Misplaced Pages

#977022

131-650: Following the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , the merged entity was renamed the Anglo-Prague Credit Bank ( German : Anglo-Prager Creditbank , Czech : Anglo-Pražská úvěrní banka ) in 1939, then again Prague Credit Bank in 1940. It was nationalized in 1946 and eventually absorbed in 1948 by Živnostenská banka . The Anglo-Austrian Bank opened a branch in Prague in 1880. Following

262-644: A British resident. Hitler believed that emulating the Raj would make this violation of the Munich Agreement more acceptable to Britain, and as that proved not to be the case the German media launched a lengthy campaign denouncing British "hypocrisy". The German authorities intentionally allowed the protectorate "all the trappings of independence" in order to encourage the Czech inhabitants to collaborate with them . However, despite

393-572: A German. Any more precise elaboration of the term "German national" is not possible given current relationships. The Nazis aimed for the protectorate to become fully Germanized . Marriages between Czechs and Germans became a problem for the Nazis. In 1939, the Nazis did not ban sexual relations between Germans and Czechs and no law prohibited Jews from marrying Czechs. The Nazis made German women who married any non-Germans lose their Reich citizenship whereas Czech women who married German men were accepted into

524-464: A collaborationist entity. The Four-Year Plan that Hitler launched in September 1936 to have the German economy ready for a "total war" by 1940 was faltering by 1937 owing to a shortage of foreign exchange to pay for the vast economic demands imposed by the ambitious armaments targets as Germany lacked many of the necessary raw materials, which had to be imported. The British historian Richard Overy wrote

655-966: A design by architect Matěj Blecha  [ cs ] and sculpture by Celda Klouček . The Prague Credit Bank opened a branch in Lviv in 1906 then expanded outside of Austria-Hungary , with a branch in Belgrade in 1910 and another one in Sofia in 1912. In 1919, it was shored up by a group of investors led by France's Société Générale . In 1920 it took a majority stake in the Romanian Trade and Industry Bank ( Romanian : Banca Română de Comerț și Industrie ) in Bucharest ; conversely, in 1921 it liquidated its branches in former Austrian Galicia . Its operations in Yugoslavia were similarly liquidated in 1924, with assets taken over by

786-486: A fatally strategic position, the city has been battled over in 115 wars and razed 44 times, being bombed five times and besieged many times. Being Serbia's primate city , Belgrade has special administrative status within Serbia. It is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies, and government ministries, as well as home to almost all of the largest Serbian companies, media, and scientific institutions. Belgrade

917-745: A formal name change) under the Ninth-of-May Constitution following the 1948 coup . ČSSR; from 1969, after the Prague Spring , consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic (ČSR) and Slovak Socialist Republic (SSR). Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR . Oblast of Ukraine . Belgrade Belgrade ( / b ɛ l ˈ ɡ r eɪ d / bel- GRAYD , / ˈ b ɛ l ɡ r eɪ d / BEL -grayd ; Serbian : Београд , Beograd , Serbian: [beǒɡrad] )

1048-416: A more radical policy in the protectorate. On 29 September 1941, Hitler appointed SS hardliner Reinhard Heydrich as Deputy Reichsprotektor ( Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor ). At the same time, he relieved Neurath of his day-to-day duties. For all intents and purposes, Heydrich replaced Neurath as Reichsprotektor . Under Heydrich's authority Prime Minister Alois Eliáš was arrested (and later executed),

1179-400: A number of Czech teachers quietly inserted "anti- Reich " ideas into their lessons while refusing to greet their students with " Sieg Heil! ". Especially under Frank, the teachers suffered harshly. In the first six months of 1944, about 1,000 Czech teachers were either executed or imprisoned. By 1945, about 5,000 Czech teachers were imprisoned in the concentration camps, where a fifth died. By

1310-470: A significant influence on Belgrade. He conceptualised a regulation plan for the city in 1867, in which he proposed the replacement of the town's crooked streets with a grid plan . Of great importance also was the construction of independent Serbian political and cultural institutions, as well as the city's now-plentiful parks. Pointing to Josimović's work, Serbian scholars have noted an important break with Ottoman traditions. However, Istanbul—the capital city of

1441-627: A third of these refugees having settled in Belgrade. After the 2000 presidential elections , Belgrade was the site of major public protests, with over half a million people taking part. These demonstrations resulted in the ousting of president Milošević as a part of the Otpor movement. In 2014, Belgrade Waterfront , an urban renewal project, was initiated by the Government of Serbia and its Emirati partner, Eagle Hills Properties . Around €3.5 billion

SECTION 10

#1732854783978

1572-497: A threat to German rule. Just like Jews, Poles, Serbs, and several other nations, Czechs were considered to be Untermenschen by the Nazi state. The Czechs however, were not subjected to a similar degree of random and organized acts of brutality that their Polish counterparts experienced. This is attributed to the view within the Nazi hierarchy that a large swath of the populace was "capable of Aryanization ", such capacity for Aryanization

1703-406: A year when the maximum temperature is at or above 30 °C (86 °F), and 95 days when the temperature is above 25 °C (77 °F), On the other hand, Belgrade experiences 52.1 days per year in which the minimum temperature falls below 0 °C (32 °F), with 13.8 days having a maximum temperature below freezing as well. Belgrade receives about 698 mm (27 in) of precipitation

1834-419: A year, with late spring being wettest. The average annual number of sunny hours is 2,020. Belgrade may experience thunderstorms at any time of the year, experiencing 31 days annually, but it's much more common in spring and summer months. Hail is rare and occurs exclusively in spring or summer. The highest officially recorded temperature in Belgrade was 43.6 °C (110.5 °F) on 24 July 2007, while on

1965-422: Is a member of the German nation, provided that this profession is confirmed by certain facts, such as language, upbringing, culture, etc. Persons of alien blood, particularly Jews, are never Germans. . . . Because professing to be a member of the German nation is of vital significance, even someone who is partly or completely of another race—Czech, Slovak, Ukrainian, Hungarian, or Polish, for example—can be considered

2096-708: Is classified as a Beta- Global City . The city is home to the University Clinical Centre of Serbia , a hospital complex with one of the largest capacities in the world ; the Church of Saint Sava , one of the largest Orthodox church buildings ; and the Belgrade Arena , one of the largest capacity indoor arenas in Europe . Belgrade hosted major international events such as the Danube River Conference of 1948 ,

