On the day when we are marking the anniversary of the assassination of HM King Alexander I, the solemn opening of the renovated “King’s Fountain” Memorial Park, which carries the name of the late monarch, was held in the Lisiciji potok in Belgrade. Mr. Predrag Markovic and Mr. Mirko Petrovic, members of the Crown Council, attended the event as envoys of HRH Crown Prince Alexander.
After so many decades, the innocent victims of the communist regime in Belgrade and Serbia finally have a worthy place of remembrance. King’s Fountain, originally opened in 1936 in memory of King Alexander I, was the execution ground where the communist executioners, without trial, shot several thousand people in the autumn of 1944. The hard work and commitment of all the enthusiasts led by Dr. Srdjan Cvetkovic, who cleaned and arranged this place for about a decade, but also advocated for it to be arranged more permanently, finally bore fruit.
Renovation and restoration work of the until now ruined King’s Fountain was performed by the City of Belgrade, and it included making a park with greenery, arranged paths, streetlights, and placing benches. The ceremony was also attended by Mr. Aleksandar Sapic, Mayor of Belgrade, Mr. Matija Beckovic, Member of the Crown Council, representatives of the Army of Serbia, priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church, members of the Association “In the name of the people – for free Serbia”, Kingdom of Serbia Association, which is under the patronage of HRH Crown Prince Alexander” and citizens of Belgrade.
“I am very grateful to Dr. Srdjan Cvetkovic, members of Association In the Name of the People – For Free Serbia, Kingdom of Serbia Association, the City of Belgrade, and all other people who have done so much for the innocent people who were brutally murdered here, not to be forgotten, and that the place of their suffering has now become worthy and appropriate, as a true place of grieving and remembrance.
Blinded with hate towards every person who did not think the same as they did, communists committed those terrible crimes, killing people whose only “guilt” was that they were open-minded, and wanted to live in a free, regulated state, and did not want to obey the new, non-democratic form of government that was forced onto our country. They were proclaimed to be guilty without trial, without even the possibility to defend themselves. Now, the memory of those dark times and the innocent victims of the single-minded regime will be kept forever, as a reminder of how great damage to society unbridled hatred can inflict”, stated Crown Prince Alexander.
Lisičiji potok is the largest execution site in Belgrade after the Second World War. Today, almost everyone admits that there were innocent victims, and the courts rehabilitated about 5,000 people at the request of their descendants, including many whose fathers were killed right next to King’s Fountain. The state commission for secret graves of those killed after September 12, 1944, based on incomplete OZNA (communistic secret police) documentation, listed the names of over 3,500 killed citizens of Belgrade. It is estimated that the number of people killed in Belgrade is almost twice as high.
