Nikola Tesla: Programme of Celebrations (1976) Page 8

The Meaning of the 1976 Celebration of Tesla’s Jubilee in Yugoslavia and Abroad

This year’s celebration, the fifth and greatest so far, of Tesla’s jubilee in Yugoslavia and abroad has the following aims: -

• to show the scientific and technical greatness of Nikola Tesla in the development of the material basis of modern civilization;
• to throw more light on the humane, democratic and social components of Tesla’s complex but unassuming personality and the enormous moral contribution he made to democracy in Yugoslavia and the rest of the world by his deeply human and undeviating engagement in the antifascist struggle and especially by his belief in the creation of an equal community of Yugoslav peoples and a democratic postwar world;
• the reconstruction of Tesla’s native home and its surroundings in Smiljan and the erection of a Nikola Tesla Cultural Centre in Gospic will leave a durable memorial which will enrich Tesla’s Lika, Croatia and Yugoslavia by a valuable historical and cultural local monument. By the creation of a Nikola Tesla memorial area in Smiljan which should be returned to the state it was in Tesla’s early youth in the mid-19th century, this cultural monument to a past time and a great man will be permanently preserved for coming generations. The Nikola Tesla memorial area in Smiljan, because of its historical and cultural interest, will attract admirers of Tesla’s work and great personality both in Yugoslavia and abroad.