"Wild Cleansings" in Belgrade of 1944 Cover Image

"Divlja čišćenja" u Beogradu 1944.
"Wild Cleansings" in Belgrade of 1944

Author(s): Srđan Cvetković
Subject(s): History
Published by: Centar za unapređivanje pravnih studija
Keywords: wild cleansings; OZNA; political and social enemies; revolution; repression in Serbia

Summary/Abstract: According to the available sources and literature, the work deals with the conditions and circumstances under which "wild cleansings" of political and class enemies in Belgrade took place. Special emphasis was laid on the analysis of structure of 105 executed, published in Politika on 27 November 1944. The intensity of the repression in the first run of revolutionary forces was influenced by the anarchic war surrounding as well as the revenge moment (especially among the partisans from the other side of The Drina River), but what was happening in reality was actually a planned action of eliminating political and class enemies determined by ideological and political needs. In the beginning, the lists of the executed were announced almost simultaneously in all the cities and towns (Uzice, Pozarevac, Jagodina, Krusevac and others), while later their public announcing ceased abruptly, which indicates a planned action. Making lists of the victoms of revolutionary terror public had, above all, propaganda-psychological function - to intimidate the citizens and potential opponents of new government. The witness of its success is the fear that crept into politically and economically broken middle class of those days and lasted until the last decade of 20th century.

  • Issue Year: 2007
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 74-105
  • Page Count: 32
  • Language: Serbian