2227-767: Is considered to be the most successful project of fixing the problem. During the construction of the neighbourhood from the 1970s, the terrain was systematically improved and the movement of the land is today completely halted. Under the Köppen climate classification , Belgrade has a humid subtropical climate ( Cfa ) bordering on a humid continental climate ( Dfa ) with four seasons and uniformly spread precipitation. Monthly averages range from 1.9 °C (35.4 °F) in January to 23.8 °C (74.8 °F) in July, with an annual mean of 13.2 °C (55.8 °F). There are, on average, 44.6 days

2358-651: Is known for its very large settlements, one of the earliest settlements by continuous habitation and some of the largest in prehistoric Europe. Also associated with the Vinča culture are anthropomorphic figurines such as the Lady of Vinča , the earliest known copper metallurgy in Europe, and a proto-writing form developed prior to the Sumerians and Minoans known as the Old European script , which dates back to around 5300 BC. Within

2489-535: Is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe and the world. One of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe , the Vinča culture , evolved within the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco - Dacians inhabited the region and, after 279 BC, Celts settled the city, naming it Singidūn . It was conquered by the Romans under the reign of Augustus and awarded Roman city rights in

2620-614: Is the capital and largest city of Serbia . It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula . The population of the Belgrade metropolitan area is 1,685,563 according to the 2022 census. It is one of the major cities of Southeast Europe and the third most populous city on the Danube river . Belgrade

2751-515: The Belgrade forest . Belgrade was made the seat of the Pashalik of Belgrade (also known as the Sanjak of Smederevo), and quickly became the second largest Ottoman town in Europe at over 100,000 people, surpassed only by Constantinople . Ottoman rule introduced Ottoman architecture , including numerous mosques, and the city was resurrected—now by Oriental influences. In 1594, a major Serb rebellion

SECTION 20

#1732854783978

2882-911: The Hungarian king , made Smederevo his new capital. Even though the Ottomans had captured most of the Serbian Despotate , Belgrade, known as Nándorfehérvár in Hungarian, was unsuccessfully besieged in 1440 and 1456. As the city presented an obstacle to the Ottoman advance into Hungary and further, over 100,000 Ottoman soldiers besieged it in 1456 , in which the Christian army led by the Hungarian General John Hunyadi successfully defended it. The noon bell ordered by Pope Callixtus III commemorates

3013-606: The Independent State of Croatia in occupied Yugoslavia, another puppet state, where Ustashe regime carried out the Genocide of Serbs . During the summer and autumn of 1941, in reprisal for guerrilla attacks, the Germans carried out several massacres of Belgrade citizens; in particular, members of the Jewish community were subject to mass shootings at the order of General Franz Böhme ,

3144-574: The National Bank of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . The Czech Commercial Bank was created in 1921 from the nostrification of the operations of Vienna-based Mercurbank in Czechoslovakia. It suffered heavy losses in the turmoil of the early 1920s. Given the bank's lingering fragility in the late 1920s, its directors welcomed the prospect of merger. In 1929, finance minister Karel Engliš , aiming to counter

3275-489: The Neolithic Starčevo culture , which flourished between 6200 and 5200 BC. There are several Starčevo sites in and around Belgrade, including the eponymous site of Starčevo . The Starčevo culture was succeeded by the Vinča culture (5500–4500 BC), a more sophisticated farming culture that grew out of the earlier Starčevo settlements and also named for a site in the Belgrade region ( Vinča-Belo Brdo ). The Vinča culture

3406-529: The Second Serbian Uprising in 1815, Serbia achieved some sort of sovereignty, which was formally recognised by the Porte in 1830. The development of Belgrade architecture after 1815 can be divided into four periods. In the first phase, which lasted from 1815 to 1835, the dominant architectural style was still of a Balkan character, with substantial Ottoman influence. At the same time, an interest in joining

3537-468: The Serbian Revolution , Belgrade was once again named the capital of Serbia in 1841. Northern Belgrade remained the southernmost Habsburg post until 1918, when it was attached to the city, due to former Austro-Hungarian territories becoming part of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes after World War I . Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia from its creation to its dissolution. In

3668-683: The Tripartite Pact , joining the Axis powers in an effort to stay out of the Second World War and keep Yugoslavia neutral during the conflict. This was immediately followed by mass protests in Belgrade and a military coup d'état led by Air Force commander General Dušan Simović , who proclaimed King Peter II to be of age to rule the realm. As a result, the city was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe on 6 April 1941, killing up to 2,274 people. Yugoslavia

3799-669: The UNESCO General Conference . Josip Broz Tito died in May 1980 and his funeral in Belgrade was attended by high officials and state delegations from 128 of the 154 members of the United Nations from all over the world, based on which it became one of the largest funerals in history . On 9 March 1991, massive demonstrations led by Vuk Drašković were held in the city against Slobodan Milošević . According to various media outlets, there were between 100,000 and 150,000 people on

3930-462: The intelligentsia " while Heydrich referred to the teachers as "the training core of the opposition Czech government [in exile in London]". To keep their jobs, teachers were required to demonstrate fluency in German and were supposed to greet their students with the fascist salute while saying " Sieg Heil! " ("Hail Victory!"). School inspectors made surprise visits to the classrooms and all chairpersons of

4061-634: The resistance movement . For the Czechs of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, German occupation represented a period of oppression . The number of Czech victims of political persecution and murders in concentration camps totalled between 36,000 and 55,000. After Heydrich assumed control of the Protectorate, he instituted martial law and stepped up arrests and executions of resistance fighters. Heydrich allegedly referred to Czechs as "laughing beasts", reflecting Czech subversion and Nazi racial beliefs about

Anglo-Czechoslovak and Prague Credit Bank - Misplaced Pages Continue

4192-562: The romanised Singidunum in the 1st century AD and, by the mid-2nd century, the city was proclaimed a municipium by the Roman authorities, evolving into a full-fledged colonia (the highest city class) by the end of the century. While the first Christian Emperor of Rome — Constantine I , also known as Constantine the Great —was born in the territory of Naissus to the city's south, Roman Christianity's champion, Flavius Iovianus (Jovian/Jovan),

4323-647: The Anglo-Czechoslovak Bank opened a branch of its own in London . The Anglo-Austrian Bank, by then renamed as Anglo-International Bank, sold most of its shares in the later 1920s. In the 1920s, the Anglo-Czechoslovak Bank commissioned architect Josef Gočár for the remodeling of its head office in Prague, in the Sweerts-Sporck Palace  [ cs ] which it had acquired in the early 20th century, and for

