Belgrade

Serbian: Belgrade

English/French: Belgrade; Hungarian: Nándorfehérvár; Russian, Romanian: Belgrad; Latin: Singidunum, Alba Graeca

The name ‘Beograd’ is derived from the Serbian words ‘beo’ (= white) and ‘grad’ ( = city).

Belgrade is situated in central Serbia at 44° 49′ north latitude and 20° 28′ east longitude.

Belgrade is situated at the confluence of the Sava (Serbian: Sava) and the Danube (Serbian: Dunav). On the right bank of the Sava, the terrain is hilly. The Old Town (Serbian: Stari Grad) lies on a spur of the hilly and wooded landscape of Šumadija. The highest point in the city is Torlak at 303 metres above sea level – the hills of Avala (511 metres above sea level) and Kosmaj (628 metres above sea level) lie outside Belgrade’s city limits. The south-eastern edge of the Pannonian Plain stretches along the left bank of the Danube and the Sava. Here, the landscape is flat and is used for growing cereals and arable crops.

Central Serbia

Belgrade is the capital of the Republic of Serbia. It forms part of the Belgrade District (Serbian: Okrug Beograd), which has special administrative status within Serbia.

The first known coat of arms of Belgrade, the appearance of which is unknown today, dates from the reign of Despot Stefan Lazarević (1377–1427, reigned from 1389). Belgrade also had a coat of arms during the late medieval Hungarian rule and the brief period of Austrian rule in the 18th century, whilst under Ottoman rule such symbolism was not in use.

Belgrade’s current coat of arms stems from a competition launched in 1931 by the Mayor of Belgrade, Milan Nešić (in office: 1930–1932), to redesign it. The coat of arms was to take the form of a shield tapering to a point and depict the national colours, the river, a Roman trireme and the fortress. The ground was to be red – as a sign of suffering and the blood that had been shed – the fortress white – symbolising the ‘white city’ – and the sky blue – as a hopeful symbol of a better future. The winning design was created by the Belgrade painter Đorđe Andrejević-Kun (1904–1964).^[1]

Belgrade is also known as the ‘Gateway to the Balkans’ or, because of the white walls of Belgrade Fortress, as the ‘White City’.

The area at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers was already inhabited during the Palaeolithic period, as evidenced by archaeological finds of skulls and bones near Leštane and at the Bajloni market. The Belgrade suburb of Vinča, once a Bronze Age settlement, is one of the most significant archaeological sites in South-Eastern Europe and gave its name to the Neolithic Vinča culture.

The founding of Singidun (meaning ‘round fortress’) around 279 BC is attributed to the Celtic tribe of the Skordisci or Singi. In the first century BC, the town was captured by the Romans, who Latinised the place name (Singidunum). Singidunum remained under Roman rule for the next four centuries. Following the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD, Singidunum eventually became part of the Byzantine Empire. During the Migration Period, ‘barbarian’ tribes – such as the Huns, Sarmatians, Ostrogoths and Avars – conquered and destroyed the town.

In the 7th century, the first Slavs settled in the Belgrade area.

In the centuries that followed, various conquerors fought for control of the city at the gateway to the Balkans. From the 11th to the 13th century, Byzantium, the Bulgarian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary repeatedly took turns ruling the city. When Hungary handed over the administration of Belgrade to King Dragutin (1252–1316) in 1284, the city came under Serbian rule for the first time. Under the reign of Despot Stefan Lazarević, Belgrade not only experienced a cultural heyday (including the construction of the Metropolitan Church, a new citadel, a library and a hospital), but was also declared the capital of the Serbian Empire in 1403.

