Kobarid hosts WWI commemoration concert
President Borut Pahor adressed cocnert and spoke out against war, labelling it one of the most inhumane things created by man.
Pahor said that all wars were mostly the same; they are "the moral bottom of our civilisation". Although wars are ended by "the best virtues of people who see new dawn for a free world", they are "a complete misstep of the good and the noble and almost nothing can justify them".
All atrocities of the 20th century were born of WWI and comparisons between that time and today seem inevitable, he noted. But, Pahor added, the world today has supranational institutions.
At the time of WWI, "the awareness that the frameworks of international institutions and supranational connections were established to resolve disputes in a peaceful way".
Defence Minister Andreja Katič, who addressed the event alongside Pahor and Kobarid Mayor Robert Kavčič, highlighted the importance of understanding "that we are all part of the world in which we live".
Everybody should strive for peace and help restore it where "there is still none despite all the efforts by the international community", she added.
The concert opened with the Slovenian anthem, whereupon all six orchestras played several pieces of music together. The concert ended with the European anthem, and then each orchestra played its own march as it left the scene in Kobarid Square.
The concert was termed A Farewell to Arms, a reference to the 1929 book by Ernest Hemingway set during the Italian campaign of WWI.
It was this year's main cultural event marking the First World War.
However, another in a series of this year's events marking the centenary of the battle of Kobarid and the end of the Isonzo Front will be organised in September.
A spectacular re-enactment of the battle of Kolovrat will take place on the Kolovrat mountain ridge, featuring between 120 and 150 actors.
In October, the Kobarid Museum, which is dedicated to WWI, will launch an exhibition on the battle of Kobarid.
Isonzo Front events are coordinated and in large part organised by the Slovenian National Committee for the 100th Anniversary of the First World War, which is chaired by the defence minister.