Град и окупација – свакодневни живот Чачка 1941. године

English tite: The City and Occupation: Everyday Life in Čačak in 1941

This article analyzes everyday life in the town of Čačak during the initial phase of German occupation in 1941, focusing on the transformation of public space as a key arena of power, discipline, and social control. Drawing on archival sources, municipal regulations, police reports, and occupation orders, the study reconstructs how daily routines, movement, leisure, and social interaction were reshaped under the occupation regime.

Using concepts from the history of everyday life and the microphysics of power, the article demonstrates that occupation was enforced not only through open violence and terror, but also through subtle regulatory mechanisms embedded in ordinary practices — curfews, restrictions on gatherings, control of cafés and streets, and the symbolic reorganization of urban space. The city emerges as a laboratory of disciplinary power, where cooperation between occupiers and local authorities enabled the normalization of repression.

By situating local experience within broader debates on occupation regimes and wartime societies, the article contributes to the social history of World War II in Southeast Europe. It also forms part of a wider analytical framework developed in the author’s studies on urban modernity, political power, and everyday life in Čačak, positioning the town as a model for examining structural dynamics of occupation and social control.