Memorial Park Bubanj
Three fists monument
TypeMemorial park
LocationPalilula, Niš, Serbia
Coordinates43°18′18″N 21°52′21″E / 43.30500°N 21.87250°E / 43.30500; 21.87250
Built1963
TypeHistoric Landmark of Exceptional Importance
Designated1973
Reference no.ЗМ 7

Memorial Park Bubanj (Serbian: Мемориjални парк Бубањ, Спомен парк Бубањ, Memorijalni park Bubanj, Spomen park Bubanj) is a World War II memorial complex built to commemorate the shooting and execution of more than 10,000[1][2][3][4][5] citizens of Niš[2][5] and people from Serbia and other parts of the country,[3][4] but according to some data, over 12,000 people,[6] and it is located in Palilula municipality of Niš, Serbia.

Location

Situated on the hill southwest of the Bubanj of Niš, which cut the main road Niš – Skopje, is situated 2 km from the other Serbian Cultural Property of Great Importance, Crveni Krst concentration camp.

Memorial complex

Fists

The complex is arranged as a park, with a memorial trail about half a mile long running through it. The centrepiece of the site is a marble relief measuring 23 by 2.5 metres, with five compositions that symbolize the "killing machine": execution and firing squads, civil revolts, surrender of the German invaders and final victory over the oppressors.

Another dominant feature of the park is three concrete obelisks that symbolize raised hands with clenched fists.[7] Each of the three fists are different sizes, depicting men's, women's and children's hands that defy the enemy, symbolic of the fact entire families were killed at Bubanj.

Nearby there is a summer stage.

History

World War II

German execution squads established sites in Bubanj forest to which Serbs, Romani and Jews were brought by trucks. Mass exterminations were carried out from February 1942 to September 1944,[8] including about 10,000 inmates and detainees killed by the Special Police and local penal authorities. The entire area is intersected by trenches in which the shooting victims were buried. Before the withdrawal of the Germans as the Red Army advanced into Yugoslavia in 1944, captured Italians were ordered to dig up the trenches and burn the corpses of the victims in order to destroy all traces of the atrocities committed there.[8]

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

In 1950, the execution site was originally marked by a memorial pyramid. A new monument, "Three fists", was commissioned by Yugoslav sculptor Ivan Sabolić and was unveiled on 14 October 1963.[9] Bubanj Memorial Park was declared a Historic Landmark of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by the Republic of Serbia.[7]

Recent history

In 2004, a chapel built of glass and metal was added to the complex. It was designed by the architect Alexander Buđevac. The entire memorial hill was redeveloped in 2009.[10]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bubanj Memorial Park.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Miloš Bajić, Yugoslavia; monuments to the Revolution, Subnor Jugoslavije, 1968 – p. 29
  2. 1 2 Laurence Mitchell, Bradt Travel Guide Serbia, Bradt Travel Guides, 2007 – p. 307
  3. 1 2 Nebojs̆a Tomas̆ević, Karin Radovanović, Treasures of Yugoslavia: an encyclopedic touring guide, Yugoslaviapublic, 1982 – p. 382
  4. 1 2 Rajko Bobot, Kosta Rakić, Una Tomašević, Socialist Republic of Serbia, Jugoslovenska Revija, 1985 – p. 102
  5. 1 2 Laurence Mitchell, Serbia, 3rd, Bradt Travel Guides, 2010 – p. 329
  6. ↑ Rajko Bobot, Kosta Rakić, Una Tomašević, Socialist Republic of Serbia, Jugoslovenska Revija, 1985 – p. 87
  7. 1 2 Cultural Monuments in Serbia, Bubanj (in Serbian)
  8. 1 2 Palilula and Culture: Historical monuments Archived 20 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine ((en))
  9. ↑ Bubanj at www.nistourism.org.rs Archived 14 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine (in Serbian)
  10. ↑ Počelo uređivanje Bubnja Archived 1 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine (in Serbian)
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