Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tito's reign is a case study in the power of the cult of personality. Rocks on hill-
sides throughout Yugoslavia were rearranged to spell “TITO,” and his portrait hung
over every family's dinner table. Each of the six republics renamed one of its cities
fortheirdictator.Themainstreetandsquareinvirtuallyeverytownwererenamedfor
Tito.Eachyear,youngpeoplewouldembarkonamonths-long,Olympics-stylerelay,
from each corner of Yugoslavia, to present a ceremonial baton to Tito on his official
birthday (May 25). Tito also had vacation villas in all of Yugoslavia's most beautiful
areas, including Lake Bled, the Brijuni Islands, and the Montenegrin coast. People
sang patriotic anthems to their Druža (Comrade) Tito: “Comrade Tito, we pledge an
oath to you.”
Tito died in 1980 in a Slovenian hospital. His body went on a grand tour of the
Yugoslav capitals: Ljubljana, Zagreb, Sarajevo, and Belgrade, where he was buried
before hundreds of thousands of mourners, including more heads of state than at any
other funeral in history. At his request, his tomb was placed in the greenhouse where
he enjoyed spending time.
The genuine outpouring of grief at Tito's death might seem unusual for a man
whowas,onpaper,anauthoritariancommunistdictator.Buteventoday,manyformer
Yugoslavs—especially Slovenes and Bosniaks—believe that his iron-fisted govern-
ment was a necessary evil that kept the country strong and united. The eventual bal-
ance Tito struck between communism and capitalism, and between the competing in-
terests ofhisethnically diverse nation, ledtothisregion'smoststable andprosperous
era. In a recent poll in Slovenia, Tito had a higher approval rating than any present-
daypolitician, and80percentofSlovenessaidtheyhadapositiveimpressionofhim.
And yet, the Yugoslavs' respect for their former leader was not enough to keep
them together. Tito's death began a long, slow chain reaction that led to the end of
Yugoslavia. As the decades pass, the old joke seems more and more appropriate:
Yugoslavia had eight distinct peoples in six republics, with five languages, three re-
ligions (Orthodox Christian, Catholic, and Muslim), and two alphabets (Roman and
Cyrillic), but only one Yugoslav—Tito.
Each republic managed its own affairs, but always under the watchful eye of president-
for-life Tito, who said that the borders between the republics should be “like white lines
in a marble column.” “Brotherhood and unity” was Tito's motto, nationalism was strongly
discouraged, and Tito's tight—often oppressive—control kept the country from unraveling.
