Expats in Nis
04.12.2018 Employees of the Russian-Serbian Humanitarian Center participated in the events dedicated to the Day of Military Veterans held on the territory of the military hospital in Nis.
Representatives of various organizations, the National Ministry of Defense, the city administration, representatives of the Society of Descendants of World War I veterans and many others gathered to pay tribute to the soldiers who died of wounds and diseases, as well as in memory of the employees of the Russian sanitary mission who worked in the hospital during the First World War in 1914-1915. On behalf of all the staff of the Center, V. Gulevich and O.Ganiev laid wreaths at the monument to the heroes of those years and a memorial plaque dedicated to Russian medics. The presence of the guard of honor and the military orchestra emphasized the solemnity of this moment.
During the battles of the summer-autumn campaign of 1914, three hundred wounded in the Serbian army accounted for one doctor. Russia, assisting the brotherly Slavic people, formed medical units, including surgical and epidemiological departments with all the necessary equipment, and sent them to Serbia, where in November 1914 there was a rapid development of epidemics of typhoid and smallpox, accompanied by a large mortality.
The detachment, which was headed by Princess Trubetskaya, arrived in Nish in January 1915 and consisted of a surgical and infectious disease department. He was deployed to the 11th Nisha Hospital, overcrowded with sick and wounded. During the seven months of work of the Russian staff, more than 15,000 patients were accepted. And on February 8, 1915, the Serbian government approved a plan to improve the sanitary condition of Nisha and transferred the city and its surroundings under the full medical supervision of Russian medics, so that the typhus epidemic weakened significantly by the end of April. The activities of Russian sanitary missions in Serbia were halted by the resumption of hostilities in October 1915, when they were forced to retreat with the Serbian army.
The selfless work of Russian doctors and sisters of mercy was immortalized by a commemorative plaque on the building of the Serbian Society of Physicians in Belgrade. At the initiative of the Center's leadership, a memorial plaque – a sign of friendship between the Serbian and Russian peoples – was also installed on one of the buildings of the Military Hospital in Nis in 2015.
The staff of the Russian-Serbian Humanitarian Center honor the memory of their ancestors and already today contribute to strengthening the fraternal relations between Serbs and Russians.
