Yugoslavia

The Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia (German: Gebiet des Militärbefehlshabers in Serbien; Serbian: Подручје Војног заповедника у Србији, romanized: Područje vojnog zapovednika u Srbiji) was the area of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that was placed under a military government of occupation by the Wehrmacht following the invasion, occupation and dismantling of Yugoslavia in April 1941. The territory included only central Serbia, with the addition of the northern part of Kosovo (around Kosovska Mitrovica), and the Banat. This territory was the only area of partitioned Yugoslavia in which the German occupants established a military government. This was due to the key rail and the Danube transport routes that passed through it, and its valuable resources, particularly non-ferrous metals. On 22 April 1941, the territory was placed under the supreme authority of the German military commander in Serbia, with the day-to-day administration of the territory under the control of the chief of the military administration staff. The lines of command and control in the occupied territory were never unified, and were made more complex by the appointment of direct representatives of senior Nazi figures such as Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler (for police and security matters), Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring (for the economy), and Reichsminister Joachim von Ribbentrop (for foreign affairs). The Germans used Bulgarian troops to assist in the occupation, but they were at all times under German control. Sources variously describe the territory as a puppet state, a protectorate, a "special administrative province", or describe it as having a puppet government. The military commander in Serbia had very limited German garrison troops and police detachments to maintain order, but could request assistance from a corps of three divisions of poorly-equipped occupation troops. The German military commander in Serbia appointed two Serbian civil puppet governments to carry out administrative tasks in accordance with German direction and supervision. The first of these was the short-lived Commissioner Government which was established on 30 May 1941. The Commissioner Government was a basic tool of the occupation regime, lacking in any powers. In late July 1941, an uprising began in the occupied territory, which quickly swamped the Serbian gendarmerie, German police and security apparatus, and even the rear area infantry force. To assist in quelling the rebellion, which initially involved both the communist-led Yugoslav Partisans and the monarchist Chetniks, a second puppet government was established. The Government of National Salvation under Milan Nedić replaced the Commissioner Government on 29 August 1941. Although it enjoyed some support, the regime was unpopular with the majority of Serbs. This failed to turn the tide however, and the Germans were forced to bring in front line divisions from France, Greece and even the Eastern Front to suppress the revolt. Commencing from late September 1941, Operation Uzice expelled the Partisans from the occupied territory, and in December, Operation Mihailovic dispersed the Chetniks. Resistance continued at a low level until 1944, accompanied by frequent reprisal killings, which for some time involved the execution of 100 hostages for every German killed. The Nedić regime had no status under international law, no powers beyond those granted by the Germans, and was simply an instrument of German rule. Although German forces took the leading and guiding role of the Final Solution in Serbia, and the Germans monopolized the killing of Jews, they were actively aided in that role by Serbian collaborators. The Banjica concentration camp in Belgrade was jointly controlled by Nedic's regime and the German army. The one area in which the puppet administration did exercise initiative and achieve success was in the reception and care of hundreds of thousands of Serb refugees from other parts of partitioned Yugoslavia. Throughout the occupation, the Banat was an autonomous region, formally responsible to the puppet governments in Belgrade, but in practice governed by its Volksdeutsche (ethnic German) minority. While the Commissioner Government was limited to the use of gendarmerie, the Nedić government was authorized to raise an armed force, the Serbian State Guard, to impose order, but they were immediately placed under the control of the Higher SS and Police Leader, and essentially functioned as German auxiliaries until the German withdrawal in October 1944. The Germans also raised several other local auxiliary forces for various purposes within the territory. In order to secure the Trepča mines and the Belgrade-Skopje railway, the Germans made an arrangement with Albanian collaborators in the northern tip of present-day Kosovo which resulted in the effective autonomy of the region from the puppet government in Belgrade, which later formalized the German arrangement. The Government of National Salvation remained in place until the German withdrawal in the face of the combined Red Army, Bulgarian People's Army and Partisan Belgrade Offensive. During the occupation, the German authorities killed nearly all Jews residing in the occupied territory, by shooting the men as part of reprisals conducted in 1941, and gassing the women and children in early 1942 using a gas van. After the war, several of the key German and Serbian leaders in the occupied territory were tried and executed for war crimes.

