Abstract
Between 1941 and 1944, approximately 20,000 people perished in the Semlin concentration camp in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, the largest concentration camp in occupied Serbia and one of the first Nazi camps in Europe created specifically for the mass internment of Jews. In examining the changing representations of Sajmište over the last two decades, and the politicization of history that this has entailed, a notable streak of continuity is highlighted, namely the marginal role allocated to the Semlin camp as a place of the Holocaust as a form of “half-recognizing” it.
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Notes
- 1.
For more information on the Semlin camp and the Holocaust in Serbia see the website ‘Semlin Judenlager in Serbian Public Memory’ at www.semlin.info
- 2.
In this chapter, the term “Semlin” will be reserved for the Nazi concentration camp, while the Serbian term “Sajmište” or “Staro sajmište” will be used to refer to the site where the camp was located.
- 3.
See Byford 2011, and the project website at www.semlin.info
- 4.
The latter was especially important in the case of Jasenovac. See Karge 2014.
- 5.
For more details on the fate of Sajmište in the immediate aftermath of World War II, see Byford 2011, Chapters 4 and 5.
- 6.
For a more general overview of Holocaust memorialization in socialist Yugoslavia, see Byford 2013.
- 7.
Most historians today agree that the total death toll at Jasenovac was around 80,000.
- 8.
During the vote on the legislation, a last-minute amendment by a member of parliament from Kragujevac was introduced and voted through without anybody noticing. See Bulajić in Bulajić and Samardžić 1995, 34–35.
- 9.
A compromise was found in 1995. The museum was formally registered in both Belgrade and Kragujevac, but Bulajić, as director, and researchers employed by the museum would be based in temporary offices in central Belgrade. The Museum of Genocide Victims never abandoned the idea of a “Serbian Yad Vashem” at Sajmište and the idea still resurfaces whenever the future of Sajmište is discussed.
- 10.
See Browning 1985, 70.
- 11.
For more on the link between the two camps see Koljanin 1986, 171–180.
- 12.
See Koljanin 1992, 443.
- 13.
The unveiling ceremony, which lasted just under an hour, was attended by several state dignitaries, including Yugoslav President Zoran Lilić, who delivered an 11-minute speech, Chief of Staff General Momčilo Perišić, federal government Prime Minister Radoje Kontić, and Belgrade Mayor Nebojša Čović. The event at Sajmište was preceded by brief commemoration at the nearby Sava Centre, including contributions from former internees. Later in the day a svečana akademija (a form of commemorative recital) entitled “Love in our hearts, stronger than death” was staged in the Central Club of the Yugoslav Army.
- 14.
The revised figures were first presented in Koljanin 1992.
- 15.
Quotes from the speech are taken from the television broadcast of the unveiling ceremony (Archives of the Serbian Radio Television, recording number 77613).
- 16.
For more on Topovske šupe and the stages of the Holocaust in Serbia, see Byford 2011.
- 17.
This interview, syndicated by Tanjug, was printed in several daily newspapers on the day of the ceremony.
- 18.
In 1999, the Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church formally incorporated the liturgy and memorial service for ‘victims of genocide’ on 22 April into its annual schedule.
- 19.
For more on the geography of Holocaust memory in Serbia, see Byford 2007.
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Byford, J. (2021). The Political Instrumentalization of a Site of the Holocaust: Contested Memories of the Semlin Camp in Belgrade. In: Ognjenovic, G., Jozelic, J. (eds) Nationalism and the Politicization of History in the Former Yugoslavia. Modernity, Memory and Identity in South-East Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65832-8_5
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