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“THE SERBS ON CORFU 1916-1918”
In the late 1915 France decides that allay troops should temporarily occupy Corfu for security reasons and that a sector of escaping Serbian army should settle in Corfu. From the 18th of January 1916 to the 21st of February 1916 from the Albanian port of Avlona 151.828 soldiers and citizens were transferred, with allay ships, to Corfu. Their first destination was the port of Gouvia, which is 6 kilometers from the town of Corfu. The leader of the Serbian army was the King of Serbia Peter Karageorgevic, with the error of the throne Prince Alexander, followed by the Prime Minister Pasic together with the members of the Serbian Government and the members of the Parliament, which all together stayed at the hotel “Bella Venezia”.
During the first period of the Serbian settling in the “Salvation Island”, as the Serbs named Corfu, the soldiers were really weak because of the bad conditions they were in before and due to the lack of proper care and structure they were dieing massively. Due to the medical needs, soon a hospital was created on the nearby island of Vidos, where today stands the memorial mausoleum, which was operative in 1936 where at its marble walls are enwalled cases with the bones remained from the soldiers. Next to the mausoleum there is also the first monument for the fallen fighters, placed by the Royal Navy of the Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia and it is a stone made cross. King Alexander Karageorgevic himself in 1922 did the unveiling of the monument
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The Serbian army remained on the island for three months, enough time to recover and reorder its structure, after that was transferred in Halkidiki. The Serbian Government and the Serbian Parliament remained on the island for three years in total and the Serbian representatives of the Government structure created a full operative state machine. The Serbian Parliament congress was gathering at the public theatre of Corfu, which was offered for that purpose from the 19th of January 1916 to the 16th of November1918. The churches of the Holy Matrimony, Angel Gabriel and St. Nicolas were offered to the Serbs for cover of their religious needs. At the same time was published the Serbian newspaper “Srpske Novine” with sales of 10.000 copies daily and were also publishes of many worthing books such as “The Diplomatic Mail”, “The Code of the Law”, “The Home country” and many more. In Corfu was also created a Serbian primary school with 290 pupils and a Serbian high school with 120 students. They were also established sport unions and football tournaments were organized with allay teams.
“THE SERBIAN MUSEUM”
The Serbian Museum is settled in the Embassy and Honorary Consulate of the Federal Republic of Serbia.
In the chambers of the museum are presented photographs, maps, documents and various items that are chronologically ordered to present the historical period from 1915 (The Defense of Serbia) to the end of the staying of the Serbs in Corfu (The End of the First World War).
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