Lalinok, November 11, 2018. Precisely on the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, on this day in Lalinok a local part of the village of Divinka, the Memorial dedicated to the WWI victims from Lalinok village was unveiled. Such a memorial in the village had been lacking. The Memorial has several symbols in it. Its rugged, hard and rough side reminds one of the battlefield of the Great War. The Monument includes the names of six men from Lalinok, who were victims of the Great War: captives, wounded, or dead. The symbol of Lalinok is three tulip flowers, which has appeared on the seal of this village since the 18th century. One of these flowers forms part of the memorial and Ondrej Sobola’s name is also inscribed on this monument along with his portrait crafted by sculptor Michal Janiga. You also can find Ondrej’s name on a Memorial pillar in the Emperor’s park of Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl.
The Memorial was unveiled in the local Cemetery on November 11 by Michal Krško, mayor of Divinka village and Marek Sobola, author of the Monument. Subsequently, it was blessed by Miloš Zárecký OT, General Councilor and Statutory representative of the Teutonic Order. Besides the mayor and General Councilor, residents of Divinka and Lalinok also attended the ceremony. The Teutonic Order (official name in Latin: Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum Hierosolymitanorum) is a Catholic religious order founded as a military order c. 1190 in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Teutonic Order was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals. Its members have commonly been known as the Teutonic Knights, having a small voluntary and mercenary military membership, serving as a crusading military order for the protection of Christians in the Holy Land and the Baltics during the Middle Ages. During the First World War the Order secured a hospital service on the battlefields. Essentially religious since 1929, the Teutonic Order continues to confer limited honorary knighthoods and performs charitable work.
Part of the celebration was also planting the Tree of Peace. Slovak Post will issue on November 30, 2018 an official postal product Nr. PPP 81/18 on the occasion of The centenary of the First World War – a postmark with the title: “Memorial dedicated to WWI victims from Lalinok village”. Marek Sobola is the author of this design. The village of Lalinok, as a part of the Divinka village, belongs in the zone of the Post office in Divina.
