Београдски универзитет 1944/45. - „На прагу новог доба“
The Belgrade University 1944/45 - At the “Threshold of the New Age”

Author(s): Dragomir Bondžić
Subject(s): Political history, Higher Education , History of Education, State/Government and Education, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Sociology of Politics
Published by: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije
Keywords: University of Belgrade; liberation; war damage; reconstruction; teachers; Court of Honor; students; Communist Party;
Summary/Abstract: After liberation of Belgrade in October 1944 the State, Party and University organs launched efforts to renew the Belgrade University, to enroll students and to start lectures. Already in November 1944 the Commission for the Renewal of the University was set up that spearheaded the renewal and preparations for resumption of work until the regular University and faculties’ organs were established in August 1945. The Commission devoted most of its time to establishing material damages the University had suffered during the war, reconstruction of buildings, putting rooms in order and acquisition of accessories and furniture, so as to enable the faculties to resume normal functioning. The teaching staff also took part in the renewal of the University. Some professors made a broader contribution to the fortification of the new government and the development of the state. On the other hand, due to the revolutionary fervor, part of the teaching staff was punished for their behavior during the enemy occupation: by the end of 1944 four were shot, whereas 37 were dismissed from the University by the decision of the Court of Honor in May 1945. In summer of 1945 the revision of the exams passed and diplomas acquired during the war was undertaken, as well as the strict control of the future students, so as to prevent the enrollment of the “politically undesirable” ones. After the enrollment had taken place, eight faculties started lectures in December 1945. This was the end of the one-year long initial renewal of the University. Among other things, ideological and political aims and the place and the role of the University in the dawning “New Age” were defined in this period.

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