a public correction. He had only about two months to live: he died of a heart attack later in 1926, aged 80. This interview therefore belongs to the last weeks of his public life.
Why Czechoslovak deputies were at Avala
The guests at the Unknown Hero's grave were part of a large parliamentary delegation. About seventy members of the Czechoslovak National Assembly toured the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 2 to 12 October 1926. The trip returned a 1922 visit to Czechoslovakia by a delegation from the Kingdom's National Assembly. The ten-day programme included Belgrade and a wreath-laying at the Unknown Hero's grave on Avala, which matches the ceremony Politika describes. The speeches the paper reports, including the line it credits to Klofáč about an enemy who ruled both peoples physically but never broke their spirit, give the visit a fraternal Slavic tone. The photographs with peasants and soldiers and the excursion to the old fortress were the kind of public set pieces such a goodwill tour was built around.
What the Avala grave looked like in 1926
The delegation did not visit the black-granite Meštrović monument that now crowns Avala. In 1926 the Unknown Hero lay in a much plainer memorial. Local villagers and railway workers put up a stone pyramid topped by a cross, finished it on 14 May 1922 and dedicated it on 1 June 1922. The remains of the unknown Serbian soldier of 1915 had been walled inside it. Mr. Agatonović's account of "the history of the grave" would have referred to this recent structure. The Avala fortress that the guests walked to afterwards was the old fortified town of Žrnov. It no longer exists: King Alexander laid the foundation stone for the new monument on 28 June 1934, and the fortress was demolished by dynamite to clear the summit. The scene Politika recorded, with a modest tomb beside an old ruin, disappeared within about a decade.
Original
Један разговор са г. Пашићем
[?] ству Аграрне Реформе. им те, каже г. Пашић, одмах егоричније демантуј преко е ". Никаква ја саопштења инио Шуваковићу, а најмање говори о г. Прибићевићу. Ја а новинари нису добро разуваковића. Ситуација поли - [?] аква, да ја никакве политичнисам могао давати нити их ти, и да хоћу, јер се и сам оам о приликама, а тек ћу, кад [?] у Београду, моћи створити редставу о свему. Дакле, деШуваковића и све оне друге Шта се Под потписом вачког Суда и са ни су ових дана добровољни прил књиге, које суд н за скупљање пр ма средстава да више шкодило ба према Трговачком Мађарска у
На гробу Незнаног Јунака
[?] стар г. о је по е чега е онда и наискрено тешким братство ода Срти. Оно и патечањено победу [?], рекао је он, радоваће се кад вили сјединењу браћу. Тачне су речи г. Клофача: Могао је непријатељ физички да влада и нашим и вашим народом, али дух нам никад није могао да сломије. Брат са братом, род са родом, ми ћемо ићи напред и рушићемо све незгоде. Свечаност је завршена тиме што су гости положили венац на гроб Незнаног Јунака. После тога г. Агатоновић је испричао гостима историју гроба Незнаног Јунака, па су се онда гости и наши посланици сликали са сељацима и војском. Затим су се одшетали до авалског града и вратили аутомобилима ка Топчидеру.
Наш посланик у Варшави
пођеда из наадови нда сам дом лариови је ја але лиБудимпешта, 5 октобра Неки листови доносе сензационалну вест да је југословенска влада понудила Мађарској слободну зону у Сплиту као одговор на мађарске тежње за зближењем. Југославија би овим желела да осигура свој положај на Јадрану против Италије. Ову вест треба примити са резервом и до сада је било немогуће да се провери. Наш посланик у Варшави Варшава, 5 октобра У Варшаву је стигао нови посланик Краљевине Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца г. Љуба Нешић. На станици био је поко сли ма шт ли бо гор на С пл [?] гиј ве ум ва ње [?] ка Ве [?]