Spomenik Revoluciji na Kozari

This memorial to the socialist period (Spomenik Revoluciji na Kozari/Споменик Револуцији на Козари) is dominated by an impressive futuristic-looking rough-cast concrete tower. It stands on Mrakovica hill, 806 m above sea level, in the heart of Kozara National Park (350 m west of the information center by stairs). Erected in 1969 and inaugurated by Tito on September 10, 1972, the monument pays tribute to the Yugoslav partisans and Bosnian civilians who died during the Kozara offensive in the summer of 1942. It is the work of Macedonian-Serbo-Croat sculptor Dušan Džamonja (1928-2009), who is also responsible for the famous Monument to the Moslavina Revolution (1967), in Berek, Croatia (118 km to the north). Kozara was one of the most popular memorial sites of socialist Yugoslavia. The monument is very well preserved. It comprises three main elements and still hosts official ceremonies on May¹, May 9 and July 4.

Tower, wall and museum. The main feature is, of course, the tower. Rising to a height of 33.6 m and with a diameter of 8 m, this cylindrical structure is made up of 20 vertical fins alternating between protruding and bulging parts. According to Dušan Džamonja, the fins form a play of light and shadow. They symbolize both victory and life (protruding parts, exposed to light) and death (bulging parts, in shadow) for the partisans and the population. The wings continue on the ground with 20 concrete bars radiating out from the tower. These are an allegory of the pressure exerted by Axis forces in Kozara in 1942. Behind the tower, in the wooded area, a wall forms an enclosure 24 m long and 6 m wide. It bears around a hundred bronze plaques inscribed with the names of 9,921 partisans and civilians who died during the battle. Finally, a museum is housed in a rough-cast concrete structure mid-slope, 40 m south of the tower. On display are weapons, helmets and documents relating to the massacres perpetrated by the Croatian Ustasha and the Nazis in 1942. Explanatory panels recount the events in English. A re-enactment of the battle is also available with an augmented reality headset. The entrance is guarded by a WWII German PaK 40 anti-tank gun and an M8 Greyhound light armored vehicle delivered by the USA to Yugoslavia after 1948.