4454-658: The Balkans and Central Europe was held in Belgrade in June 1896 by André Carr, a representative of the Lumière brothers . He shot the first motion pictures of Belgrade in the next year; however, they have not been preserved. The first permanent cinema was opened in 1909 in Belgrade. The First World War began on 28 July 1914 when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Most of the subsequent Balkan offensives occurred near Belgrade. Austro-Hungarian monitors shelled Belgrade on 29 July 1914, and it

4585-617: The Czech Republic today descend from migrants from Slovakia who moved there within post-war Czechoslovakia . The Theresienstadt concentration camp was located in the Protectorate, near the border to the Reichsgau Sudetenland . It was designed to concentrate the Jewish population from the Protectorate and gradually move them to extermination camps, and it also held Western European and German Jews. While not an extermination camp itself,

4716-595: The Czech government was reorganized, and all Czech cultural organizations were closed. The Gestapo arrested and murdered people. The deportation of Jews to concentration camps was organized, and the fortress town of Terezín was made into a ghetto way-station for Jewish families. On 4 June 1942, Heydrich died after being wounded by Czechoslovak Commandos in Operation Anthropoid . Directives issued by Heydrich's successor, SS- Oberstgruppenführer Kurt Daluege , and martial law brought forth mass arrests, executions and

4847-489: The Czech intelligentsia were not to be Germanized, and that about half of the Czech population were suitable for Germanization. Generalplan Ost assumed that around 50% of Czechs would be fit for Germanization. The Czech intellectual elite were to be removed from Czech territories and from Europe completely. The authors of Generalplan Ost believed it would be best if they emigrated overseas, as even in Siberia , they were considered

4978-560: The Czechoslovak reserves of gold and hard currency seized in March 1939 were "invaluable in staving off Germany's foreign exchange crisis". On 16 March when Hitler proclaimed the protectorate, he declared: "For a thousand years the provinces of Bohemia and Moravia formed part of the Lebensraum of the German people." There was no real precedent for this action in German history. The model for

5109-556: The Danube valley, and Umka , and especially its neighbourhood of Duboko, in the Sava valley. They have moving and dormant phases, and some of them have been recorded for centuries. Less active downhill creep areas include the entire Terazije slope above the Sava (Kalemegdan, Savamala ), which can be seen by the inclination of the Pobednik monument and the tower of the Cathedral Church , and

5240-474: The Danube, was opened in 1935, while King Alexander Bridge over the Sava was opened in 1934. On 3 September 1939 the first Belgrade Grand Prix , the last Grand Prix motor racing race before the outbreak of World War II, was held around the Belgrade Fortress and was followed by 80,000 spectators. The winner was Tazio Nuvolari . On 25 March 1941, the government of regent Crown Prince Paul signed

5371-595: The European mainstream allowed Central and Western European architecture to flourish. Between 1835 and 1850, the amount of neoclassicist and baroque buildings south of the Austrian border rose considerably, exemplified by St Michael's Cathedral (Serbian: Saborna crkva) , completed in 1840. Between 1850 and 1875, new architecture was characterised by a turn towards the newly popular Romanticism , along with older European architectural styles. Typical of Central European cities in

Anglo-Czechoslovak and Prague Credit Bank - Misplaced Pages Continue

5502-520: The German Military Governor of Serbia . Böhme rigorously enforced the rule that for every German killed, 100 Serbs or Jews would be shot. Belgrade became the first city in Europe to be declared by the Nazi occupation forces to be judenfrei . The resistance movement in Belgrade was led by Major Žarko Todorović from 1941 until his arrest in 1943. Just like Rotterdam , which was devastated twice by both German and Allied bombing, Belgrade

5633-591: The German Volk . Czech families aiming to improve their lives in the protectorate encouraged their Czech daughters to marry German men as it was one way to save a family business. Hitler had approved a plan designed by Konstantin von Neurath and Karl Hermann Frank , which projected the Germanization of the "racially valuable" half of the Czech population after the end of the war. This consisted mainly of industrial workers and farmers. The undesirable half contained

5764-404: The German occupation of the Czech rump state the next day, German leader Adolf Hitler established the protectorate on 16 March 1939, issuing a proclamation from Prague Castle . The creation of the protectorate violated the Munich Agreement. The protectorate remained nominally autonomous and had a dual system of government, with German law applying to ethnic Germans while other residents had

5895-593: The Hungarian king in 1427. Noon bells in support of the Hungarian army against the Ottoman Empire during the siege in 1456 have remained a widespread church tradition to this day. In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by the Ottomans and became the seat of the Sanjak of Smederevo . It frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Ottoman–Habsburg wars . Following

6026-420: The Meatpackers and Sausage-Makers Bank ( Czech : Řeznicko-uzenářska banka v Praze , German : Fleischer- und Selcher Bank in Prag , est. 1921) in December 1941, then the Czech Discount Bank ( Czech : Česká diskontní banka v Praze , est. 1920 as Československá družstevní banka ) in early 1943. Its own activity was discontinued in December 1943 and taken over by German financial institutions. In May 1945,

6157-645: The Protectorate and its direct incorporation into the German Reich. Hitler stated as late as 1943 that the issue was still to be decisively settled. Like in other occupied countries, the German military in Bohemia and Moravia was commanded by a Wehrmachtbefehlshaber . Through the year, the headquarter received several different names because of the complex structure of the Reichsprotektorat : Wehrmachtbevollmächtigter beim Reichsprotektor in Böhmen und Mähren , Wehrmachtbefehlshaber beim Reichsprotektor in Böhmen und Mähren and Wehrmachtbefehlshaber beim deutschen Staatsminister in Böhmen und Mähren . The commander also held

6288-404: The Protectorate was established. This step divided the remaining parts of Bohemia and Moravia up between its four surrounding Gaue : The resulting government overlap led to the usual authority conflicts typical of the Nazi era. Seeking to extend their own powerbase and to facilitate the area's Germanization the Gauleiters of the surrounding districts continually agitated for the liquidation of

