Kragujevac, 2024, part 7 (Kragujevac)
On the left bank of the river Lepenica, which flows through Kragujevac, in the immediate vicinity of the Arch Bridge No. 1, also known as the Upper Bridge, there is the Mali park (Small Park) with the Monument to the Fallen Šumadija men.
In the first half of the 19th century, at the command of Prince Miloš, a governmental (state) building was erected on the Lepenica River here in Kragujevac. It served as a barracks, as well as a place where various institutions of the emerging state operated. However, after the capital moved to Belgrade in 1841, the need for the building disappeared and it was demolished in 1858 to plant poplar trees along the riverbed.
Today, within the park, you can also see the aforementioned monument erected in 1932 in line with the design of Croatian and Yugoslav sculptor Antun Augustinčić (1900-1979). The monument consists of several parts: the first is a circular base resembling steps, followed by a four-sided pedestal on which copper plates with shallow reliefs are placed between the arms, each depicting its own theme. At the ends of the arms are the years of various military conflicts in which the men from Šumadija region gave their lives for the liberation of Serbia (1804, 1815, 1912 and 1914), with a group of soldiers in combat stance and uniforms reflecting these different eras above each year. In the middle rises a central column with a figure of a girl, her right hand stretched upwards holding a crown.
As a reminder, the year 1804 marks the start of the First Serbian Uprising, 1815 marks the beginning of the Second Serbian Uprising, 1912 is the year when the First Balkan War started, and 1914 when the First World War began.
On the other side of Vuka Karadžića Street, opposite Mali Park, there is a complex known as "The Court of Prince Miloš Obrenović.”
When Kragujevac was the capital of Serbia (1818-1841), it was first Prince Miloš who ruled from here from 1818 to 1839, followed by his son Mihailo from 1839 to 1841. During this time, this part of the city housed several buildings that comprised the Court of Prince Miloš Obrenović – three residences (konaks) and several auxiliary buildings, all surrounded by palisades.
Out of the original court complex and those three residences, only Amidžin Konak (Amidža’s Residence) has survived to this day, now housing a museum. The so-called Šareni Konak (Colourful Residence) burned down in 1884, while Milošev konak (Miloš’s Residence) was destroyed during the German shelling of Kragujevac in 1941. An informational plaque here displays photographs from 1860 showing all three residences. While Amidžin Konak is certainly not lacking in charm, it seems the other two were absolutely beautiful.
Amidžin Konak was built in 1818 and named after Sima Milosavljević-Paštrmac, known as Amidža, who served as the standard-bearer of the uprising and the manager of the prince’s court. This house was used as living quarters both by Amidža and other courtiers who were in permanent service to the prince. Local chieftains also stayed here when visiting the capital on official business. Today, it houses an exhibition of the National Museum of Kragujevac, which, like the other museums in the city, has unusual opening hours (from 8 am to 3 pm, only on weekdays).
Because of this, I had to adjust my visit by arriving here exactly at 8 am, before I had to go to work. The entire area, including the buildings, is now used by the National Museum of Kragujevac and the gates are locked until the opening time, so you can’t enter before. However, this early hour was very peaceful and the only company I had in the park were common wood pigeons (Columba palumbus), the largest European species of pigeon.
First, I headed towards Amidžin Konak and, along the way, I passed by the monument to Prince Miloš (born 1780 or 1783, died 1860), who ruled from 1817-1839 and again from 1858-1860.
But, when I arrived at Amidžin Konak, the doors leading in from the porch were locked, so I retraced my steps a bit and knocked on the door of the side wing of the building. Some women were already working inside and one got up to unlock the museum doors and sell me a ticket.
As for the konak or residence itself, originally the ground floor housed a cellar, as the building was constructed on a slope, while the upper floor contained living quarters. There is still a porch on the north and east sides, as seen in one of the previous photographs, while the southern side features two bay windows. However, from what I've read, the interior of the konak has undergone significant changes over time, so decorative wooden ceilings, for example, have not been preserved.
In any case, the main exhibition was located in the cellar, where I took a stroll and occasionally read the well-presented texts about the history of Kragujevac and this part of Šumadija region.
Namely, I had to hurry a bit to make it to work on time. So, before leaving the museum, I let the women know that I was finished with my visit and that they could lock up the museum again.
A short distance from Amidžin Konak, there is a modern building housing the gallery of the National Museum of Kragujevac. Those kind women informed me that there was an upcoming exhibition opening over the next days and invited me to attend, but it was in the afternoon when I still had my work commitments.
