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Obj. ID: 53627
  Memorials
  Topovske Šupe Concentration Camp monument in Belgrade, Serbia, 2005, 2019

© Samuel D. Gruber, Photographer: Gruber, Samuel D., 2023

Name of Monument

Topovske Šupe Concentration Camp monument

Description

From the road, facing the monument, the former campsite is occupied to the left with several derelict buildings, some dating to the time of the camp, and to the right, blocked by trees, is a Roma settlement. In between is a large grassy space that slopes gently toward a tree line.

A single path leads to the far edge of the field, where the path opens into a wider semicircular paved space in front of a piece of brick wall set against the trees. A light pole is set in the pavement. A rectangular inscribed black stone memorial plaque is affixed to the wall. Near the beginning of the path, not far from the road is more recent informational signage with the history of the site written in Serbian and English.

Inscriptions

Identical inscriptions in Serbian, Hebrew and English:

Serbian:

На овом месту до аугуста до децембра 1941 налазио се нацички
Концентрациони логор за Јевреје и Роме из Београда и Баната.
Сви су проглашени за таоце и дневно по неколико стотина је одређено на
Стрељање.

Hebrew:

במקום זה מחודש אוגוסט ועד דצמבר 1941 היה מחנה השמדה של הנאצים
בו היו יהודים וצוענים מבלגרד ומבנט כולם הוכרזו כבני ערובה ובכל
יום כמה מאות מהם הופרדו והוצאו להורג 

English:

Between August and December 1941, this site served as
a Nazi concentration camp for Jews and Roma from Belgrade and Banat.
All of them were imprisoned here and several hundred were taken daily for
execution by firing squad

Commissioned by 

to be determined

Summary and Remarks
Remarks

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Name/Title
Topovske Šupe Concentration Camp monument in Belgrade | Unknown
Object Detail
Monument Setting
Camp
Public park
{"1":"Any purpose-built concentration, labor, or death camp established by the Nazis or their collaborators (Auschwitz, Belzec, Buchenwald, Carpi, Dachau, Drancy, Fossoli, Klooga, Majdanek, Mauthausen, Sobibor, etc.)","9":"Any memorial erected or installed in a present-day public park, including Jewish cemeteries or other sites now operated as public space."}
Date
2005, 2019
Active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Unknown
Historical Origin
Unknown
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Unknown |
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Unknown
Site
Unknown
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Unknown|
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
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Documentation / Research project
Unknown
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Stone
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Historical significance: Event/Period
Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
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Architectural Significance: Artistic Decoration
Urban significance
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0
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History/Provenance

The Topovske Šupe concentration camp (German: Konzentrationslager Kanonen-Schuppen; Serbian: Logor Topovske Šupe, Serbian Cyrillic: Логор Топовске Шупе) was a concentration camp located on the outskirts of Belgrade which was operated by Nazi Germany with the help of Milan Nedić's government during World War II. It is located on the site of an old military base in the Autokomanda neighborhood. The camp held between 5,000 and 6,500 inmates from its establishment in August 1941 until its closure in December 1941. About 4,300 inmates were killed during its operation, of whom 3,000 were killed as hostages and 1,300 as suspected anti-fascists. [n.b. adapted from Wikipedia, accessed 12/13/2023]

After the war, the site of the camp was neglected by Belgrade authorities. Today (2023) the remains of the complex are still badly preserved, with only one wall used as the location for a memorial plaque, and two off-limits one-floor barracks surviving.  

The memorial plaque was dedicated in 2005, when Miroslav Mišković, owner of Delta Holding, purchased the lot and announced plans to build a massive Delta Planet Shopping Center and two 40-floor business towers on the site. The announcement by Delta Holding was met by opposition from Jewish groups who argued that it was not "[morally] right to build a shopping centre on a site from where people have been taken to death." One of the main contractors behind the project is an architectural group from Israel. As of 2023, Delta Holding still had not begun any work on the proposed project Now, the ruins have been listed as protected heritage, and any work on the site will require permission from the Institute for the Culture Monument Protection

The memorial plaque was stolen in the summer of 2017, then recovered by the police and handed over to the Jewish Municipality of Belgrade. The memorial plaque was re-dedicated on 2 May 2019, as part of the Yom HaShoah commemoration. The plaque, written in Serbia, Hebrew and English was unveiled by Estera Bajer Albahari, who was born in the Sajmište concentration camp in 1942.

