This building, which was once the headquarters of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army, still looks impressive even though it is only in ruins. It is a dozen stories high, towering over the surrounding government buildings as a stone expression of the self-confidence of Marshal Josip Broz Tito’s army. However the building only survived for a few years after the end of Yugoslavia. In Kosovo’s 1999 NATO war against Serbia – which at the time included Montenegro, which became independent in 2006 – the country was destroyed by two missile attacks by the Western alliance.
No one was killed because Serbian tyrant Slobodan Milošević’s generals had left the buildings exposed before the war began and ordered their troops from bunkers and other safer locations. For years, building ruins dominated this part of the Serbian city center and became a popular motif among tourists.
However, if Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, succeeds in making his wish come true, these times will soon be over. Kushner’s investment company, Affinity Partners, wants to monetize the area in a prime location. A luxury Trump hotel, commercial space and 1,500 apartments will be built there. Estimated investment cost: approximately $500 million. The 99-year lease agreement between the Serbian government and Affinity Partners was signed in May last year. There is talk of “revitalizing” the site, which stretches across several streets in the city.
A political crime thriller set in Belgrade about monument protection
Trump’s son-in-law publicly confirmed his interest in the project in an interview with the US magazine “Forbes” in September: “You could have a magnificent hotel that creates jobs and pays taxes, rather than a building that is bombed and an eyesore,” the young American billionaire said in the conversation. “We still have a beautiful design and are continuing to plan and work to make it happen.”
The potential investor’s choice of words already indicates that the project is risky at this point. In Belgrade, a real political thriller has developed around the project, which has not the least to do with the building’s status: the building, commissioned by the Yugoslav army in the late 1950s and completed in the early 1960s, is a listed building. But the government of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, to please the Trump clan, used brutal methods that cast doubt on the rule of law to revoke this status.
First, the heads of monument protection authorities in Serbia and Belgrade were pressured to remove the ruins of the General Staff from the list of listed buildings. This incident also shows why it is inappropriate to call Vučić a dictator, as Serbian opposition figures often do. Despite the decidedly autocratic style of government, there are still some authorities and institutions in Serbia, or at least individuals within those authorities, who do not obey the wishes of the authorities but are guided by law and order. However, the two monument preservers came under greater pressure after their rejection.
What threats were made is not known to the public, but the outcome is certain: both women will lose their posts in June 2024. One prevented her ouster by resigning, the other was dismissed. The new acting head of the national monument protection agency has been more cooperative. Following his work, the Serbian government declared the General Staff Building’s monument protection to be lifted in November 2024, shortly after Trump was re-elected as president.
Vučić speaks out against “corrupt gangs”
It seemed the way was now clear for the Trump clan, but once again the remains of Serbia’s constitutional state began to fray. Serbia’s special prosecutor’s office for organized crime arrested the acting head of the monument protection authority in May – on suspicion of abuse of office and falsification of documents. It said the man forged signatures on documents required to revoke the monument’s protection. According to the public prosecutor, he confessed during interrogation. The investigation is ongoing, but he has not been formally charged. Vučić complained that there is a “corrupt gang” in the prosecutor’s office who allegedly serve dark foreign powers: “Why are they doing this? Because orders have come from outside: Serbia must not build better relations with the Trump administration.”
As usual, the President did not say who gave the orders from outside. In a press release, the prosecutor’s office defended itself against “shameless accusations” and criticized the president for trying to exert undue influence on the prosecutor’s office through comments regarding ongoing criminal cases: “With insulting and untrue statements, Aleksandar Vučić once again targets the responsible public prosecutor.” After Vučić’s disdain for the Serbian justice system became an issue in Brussels, the president responded with a rhetorical twist that only he could muster: “Yes, I exaggerate – but I’m sorry, I told the truth.”
Although the outcome of the battle between the prosecutor’s office and the president remains unclear, the Serbian parliament created a fact on Friday: the government majority passed a special law intended to allow the ruins of the general staff building to be quickly dismantled. The debate became heated. A member of the government majority said the ruins were just “a pile of stones”. In turn, Kushner’s investments will increase Serbia’s gross national product and create jobs. The lawmaker said he would be happy to sacrifice many stones for Serbia.
All components that sparked a new wave of protests in Serbia
The opposition and many activists see it differently. It cannot be denied that resistance to the demolition of the General Staff Building could trigger a new wave of protests. All the components are in place: here greedy foreign investors, here local governments are involved. Here the people, there the power and money.
The European monument protection organization “Europa Nostra” has been committed to the preservation and restoration of the general staff building for many years. Secretary General Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, who is of Serbian origin and was born and raised in Belgrade, described the dispute over the building as a long-standing conflict that goes beyond the protection of monuments alone: ”The defense of the General Staff building is now also the defense of the rule of law in Serbia. That is why everyone is united now. You cannot protect cultural heritage if there is no rule of law. The two go hand in hand.”
The building in downtown Belgrade “has become a symbol of resistance to state capture and lawlessness,” Quaedvlieg-Mihailović told FAZ. The events in Belgrade also matter for which partners and under what conditions the Trump clan pursues business interests around the world.
However, the full picture also includes the fact that until recently most Belgrade citizens were completely indifferent to the fate of the General Staff Building. There is no widespread debate about what can be done with the ruins at key locations. When the building is now used by several opposition politicians as an element forming the identity of the Serbian capital, there is a lot of polemic involved.
There is no serious debate about Serbian history
In addition, the building was only registered as a historical monument in 2005, even though it had long been in ruins. At the time, Serbia was ruled by the nationalist Vojislav Koštunica, who considered the Kosovo war an unprovoked NATO attack on an innocent country. The years of Serbian-initiated wars and Serbian war crimes that preceded Western intervention are simply ignored in the nationalist narrative as presented by Koštunica at the time and as presented today by Vučić. Until now, there has been no serious debate regarding what the General Staff Building actually represents in Serbian history.
However, such debates will also bring with them unpleasant answers. Plans and orders for war and crimes in Serbia also came from this building, which we are now fighting to preserve. Of course, the history of a building does not necessarily militate against its preservation, quite the opposite. But in the end the general staff building also became the center of power for a completely failed army in a completely failed state. When politicians such as opposition MP Marinika Tepić declare the building a “symbol of resistance”, this also involves a major historical distortion.
It is still unclear whether excavators will come in and raze the building to the ground. As an astute tactician, Vučić will weigh the harms and benefits of such actions for himself and for Serbia – in that order. He considers a friendly attitude towards the Trump clan to be one of Serbia’s national interests. This also applies in light of American sanctions against the Russian-owned Serbian oil industry.
