PM Vucevic attends unveiling of memorial bust in Oplenac, dedicated to assassinated King Aleksandar

Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic today attended the unveiling and consecration of a memorial bust dedicated to King Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic in Oplenac.

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The unveiling was also attended by Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic, who earlier today welcomed Vucevic when he arrived in this historic town in central Serbia, as well as Labor Minister Nemanja Starovic.

Prime Minister Milos Vucevic previously attended the opening of an exhibition dedicated to King Aleksandar I, in the House of King Petar Karadjordjevic.

Vucevic led the central state ceremony that included the laying of the wreaths and honoring the 90th anniversary of the death of King Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic, and on that occasion he said that the terrorist assassination of the Yugoslav king was an event that influenced history, because, according to Vucevic, his death was essentially the first shot of World War II.

King Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic, known as "the Unifier," was the ruler who contributed to Serbia's victories from 1912 to 1918, in both the Balkans Wars, and in the First World War. He then went on to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenians, which later became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (and after WW2, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, now known as "former Yugoslavia").

He was assassinated on October 9, 1934, in Marseilles, France, during an official visit.

King Aleksandar was buried in Oplenac near Topola, in the church of St. Djordje (George), the memorial church and mausoleum of the Serbian Karadjordjevic dynasty.

The complex in Oplenac, in addition to the church, includes the King's Vineyards and Winery, the Vinogradar House, the House of King Petar, and the Karadjordjevic Inn within the Karadjordjevic Town in Topola.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)