Serbian workers – a shorts-wearing citizen and an always-clothed villager – pose for a German propaganda reporter at work, grinning as if working with a pneumatic drill was the most beautiful thing in the world. These boys enlisted in the National Labour Service for the Rebuilding of Serbia (Serbian equivalent of the Reich Labour Service), and got road construction jobs. The photo was part of a German report aimed at encouraging young Serbs to enlist in the (otherwise mandatory, but often evaded) labour service, presenting it as a voluntary, patriotic sport activity that brings bread and welfare. (The level of enthusiasm of the youth entering the National Service was also shown in a letter by student Božidar Petronijević, an orphan, sent to his brother Dragomir, a prisoner in Oflag VI C, on 19 August 1944: "Don't worry about me at all. As I already wrote, I passed all of the exams, finishing the seventh grade. It's a big question whether the new school year will begin. I've been enlisted in the National Service for ten days already and, as such, now I'm in the field in Kostolac. That's the way it had to be! In case the school begins, I'll be free again. It's for the best for now, I have a place to live, food and clothes, so I'm fully secured. But that's all just temporary; one never knows what might happen. The work isn't too hard." Indeed, one never knew what might happen; two months later, after the Partisans entered Belgrade, young Božidar was enlisted into the I Proletarian Brigade; two months later, he was lying dead on the Syrmian Front.)
Text: Ivan Ž.; Božidar Petronijević.
Photographer: unknown.
Date: 1943.
Location: Bor (district of Zaječar), Yugoslavia.
Original caption: "National rebuilding service in Serbia. With pneumatic drill, villagers and citizens fight together against the hard Serbian rock."
Sources: NIOD, via Beeldbank WO2, 45402; Cegesoma, 65414; ibid., 65423; Ivan Ž. (family archive); Milan Borković, Kontrarevolucija u Srbiji – Kvislinška uprava 1941–1944, Sloboda, Beograd, 1979, bk 1, pp. 332–334. (Photo restoration: Ivan Ž.)
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Srpski radnici – jedan građanin u gaćama i uvek obučeni seljak – poziraju na poslu nemačkom propagandnom reporteru, cereći se kao da je rad bušilicom najlepša stvar na svetu. Ovi momci su se prijavili u Nacionalnu službu rada za obnovu Srbije (srpski ekvivalent Radnoj službi Rajha), i dobili posao na izgradnji puteva. Fotografija je deo nemačke reportaže čiji je cilj bio da podstakne srpsku omladinu na prijavljivanje u (inače obaveznu, ali često izbegavanu) službu rada, prikazujući je kao jednu dobrovoljnu, patriotsko-sportsku aktivnost koja donosi hleb i blagostanje. (Sa kakvim je entuzijazmom omladina stupala u Nacionalnu službu pokazuje i pismo đaka Božidara Petronijevića, siročeta, koje je 19. avgusta 1944. godine poslao svom bratu Dragomiru, zarobljeniku u Oflagu VI C: "Za mene se ništa uopšte ne brini. Kao što sam ti javio, sve sam ispite položio i tako sam i sedmi razred preturio preko glave. Nova školska godina stoji pod velikim pitanjem da li će početi. Ja se već deset dana nalazim kao obveznik u Nacionalnoj službi, i kao takav sada se nalazim na terenu u Kostolcu. Tako je moralo da bude! U slučaju da škola počne biću opet slobodan. Za sada je to najbolje, a imam stan, hranu i odelo, tako da sam potpuno obezbeđen. Ali to je sve momentalno; ne zna čovek šta se sve može doživeti. Rad nije mnogo težak." Zaista, ne zna čovek šta se sve može doživeti: dva meseca kasnije, po ulasku partizana u Beograd, mladi Božidar je prijavljen u I proletersku brigadu; dva meseca kasnije ležao je mrtav na Sremskom frontu.)
Tekst: Ivan Ž.; Božidar Petronijević.
Fotograf: nepoznat.
Datum: 1943.
Mesto: Bor (srez Zaječarski), Jugoslavija.
Originalni natpis: "Nacionalna služba za obnovu u Srbiji. Seljaci i građani zajedno se bušilicom bore protiv tvrdog srpskog kamena."
Izvori: NIOD, via Beeldbank WO2, 45402; Cegesoma, 65414; ibid., 65423; Ivan Ž. (porodična arhiva); Milan Borković, Kontrarevolucija u Srbiji – Kvislinška uprava 1941–1944, Sloboda, Beograd, 1979, knj. 1, str. 332–334. (Foto-restauracija: Ivan Ž.)
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