“This is the excavator that, 33 years ago, together with the villagers of Vrhpolje in Vipava, was the first to stop the march of the aggressor Red Star towards an independent Slovenia. Today at 6 p.m., it will be part of a big ceremony organised by the Association for the Values of Slovenian Independence (Združenje za vrednote slovenske osamosvojitve – VSO), with a Holy Mass for the homeland and speakers Lojze Peterle and Janez Janša,” Jože Možina wrote on the X social network.
On the occasion of Statehood Day, the Association for the Values of Slovenian Independence organised a Holy Mass for the Fatherland, which took place on Sunday, the 23rd of June, in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Drežnica at 11 a.m.
At 6 p.m., there was also an event entitled “PROUD OF VRHPOLJE – INDEPENDENCE EVENTS THE DAY BEFORE”, which took place at the Teodizijev križ above Vrhpolje near Vipava.
It should be noted that when Slovenia was preparing for the celebrations of the declaration of independence, the first armoured units of the Rijeka Corps marched towards the border crossings with Italy on the 26th of June 1991. On the way, they encountered undefended barricades and a spontaneous, and sometimes very determined, reaction from the locals and militiamen, especially in Vrhpolje. The unarmed inhabitants did everything they could to defend their homeland and offered resistance, regardless of the possible consequences: “They proved to the Yugoslav People’s Army, which had by then become an occupying army, that this nation cannot be subdued”.
The Association for the Values of Slovenian Independence, in cooperation with the Municipality of Vipava and the Parish of Vrhpolje, invited everyone to the central event to mark the 33rd anniversary of Slovenian statehood on Sunday, the 23rd of June 2024, which took place at Teodizijev križ above Vrhpolje near Vipava.
A. G.
