WAR CEMETERIES

Immediately after the end of World War I, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes initiated the regulation of the burial of soldiers and the marking of their graves. In 1919, Regulations were enacted, followed by the Law on the Regulation of Domestic Military Cemeteries and Graves at Home and Abroad in 1921. This law also covered the graves of fallen soldiers who were citizens of Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria, buried on the state's territory. This law was enacted following the conclusions of the Versailles Conference, which envisaged the registration and maintenance of all military cemeteries, as well as individual graves of Serbian and foreign (both Allied and enemy) soldiers, regardless of their location or the deceased's religion. As a result of this law, 1,815 Serbian cemeteries were established across 18 countries throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Two of the largest Serbian military cemeteries abroad were the one in Zeitenlik in Thessaloniki, Greece, where 7,441 warriors were buried, and the one in Jindřichovice, Czech Republic, which holds the remains of 7,100 Serbian and 189 Russian soldiers.

The French military cemetery occupies the northern side of the New Cemetery between St. Nicholas and Roosevelt Streets. Rajko Tatic. It was arranged in accordance with the French military tradition in 1931, and it contains the remains of French soldiers who died in the First World War.

 

The British Military Cemetery was established in 1947 with the aim of relocating British soldiers killed during World War II throughout Yugoslavia. It is located along Sv. Nicholas Street next to the Italian cemetery. 348 pilots shot down over Yugoslavia, 77 soldiers and 57 sailors killed in the Second World War were buried.

The Italian military cemetery is located towards today's St. Nicholas Street. The cemetery was completed in 1931 in accordance with the tradition of Italian military cemeteries. It is entered through a massive fence made of concrete and wrought iron. Italian volunteers who died in the First World War are buried in this area.

The Austro-Hungarian military cemetery was completed in 1933 in the New Cemetery. It occupies the southern part of the New Cemetery with a central chapel among two extended colonnades. The designer of the chapel is not known, but it is known that the author of the relief on the chapel is Peter Gindert. 260 Austro-Hungarian soldiers who died in the battles around Belgrade, and 460 Austro-Hungarian soldiers who died in captivity during 1914/15 were buried in the cemetery.

The German Military Cemetery Complex is located in Košutnjak Park, on the site where battles for the conquest of Belgrade took place during World War I.

The cemetery was established in 1915, during the joint Austro-Hungarian-German offensive, when Marshal August von Mackensen selected this location for a military cemetery. The monolithic monument at the center of the cemetery is dedicated to the 208th Prussian Infantry Regiment.

The cemetery was maintained in the interwar period and was used again during World War II, when members of the SS were buried there. After the war, the cemetery suffered damage as a result of political retaliation against the occupying forces. The marble tombstones were destroyed, while the concrete monuments from World War I were partially preserved. The remaining structures of the cemetery were partially conserved in 1985.

German Military Cemetery, 1915.

The commemoration and arrangement of World War I military cemeteries were an integral part of the mandatory commemorative European practice, regulated by the early peace talks between former enemy sides.

Monument to Serbian Soldier

Within this memorial complex, there is also a monument dedicated to the Serbian defenders of Belgrade. Soldiers of the 208th Prussian Infantry Regiment fought a fierce two-day battle against the defenders of Belgrade, consisting of 36 Serbian soldiers, two Britons, and one Frenchman.

During World War I, the practice of burying soldiers from opposing sides was present both in Serbia and across Europe. This practice was carried out by both the Allied and German armies with the aim of preserving the memory of all those involved in the war and showing respect for all soldiers. Cemeteries were often marked in such a way as to clearly indicate that enemy soldiers were also buried there.

Marshal August von Mackensen erected, within the German cemetery, a monument dedicated to the Serbian soldiers, with a bilingual inscription: "Here lie Serbian heroes." This gesture can be interpreted in various ways, but it primarily represents a sign of respect for the bravery and military skill of the enemy in the battle for Belgrade. Regardless of the motives, such gestures were relatively unusual during the war, and the monument remains an important historical legacy of World War I.

 Monument to Serbian Soldiers