Stefan Lazarević’s successor, Đurađ Branković (1377–1456), lost Belgrade to Hungary in 1427. During the nearly hundred years of Hungarian rule, Belgrade’s demographic structure and cityscape underwent fundamental changes. King Sigismund (1368–1437) expanded the influence of the Catholic Church and encouraged the settlement of Western Catholic settlers (primarily craftsmen), whom he needed for the massive expansion of the fortifications in order to defend the city against the Ottomans under Sultan Murad II (1404–1451), who unsuccessfully besieged it in 1440. Belgrade gained fame throughout Europe in July 1456 during its siege by Sultan Mehmed II (1432–1481), who, following the conquest of Constantinople (1453), planned to capture the most important Hungarian border fortress. The Hungarian regent Johann Hunyadi (1446–1456) succeeded in concentrating Hungary’s military resources in and around Belgrade to such an extent that the city was able to withstand the Sultan’s siege and Hunyadi was able to inflict a crushing defeat on the Ottomans at the gates of Belgrade.

In June 1456, Pope Callixtus III (1378–1458) had ordered the ‘midday bell ringing’ throughout the Christian West, intended to call the faithful to prayer for the victory of the Christian defenders of Belgrade. The victory at Belgrade was celebrated throughout Christian Europe as revenge for the loss of Constantinople to the Ottomans, and the midday bell-ringing was retained. It was not until 28 August 1521 that an Ottoman army under Sultan Süleyman I (c. 1495–1566) succeeded in capturing the city.

Belgrade became the capital of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was proclaimed on 1 December 1918. Under the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, Serbia was awarded the territories north of the Sava River – including Semlin – which had previously belonged to Hungary. Belgrade was thus no longer a border town, but moved from the periphery to the centre of the country. By the outbreak of the Second World War, the capital of Yugoslavia (as the country had been known since 1929) had developed into an economic and cultural centre in the Balkans.

In 1941, Prince Regent Pavle Karađorđević (1893–1976), who had been administering the affairs of state on behalf of the underage heir to the throne, Petar Karađorđević (1923–1970), since the assassination of King Aleksander Karađorđević (1888–1934) had been conducting the affairs of state on behalf of the underage heir to the throne, Petar Karađorđević (1923–1970), signed an agreement with the Axis powers. This caused great discontent amongst the population. A group of Serbian officers revolted and overthrew the government. Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) subsequently ordered the German Wehrmacht to invade on 6 April 1941 and had Belgrade bombed by the Luftwaffe, resulting in the destruction of large parts of the city. Belgrade came under German occupation and was placed under German military administration. Of the 10,000–12,000^[7] Jews living in Belgrade, around 9,000 were deported to camps in the winter of 1941 and later murdered,^[8] including at the concentration camps in Banjica and Staro Samjište (near Semlin). In the spring of 1942, Serbia was declared ‘free of Jews’.

On 20 October 1944, the Yugoslav ‘People’s Liberation Army’ under Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980) was able to capture Belgrade, which was declared the capital of the‘Federal People’s Republic ofYugoslavia’ in 1945. Tito’s policy of neutrality between the blocs (also known as the ‘Third Way’) made Belgrade an important international cultural, economic and political centre. In 1961, for instance, the founding conference of the Non-Aligned Movement took place in the ‘White City’. The domestic political problems within Yugoslavia were evidenced by the student unrest that broke out in Belgrade and other cities in 1968, and the unrest against the 1974 constitutional amendment, which was intended to strengthen the federation.

In the wake of the post-Yugoslav wars, Belgrade became the capital of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992–2003), the rump Yugoslav state comprising the former constituent republics of Serbia and Montenegro. Under the regime of Slobodan Milošević (1941–2006), who was in power from 1989 until his overthrow in 2000, Belgrade was plunged into social and economic problems. Mafia-like groups exploited the shortage of imported goods and enriched themselves through the trade in smuggled goods.^[9]

During the Kosovo War (1998/1999), Belgrade once again became a theatre of war. From March to June 1999, NATO bombed the city. The air strikes destroyed, amongst other things, industrial facilities, government buildings and military installations, as well as a number of historic buildings.

Amid mass protests and unrest, Milošević was forced to resign in October 2000. Vojislav Koštunica took over as President. In 2001, Zoran Đinđić (1952–2003) was elected Prime Minister. Two years later, he was assassinated in Belgrade city centre, triggering fresh unrest in the city.