6419-400: The Protectorate. Kurt Daluege , Chief of the Ordnungspolizei (Order Police) or Orpo, in the Interior Ministry, who was also officially a deputy Reich Protector. Wilhelm Frick , former Minister of the Interior (1933–1943) and Minister without Portfolio (1943–1945). Next to the Reich Protector there was also a political office of State Secretary (from 1943 known as the State Minister to

6550-543: The Reich Protector) who handled most of the internal security. From 1939 to 1945 this person was Karl Hermann Frank the senior SS and Police Leader in the Protectorate. A command of the Allgemeine-SS was also established, known as the SS-Oberabschnitt Böhmen-Mähren . The command was an active unit of the General-SS, technically the only such unit to exist outside of Germany, since most other Allgemeine-SS units in occupied or conquered countries were largely paper commands. The Czech State President (Státní Prezident) under

6681-402: The Reich Protector, Baron Konstantin von Neurath and President Emil Hácha to that of a British resident and an Indian maharajah. Neurath seems to be chosen as Reich Protector in because as a former foreign minister and a former ambassador to Great Britain, he was well known in London for his avuncular, but dignified manner, which were the personality traits associated with the popular image of

SECTION 50

#1732854783978

6812-419: The Spork Palace to Generali in 2019. The Prague Credit Bank  [ cs ] was established in 1870 in Kolín , chaired by prominent businessman František Havelec  [ cs ] until his death in 1879. It opened a branch in Prague in 1896, and relocated there in 1899. In 1900-1902, it built a new head office in Prague, 28. října 13, one of the earliest examples of Art Nouveau in Prague, on

6943-454: The Voždovac section, between Banjica and Autokomanda . Landslides encompass smaller areas, develop on the steep cliffs, sometimes being inclined up to 90%. They are mostly located in the artificial loess hills of Zemun: Gardoš , Ćukovac and Kalvarija . However, the majority of the land movement in Belgrade, some 90%, is triggered by the construction works and faulty water supply system (burst pipes, etc.). The neighbourhood of Mirijevo

7074-417: The annexed Sudetenland to the Allgemeine Deutsche Credit-Anstalt  [ de ] . Following Nazi invasion, it was again renamed in 1939 as Anglo-Prague Credit Bank, then in August 1940 back as Prague Credit Bank. By then, it maintained international branches in Belgrade , Bratislava , Bucharest , London , New York , Paris , and Sofia , as well as in 20 locations in Bohemia-Moravia . It took over

7205-421: The area around Belgrade was inhabited by nomadic foragers in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras. Some of these tools are of Mousterian industry —belonging to Neanderthals rather than modern humans. Aurignacian and Gravettian tools have also been discovered near the area, indicating some settlement between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago. The first farming people to settle in the region are associated with

7336-451: The area near the Slovak border into German enclaves. Further integration of the protectorate into the Reich was carried out by the employment of German apprentices, by transferring German evacuee children into schools located in the protectorate, and by authorizing marriages between Germans and "assimilable" Czechs. Germanizable Czechs were allowed to join the Reich Labour Service and to be admitted to German universities. In common with

7467-431: The area was ravaged by Attila the Hun . In 471, it was taken by Theodoric the Great , king of the Ostrogoths, who continued into Italy. As the Ostrogoths left, another Germanic tribe, the Gepids , invaded the city. In 539, it was retaken by the Byzantines. In 577, some 100,000 Slavs poured into Thrace and Illyricum , pillaging cities and more permanently settling the region. The Avars , under Bayan I , conquered

7598-412: The bank restarted operations shortly after the completion of the Prague offensive . Like all Czechoslovak banks, it was nationalized in 1946 under the Beneš decrees . It was finally subsumed in 1948 into Živnostenská banka . Its branch in New York was transferred to Živnostenská banka but eventually closed in 1949. Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

7729-579: The banking sector, allowing it to retain control of its Czech operations even though it placed them in a newly formed subsidiary, the Anglo-Czechoslovak Bank formally established on 12 April 1922. At the time of its establishment, it was larger (by either capital or total assets) than any of the nostrified banks, even though some long-established domestic banks were larger, namely the Böhmische Escompte-Bank (est. 1863), Živnostenská Banka (est. 1869), Böhmische Union Bank (est. 1872), Zemská Banka (est. 1890), and Böhmische Industriebank (est. 1898). In 1923,

7860-506: The building of new branches in several Czechoslovak cities, including a notable exemplar of Czech Cubism at the Anglobanka branch building  [ cs ] in Hradec Králové . Gočár's remodeling of the Prague head office from 1923 to 1926 was an early example of facadism . The property was purchased in 2011 by developer SEBRE, which branded it the Spork Palace after renovating it from 2014 to 2018 on an award-winning design by architect Stanislav Fiala  [ cs ] . SEBRE sold

7991-494: The capital of the Kingdom of Syrmia , a vassal state to the Kingdom of Hungary. Dragutin (Hungarian: Dragutin István ) is regarded as the first Serbian king to rule over Belgrade. Following the battles of Maritsa (1371) and Kosovo field (1389) , Moravian Serbia, to Belgrade's south, began to fall to the Ottoman Empire . The northern regions of what is now Serbia persisted as the Serbian Despotate , with Belgrade as its capital. The city flourished under Stefan Lazarević ,

SECTION 60

#1732854783978

8122-417: The centre of the Principality's administrative, military and cultural institutions. His project of creating a new market space (the Abadžijska čaršija), however, was less successful; trade continued to be conducted in the centuries-old Donja čaršija and Gornja čaršija. Still, new construction projects were typical for the Christian quarters as the older Muslim quarters declined; from Serbia's autonomy until 1863,

8253-441: The city is under rapid development and reconstruction, especially in the area of Novi Beograd , where (as of 2020) apartment and office buildings were under construction to support the burgeoning Belgrade IT sector , now one of Serbia's largest economic players. In September 2020, there were around 2000 active construction sites in Belgrade. The city budget for 2023 stood at 205,5 billion dinars (1.750 billion Euros). The budget for

8384-412: The city of Belgrade has been estimated to be more than 2 billion Euros for 2024. Belgrade lies 116.75 m (383.0 ft) above sea level and is located at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. The historical core of Belgrade, Kalemegdan , lies on the right banks of both rivers. Since the 19th century, the city has been expanding to the south and east; after World War II, New Belgrade

8515-413: The city proper, on Cetinjska Street, a skull of a Paleolithic human dated to before 5000 BC was discovered in 1890. Evidence of early knowledge about Belgrade's geographical location comes from a variety of ancient myths and legends. The ridge overlooking the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, for example, has been identified as one of the places in the story of Jason and the Argonauts . In

