Public Lecture - Places of Remembrance of the Conflicts of the '90s in Belgrade
Despite the dominant narrative that Serbia did not officially participate in the conflicts which took place on the territory of former Yugoslavia in the last decade of the 20th century, memorial sites erected on the territory of Belgrade reveal the opposite. Although official state authorities have persistently refused to speak of the responsibility for wars waged on the territories of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, but also Serbia itself, dozens of monuments erected with or without the involvement of local authorities dispute such claims.
Locations
THE SLAVKO ĆURUVIJA MEMORIAL PLAQUE
A memorial plaque erected by the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) in memory of the murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija is located in Svetogorska Street in Belgrade. On the first anniversary of the murder in 2000, in front of the entrance to the building where Ćuruvija lived, the IJAS put up a plaque which read: "Slavko Ćuruvija, journalist, editor and owner of the “Dnevni Telegraf” and “Evropljanin” was killed on this spot, on 11 April 1999, for displaying scathing criticism." After unknown persons stole the plaque on 5 October 2009, it was reinstated a month later. On that occasion, a smaller plaque was added indicating that the plaque had been stolen. In May 2011, this memorial was defiled again, when unknown perpetrators took down the added plaque that stood beneath the memorial plaque.
THE WHY MONUMENT
The Why monument is located in Belgrade's Tašmajdan Park, behind the Radio-Television of Serbia (RTS) building. It was erected in memory of 16 RTS employees who were killed on 23 April1999, when NATO bombed the national television building. The memorial was erected by the families of the victims on 23 December 1999. For failing to order the evacuation of the building, former RTS director Dragoljub Milanović was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2002. On the twentieth anniversary of this event, the erection of the RTS Memorial Centre was announced, which, among other things, involves the conservation of the demolished part of the building.
MONUMENT TO MILICA RAKIĆ AND CHILDREN KILLED IN THE NATO BOMBING
The memorial to the children killed in the NATO air-raids in 1999 at Tašmajdan Park in Belgrade was erected by the “Večernje Novosti” daily newspaper on the anniversary of the bombing, in 2000. The monument with the epitaph which reads "We were only children" was made to resemble the three-year-old girl Milica Rakić, who was killed during the NATO bombing on 17 April 1999 in the Belgrade municipality of Batajnica. After the bronze sculpture of the girl disappeared in 2000, the Belgrade authorities, in cooperation with “Večernje Novosti” and the Jeremić Foundry, placed a new sculpture there in 2015. On that occasion, the monument was lit, secured and entered in the Institute for the Protection of Monuments’ registry.
THE MONUMENT TO THE SERBIAN VICTIMS OF THE 1991-2000 WARS
A memorial dedicated to the Serbian victims of the 1991-2000 war on the territory of former Yugoslavia is located in Tašmajdan Park. It was erected by the Coordination of Serbian Associations of Families of Missing Persons from the Territory of Former Yugoslavia. The monument was unveiled on 30 August 2010, the International Day of the Missing. The monument was erected near St. Mark's Church in Tašmajdan Park with the approval of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Assembly of the City of Belgrade, which financially supported the construction of the monument.
THE WAILING WALL
The "Serbian Wailing Wall" was erected in front of the Serbian National Assembly Building on 8 July 2015. Initially made up of billboards with the names and photographs of civilians, soldiers and police officers killed during the armed conflict in Kosovo, the Serbian Wailing Wall was put up by the Association of Families of the Kidnapped and Killed in Kosovo and Metohija. Representatives of the Association explained that in this way they wanted to launch an initiative to erect a monument for all the killed and missing Serbs from Kosovo. This installation was erected a few days before the "7000" campaign by means of which human rights organisations in Serbia planned to mark the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide. Referring to security risks, the Ministry of the Interior banned all rallies announced before the Assembly on 11 July 2015.
MONUMENT TO THE WAR VICTIMS AND DEFENDERS OF THE HOMELAND 1990-1999.
A memorial to the war victims and defenders of the homeland from 1990 to 1999 was erected at Savski Square, across from the former Belgrade Railway Station building on 24 March 2012. It was erected by the City of Belgrade at the initiative of the Association of War Victims from 1990 to 1999. The conceptual design for the monument was met with disapproval by some of the victims' families who did not like its appearance because it included "neither the names of the victims, nor a cross". On the occasion of the unveiling of the monument, they prevented the city officials from laying wreaths. On the other hand, the monument also met with criticism from the experts who found it inappropriate to erect a monument commemorating both civilian casualties and members of the armed forces. In August 2019, members of the Belgrade City Assembly decided to move the monument from Savski Square to the location in front of the Railway Museum, due to the construction works on the Belgrade Waterfront Project.
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