The opening of the exhibition:10 December 2004
Author: Branka Prpa, PhD
Realization: the employees of the Archives
Visualization: engineer architect Bojana Đurović
Graphic design: Dragana Lacmanović
The exhibition was opened by: Ružica Đinđić
At the exhibition 20th century – the age of wars, the century of the evil ones there were 94 exhibits, one feature film from the Yugoslav film archives central part of the exhibitionand 99 slides of the prisoners of Gestapo and the Special Police. The wars that Serbia took part in were represented and a memorial service sui generis was held for all the citizens of Belgrade killed in those wars, including the bombing by the NATO alliance in 1999. The exhibited documents present the sacrifice and the ethics of the Serbian Army and civilians in war events.
Belgrade has always been the place where people of different nationalities, religions, professions and political orientations have lived together and it is in this exhibition that one can see their life together and their common suffering in times of war.
What intensified the emotions one felt upon facing the photographs and documents bearing witness to the atrocities of the wars is a special exhibition arrangement. In the central part of the Gallery a concentration camp guide to the exhibitionwas reconstructed with symbolically represented barbed wire and with the letters that the prisoners had sent surreptitiously through the wire. The names of those killed in the camp, written on the floor, warned the visitors not to step on the name of the victim killed in the camp or in one of the places of execution. This was done intentionally to remind the visitors of the large number of victims whose places of execution and the place they were buried in are unknown.