Concert on former concentration camp site

In spite of numerous protests, a concert will go ahead at Staro Sajmiste on November 3. The New Belgrade municipality has asked the organizers to refrain from holding concerts at the venue, as it was used as a concentration camp during World War 2. Concert on former concentration camp site The Posejdon company says that the Association of Camp Inmates has its head office in their premises, and that they know fine well what took place there between 1941 and 1944. The British group, Kosheen, are due to perform at the venue on November 3. The building reserved for cultural events used to be the Staro Sajmiste camp hospital. The municipality has sent a protest to the organizers and the competent authorities asking for a change of venue, and for the complex to be used for a more suitable purpose. “I wanted to focus on the moral aspect. Such a place is not suitable for a concert. I must stress that we’re not against the concert - New Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia needs them, but we are against a concert being held in that particular location,“ said New Belgrade President Zeljko Ozegovic. Fashion shows and exhibitions take place In the Posejdon exhibition center, next door. The owners claim that they have asked the city and the municipality on several occasions for work guidelines, but have never received any reply. They say that they are aware of the venue’s history, and that they will soon erect a memorial plaque there independently. “We’re not doing anything contrary to city development guidelines. We are one of the founders of the Staro Sajmiste Memorial, an association dealing with the revitalization of both cultural memorials and the district of Staro Sajmiste as a whole,“ explained Nenad Krsmanovic from Posejdon. Honorary President of the Union of Jewish Municipalities Aca Singer, who survived Auschwitz, said that Staro Sajmiste should be turned into a memorial center, as it was one of the bigger camps in the region. “There was an idea to build a great big supermarket next to Auschwitz. Why? Because people from all round the world come to Auschwitz. But, they didn’t allow it. There were ideas to commercialize other things, but it didn’t work in Poland,“ said Singer. During World War 2, Staro Sajmiste was a camp on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia that the quisling government in Belgrade supplied with food. The camp was initially reserved for Jews only, but once they had been exterminated in 1942, all those who opposed the occupation were sent there. Serbia was the first occupied nation to be declared judenfrei, meaning “free of Jews.“ Some 100,000 people passed through its doors, while 48,00 were taken from there to be executed in Jajince and Banjica.

Concert on former concentration camp site

The Posejdon company says that the Association of Camp Inmates has its head office in their premises, and that they know fine well what took place there between 1941 and 1944. The British group, Kosheen, are due to perform at the venue on November 3.

The building reserved for cultural events used to be the Staro Sajmište camp hospital. The municipality has sent a protest to the organizers and the competent authorities asking for a change of venue, and for the complex to be used for a more suitable purpose.

“I wanted to focus on the moral aspect. Such a place is not suitable for a concert. I must stress that we’re not against the concert - New Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia needs them, but we are against a concert being held in that particular location,“ said New Belgrade President Željko Ožegović.

Fashion shows and exhibitions take place In the Posejdon exhibition center, next door. The owners claim that they have asked the city and the municipality on several occasions for work guidelines, but have never received any reply.

They say that they are aware of the venue’s history, and that they will soon erect a memorial plaque there independently.

“We’re not doing anything contrary to city development guidelines. We are one of the founders of the Staro Sajmište Memorial, an association dealing with the revitalization of both cultural memorials and the district of Staro Sajmište as a whole,“ explained Nenad Krsmanović from Posejdon.

Honorary President of the Union of Jewish Municipalities Aca Singer, who survived Auschwitz, said that Staro Sajmište should be turned into a memorial center, as it was one of the bigger camps in the region.

“There was an idea to build a great big supermarket next to Auschwitz. Why? Because people from all round the world come to Auschwitz. But, they didn’t allow it. There were ideas to commercialize other things, but it didn’t work in Poland,“ said Singer.

During World War 2, Staro Sajmište was a camp on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia that the quisling government in Belgrade supplied with food.

The camp was initially reserved for Jews only, but once they had been exterminated in 1942, all those who opposed the occupation were sent there. Serbia was the first occupied nation to be declared judenfrei, meaning “free of Jews.“

Some 100,000 people passed through its doors, while 48,00 were taken from there to be executed in Jajince and Banjica.