Further ahead, there is another important building that represents an immovable cultural property of great importance. This is Knez Mihailov Konak (Prince Mihailo’s Residence), which was built around 1860 at the request of the prince.
When you compare Knez Mihailov Konak and Amidžin Konak, which are physically separated by about 50 metres and chronologically by 42 years, you can truly see a quantum leap in the development of the city, the state and the architecture. Knez Mihailo Obrenović (born 1823-1868, ruled 1839-1842 and 1860-1868) was strongly influenced by European culture and this influence manifested in new styles in the construction of the ruler’s residences. Due to the changes he introduced in this regard, he is considered one of the most significant figures in the history of Serbia. More about this ruler, including the place of his death, can be found in one of my stories (see: https://www.svudapodji.com/en/belgrade-2022-2/).
Today, the National Museum of Kragujevac occupies this building as well and on the second floor visitors can see a small, but rather pretty museum exhibition. Because I was in a hurry, I only captured the ground floor where you pass through on the way to the exhibition area.
As I was returning towards the city centre from the complex of the National Museum of Kragujevac, I noticed a house that left an impression on me. I mean, I was stunned by the remains of its beautiful facade and dismayed by its current condition. There was even a notice: “Attention! Facade is collapsing.” Maybe this house doesn’t deserve to have its facade restored, but almost every time I see old, neglected houses, I remember my dad. Once, when we passed by a similarly dilapidated house in Belgrade, he said to me, “Imagine how happy the people must have been when they moved into this house when it was first built!” This sentiment isn’t exclusive to Serbia. I recalled my father’s words also when I commented on a house in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (see: https://www.svudapodji.com/en/brazil-2/).
Nearby, there is also an immovable cultural property of great importance that, I would say, is well maintained and still functional today. It is the building of the Grammar School, now named the First Kragujevac Grammar School.
I even considered going inside one evening because there was a free piano concert being held there, but I was too tired and had to skip it. Still, it is good to know that such beautiful events take place in Kragujevac, so it’s worth inquiring about them. Initially, I also planned to go to the theatre, but unfortunately, I had to skip that, too, due to the fatigue after a full day of work and responsibilities.
But let me say something about this cultural monument. The Grammar School building was constructed between 1885 and 1887. It is one of the oldest school buildings in Serbia designed in line with the European standards and it was built to accommodate the grammar school established in Kragujevac in 1833, which was practically the first educational institution of its rank in the newly liberated Serbia. This continued the nation’s educational efforts that had begun almost simultaneously with the struggles for the liberation from the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century. I have written about this topic on several occasions.
Some of the most significant Serbs were educated or they taught in this school, thus making a monumental contribution to the education, culture and science throughout the country. Although Vuk Karadžić neither attended nor taught at the Grammar School in Kragujevac, there is a monument dedicated to him on the plateau in front of the Grammar School for his invaluable contributions to the Serbian culture and language (see: https://www.svudapodji.com/en/banja-koviljaca-6/).
Another interesting monument, but related to more recent significant contributions in the field of music, is located on the other side of the street. It is a monument to the rock band “Smak.”
The rock band “Smak” (meaning Demise or The End (of Time)) was founded in Kragujevac in the 1970s. Although I am more of a fan of pop music and sweet melodies, there are some “hard” songs that I really like. One of them is the song “Crna dama” (Black Lady) by Smak.
Many consider the leader of the group, guitarist Radomir Mihailović – Točak, to be the best rock guitarist in our country. I can’t judge that, but here’s one famous instrumental song by the band Smak:
But let me briefly return to the Grammar School building in Kragujevac. Besides its positive associations with education, it is also known in history for a horrific tragedy during World War II, when German forces took numerous children and teachers from the classrooms and led them to be executed. This brings me to another immovable cultural property of exceptional importance. It is a landmark referred to in documentation as the “Memorial Park “Kragujevački oktobar” (Kragujevac October) in Šumarice” and it is a place everyone visiting Kragujevac should see.
Šumarice is a part of Kragujevac located west of the city and as the name suggests (šuma means forest in Serbian), it is an area covered with some forests, although there were likely more forests in the past.
