Pioneer City in Belgrade. Legitimate Oblivion or Non-Culture of Remembering

Abstract

How do you manage youth social life in a proactive, positive way; how do you organize children’s free time; how do you enrich the cultural offer and educate kids from poor families; how do you help them overcome health issues; how do you teach them to be responsible citizens; how do you disguise social differences and is such a comprehensive project economically viable? An answer to these questions was given through an example of similar practice in former Yugoslavia, through a specific and complex project named Pioneer City in Belgrade, built in the last century. Yet, a response to the query why it was essential to have such a project is even more complicated and really hard to explain to the present generations of youngsters. Pioneer City used to be Belgrade’s independent educational institution where primary school children from the city and other parts of the country would spend their free time. An active vacation in Pioneer City aimed at filling pioneers’ free time with educational, cultural and entertaining contents so that children would not stray from the right way but rather choose the path of developing (communist) consciousness. The goal, as in every organization in charge of upbringing, was directed towards successful development/cultivation and life in accordance with social norms (Duda 2015:12-22).