Editing Belgrade (section)

===World War II: German invasion ===
[[File:Demonstracije u Beogradu 27. marta 1941.jpg|thumb|left|People of Belgrade demonstrate their support for break-up with the [[Tripartite Pact]] on 27 March 1941]]

On 25 March 1941, the government of [[regent]] [[Prince Paul of Yugoslavia|Crown Prince Paul]] signed the [[Tripartite Pact]], joining the [[Axis powers of World War II|Axis powers]] in an effort to stay out of the Second World War and keep Yugoslavia neutral during the conflict. This was immediately followed by mass protests in Belgrade and a military [[coup d'état]] led by Air Force commander General [[Dušan Simović]], who proclaimed [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|King Peter II]] to be of age to rule the realm. As a result, the city was [[Operation Retribution (1941)|heavily bombed]] by the [[Luftwaffe]] on 6 April 1941, killing up to 2,274 people.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.blic.rs/vesti/beograd/da-nije-bilo-6-aprila-najlepse-srusene-zgrade-beograda/9hjel3n |title=DA NIJE BILO 6. APRILA Najlepše srušene zgrade Beograda |date=25 November 2015 |access-date=29 March 2017 |archive-date=5 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405182628/http://www.blic.rs/vesti/beograd/da-nije-bilo-6-aprila-najlepse-srusene-zgrade-beograda/9hjel3n |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xbg6AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 |title=Lovački avioni Drugog svetskog rata |first=Samir |last=Aslani |date=1 June 2004 |publisher=Samir Aslani |via=Google Books |isbn=9788690553501 |access-date=29 March 2017 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225222859/https://books.google.com/books?id=Xbg6AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/balkan/20_260_2.htm |title=The German campaign in the Balkans (Spring 1941) |chapter=Part Two the Yugoslav Campaign |publisher=[[United States Army Center of Military History]] |url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/balkan/intro.htm |access-date=7 July 2009 |id=CMH Pub 104-4 |year=1986 |orig-year=1953 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619234443/http://history.army.mil/books/wwii/balkan/intro.htm |archive-date=19 June 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Yugoslavia was then [[Invasion of Yugoslavia|invaded]] by [[Nazi Germany|German]], [[Kingdom of Italy|Italian]], [[Hungary between the two world wars|Hungarian]], and [[Military history of Bulgaria during World War II|Bulgarian]] forces. Belgrade was captured by subterfuge, with six German soldiers led by their officer [[Fritz Klingenberg]] feigning threatening size, forcing the city to capitulate.[[File:Belgrád, Szerbia. A Moszkva szálló a Terazijén. Fortepan 16206.jpg|thumb|right|Ruins in Belgrade after [[Operation Retribution (1941)|German bombing of 1941]].]]

<ref>Taking Belgrade by bluff. By: Heaton, Colin D., World War II, 08984204, Jan98, Vol. 12, Issue 5</ref> Belgrade was more directly occupied by the [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|German Army]] in the same month and became the seat of the puppet [[Nedić regime]], headed by its namesake general.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005456 |title=Axis Invasion of Yugoslavia |encyclopedia=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |access-date=19 April 2016 |archive-date=3 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503181152/https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005456 |url-status=live }}</ref> Some of today's parts of Belgrade were incorporated in the [[Independent State of Croatia]] in occupied Yugoslavia, another puppet state, where [[Ustashe]] regime carried out the [[Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia|Genocide of Serbs]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Barić |first=Nikica |year=2011 |title=Politika Nezavisne Države Hrvatske prema Srbiji |publisher=Institut za savremenu istoriju |journal=Istorija 20. Veka |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=115–126 |doi=10.29362/ist20veka.2011.1.bar.115-126|doi-access=free}}</ref>

During the summer and autumn of 1941, in reprisal for guerrilla attacks, the Germans carried out several massacres of Belgrade citizens; in particular, members of the [[History of the Jews in Serbia|Jewish community]] were subject to mass shootings at the order of General [[Franz Böhme]], the German [[Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia|Military Governor of Serbia]]. Böhme rigorously enforced the rule that for every German killed, 100 Serbs or Jews would be shot.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rubenstein |first1=Richard L |last2=Roth |first2=John King |title=Approaches to Auschwitz: The Holocaust and Its Legacy |year=2003 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=0-664-22353-2 |page=170 |url=https://www.questia.com/library/book/approaches-to-auschwitz-the-holocaust-and-its-legacy-by-john-k-roth-richard-l-rubenstein.jsp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013012423/http://www.questia.com/library/book/approaches-to-auschwitz-the-holocaust-and-its-legacy-by-john-k-roth-richard-l-rubenstein.jsp |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 October 2008}}</ref> Belgrade became the first city in Europe to be declared by the Nazi occupation forces to be ''[[judenfrei]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morton |first1=J. |last2=Forage |first2=P. |last3=Bianchini |first3=S. |last4=Nation |first4=R. |title=Reflections on the Balkan Wars: Ten Years After the Break-Up of Yugoslavia |date=2004 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-40398-020-5 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfPFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 |access-date=27 May 2020 |archive-date=16 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416081357/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfPFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 |url-status=live }}</ref> The resistance movement in Belgrade was led by Major [[Žarko Todorović]] from 1941 until his arrest in 1943.<ref>[https://znaci.org/00001/4_14_1_6.htm Zbornik dokumenata vojnoistorijskog instituta: TOM XIV, Knjiga 1] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005185357/http://www.znaci.net/00001/4_14_1_6.htm |date=5 October 2011 }}, znaci.net; accessed 15 March 2016.</ref>

Just like [[Rotterdam]], which was devastated twice by both German and Allied bombing, [[Allied bombing of Yugoslavia in World War II#1944 Easter bombing|Belgrade was bombed]] once more during [[World War II]], this time by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] on 16 April 1944, killing at least 1,100 people. This bombing fell on the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christian]] [[Orthodox Easter|Easter]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spc.rs/eng/anniversary_allied_bomb_attacks_against_belgrade |title=Anniversary of the Allied Bomb Attacks Against Belgrade |publisher=Radio-Television of Serbia |date=17 April 2008 |access-date=5 May 2009 |archive-date=6 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906090715/http://www.spc.rs/eng/anniversary_allied_bomb_attacks_against_belgrade |url-status=live }}</ref> Most of the city remained under German occupation until 20 October 1944, when it was liberated by the [[Red Army]] and the Communist [[Partisans (Yugoslavia)|Yugoslav Partisans]].

On 29 November 1945, Marshal [[Josip Broz Tito]] proclaimed the [[Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia]] in Belgrade (later renamed to [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]] on 7 April 1963).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.napredniklub.org/tekstovi.php?subaction=showfull&id=1255532834&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1& |title=Tekstovi (Texts) |publisher=Napredniklub.org |access-date=16 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727110857/http://www.napredniklub.org/tekstovi.php?subaction=showfull&id=1255532834&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1& |archive-date=27 July 2011}}</ref>