I have previously talked in my travel stories from western Serbia (https://www.svudapodji.com/en/banja-koviljaca-6/) about the German executions of civilians in the village of Draginac in 1941, where I also mentioned the shootings of civilians in Kragujevac and Kraljevo in the same period, along with the reasons behind these crimes. Overall, the German command introduced a rule that for every wounded German soldier, 50 Serbs would be shot, and for every killed German soldier, 100 Serbs would be executed. They aimed to intimidate and pacify the local population. However, they were unsuccessful and after some time they abandoned this practice.
The largest massacre occurred right here in Šumarice when on 20 and 21 October, 1941, the Germans executed at least 2,794 civilians, including schoolchildren taken from the classrooms of the Grammar School. As I heard as a child, this event deeply embittered the people of Kragujevac for years after the war and possibly even after the establishment of diplomatic relations with Germany. It was said that for some time, there was a sign at the entrance to Kragujevac advising Germans not to enter the city because their safety could not be guaranteed.
Of course, times have changed, some wounds no longer hurt as they once did and today this memorial park also serves as a promenade for the residents of Kragujevac and its surroundings, as well as for visitors, both domestic and foreign. I believe Germans are safe there today as well. Although some things should never be forgotten, they should be forgiven – not for the sake of the other side, but for the peace in our national soul.
The memorial park spans an area of over 352 hectares and a main road leading west from the city runs through it. I arrived in Kragujevac via this road on my first day when I visited the monasteries of Drača and Divostin. As I’ve mentioned before, at the time I stopped here briefly to refresh my memory of the layout of the important monuments and also took a photo of the museum. Now, I’m reposting the photo from Part 2 of my travelogue about Kragujevac and its surroundings, and I can add that this is the only museum in Kragujevac with more “normal” visiting hours – it is open every day.
The “Kragujevački oktobar “ Memorial Park was established in 1953 on the site where civilians from this region, including residents of Kragujevac and some surrounding villages, were executed and buried in October 1941. At the time of its establishment, Yugoslavia was under the leadership of President Josip Broz Tito (b./r. 1892/1944-1980) and the Communist Party. The memorial park was created in accordance with that political context and era, but this does not diminish the facts related to the Nazi crime in any way. I mention this in order to explain the existence of certain monuments and inscriptions.
For instance, near the museum, there is a monument called the “Eternal Flame of Freedom” and on a nearby stone base, it is noted that this flame was lit on 2 October, 1978, by the President of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY). Tito passed away long ago, Yugoslavia no longer exists and I believe the flame hasn’t been burning for a long time.
Through the park runs a circular path that is 7 km long and walking along it one can see the locations of 30 mass graves. Over time, 10 of these graves have received their own individual monuments. Additionally, within the memorial park there are also the Memorial Complex “Slovak Cemetery” (from World War I, which I did not manage to visit) and the Old Military Cemetery (which I did visit).
Starting along the path (clockwise), one quickly encounters the first marked mass grave.
Here I took a photo of the central tombstone monument because I think it illustrates the type of the text written there. For those who don’t read Cyrillic, here is the text: “Heroically, as instilled by the [Communist] Party, Toza Dragović, secretary of the local committee of the Communist Party of Serbia fell at this place with hundreds of workers while exclaiming: “Drink your fill of Serbian blood, fascist dogs, but the Red Army and our partisans will soon destroy you! Long live the CPY (Communist Party of Yugoslavia)! Long live the partisans...”.”
However, not only members of the Communist Party were killed. One of those executed, among others, was priest Andreja Božić who is attributed with the following words, addressed to a Serb who used the massacre and contacts with the Germans to eliminate his opponents: “If my life is in your hands, I don’t need it.”
Those executed here included workers, ordinary citizens, as well as students, the young and the old, mostly men but also a few women, while details about some of them can be found on numerous monuments. However, as I’ve mentioned earlier, special monuments have been erected in 10 locations. The first one you come across is the Monument of Pain and Defiance that can be seen on the left-hand side of the lawn in the photo below.
Here I left the paved path and descended a bit down the grassy slope to a small stream. In early spring of 2024, everything appeared so serene, but scattered mounds – mass graves – remind visitors not to forget this sacred place, a site of great tragedy for a people, where innocent lives were lost.
And so you come to the Monument to Executed Students and Professors, envisioned as a bird with broken wings symbolising youth cut short in flight. Over time, this monument has become a symbol of the entire tragedy, as well as of Kragujevac itself.
So, on that day, 21 October, 1941, 261 secondary school-aged young men and 40 children aged 11 to 15 were executed – a total of 301 of them. Yes, indeed... they were children and they were executed by representatives of the self-proclaimed “superior race.”
