Addressing a crowd of over 4,000, Pahor said that while past events can no longer be changed, it is possible to influence the future, which is our responsibility.

Pointing to the recent Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the EU, Pahor said that there can be no better opportunity to remind 500 million Europeans, including Slovenians, that peace is not self-evident.

Warning before a repeat of past mistakes in times of crisis, he said that "now is such a time when we need to pay special attention to this". "People in distress, especially those feeling they have nothing to lose, are easy prey to hate speech and the inciting of division."

Especially politicians and everyone participating in public dialogue need to refrain from any statements that could be perceived as offensive or even hateful, the president noted.

He said that the difficult times require even more political solidarity and unity both in Slovenia and Europe where such an attitude could have secured a more effective reaction to the crisis and prevented the danger of dwindling trust in the European idea and the rise of nationalistic tendencies.

Today's traditional ceremony was dedicated to the Pohorje battalion, which was established on 11 September 1942 in Dobrovlje (N) in the Pohorje hills as a Partisan military unit. After conducting over 100 military operations, the battalion settled in a winter camp at Osankarica on 21 December 1942.

German troops discovered the camp at the beginning of January 1943 and on 8 January some 2,000 German soldiers attacked it, killing all 69 Slovenian soldiers. The Germans took 65 bodies and buried them in Graz, while the remaining four were uncovered later and taken to Slovenia.