The Fair In Dedinje

"We have no more patience. We just can't stand the primitivism and criminal behavior of the nouveau riche owners who are lording it on our estates because the state itself has sunk into crime, and isn't capable of dealing with them". This is the reason given by Slavenko Grgurevic, one of the descendants of the owners of a Belgrade foundry and machine factory "JUG" (GEISSEREI u. MASCHINENFABRIK - "JUG" A.G.) and advisor with the Institute of Economic Sciences, in explaining the motives for the founding of the League for the return of capital and property and the protection of human rights, which incorporates several citizens' associations which demand the return of nationalized property in Serbia.

The League rallies over 1,300 families, and as its actions become more public, so more citizens turn up whose property was confiscated. The Association for the Renewal of the Merchant Fund and its mortgage bank (which once owned the "Albania" building - which houses the Nolit publishing company today, and three buildings on Slavija Square which have been pulled down in the meantime in order to build the National Bank building) rallies over fifty families.

The League insists that all property confiscated earlier be returned to its owners in the physical sense. They will accept no compensation, but demand reimbursement for damage done by the state. They underscore that they are not asking for their property, in order that it might remain unused, but because they wish to work with it. This property was in good order when the new authorities started confiscating everything in 1944, and the families which had owned the property were condemned to die out slowly.

The League has contacted the Constitutional Court of Serbia and demanded its assessment of the constitutionality of the decrees of the Law on Residence. A personal letter was sent to court president Aleksandar Bakocevic, but no answer has been forthcoming. The representatives of several associations have informed Minister of Human Rights Margit Savovic of the violation of human rights in the area of private property. They have talked with representatives of the Federal Government. Last year they met with Yugoslav National Bank (NBJ) Governor Dragoslav Avramovic, who supported the citizens demands "in principle". Early this year they contacted the Serbian Prime Minister and Serbian Assembly Speaker and the heads of deputy groups in the Serbian Assembly. They were received by the representatives of all opposition parties who promised they would support their demands in the Assembly (Grgurevic: "Opposition parties are our natural allies, because they urge denationalization".) League representatives "expect they will be received by the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia" representatives. The reason for their most recent contact with MPs is the draft law on the property of the Republic of Serbia - better known to the public as the law on nationalization.

"In the year in which we are marking half a century since the victory against fascism, instead of feeling proud, we have been morally downgraded and robbed. In 1945 - and history repeats itself - the authorities banished all the old owners, not even shrinking from their physical liquidation. The Communist elite took over the property of our forefathers and brought the country to ruin. This state - the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), should help us for political reasons, because if a multiparty system, a free market and a European orientation have been embraced - then it is logical to accept the fact that that which has been confiscated must be returned. The FRY declares itself as the successor of the SFRY, and the SFRY signed the Human Rights Charter under which property cannot be expropriated," said Grgurevic, adding that there were important economic reasons for returning the property to its legitimate owners. "The examples of Poland and the former USSR are constantly quoted as illustrations of the negative results of transition and reprivatization, and the conclusions reached are that things must be done gradually - which, in fact, means that they wish to take possession of the property and share it out among their kin. Why don't the authorities quote the example of the Czech Republic in which Vaclav Klaus, the Prime Minister and the creator of the economic miracle, put the economy back on its feet after half a century of communist abuse. Klaus immediately allowed restitution and reestablished the civic class which was motivated to work. The results were fantastic. The only condition that the earlier owners had to fulfil, was to be citizens of the Czech Republic," said Grgurevic.

VREME's collocutors recalled that in practically all the former East European states, including Albania, property was returned to its owners in the physical sense, and where this was not possible they were reimbursed. So far League members have contacted institutions and done everything within the system. But: "We wish to make it clear that if we don't manage to achieve our rights the regular way, then we will internationalize our problem. We already have the support, in principle, of international institutions, and all we have to do is submit an official request", said Grgurevic.

Speaking of nationalized apartments given to state organs which later sold them, especially villas in Dedinje (exclusive Belgrade residential suburb) which were bought for peanuts, Slavenko Grgurevic said: "The legitimate owners of the villas sold in Dedinje for very little money are known. The buyers will get back the 100 DEM or 200 DEM with which they bought villas of 500 sq meters. They have no reason for concern".

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The Vasiljevic family, Slavko Grgurevic's mother's family, were deprived of, among other things, a house of 500 sq meters in the municipality of Neimar, after WW2. The "Autotehna" company moved into it, and destroyed the park and fountain in order to build a garage. On the lot in front of the American Embassy, where the "JUG" foundry once stood (ownership of Grgurevic's mother), there was a gaping hole for decades. The CIP organization is now building a commercial building there now. The factory was expropriated because the owner "worked with the Germans". One wonders who the firm was supposed to work with since it was a Yugoslav-German joint stock company.

Darko Pavlovic's family lost the agricultural estate "Godomin" near Smederevo on 31 January 1946. The owner was Pavlovic's late grandfather Zivojin D. Zivkovic, a sausage maker from Belgrade. When "Godomin" was confiscated, Zivkovic had been dead three years. This, and the fact there was a valid testament which named Kosara and Petar Zivkovic as the inheritors, did not stop the authorities from treating the estate as the property of one man - Zivojin D. Zivkovic.

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The property of funds, foundations and legacies, are a story in themselves. The former Merchant Fund had its own association, the Association for the Renewal of the Merchant Fund. The Merchant Fund was founded in 1901 and owned real estate, and a mortgage bank which handled the depositors' capital. According to the rules the depositor had to invest a certain sum of money every year over a period of ten years. The sum was specified very precisely so that no one could hold a majority and so take over the Fund. During the ten year period the depositor could not touch the interest, and at the end of ten years would have the right to an annuity, while his grandchildren would have the right to the capital and interest. The merchant's goal was to make a fund which would make their families financially secure for several generations. There were merchant youth foundations -today's Clinic for burns and plastic surgery in Zvecanska St. in Belgrade is one such legacy and its income was aimed for educating the youth.

In January 1958, one of the numerous merchants' complaints was dismissed with the explanation that: "Independent merchants don't exist as a profession today", and "the membership deposit which you paid into the fund was not the result of money earned from a salary"! The merchants wrote to President Marshal Tito, complaining that "Fund members were in trouble and without the means to live, while the state was collecting the annuities". The state, for example, paid out only a six month annuity for the "Albania" building.