On 24 February 2020, the Serbian assembly adopted the Law on the Memorial Center Staro Sajmište as a mechanism for preserving the memory of the victims of Nazi concentration camps at the Sajmište and Topovske Šupe concentration camps sites. As a result, in March 2021, the city and Delta Holding announced that the concept for the former camp and the surrounding area was changed and that the remains would be fully renovated, and the memorial complex would be formed. Instead of an originally proposed mega shopping mall, Delta Holding will build an urban business district, with commercial, business, and residential sections and green areas. “

As of September 2023, however, when the site was visited, none of this work had begun.

The original camp remains are protected under 2020 law pertaining to the Sajmište and Topovske Šupe camp sites, but the existing memorial plaque is not historic, and therefore can be changed or removed.

Main Surveys & Excavations
Sources

Dhumieres, Marie, "Plan to transform former Belgrade concentration camp into shopping centre is condemned by Jewish groups," The Independent, 29 August 2013, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/plan-to-transform-former-belgrade-concentration-camp-into-shopping-centre-is-condemned-by-jewish-groups-8790360.html (accessed April 18, 2024)

Mučibabić, Daliborka, "Топовске шупе биће обновљене, "Делта" мења планове за Аутокоманду" [Topovske Šupe will be reconstructed, "Delta" changes plans for Autokomanda]," Politika (in Serbian, Belgrade), March 14,  2021, https://www.savezjos.org/sr/vest/vesti-iz-sjos/topovske-supe-bice-obnovljene-delta-menja-planove-za-autokomandu (accessed April 18, 2024)

Petrović, Jelena, "Rabin o potpisu za izmeštanje Topovskih šupa: Medić bacio sramotu na sve nas [Rabbi on signing the relocation of Topovske Šupe: Medić threw shame on all of us]," N1 (in Serbian, Belgrade), January 28, 2019, https://n1info.rs/vesti/a455641-rabin-o-potpisu-za-izmestanje-topovskih-supa-medic-bacio-sramotu-na-sve-nas/ (accessed April 18, 2024)

Sefardski Beograd / Belgrado Sefardi / Sephardic Belgrade, Free Map and Guide (Belgrade: Instituto Cervantes, 2022)

"Topovske Šupe concentration camp,"
Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topovske_Šupe_concentration_camp.

Vuković, Ana, "Sećanje na Topovske šupe nestalo, logor zaboravljen [Memory of Topovske Šupe faded away, the camp is forgotten]," Politika (in Serbian, Belgrade), November 19, 2017, https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/392834/Se-ca-nje-na-To-pov-ske-su-pe-ne-sta-lo-lo-gor-za-bo-ra-vljen (accessed April 18, 2024)

Vuković, Ana, ""Topovske šupe" spasiti od zaborava [Saving Topovske Šupe from oblivion]," Politika (in Serbian, Belgrade), March 28, 2018,, https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/400910/Topovske-supe-spasiti-od-zaborava (accessed April 18, 2024)

Vuković, Ana, "Меморијална плоча за Топовске шупе [Memorial plaque for Topovske Šupe]," Politika (in Serbian, Belgrade), May 3, 2019.

Čalija, Jelena, "Sporenja u jevrejskoj zajednici oko logora Topovske šupe" [Clashes in the Jewish community regarding the camp of Topovske Šupe]," Politika (in Serbian, Belgrade), 25 January 2019: 07., https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/421178/Spo-re-nja-u-je-vrej-skoj-za-jed-ni-ci-oko-lo-go-ra-To-pov-ske-su-pe (accessed April 18, 2024)

Čalija, Jelena and Daliborka Mučibabić, "Neizvesna sudbina Topovskih šupa [Uncertain faith of Topovske Šupe]," Politika (in Serbian, Belgrade), January 30, 2019: 14, https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/421619/Neizvesna-sudbina-Topovskih-supa (accessed April 18, 2024)

Živić, Miona, "Medić: Ne dozvoljavamo rušenje Topovskih šupa, tražimo dostojan memorijal [Medić: we are not allowing the demolition of Topovske Šupe, we are asking for the worthy memorial]," N1 (in Serbian, Belgrade), February 1, 2019, https://n1info.rs/vesti/a457047-danilo-medic-ne-dozvoljavamo-rusenje-topovskih-supa-trazimo-dostojan-memorijal/ (accessed April 18, 2024)
Type
Documenter
Samuel D. Gruber | 2023
Author of description
Samuel D. Gruber | 2023
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Computer Reconstruction
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Negative/Photo. No.
The following information on this monument will be completed: