Posted on 12/29/2007 2:17:31 PM PST by joan
As Slovenia prepares to take on the presidency of the European Union growing numbers of Slovenes are yearning for the old Yugoslavia.
The phenomenon of Jugonostalgija has come to Slovenia despite the country's successful entry to the euro, the first of the new EU countries to join, and after 17 years of independence.
Slovenia is hailed as a great Balkan success story and a glowing EU example for the other countries of the former Communist Yugoslavia that collapsed amid civil war in the 1990s.
But many Slovenes look back longingly with "Yugo-nostalgia" to the days before EU membership.
Marco Sporar, a 21-year-old business student who studies in the capital Ljubljana, said he understood why posters of Yugoslavia's founding leader and Second World War hero Marshal Josip Broz Tito are appearing again on the walls of many Slovene homes.
"I have a picture of Tito at home, my mother worships him," he said. "It was easier to get a job then, now everything is about money."
Doubts remain about whether the EU will bring Balkans countries, such as Slovenia and Serbia, together or heal the wounds of past conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.
"The EU is not united like Yugoslavia. Then every country, under Tito, had a voice. In the EU the biggest countries have the biggest say," said Mr Sporar.
Drinking mulled wine at a Christmas street stall, Jernej Bricelj also hailed Tito as the man who bound Yugoslavia together before his creation was torn apart by ethnic conflict a decade after his death.
"He was the only guy who could join so many nations, he was great," said the 29-year-old sales manager for an American telecoms company.
"We got more out of Yugoslavia than the Austro-Hungarian Empire and I am not convinced we will get as much out of the EU."
For others, such as Sandra Piskur, who was five years old when Yugoslavia collapsed, it is more about a nostalgia for cheesy music and the days when a family summer holiday in Croatia did not mean border checkpoints and security.
"I grew up with the old songs when we went on holiday, before Croatia became a different country with a new frontier," said the 21-year-old student.
"Many of the songs were romantic and national folk songs. I know all the lyrics and I like to sing them. I think young people are nostalgic with happy memories of the old days."
Slovenia was a poor and neglected province of Austria before Yugoslavia existed.
And now it is a richer and more lauded republic since Yugoslavia ceased to exist.
Like we didn't know this would happen.
It's sad to see my husbands ancestors country yearn for communism.
Just goes to show, there are many who would gladly trade freedom for stability.
That's true. But wasn't there also a lot of separatist agitation and even some terrorism by the Slovenes against the Austrian government?
I think individuals were probably more free under the Austro-Hungarian Empire than they are now. And certainly more so than under the Communist regime.
You wrote:
“Just goes to show, there are many who would gladly trade freedom for stability.”
Got that right! Look at the Russians who look back at Stalin and actually miss the man! They’re nuts.
Either tragically naive or ignorant of Tito’s wartime and post war atrocities ,eg Kocevski Rog, these persons seem to have adopted a western egocentric view of their country and their history.
I served on a deployment with the US Army in Slovenia a few years ago and they seemed to love their Independence. In fact, I met the President of Slovenia while training their troops how to fight. Great people, great country. This is just a communist bias writer.
But these are the civilians not the army. They prefer a different more cultural and easy going lifestyle than the regimented, obedient type of army men.
Just being picky. You should feel free to ignore this post.
after the first sentence. Interesting history, his great grandfather would have been an Austro-Hungarian subject (citizen?). Such things are 'cool,' when people in recent history were part of countries which only ceased to exist recently after existing for centuries.
you wrote:
“But these are the civilians not the army. They prefer a different more cultural and easy going lifestyle than the regimented, obedient type of army men.”
More cultural and easy going lifestyle under communist thugs?
Communist culture is anti-life, anti-freedom, degrades the human spirit, and almost denies the existence of human initiative to succeed. And easy going lifestyle? You mean “Doing little and getting enough without having to pay much or caring about consequences”. That’s called laziness. Look at what the “more cultured” and “easy going lifestyles” did for the Eastern Bloc to prepare them for the 21st century. NOTHING.
I’ve asked hubby’s Mom about the family’s history and it does get confusing, to say the least.
But that’s why they miss Stalin! That’s exactly my point. Some Russians actually wish they had Stalin back because then there was only one uncertainty in life - would you be picked up by the KGB that day? If you stayed a supporter of the Soviet system, you life was essentially set. You would never have much if you were an average nobody, but you would have food (bread, cabbage and not much else), shelter (cramped apartment sharing a bathroom and kitchen with others!), and a job (a complete sham most likely where you did little, achieved nothing and got paid anyway).
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Note that one of the interviewees used "country" even when referencing Slovenia as a part of Yugoslavia.
That said, you could canvas any city in California and find people nostalgic for the days of mexican rule...while the sympathies are probably legitimate, I doubt they are close to a significant minority of the population.
The Slovene military kicked Yugoslav (read Serbian) butt in 1991 when the latter tried to reimpose rule by Belgrade. The Slovene Republic soon became the most prosperous and proudly independent of all the former `republics’ of the former Franken-slavia state.
I heard the same communist nostalgia cr@p in Uzbekistan when deployed there 2003-04. From the young people with no adult memories of the USSR. “It’s all about money now” carped one young Uzbek woman to me as she proclaimed her admiration for Stalin!
This piece is worthless. Slovenes are for liberty!
(full disclosure- my grandfather was Slovenian. Must be in my blood.)
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