Regarding the schoolchildren and their teachers who were detained at the school, the teachers were offered the chance to stay behind, but they all refused, unwilling to leave the children alone. The words of the grammar school’s principal, Miloje Pavlović (1887-1941), who rejected the Germans’ offer to save his life with the words “Shoot, I am still giving lesson,” are well-known. His words and heroic actions are immortalised in the collective memory, as well as in the stone that is a part of this memorial composition, visible in the lower left corner in the following photograph.
Although the entire massacre in Kragujevac was a tragedy, the deaths of such a large number of children left a particularly strong emotional mark on the entire Serbian nation. This event inspired the famous poem “Krvava bajka” (Bloody Fairy Tale) by poet Desanka Maksimović (1898-1993). A part of this poem is engraved in a stone set here: “In the same year they were all born, their school days flowed alike, they were led together to the same celebrations, inoculated against the same diseases, and they all died on the same day.”
After examining the monument more closely I continued along the path, but I glanced back one more time at this part of the memorial park.
The next monument is named “Against the Evil”, created in 1991 by the Mexican sculptor Miguel Romo. Here, he merged the style of the Mayan people with Christian themes.
I soon reached the monument “Crystal Flower,” dedicated to shoe-shiners, specifically Roma who predominantly performed this job and who shared the fate of other residents of Kragujevac and its surroundings. What is particularly tragic about this crime is that among them were 15 children, aged between 12 and 15!
In October 1941, among the 2,794 civilians killed, the majority were Serbs, but Roma and Jews also perished. There exists a Monument to Executed Serbs and Jews outside the “Kragujevački oktobar” Memorial Park, located in a part of the city that is a residential area today. It commemorates the 32 Jews and 78 Serbs killed on 20 October, 1941. Due to my circumstances, I did not visit there and do not have a photograph.
What I did visit was the bronze monument “100 for One,” erected in 1980 with funds from the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when the peoples and nationalities of Yugoslavia still lived under the innocent illusion of “brotherhood and unity.”
The monuments within the “Kragujevački oktobar” Memorial Park that I have mentioned so far are located south of the Šumarice-Kragujevac road. To the north, several more monuments can be seen and I visited them on a cloudy day.
First, I went to the monument called “Stone Sleeper,” dedicated to the people from the surrounding villages that were killed here.
Then I proceeded to the Monument from Croatian people “Circles,” a gift from the Socialist Republic of Croatia (within Yugoslavia) to Kragujevac in 1981. The monument consists of seven steel circles of varying sizes that reflect light onto three mass graves located in this part of the memorial park.
Next was the Monument of Resistance and Freedom, erected in 1966. One figure is depicted as already wounded and fallen, while the other has its arms outstretched and raised, symbolising freedom.
And the last monument along the circular path through the “Kragujevački oktobar” Memorial Park is the Monument of Friendship, gifted by the Romanian city of Pitești in 1994. The monument was designed by architect Anton Stojku and takes the form of an open book with pages shaped to form number 21. I must admit that I haven’t managed to find the correct spelling of the author’s name in Romanian, nor the symbolism of the number 21 in this context, but at least this number can be discerned.
Here, too, there is another mass grave mound.
Here I finished visiting the monuments and mass graves related to the events of October 1941, but within the “Kragujevački oktobar” Memorial Park there is another interesting place to visit, which is the Old Military Cemetery where those who perished in World War I, the Balkan Wars and other conflicts in the Kragujevac area are buried. This cemetery is located in the middle of the forest east of the Hotel “Šumarice.”
Not far away, still within the forest, there is also the Monument to the Fallen Soldiers which, as indicated on it, was erected by the “Grateful Fatherland” and it commemorates the period of World War I (1914-1918).
And so I completed my visits to various monuments and places of interest in Kragujevac and its surroundings in March 2024, including cultural monuments and landmarks listed at the national level. At least I thought I did.
However, upon returning home (as it seems to happen to me regularly), I realised I missed one place – the “Sokolana” Complex in the Old Workers’ Colony from 1924. Based on the photos, it is quite an interesting spatial and cultural-historical complex.
So, what to do now? Nothing special. I just have to wait for the next opportunity that takes me back to Kragujevac and then I’ll make sure to visit not only Sokolana, but also perhaps go to the theatre or attend a concert there. And that’s not a bad idea for a future plan at all.
Meanwhile, here is a map showing what I did visit and where these places are located: