FORGOTTEN HISTORY: The mayor who turned Belgrade into a metropolis died in poverty, cleaning streets!

The head of the Yugoslav capital from January 10, 1935 to September 13, 1939 was the famous Vlada Ilić. During that time, Belgrade for the first time became a true European metropolis, a city that kept pace with all global trends.

The significance of the period in which he led the capital for Belgrade’s development is best illustrated by the words of Predrag Lažetić published in the text “How a town became a metropolis”:

“Twenty years, the period between the First and Second World Wars, were crucial for shaping today’s face of Belgrade. Construction was in full swing, everything that could be started was started, and after the Second World War it remained to conquer the left bank of the Sava and connect the urban units of Belgrade and Zemun” – begins Saša Stanković, author of the monograph about Vlada Ilić titled “The First Modern Mayor of Belgrade,” writes Istorijski zabavnik.

It is difficult to list everything that was built, completed, or initiated in Belgrade during Vlada Ilić’s tenure. On this long list are today’s most recognizable capital symbols – the Vuk Monument, the old Fairgrounds, the zoo… The foundation stone for the construction of the Temple of Saint Sava was laid. The National Assembly building was completed, and the Prince Pavle Museum (today’s residence of the President of Serbia) was opened to the public.

At the beginning of Vlada Ilić’s mandate, the bridge over the Danube connecting Belgrade and Pančevo was opened. The first tram line connecting Belgrade with Zemun was launched, enabling residents of the capital to cross to the other side of the river.

That is why it is saddening that most Belgraders today know almost nothing about this exceptional man!

The richest man from Vlasotince

At the initiative of Vuk Bojović, then director of the Zoo, on St. Peter’s Day in 2009, a bust of Vlada Ilić was placed in the zoo as its founder. That news prompted Vlasotince Gymnasium professor Saša Stanković to begin researching the life and work of his former fellow townsman Vlada Ilić.

The result of his seven-year effort is the first complete and remarkably comprehensive monograph on Vlada Ilić, titled “The First Modern Mayor of Belgrade.”

Vladimir (Vlada) Ilić, the youngest son of Kosta Mumdžija, was born, according to the new calendar, on September 19, 1882. He completed primary education in his hometown Vlasotince and continued his studies in Vienna and Aachen.

He was the first textile industrialist from then Serbia with an academic education. It is reliably known that he spoke French and German, and according to some testimonies, also English.

As the most educated member of the family, Vlada soon found himself at the head of a large textile empire – after a short stay in Leskovac, his father sent him to manage the business operations in the capital.

– That this was a good move will be shown in the years that followed, because Vlada demonstrated all the abilities of a European-scale industrialist. By the beginning of the First World War, he modernized factories in Belgrade. They were heavily damaged and looted during the occupation, but after the war Ilić restored them and expanded production beyond the borders of the former Kingdom of Serbia – says Saša Stanković.

In July 1922, at a conference of industrialists in Bled, Vlada Ilić was one of the founders and later president of the Central Association of Industrialists of the Kingdom of SHS. The following year in Bled, he was declared industrialist of the year 1923.

The global crisis of 1929, caused by the collapse of the US stock market, affected Yugoslavia in 1930 and partially Ilić’s business as well, but on the eve of the war in 1939 he began supplying the army, strengthening his industrial empire.

– Military procurement was a lucrative business because quantities were huge and sales guaranteed. Only trusted people, close to power, could deal with it. Large capital and politics have always gone hand in hand. That is another detail explaining why Vlada Ilić was considered the richest Serb between the two world wars – explains Stanković.

VIDOVDAN NA NIJAGARINIM VODOPADIMA: Princ Filip sa porodicom gost najstarijeg srpskog sabora na američkom kontinentu!

The First Modern Mayor of Belgrade

However, what Vlada Ilić is most remembered for is the period he spent as head of Belgrade.

In addition to his obvious managerial skills, as a man who successfully ran numerous companies for years, his long-standing friendship with Prince Pavle Karađorđević undoubtedly helped him become mayor of Belgrade – says Stanković.

He adds that some sources claim Ilić financially supported Prince Pavle, who after the assassination of King Alexander in Marseille in 1934 effectively became the first man of Yugoslavia.

Only a few months after this fateful event, Vlada Ilić became head of the Belgrade Municipality.

As mayor, Ilić carried out major reforms in the city administration, reduced electricity prices, and improved financial conditions in the municipality.

He worked on solving social issues, building workers’ housing, healthcare institutions and children’s shelters, schools, removing swamps, building parks… He built several hospitals in the capital that still serve the same purpose today.

The crown jewel in the long list of what we would today call “capital investments” realized in less than five years of Ilić’s mandate was the opening of the Belgrade Fair, a symbol of the capital’s economic rise in the interwar period.

The first Belgrade Fair was held from September 11 to 21, 1937, and besides 15 European countries, the United States and Japan also participated. The second autumn fair is remembered for the first appearance of television in the Balkans at a Philips stand, and an automobile exhibition featuring Mercedes, Škoda, Opel…

– Fairs were an opportunity to establish business contacts. There are records that Vlada Ilić intended to purchase a license from Henry Ford to assemble cars from ready-made parts. The negotiations were interrupted by the beginning of World War II – says Stanković.

Unfortunately, during the war the Fairgrounds gained a much darker role, becoming a notorious Nazi concentration camp.

War years and erasure from memory

In the turbulent years before World War II and during it, Vlada’s name appears in crucial moments of national survival. Prince Pavle consulted him on all important political decisions, and at the end of 1938 the German envoy in Belgrade, Viktor von Heeren, even proposed Ilić as prime minister, likely due to his business ties with Germany dating back to the early 20th century.

– It is likely that Ilić had no prime ministerial ambitions because with his reputation abroad, numerous successes in running the capital, and long friendship with the Karađorđević family, he could easily have become one – explains Stanković.

Instead, after the start of World War II, Vlada Ilić stepped down as mayor of Belgrade. His factories operated during the war but were damaged in bombings by both the Germans and the Allies.

After the war, Ilić was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison and full confiscation of property. The main accusation was that his factories operated during the war and thus “strengthened the war potential of the occupier.”

Vlada Ilić spent the next seven years in prison in Sremska Mitrovica, where former workers brought him packages. For a time, he was punished by cleaning the streets of Belgrade. The former mayor was saved from execution personally by Winston Churchill, who intervened with Josip Broz Tito – says the author of the monograph.

Vlada Ilić was released from prison at the end of 1951, but did not live to enjoy his freedom. He soon suffered a stroke and died in the attic of his relative’s house on July 3, 1952, in extreme poverty. He was buried by former workers.

Rehabilitation

The District Court in Belgrade approved the rehabilitation request of Vlada Ilić in February 2009 and annulled the 1946 Military Court verdict. The ruling states that Ilić “had to be declared a public enemy in order for that conviction to serve as a basis and justification for the state to take over his wealth.”

The descendants of Vlada Ilić are still fighting today to recover at least part of their famous ancestor’s property.