80 Years Since the Liberation of Belgrade and Serbia

Belgrade and Serbia were liberated from the Nazi occupation in October 1944 by the joint struggle of the People’s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (NOVJ) and the Red Army. The enemy, fleeing, mined a large number of key facilities in Belgrade, and thanks to the Red Army, almost all the mines were successfully removed. As a memory of the first days of freedom, there was an inscription on many Belgrade buildings – CHECK PASSED - NO MINES.

The fallen members of the NOVJ and the Red Army were buried together at the Memorial Cemetery of the Liberators of Belgrade. The unbreakable ties between the Russian liberators and Belgrade is evidenced by the fact that certain Red Army soldiers who liberated Belgrade, and later died in battles on the territory of Hungary and other European countries, were buried in Belgrade according to their wish.

Motifs on the vignettes: the relief at the entrance to the Memorial Cemetery of the Liberators of Belgrade, the work of sculptor Radeta Stanković (detail of the relief on the envelope); inscription in the Russian language ПРОВЕРЕНО – МИН НЕТ (trans. Check Passed – No Mines) from the period of the liberation of Belgrade in 1944, one of which is preserved at the corner of Miloš Veliki and Kralja Milana streets; inscriptions on memorial stones of fallen Red Army soldiers buried in Belgrade.