The German pavilion of the Staro sajmište camp was demolished after all

The German pavilion on the grounds of the Nazi concentration camp Staro sajmište in Belgrade was still demolished.

And three days ago, the Center for Research and Education on the Holocaust - CIEH published a response from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, which clearly highlights the fact that the Old Fairground was in its entirety in the status of previous protection.

Also, the Ministry of Culture has confirmed that the area where the German Pavilion is currently being demolished is located in the protection zone within the Old Fairgrounds, as claimed from the beginning by the CIEH, and not outside it, and says that "it is necessary that the competent Institute for the Protection of Monuments of Culture of the City of Belgrade inspects the condition of the area and works in question and, in accordance with the established condition, further acts in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Cultural Properties".

Because of all this, the CIEH said "we hope that this will lead to an urgent suspension of further demolition and the continuation of research".

However, the German pavilion was still demolished, and the area was surrounded by a construction protective fence.

As is known, it is planned that the SP-3 KO Novi Beograd road will cross the German Pavilion.

Đorđe Miketić, MP and members of the "Together" party, managed to stop the excavators from demolishing the German Pavilion several times in mid-June, because they have evidence that there is a mass grave in its floor.

The evidence is a geo-scanner recording, historical data and testimonies of the worker "Rado Končar" who had premises in the German Pavilion.

"We have testimonies from workers of the company 'Rade Končar', whose premises were located there after the liberation, that they, while cleaning the area, came across murdered people there and that they buried them under the floor.

On the basis of the mentioned elements, "Zajedno" and the Center for Research and Education on the Holocaust prepared a report and sent it to "all the institutions that are responsible for this case", says Đorđe Miketić for the "Vremena" portal.

"We're just asking that the demolition be stopped for a month until the experts investigate whether it's true."

Miketić adds that "because of the evidence we presented, the Ministry of Culture finally admitted that the works must be stopped." They wrote a letter and ordered that the works be stopped, however, when you call them, they send you from institution to institution, from room to room and back again. In translation, they are playing Kafka The process with us, with history and cultural heritage."

"They continue to demolish and desecrate, they want to banish the road at any cost, even literally over the graves of the camp inmates!"

Miketić says that "they think that with this letter they have protected themselves from criminal liability for the destruction of the memorial of the Sajmište camp and the mass grave that is most likely located on the floor of the German Pavilion." But they will not succeed. There is no escaping responsibility."

The demolition of the German Pavilion began at the beginning of March, and the Center for Research and Education on the Holocaust alerted the public, asking the City Assembly to stop the demolition of the German Pavilion and to protect the Old Fairground in its entirety.

However, according to the Institute for Protection, the German Pavilion is not a cultural monument. The old fairground is, it was protected in 1987, but not in its entirety. In the part of the camp that is not protected, there is a German pavilion.

That part of the Old Fairground, over which the road should pass, is not protected.

In unofficial discussions regarding the first information about the demolition of the German Pavilion in March, the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City explained that the subsequent protection of the hitherto unprotected buildings of the Old Fairground is impossible, because there is nothing left to protect. The authentic appearance of the objects has been lost, destroyed by time, and is considered to have no value that should be preserved.

Regardless of the fact that the Institute's website states that "from a historical point of view, the Old Fairground represents the place of suffering of Serbs, Jews and Roma during the Second World War, from an architectural and urban planning point of view, it is one of the most well-designed areas of the city of Belgrade in the period between the two world wars, and from an economic point of view, it talks about the degree of development of the capital's economic potential from 1937 to 1941."

The Institute did not comment on the position of the Ministry of Culture that the German Pavilion is located in the protection zone within the Old Fairground, which does not agree with their position. It is not even known whether the Institute for the Protection of Monuments will inspect the condition of the "subject area and works", as ordered by the Ministry of Culture.

"We raised the demolition of the German Pavilion to an international level and soon those who, unfortunately, respect their own law, history and identity more than they will start calling them. We give up and we will not allow this barbarism," says Miketić.

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