Whilst Belgrade was under Austrian rule from 1717 to 1739, the new rulers deliberately settled Catholic Christians in and around the city, including, for example, Italian nobles, German merchants and officers, as well as Aromanian traders. In Semlin, for example, a Catholic parish was established, comprising mainly German settlers from the Palatinate. By around 1720, over 300 German families were resident in Belgrade. Among them were numerous craftsmen.^[11] Until the 19th century, however, Belgrade’s craft trades remained in Turkish hands, organised into guilds (Turkish: esnaf), as the occupational titles of the tailors make clear: From 1850 onwards, the Turkish terzije and abadžije (tailors of traditional costumes) were gradually replaced by the German šnajderi (tailors of modern clothing). Around 1900, nearly 5,000 Germans lived in Belgrade. They formed the largest national minority in the city.

They remained so right up until the Second World War. According to the 1931 census, there were 10,471 German-speaking people (including 653 Jewish people) living in Belgrade.

After the end of the war, the communist regime initiated the expropriation, internment and deportation of the majority of Yugoslav Germans, some of whom had collaborated with the occupying forces.^[14] Tens of thousands of Germans died in the internment camps, which were closed in 1948. The survivors were expelled to Germany and Austria in the late 1940s. Hans-Ulrich Wehler estimates that around 500,000 Germans were living in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1939. By the time of the March 1953 census, this figure had fallen to just over 62,000.^[15]

The number of Germans in Belgrade has been declining sharply ever since. According to the 2011 census, there are currently 388 Germans living in the Belgrade metropolitan area. The largest ethnic minority living in Belgrade today is the Roma.

Under Turkish rule, the Christian Serbian population of Belgrade belonged, for the most part, to the lower social classes. They were, for example, obliged to pay taxes to the Islamic upper classes and lived mainly in rural communities. During the 18th century, a Serbian urban elite began to emerge, though not in Belgrade, but in Neusatz/Novi Sad – then part of Austria – and in Vienna.

Even after the Turkish rulers had left Belgrade and modernisation processes had been initiated, the city continued to adhere to rural social customs and manners for a long time. Wolfgang Höpken writes on this subject that, well into the 20th century, the ‘“rural” informal “Du”’ was customary except when dealing with civil servants or foreigners.^[21]

Belgrade is the economic centre of the Republic of Serbia. As well as major commercial hubs such as the Danube harbour and Nikola Tesla International Airport, the city is also home to the Sava Centar exhibition and business centre , built in 1977–1978 .

Industrial estates are situated in the southern districts of Rakovica and Železnik, in Semlin, and along the banks of the Sava and Danube rivers (engineering, vehicle and shipbuilding, food, textile, electrical engineering and pharmaceutical industries).

Belgrade is the cultural centre of Serbia. The city is home to more than 40 museums, galleries and memorial sites. Among the best-known museums are the National Museum (Narodni muzej), the ‘Zepter’ Museum of Modern Serbian Art (Zepter muzej), the Ethnographic Museum (Etnografski muzej), the Museum of Yugoslav History (Muzej istorije Jugoslavije) and the Museum of Science and Technology (Muzej Nauke i Tehnike). Numerous monuments and memorials also serve as reminders of Belgrade’s past.

There are 13 theatres in the city. The oldest is the Belgrade National Theatre (Narodno Pozorište); it was founded in 1867. The renowned Belgrade Theatre Festival (Beogradski Internacionalni Teatarski Festival, BITEF) has been held annually since 1967.

In 1808, the popular educator Dositej Obradović (1739–1811) founded the ‘Great School’ (Velika Škola), a lyceum. This gave rise to the University of Belgrade (Univerzitet u Beogradu), founded in 1863. Today, the city is home to the country’s most important educational establishments and research institutes. Particularly noteworthy are the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, SANU), the University of the Arts (Univerzitet Umetnosti; since 1973) and the Institute for Nuclear Sciences‘Vinča’ (Institut za nuklearne nauke ‘Vinča’).

There has also been a German school in Belgrade since 1854. It was reopened in September 2015 in its newly restored building.

