Macedonia and Croatia: Former Socialist Leader Tito Enjoys Popularity in Former Yugoslavia
BalkanTravellers.com
The movies “The Truth about Tito,” “The Battle at Neretva,” “Valter Guards Sarajevo” and “The Landing at Drvar” are just part of the feature film and documentary titles that are constantly being shown on television in the former Yugoslav countries and getting record ratings, although they were filmed more than three to four decades ago, the Macedonian Utrinski Vesnik newspaper reported today.
According to sociologists, cited by the publication, the films about Tito get record viewings because of the heavy economic situation and the difficult transition to democracy, in which all the former Yugo-republics have found themselves.
Due to the long transition period, the high levels of unemployment and poverty, the values of humanitarianism, respect and support have been largely forgotten, social worker Dushko Minovski told the publication. “The individual and the family need an idol, a personality with which they can identify. In this case, it is not just about Tito as a figure, but as a reminder of the “old times” when life was better,” Minovski explained.
A new television series about Tito on Croatian television – which aims to show not just curious parts of his life, but also portray him as a leader, criminal and a ruthless individual, has seen record ratings.
“The series is excellent and I follow it with pleasure. And not just it, but all the films and documentary series [about Tito] that are shown on our television stations,” Mitko Nedanovski of the Veterans’ Association in Croatia told the publication. According to him, although the communist times had negative aspects, life was better then, and this is why people today sit in front of the TV and return to other times.
“People are probably reminded with nostalgia about these times when there was social justice, when there was places to take grievances to and when the institutions functioned,” Nedanovski added.
“We have started screening anti-fascist and partisan films that were the most viewed in former Yugoslavia, because they show historical facts that newer generations don’t know at all or enough,” Igor Murgovski from the Macedonian television Sitel told the publication. “Initially, we bought only a few films but then, when we saw how big the interest was, we bought more,” he added.
The popularity of films about Tito is just the latest testament of the wave of nostalgia for socialist times that has swept over the former Yugoslav countries in recent years. Other indications of the wave include: a themed restaurant serving specialties from the former Yugoslav republics that opened in Skopje last fall; Bosnia and Herzegovina's citizens' nostalgia for the Yugoslav brand of socialism; and Croatia’s capital's split in 2008 over the name of one of its central squares, called after Tito.
Epicure
Bulgaria
Shopska Salad: Three common mistakes
To Bulgarians, Shopska salad is a bit like the scrambled eggs case – while it looks as if there is no way to screw the dish, in fact its proper preparation requires nothing less then utter care and devotion. In this case – in selecting the right products and adjusting the proportions. Full Story
Curiosity Chest
Balkans
The Red and White Strings that Welcome Spring in Bulgaria and Romania
I remember walking along Canal Street in New York’s Chinatown on March 2 a few years ago, when I saw a man sporting a small ornament made of red and white thread pinned to his coat lapel. He must be Bulgarian, I thought to myself with a sudden rush of homesickness, but now realize that he may have been Romanian as well.
Full Story
Useful Reads
Bulgaria
Street without a Name: Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria (2008) | By Kapka Kassabova
Danube blues
Text by Nicholas Lezard for The Guardian*
Full Story
Music
Bulgaria
The Choir that Turned England a Bit Bulgarian
One of the few constant sources of pride for Bulgarians is traditional folk music, and especially singing. But not the Oriental-beats-modified kind that often booms in nightclubs, giving their clientele the urge to jump atop tables and chairs and sway their hips around; rather the kind that, when heard, mesmerises you and gives you goose bumps, the kind that is haunting with its out-of-this universe quality, mostly figuratively but sometimes literally as well.
Full Story
-
Photogalleries
-
A Perfect Shot
Koprivshtitsa Fair, Bulgara. Photographs by Neva Micheva
In Homo Urbanus Europeanus, exhibited May 9-24 in front of the National Theatre in Sofia, Jean-Marc Caracci presents his photographs of people in the urban environment of European capitals.
RED&WHITE SOFIA. On the 1st of March Bulgarians say goodbye to the winter. They buy each other red&white threads to carry around until they see a stork and spring can begin. Photography by Lode Desmet
BULGARIA D'OR: The Bulgarian countryside, patinated with the noble golden dust of the autumn. Photographs by Lode Desmet
360 degrees Bulgaria, an exhibition by photographer Alexandar Ivanov, is on display at the Sea Garden in Varna until August 28. It will be shown at Plovdiv’s Central Square from Sept 5.
The exhibition Photographs of a Trip Through Bulgaria by Hungarian photographer András Balla can be seen in Sofia's Hungarian Cultural Institute, at Aksakov 16 Street, until August 22
Instant Spring in Sofia | Photographs by Lode Desmet
Off-the-season Beauty of Bulgaria's Black Sea Coast | Photographs by Adelina Iliev
Bulgaria's Northern Black Sea Coast
Photographs by Albena Shkodrova
excellent smugs