The House of Mihailo Petrović, also known as Mika Alas's House (Serbian: Кућа Мике Аласа) is a house and a designated historic site in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Built in 1910, it is located at 22 Kosančićev Venac Street. Mathematician and scientist Mihailo Petrović (1868–1943) lived, worked and died there. In the early 1900s there was an expression that "half of the Serbian science lives at 22 Kosančićev Venac."

Theatre on Đumruk, or Đumrukana (Serbian Cyrillic: Ђумрукана), was a theatre in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Originally a customs house which was built in 1835 near Belgrade docks in the neighborhood of Savamala, it was adapted into the theater, as a first regular Belgrade theater house, which was active 1841–1842.

The University of Arts in Belgrade (Serbian Cyrillic: Универзитет уметности у Београду, romanized: Univerzitet umetnosti u Beogradu) is a public university in Serbia. It was founded in 1957 as the Academy of Arts to unite four academies. It became a university and acquired its current name in 1973.

Kosančićev Venac (Serbian Cyrillic: Косанчићев Венац) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Stari Grad. It has been described as the most valuable and most representative veduta of Belgrade. In 1971, it has been declared a spatial cultural-historical unit and placed under legal protection.

The Building of the Patriarchate (Serbian: Зграда Патријаршије / Zgrada Patrijaršije) is a building in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is the administrative seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church and its head, the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Finished in 1935, the building was declared a cultural monument on 18 December 1984.

Princess Ljubica's Residence (Serbian: Конак књегиње Љубице, Konak knjeginje Ljubice) is a palace located in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Because of its cultural and architectural importance the residence has been designated a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance.

Branko's Bridge (Serbian: Бранков мост, romanized: Brankov most) is the second-largest bridge (after Gazela) of Belgrade, Serbia, connecting the city center with New Belgrade across the Sava river. Built in 1956 on the foundations of the 1934 King Alexander Bridge, which was destroyed in World War II, it reconnected Belgrade and Zemun as the only motorway bridge at the time. After several official and unofficial names, the present name stuck after the Brankova Street, which extends into the bridge from the direction of the old section of Belgrade.

The Cathedral Church of St. Michael the Archangel (Serbian Cyrillic: Саборна Црква Св. Архангела Михаила, romanized: Saborna Crkva Sv. Arhangela Mihaila) is a Serbian Orthodox cathedral church in the centre of Belgrade, Serbia, situated in the old part of the city, at the intersection of Kralja Petra and Kneza Sime Markovića streets. It was built between 1837 and 1840, on the location of an older church also dedicated to Archangel Michael. It is one of the most important places of worship in the country. It is commonly known as just Saborna crkva (The cathedral) among the city residents. It was proclaimed as a Cultural Monument of Exceptional Importance in 1979. The cathedral church is one of the few preserved monuments of Belgrade from the first half of the 19th century. During the times when new social and political structures were slowly emerging, the cathedral church became a central support in the independence fight from Turkish centralism to the final freedom from Ottoman rule.

King Alexander Bridge (Serbian: Мост краља Александра, Most kralja Aleksandra), in full The Bridge of King Alexander Karađorđević or The Bridge of the Knightly King Alexander, was a road and tram bridge over the Sava river, in Belgrade, capital of Yugoslavia. It was the first permanent road bridge across the Sava in Belgrade after almost 250 years and the Long Bridge from 1688. Finished in 1934, it was damaged and out of use since 1941, and fully demolished in 1944, during World War II. Its pylons were later used for the modern Branko's Bridge, built in 1956. The bridge was revered while existed being described as "gorgeous" and "one of the most important object ever built in Belgrade".

The Small Staircase in Kalemegdan Park (Serbian: Мало степениште у Калемегданском парку, romanized: Malo stepenište u Kalemegdanskom parku) is a staircase at one of the entrances into Kalemegdan Park in downtown Belgrade, Serbia. It is a representative of the park architecture and integral part of the park's promenade above the Sava river. It is part of the Belgrade Fortress complex, which is placed under the state protection as the Cultural Monuments of Exceptional Importance and the staircase itself is described as having both the architectural-urban and the cultural-historical values.

The Varoš Gate (Serbian Cyrillic: Варош капија, romanized: Varoš kapija), literally city gate, is a part of the city of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It got its name from one of the original four historical gates, which allowed access to the city. It is located near the river Sava, Branko's Bridge and Pop-Lukina Street.