In Belgrade, a variant of the Ekavian Štokavian dialect, known as the Šumadija-Vojvodina dialect, is spoken.

As in the rest of Serbia, Belgrade’s cuisine shows Turkish influences alongside Austrian and Hungarian ones.

Belgrade is home to several well-known football clubs, including Red Star Belgrade (Fudbalski klub crvena zvezda; founded in 1945), Partizan Belgrade (Fudbalski klub Partizan ; founded in 1945) and OFK Belgrade (Omladinski fudbalski klub Beograd; founded in 1911).

The city’s lively nightlife attracts many tourists, particularly the floating bars and nightclubs on the Danube and Sava rivers.

In the 1980s, Belgrade was one of the most important centres of Yugoslav rock music. During the war years, the so-called ‘turbofolk’ enjoyed great popularity. Today, Belgrade also has a vibrant hip-hop scene. The bohemian district of Skardalija, Belgrade’s ‘Montmartre’, is characterised by folk musicians who wander from restaurant to restaurant.

Belgrade is the country’s media hub. Not only is the public service broadcaster RTS (Radio Televizija Srbije ) based here, but so are private broadcasters such as Pink International, B92 and Avala. The headquarters of the state news agency Tanjug were also located in Belgrade until its dissolution in November 2015. In addition, numerous daily newspapers (Borba, Večernje Novosti, Danas, Blic, etc. ) and tabloid newspapers (e.g. Kurir, Press, Pravda) are published in the city.

Between the First and Second World Wars, a number of German-language newspapers were also published in Belgrade. One example worth mentioning is the German-language occupying forces’ newspaper *Belgrader Nachrichten* (1916–1917), edited by Robert Müller (1887–1924) and Hugo Greinz (1873–1946). From 1936, *Der Jugendfreund* was published in Belgrade with a circulation of 4,000 copies. This was an independentRoman Catholic youth magazine that took a stance opposed to National Socialism.^[23]

Alongside Vienna, Belgrade was the literary centre of the Serbs in the 19th century. It was here that leading figures of Serbian Romanticism, such as Đura Jakšić (1832–1878), and Realism, such as Simo Matavulj (1852–1908), wrote their works. Both Miloš Crnjanski (1893–1977) and Ivo Andrić (1892–1975), both representatives of Yugoslav modernism, wrote in Belgrade. Contemporary authors include, amongst others, Bora Ćosić, David Albahari, Sreten Ugričić and Dragana Mladenović.

The first Belgrade Book Fair (Beogradski Sajam Knjiga) took place in 1966. Since then, it has grown to become the largest book fair in the region.

The names of Belgrade’s streets have changed frequently and have been adapted to the ideology of the regime in power at the time. This practice can be clearly illustrated by one of Belgrade’s main streets, Ulica Kralja Milana (King Milan Street): Originally, the street was called Kragujevački drum (Kragujevac Street). In 1876, it was renamed Milanova Ulica in honour of the future King Milan I (1854–1901, reigned 1882–1889). Under socialist rule, it was known as Bulevar Maršala Tito (Marshal Tito Boulevard). During the ‘de-Titoisation’ of the early 1990s, those in power at the time renamed it Ulica srpskih vladara ( Street of Serbian Rulers). Today, in a nod to its former name, it is called Ulica Kralja Milana.

Since 2002, the so-called Belgrade Days (Dani Beograda) have been celebrated from 16 to 19 April. These dates refer to two important events in Belgrade’s history: firstly, the first written mention of Belgrade on 16 April 878 in a letter from Pope John VIII (d. 882) to the Bulgarian prince Mihailo; and secondly, to the symbolic handing over of the key to the city when the Ottomans finally left the city.