8646-504: The city terrain is mass wasting . On the territory covered by the General Urban Plan there are 1,155 recorded mass wasting points, out of which 602 are active and 248 are labeled as 'high risk'. They cover almost 30% of the city territory and include several types of mass wasting. Downhill creeps are located on the slopes above the rivers, mostly on the clay or loam soils, inclined between 7 and 20%. The most critical ones are in Karaburma , Zvezdara , Višnjica , Vinča and Ritopek , in

8777-520: The city would become a battleground between the Byzantine Empire , the medieval Kingdom of Hungary , and the Bulgarian Empire . Basil II (976–1025) installed a garrison in Belgrade. The city hosted the armies of the First and the Second Crusade , but, while passing through during the Third Crusade , Frederick Barbarossa and his 190,000 crusaders saw Belgrade in ruins. King Stefan Dragutin (r. 1276–1282) received Belgrade from his father-in-law, Stephen V of Hungary , in 1284, and it served as

8908-517: The collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy in late 1918, more than 50% of the bank's assets were in what became Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia , and 45 percent of its capital was held by Czechoslovak shareholders. The Bank of England soon became a major shareholder, through the mediation of the Petschek family and under direct watch of Governor Montagu Norman , and transferred the bank's head office to London . Montagu Norman then negotiated an exemption from Czechoslovakia's policy of "nostrification" of

9039-431: The dominance of Živnostenská banka , engineered the merger of the three banks to form the Anglo-Czechoslovak and Prague Credit Bank, which became the country's second-largest bank. The new bank established its head office in the former headquarters of Anglo-Czechoslovak Bank, which was the larger of the three, at Hybernská 5 in Prague. In 1939, it opened a branch in New York . In late 1938, the bank ceded its operations in

9170-468: The end of the occupation, about 40% of all Czech teachers had been fired with the figure reaching 60% in Prague. For administrative purposes the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was divided into two Länder: Böhmen ( Bohemia ) and Mähren ( Moravia ). Each of these was further subdivided into Oberlandratsbezirke , each comprising a number of Bezirke . For party administrative purposes the Nazi Party extended its Gau system to Bohemia and Moravia when

9301-401: The end of the war. The Protectorate administration became deeply involved in the Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia . The state's existence came to an end with the surrender of Germany to the Allies in May 1945. After the war, some Protectorate officials were charged with collaborationism, but according to the prevailing belief in Czech society, the Protectorate was not entirely rejected as

9432-422: The exam boards had to be ethnic Germans. Some teachers and students were Gestapo informers, which spread a climate of mistrust and paranoia across the school system as both teachers and students never knew whom to trust. One teacher recalled: "The Gestapo even had informers and agents amongst the children. Uncertainty and mistrust destroyed any feeling of comradeship among the children". Despite these pressures,

9563-495: The exclusive control of the German government. The former foreign minister of Czechoslovakia František Chvalkovský became a Minister without Portfolio and permanent representative of the Czech administration in Berlin. The most prominent Czech politicians in the Protectorate included: The area of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia contained about 7,380,000 inhabitants in 1940. 225,000 (3.3%) of these were of German origin, while

9694-505: The existence of the protectorate, which was made worse by the refusal of the German authorities to raise wages to keep up with inflation, making the era a period of decreasing living standards as the crowns bought less and less. Even members of the volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) living in the protectorate complained their living standards had been higher under Czechoslovakia, which was quite a surprise to most of them, who expected their living standards to rise under German rule. German rule

9825-714: The first Non-Aligned Movement Summit (1961), the first major gathering of the OSCE (1977–1978), the Eurovision Song Contest ( 2008 ), as well as sports events such as the first FINA World Aquatics Championships ( 1973 ), UEFA Euro ( 1976 ), Summer Universiade ( 2009 ) and EuroBasket three times ( 1961 , 1975 , 2005 ). On 21 June 2023, Belgrade was confirmed host of the BIE- Specialized Exhibition Expo 2027 . Chipped stone tools found in Zemun show that

9956-647: The global arms trade. After Czechoslovakia accepted the terms of the Munich Agreement of 30 September 1938, Nazi Germany incorporated the ethnic German majority Sudetenland regions along the German border directly into Nazi Germany . Five months later, the Nazis violated the Munich Agreement, when, with Nazi German support, the Slovak parliament declared the independence of the Slovak Republic , Adolf Hitler invited Czechoslovak President Emil Hácha to Berlin and

10087-554: The government-in-exile in London reported: "The original, observable chaos and later fear of Gestapo informants and uncertainty has changed to courage and hope. The nation is coming together, not only in the National Solidarity Movement, which the majority did only to avoid losing our national existence, but individuals are coming together and one begins to feel if the nation has a backbone again". This local Czech Fascist party

10218-540: The harsh and unhygienic conditions still resulted in the death of 33,000 of the 140,000 Jews brought to the camp while a further 88,000 were sent to extermination camps, and only 19,000 survived. After the establishment of the Protectorate all political parties were outlawed, with the exception of the National Partnership ( Národní souručenství ). Membership of the Národní souručenství was closed to women and Jews. In

10349-545: The huge demands of the Four Year Plan "...could not be fully met by a policy of import substitution and industrial rationalization".. In November 1937 at the Hossbach conference, Hitler announced that to stay ahead in the arms race with the other powers that Germany had to seize Czechoslovakia in the very near-future. Czechoslovakia was the world's 7th largest manufacturer of arms, making Czechoslovakia into an important player in

10480-511: The inferiority of Czechs. The Jewish population of Bohemia and Moravia (118,000 according to the 1930 census) was virtually annihilated, with over 75,000 murdered. Of the 92,199 people classified as Jews by German authorities in the Protectorate as of 1939, 78,154 were murdered in the Holocaust, or 85 percent. Many Jews emigrated after 1939; 8,000 survived at the Terezín concentration camp , which

10611-509: The intelligentsia, whom the Nazis viewed as ungermanizable and potential dangerous instigators of Czech nationalism. Some 9,000 Volksdeutsche from Bukovina , Dobruja , South Tyrol , Bessarabia, Sudetenland and the Altreich were settled in the protectorate during the war. The goal was to create a German settlement belt from Prague to Sudetenland, and to turn the surroundings of Olomouc (Olmütz), České Budějovice (Budweis), Brno (Brünn) and

