Zemun - Administration

Administration

The municipality of Zemun became part of the Belgrade City Area (Teritorija grada Beograda) with the division of Yugoslavia into banovinas by king Alexander I on October 3, 1929. On April 1, 1934, municipality itself was absorbed into the municipality of Belgrade, so the post of the president of the municipality of Zemun was abolished and "Zemun section administrator" was appointed to the Belgrade's city government.
In 1941-44 it was occupied by the German army as the Okupationsgebiet Ostsyrmien. Germany technically recognised Zemun and surroundings as part of the Independent State of Croatia puppet regime but Zemun remained under direct German rule.
After 1945 Zemun was administratively divided into the City of Zemun and Zemun district (srez), unlike rest of Belgrade which was divided into raions. In 1955 both City of Zemun and most of the Zemun district were incorporated into Belgrade again. In 1950s and 1960s, municipalities of Boljevci and Dobanovci were annexed to the municipality of Surčin while Batajnica was annexed to Zemun itself. In 1965 Surčin was annexed to the municipality of Zemun which marked the largest territorial expansion of Zemun (438 km²). However, on November 24, 2003 Belgrade City assembly voted to re-create the municipality of Surčin, but it remained under the administration of Zemun until November 3, 2004, when separate municipal government was established after the local elections. A motion for Batajnica to split from Zemun too was active for a while in early 2000s (see List of former and proposed municipalities of Belgrade).

Presidents of the municipality:

• October 3, 1929 - June 20, 1930; Petar S. Marković
• June 20, 1930 - December 8, 1931; Svetislav Popović
• December 9, 1931 - March 31, 1934; Miloš Đorić

Administrator of the Zemun section

• 1934 - April 12, 1941; Nikola Folger

German mayors:

• April 13, 1941 - July 1941; Johannes Moser (d. 1980)
• July 1941 - December 1941; Stefan Seifert
• December 1941 - October 1944; Johannes Moser (2nd time)

Partisan military administrator:

• October 22, 1944 - October 26, 1944; Milan Žeželj (1917–95)

Presidents of the municipal assembly:

• October 26, 1944 - July 8, 1945; Ljubomir Milovanović
• July 8, 1945–1947; Dimitrije Anokić
• 1947 - 1949; Milenko Jovanović
• 1949 - 1950; Božidar Tomić (b. 1914)
• 1950; Lazar Popov (acting)
• 1950 - 1955; Stojan Svilarić (b. 1920)
• 1955 - 1958; Branko Pešić (1922–86)
• 1958 - 1962; Aleksandar S. Jovanović
• 1962 - 1967; Čedomir Jovićević
• 1967 - 1971; Svetozar Papić
• 1971 - 1973; Radojko Filipović
• 1973 - 1974; Pavle Ilić (acting)
• 1974 - 1978; Branko S. Radivojević (b. 1932)
• 1978 - 1982; Ilija Kragović
• 1982 - 1986; Novak Rodić
• 1986 - 1989; Petar Stolica
• 1989; Dobrivoje Perović
• 1989 - 1992; Živko Davidović (b. 1935)
• 1992 - December 1996; Nenad Ribar
• December 1996 - April 1998; Vojislav Šešelj (b. 1954)
• April 1998 - October 17, 2000; Stevo Dragišić (b. 1971)
• October 17, 2000 - November 4, 2004; Vladan Janićijević (b. 1934)

Presidents of the municipality:

• November 4, 2004 – June 4, 2008; Gordana Pop-Lazić (b. 1956)
• June 4, 2008 – March 5, 2009 Slavko Jerković
• March 5, 2009 – July 23, 2009 Zdravko Stanković (acting)
• July 23, 2009 – present; Branislav Prostran (b. 1976)

There is a popular local rivalry between inhabitants of Zemun and Belgrade going on for decades, especially among youth. In general, local population consider Zemun still a separate, and more advanced and cultural city and point out they were born in Zemun rather than Belgrade, while Belgraders consider Zemun an outer suburb of Belgrade.