Belgrade marks the anniversary of liberation in WWII

Today, Belgrade marks the anniversary of liberation in World War II, when in the “Operation Belgrade” that lasted from September 21 to October 22, 1944, German fascist forces were pushed into the line from where they could no longer defeat Belgrade with artillery.

Today, on the occasion of the Belgrade Liberation Day, the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić laid a wreath at the monument to the Unknown Hero in Avala, it was announced on the Instagram account “Budućnostrbijeav”.

After laying the crown, Vučić wrote in the commemorative book: “Immortal liberators, the passing decades do not diminish the greatness of your feat. Thanks to your courage and great sacrifice, Belgrade today lives as a free city in our independent Serbia. It is a city where people see their own future and that of their children. Belgrade and Serbia today show that their sacrifice was not in vain. Heroes, eternal glory and thanks for their freedom. ”

Radojicic, Vesic, Bocan Kharchenko also paid tribute to the victims …

Today, the Mayor of Belgrade, Zoran Radojicic, laid a wreath at the Belgrade Liberators Memorial Cemetery in 1944.

“On this day we remember with pride and great sadness the fighters who gave their lives for the freedom of Belgrade. The Serbs are a people who did not start wars, but were not afraid of them, but who defended themselves bravely even when they had everything superior. on the other side. opponents, “Radojicic said, Beoinfo reported.

He emphasized that historical revisionisms and increasingly frequent relativizations of facts are the reason why it is important to repeat it.

As he said, “Unstoppable heroes, who drove the mighty German army out of Serbia and Belgrade, we must never forget, just as we must not forget our permanent allies who fought and died with us, side by side.”

The wreaths were also placed by the Minister of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs Zoran Djordjevic on behalf of the Government of Serbia, and representatives of the Serbian Army, the embassies of Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Kazakhstan, as well as Subnor.

Representatives from Belgrade paid their respects today and placed a wreath at the commemorative plaque to the Red Army in Republic Square.

The wreath was laid by the Speaker of the City Assembly, Nikola Nikodijevic, Deputy Mayor Goran Vesic, Assistant Mayor Andreja Mladenovic, Russian Ambassador Alexander Bocan Kharchenko, representatives of the Russian House and SUBNOR, reported Beoinfo.

An exhibition of photographs was also inaugurated in the Plaza de la República.

Vesić congratulated everyone on Freedom Day, that is, the 76th anniversary of the joint action of the units of the Third Ukrainian Front of the Red Army and the First Army Group of the NOVJ, led by Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin and General Pek Dapcevic, liberated our city after 1,287 days of Nazi occupation.

During that time, Belgrade became a heroic city. First, it was brutally destroyed in the Nazi bombing of April 6, 1941, then hundreds of thousands of people passed through the ‘Banjica’ and ‘Staro Sajmiste’ concentration camps, and many of them lost their lives. at the shooting range in Jajinci, but Belgrade did not give up and fought for its freedom, “Vesic said.

Vesić noted that today we proudly remember all the heroes who gave their lives for that freedom, 943 members of the Red Army and 2,953 members of the NOVJ, and with them many Belgraders.

Bocan Kharchenko thanked the leaders of Serbia and Belgrade, who, as he said, pay great attention to marking important dates in the joint struggle of our two peoples against fascism.

“It is already common to begin to commemorate the Victory Day and the Liberation Day of Belgrade in the Republic Square, where intense fighting took place and where many soldiers of the Red Army and the People’s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia were killed”, He said.

Bocan Kharchenko stated that the exhibition includes key photographs of the struggles for the liberation of Eastern Europe from fascism.

“They better show the liberating role of the Red Army and how its soldiers were received,” Bocan Kharchenko noted.

At 6pm, journalists Dragoljub Petrovic and Ljubodrag Stojadinovic, historian Dubravka Stojanovic and cartoonist Dusan Petricic will speak at the Cultural Decontamination Center at the “Freedom is everything” platform on the occasion of the Belgrade Liberation Day In the Second World War. On the same occasion, at 7:00 p.m., at the link https://youtu.be/jJuOtEUR9ks, the Museum of Yugoslavia organizes an online forum “Death to fascism”, in which the historian Hrvoje Klasić, the artist Nikola Radić participate Lucati and the historian Jovana Nedeljković.

The 1,287-day German occupation ended

Partisan units of the Yugoslavia People’s Liberation Army (NOVJ) and the Red Army’s Third Ukrainian Front participated in the liberation of Belgrade 76 years ago, ending the decisive battle of Belgrade on October 20, 1944, inflicting a heavy defeat on the Serbian German Army Group. .

The liberation of Belgrade ended the 1,287-day German occupation, and Belgrade, along with part of Paris, was the only capital in Europe in whose liberation the regular national army – NOVJ – participated equally with the armies of the great powers.

During the battles for the liberation of Belgrade, 2,953 members of the NOVJ and 976 members of the Red Army were killed, led by Lieutenant General Vladimir Zhdanov.

Belgrade was liberated in ruins: from the bombing by Nazi Germany on April 6, 1941, which started an unannounced war in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, to the bombing by Allied forces in 1944, when airstrikes in April, May , June, July and the last time in September, the German infrastructure was attacked, but a large number of civilians and civilian objects were also damaged.

During the occupation of Belgrade, the fascist authorities formed two camps, on July 5, 1941 in Banjica, through which some 250,000 people passed and more than 30,000 were killed, and in October of the same year on the left bank of the Sava, in the ancient Sajmište, where Jews were detained, and then anti-fascists, through which about 200,000 people passed, of which more than 40,000 were murdered.