10742-556: The last quarter of the 19th century, the fourth phase was characterised by an eclecticist style based on the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In 1841, Prince Mihailo Obrenović moved the capital of the Principality of Serbia from Kragujevac to Belgrade. During his first reign (1815–1839), Prince Miloš Obrenović pursued expansion of the city's population through the addition of new settlements, aiming and succeeding to make Belgrade

10873-455: The latter accepted his request for the German occupation of the Czech rump state and its reorganization as a German protectorate. Hitler's wish to occupy Czechoslovakia was largely caused by the foreign exchange crisis as Germany had exhausted its foreign exchange reserves by early 1939, and Germany urgently needed to seize the gold of the Czechoslovak central bank to continue the Four Year Plan. The British historian Victor Rothwell wrote that

11004-500: The legal status of Protectorate subjects and were governed by a puppet Czech administration. During World War II (1939–1945), the well-trained Czech workforce and developed industry were forced to make a major contribution to the German war economy . Since the Protectorate was just out of the reach of Allied bombers based in Britain, the Czech economy was able to work almost undisturbed until

11135-747: The mid-2nd century. It was settled by the Slavs in the 520s, and changed hands several times between the Byzantine Empire , the Frankish Empire , the Bulgarian Empire , and the Kingdom of Hungary before it became the seat of the Serbian king Stefan Dragutin in 1284. Belgrade served as capital of the Serbian Despotate during the reign of Stefan Lazarević , and then his successor Đurađ Branković returned it to

11266-483: The new Reich Protector. Because of his contacts with the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile Eliáš was sentenced to death, and the execution was carried out on 19 June 1942 shortly after Heydrich's own death . From 19 January 1942 the government was led by Jaroslav Krejčí , and from January to May 1945 by Richard Bienert , the former police chief of Prague . When the dissolution of the Protectorate

11397-402: The number of Belgrade quarters even decreased, mainly as a consequence of the gradual disappearance of the city's Muslim population . An Ottoman city map from 1863 counts only 9 Muslim quarters ( mahalas ). The names of only five such neighbourhoods are known today: Ali-pašina, Reis-efendijina, Jahja-pašina, Bajram-begova, and Laz Hadži-Mahmudova. Following the Čukur Fountain incident , Belgrade

11528-401: The obliteration of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky . In 1943 the German war-effort was accelerated. Under the authority of Karl Hermann Frank , German minister of state for Bohemia and Moravia, within the protectorate, all non-war-related industry was prohibited. Most of the Czech population obeyed quietly until the final months preceding the end of the war, when thousands became involved in

11659-461: The occupation on 28 October 1939, the 21st anniversary of Czechoslovak independence. The death on 15 November 1939 of a medical student, Jan Opletal , who had been wounded in the October violence, precipitated widespread student demonstrations, and the Germans retaliated. Politicians were arrested en masse , as were an estimated 1,800 students and teachers. On 17 November, all universities and colleges in

11790-415: The opening of a railway to Niš , Serbia's second city. In 1900, the capital had only 70,000 inhabitants (at the time Serbia numbered 2.5 million). Still, by 1905, the population had grown to more than 80,000 and, by the outbreak of World War I in 1914, it had surpassed the 100,000 citizens, disregarding Zemun , which still belonged to Austria-Hungary . The first-ever projection of motion pictures in

11921-419: The other "submerged" nations of Eastern Europe, the Czech intelligentsia had an immense prestige as the bearers and protectors of the national culture, who would keep the Czech language and culture alive when the Czech nation was "submerged". No segment of the Czech intelligentsia faced more pressure to conform to the occupation policy than school teachers. Frank called the teachers "the most dangerous wing of

12052-560: The period of German rule from 1939 to 1945 was Emil Hácha (1872–1945), who had been the President of the Second Czechoslovak Republic since November 1938. Rudolf Beran (1887–1954) continued to hold the office of Minister President (Předseda vlády) after the German take-over. He was replaced by Alois Eliáš on 27 April 1939, who was himself also sacked on 2 October 1941 not long after the appointment of Reinhard Heydrich as

12183-477: The position of the Befehlshaber im Wehrkreis Böhmen und Mähren . Informational notes Citations Bibliography Further reading ČSR; boundaries and government established by the 1920 constitution . Annexed by Nazi Germany . ČSR; included the autonomous regions of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Annexed by Hungary (1939–1945). ČSR; declared a "people's democracy" (without

12314-474: The protectorate having its own postage stamps and presidential guard , real power lay with the Nazi authorities. The population of the protectorate was mobilized for labor that would aid the German war effort, and special offices were organized to supervise the management of industries important to that effort. The Germans drafted Czechs to work in coal mines, in the iron and steel industry, and in armaments production. Consumer-goods production, much diminished,

12445-522: The protectorate were closed, nine student leaders were executed, and 1,200 were sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp within Nazi Germany; further arrests and executions of Czech students and professors took place later during the occupation. ( See also Czech resistance to Nazi occupation ) During World War II , Hitler decided that Neurath was not treating the Czechs harshly enough and adopted

12576-650: The protectorate were the Princely states in India under the Raj . In just in the same way that Indian maharajahs in the Princely states were allowed a nominal independence, but the real power rested with the British resident stationed to monitor the maharajah, Hitler emulated this practice with the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia as the German media quite explicitly compared the relationship between

12707-412: The rest were mainly ethnic Czechs as well as some Slovaks , particularly near the border with Slovakia . Ethnic Germans were offered Reich citizenship, while Jews and Czechs were from the outset second-class citizens ("Protectorate subjects", German : Protektoratsangehörige ). In March 1939, Karl Frank defined a "German national" as: Whoever professes himself to be a member of the German nation

12838-418: The right bank of the Sava, central Belgrade has a hilly terrain, while the highest point of Belgrade proper is Torlak hill at 303 m (994 ft). The mountains of Avala (511 m (1,677 ft)) and Kosmaj (628 m (2,060 ft)) lie south of the city. Across the Sava and Danube, the land is mostly flat, consisting of alluvial plains and loessial plateaus . One of the characteristics of

12969-603: The same government after alleged electoral fraud in local elections. These protests brought Zoran Đinđić to power, the first mayor of Belgrade since World War II who did not belong to the League of Communists of Yugoslavia or its later offshoot, the Socialist Party of Serbia . In 1999, during the Kosovo War , the NATO bombing campaign targeted a number a buildings in Belgrade. Among