Belgrade plays a central role in Serbia’s modern history. As Mišković notes, ‘many aspects that elsewhere would fall under the heading of local history […] are of pan-Serbian significance’.^[24]

To this day, Serbian historiography remains influenced by ‘Marxist-Leninist research practices’; until the late 1980s, many topics were taboo: ‘The political authorities intervened and pushed for research into the origins of the socialist labour movement, into political and economic history interpreted through a Marxist lens, and into the Serbian Revolution and the uprisings of 1804–1815’.^[25]

The history of the liberation of Belgrade in October 1944 was re-examined by Milan Radanović.^[26] His work emphasises, above all, the pan-Yugoslav contribution to the city’s liberation and dispels nationalistically driven ‘distortions and manipulations of history’, as Olga Manojlović Pintar points out: “Without mentioning Yugoslavia, rather than Serbia; the Soviet Union, rather than Russia; the revolution, rather than repression; without the name of Josip Broz Tito – without all these names, one erases the very essence of what defined the victory over fascism in our region.“^[27]

• Vasa Čubrilović: Istorija Beograda. Stari, srednji i novi vek. 3 vols. [The History of Belgrade. The Ancient, Medieval and Modern Ages. 3 vols.]. Belgrade 1974.
• Aleksandar Diklić: Belgrade, the Eternal City. A Sentimental Journey Through History. Belgrade 2014.
• Yvo Kühling: Belgrade Bites. Reflections on the White City. Belgrade 2014.
• Nataša Mišković: Bazaars and Boulevards. Belgrade in the 19th Century. Vienna, Cologne, Weimar 2008 (Zur Kunde Südosteuropas 2,29).
• Nicole Münnich: Belgrade between Socialist Claims to Power and Social Resilience. The Yugoslav Capital as Design and Urban Experience. Wiesbaden 2013 (Balkanological Publications of the Institute for Eastern European Studies at the Free University of Berlin 57).
• David A. Norris: Belgrade: A Cultural History. Oxford 2009 (Cityscapes).
• Milan Radanović: Oslobođenje. Beograd, oktobar 1944 [Liberation. Belgrade, October 1944]. Belgrade 2014.

• Godišnjak grada Beograda [Yearbook of the City of Belgrade], Belgrade City Museum (1954 onwards).

• www.beograd.rs/cms/view.php?id=230 (official website of the City of Belgrade in German)
• zis.beograd.gov.rs/ (Statistical Office of the City of Belgrade)

[1] Official website of the City of Belgrade, ‘Coat of Arms and Flag of Belgrade’: www.beograd.rs/cms/view.php?id=301209 (accessed 17 May 2015).

[2] Ivo Haag, Desanka Schwara, Marcel Gosteli: ‘The Game of Visibility: Presence, Action and Interaction in Public Spaces on the Balkan Peninsula’. In: Desanka Schwara (ed.): ‘Merchants, Seafarers and Pirates in the Mediterranean in the Modern Era’. Munich 2011, pp. 147–260, here p. 153.

[3] ‘Knez’ or ‘Knes’ is a Slavic title of sovereignty.

[4] Cf. Mišković: Bazaars and Boulevards, pp. 176–185.

[5] See Ursula Rütten: Introduction. In: Ibid. (ed.): Belgrade, My Belgrade. Six authors portray their city. Hamburg 1998 (For the Armchair Traveller and for on the go), pp. 11–37, here p. 22.

[6] Holm Sundhaussen: Historical Statistics of Serbia 1834–1914. With European comparative data. Munich 1989 (South-Eastern European Studies 87), p. 104.

[7] Walter Manoschek refers to over 12,000 Jews; see Walter Manoschek: ‘Serbia is Free of Jews’. Military Occupation Policy and the Extermination of Jews in Serbia 1941/42. Munich 1993 (Contributions to Military History 38), p. 36; Ursula Rütten states that 10,388 Jews were resident in Belgrade in 1939, see Ursula Rütten: ‘Dorcol’. In: Ibid. (ed.): Belgrade, My Belgrade (note 4), pp. 204–214, here p. 213.

[8] See Foundation ‘Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe’. Memorials portal on places of remembrance in Europe: Belgrade: www.memorialmuseums.org (accessed 30 April 2015).

[9] David A. Norris speaks of a ‘gangland culture’ that dominated Belgrade’s streets; see Norris: Belgrade, pp. 163–166.

