An American in Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital of Serbia and was the capital of Yugoslavia in its many incarnations. Its strategic position at the crossroads of East and West led to the destruction of much of the visible evidence of its rich history. Clues to the complexities of its past are often subtle. This project is an exploration of Belgrade and its recent history through the prism of its relationship with the United States.
Relations between Serbia and the United States have been tense since the end of the Cold War, the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the Balkan wars of the 1990s. The two countries were on opposing sides and the decade of conflict ended with the American-led NATO bombing of Serbia which still colors relations between the two countries as well as the sentiment of many Serbians .
Despite resentment of U.S. foreign policy, American cultural influence has been steady and strong. Yugoslavia was Communist, but its hybrid form of communism allowed for openness to western ideas and influences. American culture, cinema and music were in high demand. Today, with the transition to modern capitalism complete, Belgrade’s American-style malls are always packed, mostly by window-shoppers mourning their diminishing purchasing power and growing income inequality.
As a Belgrader and a U.S. resident living in New York City since 2007, I maintain a strong connection to my hometown and a critical distance from it. This project focuses on a small but curious aspect of the Serbian-American relationship: more than twenty streets in Belgrade named after prominent Americans. Street names in Serbia have a tendency to change with political regimes, so the surprisingly high survival rate of “American” street names is especially puzzling.
George Washington Street
Municipality: Stari Grad
Current name: 1932 to 1943; since 1946
George Washington (1732-1799) was the military commander and first President of the United States. Defeating the British army, Washington advocated for the creation of the Union and played an important part writing the Constitution. Twice elected President by Congress, he refused a third term and withdrew from political life.
Mihajlo Pupin Boulevard
Municipality: Novi Beograd
Current Name: since 1997
Mihailo Pupin (1858-1935) was a Serbian-American scientist and inventor working in the fields of physics and electronics. Born to a rural Serbian family in Austro-Hungary, he left for America at the age of sixteen. He became a professor at Columbia University and in 1924 won a Pulitzer Prize for his autobiography.
Mihajlo Pupin Boulevard
Mihajlo Pupin Boulevard
George Washington Street
Municipality: Zemun
Current name: 1935 to 1943; since 1944
Theodore Dreiser Street
Municipality: Savski Venac, Dedinje
Current name: since 1946
Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) was a journalist, naturalist writer and prominent socialist. His most important works are Sister Carrie (1900) and An American Tragedy (1925). Dreiser visited Belgrade between the two World Wars and published his impressions of the city.
Theodore Dreiser Street
Theodore Dreiser Street
Charlie Chaplin Street
Municipality: Palilula
Current Name: since 1946
Sir Charles Spencer “Charlie” Chaplin (1889-1977) was a English-born actor, comedian, and filmmaker who became an American resident in 1912. Best known for his on-screen Tramp persona, Chaplin wrote, produced and directed his films, which include The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1940). Accused of being a communist and refusing American citizenship, he was forced to leave the country in 1952. Chaplin received an Honorary Academy Award in 1972.
Hemingway Street
Municipality: Zemun, Altina
Current Name: since 2004
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was a journalist and writer. Some of his most important works are The Sun Also Rises (1925) , A Farewell to Arms (1929), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), The Old Man and the Sea (1951). He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.
Mihajlo Pupin Street
Municipality: Zemun, Zemun Polje
Current Name: since 1971
Jesse Owens Street
Municipality: Zemun, Altina
Current Name: 2004
James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens (1913-1980) was ,an African-American track and field and four-time Olympic gold medalist. His victories at the 1936 Berlin Olympics were a symbolic victory over Hitler’s ideology of Aryan supremacy.
Carnegie Street
Municipality: Palilula
Current Name: 1930 to 1943; since 1946
Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was a Scottish-born industrialist and philanthropist. In 1921, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace contributed funds for construction of the Library of the University of Belgrade.
John Kennedy Street
Municipalities: Novi Beograd and Zemun
Current Name: since 1963
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) was 35th President of the United States. His efforts helped avert nuclear war with the USSR and advance civil rights in the U.S. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 sent shockwaves around the world.
John Kennedy Street
John Kennedy Street
Nikola Tesla Street
Municipality: Novi Beograd
Current Name: since 1948
Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) was a Serbian-American scientist and inventor best known for his work on advancing the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. His discoveries were applied in the construction of the hydro-electric power plant at Niagara Falls. The unit of magnetic flux is named Tesla in his honor.
Nikola Tesla Boulevard
Municipalities: Novi Beograd and Zemun
Current name: since 1991
Nikola Tesla Boulevard
Nikola Tesla Boulevard
Martin Luther King Street
Municipality: Zemun, Zemun Polje
Current name: since 1970
Martin Luther King (1929-1968), was an African-American pastor and civil rights activist who preached non-violence and civil disobedience to combat racism. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and was assassinated in 1968.
Orson Welles Street
Municipality: Surcin
Current name: since 2011
George Orson Welles (1915-1985) was a theater, radio and film actor, director, writer and producer. Welles was best known for his radio broadcast War of the Worlds (1938) and Citizen Kane (1941), which is often considered the greatest film of all time. He was also a star of the Yugoslav blockbuster film Battle of Neretva (1969).
Roosevelt Street
Municipalities: Palilula and Zvezdara
Current name: since 1946
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) was the 32nd President of the United States who served from 1932 to 1945, when he died in office. During the Depression, he introduced major economic reforms, and during World War II, he helped lead the Allied Forces to victory over fascist forces.
Roosevelt Street
Roosevelt Street
Isaac Singer Street
Municipality: Surcin
Current Name: since 2011
Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902-1991) was a Polish-born Jewish-American writer. A leading figure in the Yiddish literary movement, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978. His best known works are Gimpel the Fool (1957) and Enemies, A Love Story (1972).