13100-716: The sites bombed were some ministry buildings, the RTS building, hospitals, Hotel Jugoslavija , the Central Committee building , Avala Tower , and the Chinese embassy . Between 500 and 2,000 civilians were killed in Serbia and Montenegro as a result of the NATO bombings, of which 47 were killed in Belgrade. After the Yugoslav Wars , Serbia became home to the highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons in Europe, with more than

13231-617: The son of Serbian prince Lazar Hrebeljanović . Lazarević built a castle with a citadel and towers, of which only the Despot's tower and the west wall remain. He also refortified the city's ancient walls, allowing the Despotate to resist Ottoman conquest for almost 70 years. During this time, Belgrade was a haven for many Balkan peoples fleeing Ottoman rule, and is thought to have had a population ranging between 40,000 and 50,000 people. In 1427, Stefan's successor Đurađ Branković , returning Belgrade to

13362-445: The spring of 1939, about 2,130,000 men joined the group, amounting to between 98%-99% of the Czech male population. However, much of the registration for the Národní souručenství was done in the style of a census (a traditional outlet for nationalist feeling in the Czech lands), and the messages advocating joining the Národní souručenství emphasized that the group existed to affirm the Czech character of Bohemia-Moravia. One spy for

13493-583: The state to which Belgrade and Serbia de jure still belonged—underwent similar changes. In May 1868, knez Mihailo was assassinated with his cousin Anka Konstantinović while riding in a carriage in his country residence. With the Principality 's full independence in 1878 and its transformation into the Kingdom of Serbia in 1882, Belgrade once again became a key city in the Balkans, and developed rapidly. Nevertheless, conditions in Serbia remained those of an overwhelmingly agrarian country, even with

13624-426: The streets. Two people were killed, 203 were injured and 108 were arrested during the protests, and later that day tanks were deployed onto the streets to restore order. Many anti-war protests were held in Belgrade, with the largest protests being dedicated to solidarity with the victims from the besieged Sarajevo . Further anti-government protests were held in Belgrade from November 1996 to February 1997 against

13755-645: The time of antiquity, too, the area was populated by Paleo-Balkan tribes , including the Thracians and the Dacians , who ruled much of Belgrade's surroundings. Specifically, Belgrade was at one point inhabited by the Thraco-Dacian tribe Singi; following Celtic invasion in 279 BC, the Scordisci wrested the city from their hands, naming it Singidūn ( d|ūn , fortress). In 34–33 BC, the Roman army reached Belgrade. It became

13886-497: The victory throughout the Christian world to this day, which is now a cultural symbol of Hungary . Seven decades after the initial siege, on 28 August 1521, the fort was finally captured by Suleiman the Magnificent with 250,000 Turkish soldiers and over 100 ships. Subsequently, most of the city was razed to the ground and its entire Orthodox Christian population was deported to Istanbul to an area that has since become known as

14017-542: The war ended, the city was left with 11,500 demolished housing units. During the post-war period, Belgrade grew rapidly as the capital of the renewed Yugoslavia , developing as a major industrial centre. In 1948, construction of New Belgrade started. In 1958, Belgrade's first television station began broadcasting. In 1961, Belgrade hosted the first and founding conference of the Non-Aligned Movement under Tito's chairmanship. In 1962, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport

14148-554: The whole region and its new Slavic population by 582. Following Byzantine reconquest, the Byzantine chronicle De Administrando Imperio mentions the White Serbs , who had stopped in Belgrade on their way back home, asking the strategos for lands; they received provinces in the west, towards the Adriatic, which they would rule as subjects to Heraclius (610–641). In 829, Khan Omurtag

14279-574: Was a partially- annexed territory of Nazi Germany that was established on 16 March 1939 after the German occupation of the Czech lands . The protectorate's population was mostly ethnic Czech . After the Munich Agreement of September 1938, the Third Reich had annexed the German-majority Sudetenland to Germany from Czechoslovakia in October 1938. Following the establishment of the independent Slovak Republic on 14 March 1939, and

14410-701: Was able to add Singidunum and its environs to the First Bulgarian Empire. The first record of the name Belograd appeared on April, 16th, 878, in a Papal missive to Bulgarian ruler Boris I . This name would appear in several variants: Alba Bulgarica in Latin, Griechisch Weissenburg in High German, Nándorfehérvár in Hungarian, and Castelbianco in Venetian, among other names, all variations of 'white fortress' or ' Bulgar white fortress'. For about four centuries,

14541-826: Was bombed once more during World War II , this time by the Allies on 16 April 1944, killing at least 1,100 people. This bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter . Most of the city remained under German occupation until 20 October 1944, when it was liberated by the Red Army and the Communist Yugoslav Partisans . On 29 November 1945, Marshal Josip Broz Tito proclaimed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in Belgrade (later renamed to Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 7 April 1963). When

14672-505: Was bombed by the Ottomans. On 18 April 1867, the Ottoman government ordered the Ottoman garrison, which had been since 1826 the last representation of Ottoman suzerainty in Serbia, withdrawn from Kalemegdan . The forlorn Porte's only stipulation was that the Ottoman flag continue to fly over the fortress alongside the Serbian one. Serbia's de facto independence dates from this event. In the following years, urban planner Emilijan Josimović had

14803-710: Was born in Singidunum. Jovian reestablished Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire , ending the brief revival of traditional Roman religions under his predecessor Julian the Apostate . In 395 AD, the site passed to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire . Across the Sava from Singidunum was the Celtic city of Taurunum (Zemun) ; the two were connected with a bridge throughout Roman and Byzantine times. In 442,

14934-443: Was built on the left bank of the Sava river, connecting Belgrade with Zemun . Smaller, chiefly residential communities across the Danube, like Krnjača , Kotež and Borča , also merged with the city, while Pančevo , a heavily industrialised satellite city, remains separate. The city has an urban area of 360 km (140 sq mi), while together with its metropolitan area it covers 3,223 km (1,244 sq mi). On

15065-617: Was built. In 1968, major student protests led to several street clashes between students and the police. In 1972, Belgrade faced a smallpox outbreak , the last major outbreak of smallpox in Europe since World War II. Between October 1977 and March 1978, the city hosted the first major gathering of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe with the aim of implementing the Helsinki Accords from, while in 1980 Belgrade hosted

