Serbia under German occupation

BELGRADE - The Government of Serbia on Thursday adopted a Conclusion on its agreement to the recent purchase of Adolf Hitler's Directive No. 25 of March 27, 1941, whereby the then-German chancellor ordered the attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Kingdom of Greece.

The directive, signed by Hitler, consists of 13 originals.

On a family grave in Belgrade, Julie Brill found an engraved picture of an unknown relative who was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp in Serbia before disappearing. She decided to make sure he got a more prominent memorial.

In April 1941 when the German occupation began in Belgrade, my grandfather's address was Solunska Ulica 8. He lived there with my grandmother Regina, his two younger brothers, and my father, who was two and a half years old. My grandfather worked as a clerk for the electricity company.

On May 8 and 9, Serbia celebrated Victory Day in World War II with a series of events around Belgrade including wreath-laying ceremonies, concerts, film screenings, fireworks and the livestreaming of a military parade in Moscow.

As well as the victory over fascism, Serbian officials celebrated their alliance with Russia, the co-organiser of the festivities.

The deputy mayor of Belgrade added that after the law was adopted, a Memorial Center would be established to preserve the memory of the victims of the Nazi concentration camp at the former Belgrade Fair, the Zemun Jewish Camp and the Zemun Reception Camp.

The Belgrade Appeals Court on Tuesday confirmed the Higher Court's first-instance decision to dismiss the request to rehabilitate Milan Nedic, the wartime leader who headed a puppet government in Nazi-occupied Serbia.

The Collegium of the minister of defense and the chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Army will consider the security situation in the country and its surroundings.

The meeting is presided by Defense Minster Aleksandar Vulin and held in the Banjica 2 barracks in the capital, the MoD said in a statement.

The Belgrade Higher Court has dismissed the request of Milan Nedic's family to rehabilitate the leader of Serbia’s Nazi-backed World War II puppet government.

WWII-era Serbian puppet government leader Milan Nedic was not a Nazi and his ‘only guilt’ was his love for his fellow Serbs, said lawyer Zoran Zivanovic in his closing statement in Nedic’s rehabilitation case.

A Serbian village church declined to comment on why it has a plaque honouring the WWII collaborationist leader Milan Nedic, who headed a puppet government during German occupation.