the government of Milan Nedić: Tanasije-Tasa Dinić, Đura Dokić and Velibor Jonić. Despite other plans, Ada was a prison from 1928 to 1954 and was nicknamed the "Little Serbian Alcatraz". It was established on the notion of the king Alexander I of Yugoslavia and the prisoners include Milovan Đilas, Moša Pijade and Borislav Pekić. In 1947, a public swimming pool was built behind the premises of the "Crvena Zvezda" rowing club. Known as the "Sever pool" (Severov bazen), it became quite popular as it was one of the rare such venues in Belgrade in those days. Many swimmers held preparations for the Olympic games in it. In the 1950s, as part of the Youth work actions, the filling of the bank on the swampy island was organized, which in total employed some 15,000 youth workers. In 1957 city government decided to put in order the neglected, feral island. The beach was gradually prolonged as the overgrowth and trees were cut and cleared, under the strict control by the experts from the University of Belgrade Forestry Faculty. Works on transforming the island began in 1960. That year, the army constructed a temporary, pontoon bridge to connect the island with the mainland. This prompted opening of numerous beach baths on the island: first was Partizan, followed by Grafičar, Zvezda, Beograd and others, including many unregulated. This marked the end of beach locations on the opposite side of the river, as they all were closed in the next several years. By September 1961 an embankment on the outer side of the island was finished. It is long, wide at the crown and prevented the Sava to flood the island every spring, like it used to do. Already at the time, Ada was the largest and the most visited swimming and excursion site. The military removed the pontoon bridge in 1966, and transferred it to the Great War Island. This was when the filling of the permanent embankment which was to connect Ada with the mainland began. , engineer and a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts suggested the dual solution for Ada, as both the source of the drinking water and a sports and recreation center. His plan was conducted by 1967 when Ada was connected to the mainland on both the north and south tips, and the Sava Lake and the settling basin Taložnik. In the 1968 season, the