15196-656: Was crushed by the Ottomans. In retribution, Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha ordered the relics of Saint Sava to be publicly torched on the Vračar plateau ; in the 20th century, the church of Saint Sava was built to commemorate this event. Occupied by the Habsburgs three times ( 1688–1690 , 1717–1739 , 1789–1791 ), headed by the Holy Roman Princes Maximilian of Bavaria and Eugene of Savoy , and field marshal Baron Ernst Gideon von Laudon , respectively, Belgrade

15327-461: Was largely directed toward supplying the German armed forces. The protectorate's population was subjected to rationing . The Czech crown was devalued to the Reichsmark at the rate of 10 crowns to 1 Reichsmark , through actual rate should have been 6 crowns for 1 Reichsmark , a policy that allowed the Germans to buy everything on the cheap in the protectorate. Inflation was a major problem throughout

15458-613: Was led by a ruling Presidium until 1942, after which a Vůdce (Leader) for the party was appointed. Ultimate authority within the Protectorate was held by the Reich Protector ( Reichsprotektor ), the area's senior Nazi administrator, whose task it was to represent the interests of the German state. The office and title were held by a variety of persons during the Protectorate's existence. In succession these were: Konstantin von Neurath , former Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany (1932–1938) and Minister without Portfolio (1938–1945). He

15589-443: Was liberated by Serbian and French troops on 1 November 1918, under the command of Marshal Louis Franchet d'Espèrey of France and Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia . Belgrade, devastated as a front-line city, lost the title of largest city in the Kingdom to Subotica for some time. After the war, Belgrade became the capital of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. The Kingdom

15720-424: Was moderate by Nazi standards during the first months of the occupation. The Czech government and political system, reorganized by Hácha, continued in formal existence. The Gestapo directed its activities mainly against Czech politicians and the intelligentsia . In 1940, in a secret plan on Germanization of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, it was declared that those considered to be racially Mongoloid and

15851-594: Was placed on leave in September 1941 after Hitler's dissatisfaction with his "soft policies", although he still held the title of Reichsprotektor until his official resignation in August 1943. Reinhard Heydrich , chief of the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt ( Reich Security Main Office ) or RSHA. He was officially only a deputy to Neurath, but in reality was granted supreme authority over the entire state apparatus of

15982-522: Was predominantly inhabited by a Muslim population. Traces of Ottoman rule and architecture—such as mosques and bazaars , were to remain a prominent part of Belgrade's townscape into the 19th century; several decades, even, after Serbia was granted autonomy from the Ottoman Empire. During the First Serbian Uprising , Serbian revolutionaries held the city from 8 January 1807 until 1813, when it

16113-679: Was proclaimed after the Liberation of Prague , a radio call was issued for Bienert's arrest. This resulted in his conviction to a three-year prison term in 1947, during which he died in 1949. Aside from the Office of the Minister President, the local Czech government in the Protectorate consisted of the Ministries of Education, Finance, Justice, Trade, the Interior, Agriculture, and Public Labour. The area's foreign policy and military defence were under

16244-457: Was quickly recaptured by the Ottomans and substantially razed each time. During this period, the city was affected by the two Great Serbian Migrations , in which hundreds of thousands of Serbs, led by two Serbian Patriarchs , retreated together with the Austrian soldiers into the Habsburg Empire, settling in today's Vojvodina and Slavonia . At the beginning of the 19th century, Belgrade

16375-777: Was retaken by the Ottomans. In 1807, Turks in Belgrade were massacred and forcefully converted to Christianity. The massacre was encouraged by Russia in order to cement divisions between the Serb rebels and the Porte . Around 6,000 Muslims and Jews were forcibly converted to Christianity. Most mosques were converted into churches. Muslims, Jews, Aromanians and Greeks were subjected to forced labour, and Muslim women were widely made available to young Serb men, and some were taken into slavery. Milenko Stojković bought many of them, and established his harem for which he gained fame. In this circumstances Belgrade demographically transformed from Ottoman to Serb. After

16506-512: Was split into banovinas and Belgrade, together with Zemun and Pančevo , formed a separate administrative unit. During this period, the city experienced fast growth and significant modernisation. Belgrade's population grew to 239,000 by 1931 (with the inclusion of Zemun), and to 320,000 by 1940. The population growth rate between 1921 and 1948 averaged 4.08% a year. In 1927, Belgrade's first airport opened, and in 1929, its first radio station began broadcasting. The Pančevo Bridge , which crosses

16637-504: Was supported by the position that part of the Czech population had German ancestry. There is also the fact that a relatively restrained policy in Czech lands was partly driven by the need to keep the population nourished and complacent so that it can carry out the vital work of arms production in the factories. By 1939, the country was already serving as a major hub of military production for Germany, manufacturing aircraft, tanks, artillery, and other armaments. The Czechs demonstrated against

16768-465: Was taken by the Austro-Hungarian Army under General Oskar Potiorek on 30 November. On 15 December, it was re-taken by Serbian troops under Marshal Radomir Putnik . After a prolonged battle which destroyed much of the city, starting on 6 October 1915, Belgrade fell to German and Austro-Hungarian troops commanded by Field Marshal August von Mackensen on 9 October of the same year. The city

16899-510: Was then invaded by German , Italian , Hungarian , and Bulgarian forces. Belgrade was captured by subterfuge, with six German soldiers led by their officer Fritz Klingenberg feigning threatening size, forcing the city to capitulate. Belgrade was more directly occupied by the German Army in the same month and became the seat of the puppet Nedić regime , headed by its namesake general. Some of today's parts of Belgrade were incorporated in

17030-446: Was to be jointly invested by the Serbian government and their Emirati partners. The project includes office and luxury apartment buildings, five-star hotels, a shopping mall and the envisioned ' Belgrade Tower '. The project is, however, quite controversial—there are a number of uncertainties regarding its funding, necessity, and its architecture's arguable lack of harmony with the rest of the city. In addition to Belgrade Waterfront ,

17161-579: Was used for propaganda purposes as a showpiece. Several thousand Jews managed to live in freedom or in hiding throughout the occupation. The extermination of the Romani population was so thorough that the Bohemian Romani language became totally extinct. Romani internees were sent to the Lety and Hodonín concentration camps before being transferred to Auschwitz-Birkenau for gassing. The vast majority of Romani in

#977022