[10] Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia: Comparative Overview of the Population in 1948, 1953, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2002 and 2011. Data by settlements. Belgrade 2014, p. 32. URL: pod2.stat.gov.rs/ObjavljenePublikacije/Popis2011/Knjiga20.pdf (accessed 15 April 2015).

[11] Birgitta Gabriela Hannover Moser: Belgrade / Novi Sad. Sights, culture, scene, surrounding area, travel information. Berlin 2013, pp. 25ff.

[12] Cf. Sundhaussen: Historical Statistics of Serbia (note 5), pp. 110ff. For clarity, the author has arranged the data in numerical order. With the exception of Jews and ‘Gypsies’, the respondents’ mother-tongue information was decisive for national classification.

[13] Published in: Hans-Ulrich Wehler: Nationality Policy in Yugoslavia. Göttingen 1980 (Vandenhoeck Collection), p. 107. The figures are based on the 1931 Yugoslav census; they were processed by the publishing office in Vienna and published in 1943.

[14] R[ay] M. Douglas: ‘Ordnungsgemäße Überführung.’ The Expulsion of the Germans after the Second World War. Munich 2013 (Beck’sche Reihe 6102), pp. 145ff.

[15] Wehler: Nationalities Policy in Yugoslavia (note 12), pp. 96–99. Wayne S. Vucinich reports a figure of 60,536 Germans. This figure is based on unpublished data from the 1953 census. See Wayne S. Vucinich: ‘Nationalism and Communism’. In: Ibid. (ed.): *Contemporary Yugoslavia. Twenty Years of Socialist Experiment*. Berkeley 1969, pp. 236–284, here p. 254.

[16] Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. 2011 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in the Republic of Serbia. Book 4: Religion, Mother Tongue and Ethnicity. Belgrade 2012, pp. 30ff. URL: pod2.stat.gov.rs/ObjavljenePublikacije/Popis2011/Nacionalna%20pripadnost-Ethnicity.pdf (accessed 15 April 2015).

[17] The actual number of Roma living in Belgrade is likely to be far higher than that stated in the census, as many Roma either did not register or did not identify themselves as such.

[18] In the 1961 census, the umbrella term ‘Yugoslavs’ still encompassed all those who did not provide details of their ethnic or regional affiliation. Since the subsequent census in 1971, ‘Yugoslav’ has been treated as a separate category comprising those who explicitly identify as such.

[19] Since the 1961 census, Muslims have been recorded as a distinct ethnic group.

[20] This term encompasses all those who registered on the basis of regional affiliation (e.g. as Vojvodjani or Sumadinci).

[21] Wolfgang Höpken: Pioneers of Modernity? Urbanisation and Urban Lifestyles in the Metropolises of South-Eastern Europe in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries. In: Friedrich Lenger, Klaus Tenfelde (eds.): The European City in the 20th Century. Perception – Development – Erosion. Vienna, Cologne, Weimar 2006 (Industrielle Welt 67), pp. 61–104, here p. 97.

[22] Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia: Еtтноконфесионали и језички мозаик Србије (Serbian Ethnic, Confessional and Linguistic Mosaic). Belgrade 2014, p. 184. URL: pod2.stat.gov.rs/ObjavljenePublikacije/Popis2011/Etnomozaik.pdf (accessed 16 April 2015).

[23] Cf. Zoran Janjetović: German Minority Press and Publishing in Interwar Yugoslavia. (Society for Serbian-German Cooperation) 1991, p. 8.

[24] Mišković: Bazaars and Boulevards, p. 23.

[25] Mišković: Bazaars and Boulevards, p. 22.

[26] Radanović: Oslobođenje.

[27] Quoted from Krunoslav Stojaković: ‘Liberation, Belgrade, October 1944.’ A new book on the history of the liberation of Belgrade was presented under the same title. Belgrade 2014. URL: www.rosalux.de/news/40903/befreiung-belgrad-oktober-1944.html (accessed 3 May 2015).

Kathrin Pavic: Belgrade/Beograd. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2015. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p32421 (as at 15 February 2021).