Confiscation of Property From “Enemies of the People” in the City of Pirot

Abstract

In order to establish a socialist order after World War II, modeled on the Soviet Union, and to create a material foundation, that is, a new form of property, the fundamental human right to life was often violated. In the course of its development, the socialist-communist system, while forming this material basis, enacted a series of legal measures, the most important of which were laws on confiscation, agrarian reform, and nationalization. This paper examines the confiscation of property from the so-called “enemies of the people” in the city of Pirot, presenting three case studies as representative examples. Panta Veljković, a merchant from Pirot, was sentenced to one year of forced labor, the loss of civil rights for two years, and the confiscation of part of his property because he had hidden 200 kilograms of sugar in his attic and failed to report it to the competent authorities, despite being aware of the legal consequences. Svetozar Misirlić, a descendant of a prominent and respected local family, was a successful hotelier and president of the municipality. A man of imposing physique and impetuous temperament, he was one of the most controversial figures in the Pirot bazaar in the twentieth century. His name is most often associated with the linden treelined promenade along the Nišava River, but also with his extrajudicial execution by communist authorities in Pirot in September 1944. Dimitrije Mladenović – Mita Gaga, one of the most prominent citizens of Pirot in the twentieth century, was a merchant, industrialist, senator, and Member of Parliament in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He was the founder of the “Tigar” factory and the “Temac” hydroelectric power plant. Accused by the communist authorities of collaboration with the occupier during the war, he was found guilty and sentenced to death, a sentence later commuted to ten years’ imprisonment on appeal. The sentence also included the confiscation of his property, resulting in the transfer of his ownership shares in Tigar and the Temac hydroelectric power plant to the state.