I must make clear here that figure of Tito was a prominent part of my childhood, as I grew up in 1970s Yugoslavia when his portraits watched from the walls of many public institutions and we all saw him as a father figure. Because the country was young and he held unprecedented length of leadership (he was elected president for life) generations were raised (and some died,like my parents) believing in Tito as semi-God and affectionate "old man" who was very close to every man's heart. His death in 1980 deeply distressed and saddened millions who lived in Yugoslavia back than (we all remember exactly where we were on that day) because not only he was loved as a close family member but people were worried that without his country might eventually fall apart. Which is exactly what happened. I always get surprised when foreigners ask me about Tito expecting stories about tyranny or dictatorship - on the contrary, I remember the country idolising him and from contemporary TV interviews he emerges as a extremely likable grandfatherly figure.
But human nature is such that people love to torn down everything from pedestals, so in decades after his death, with country first falling down into economic crisis, than going into brutal civil war, it seems that same citizens who adored him earlier took sadistic pleasure of dragging his memory trough the mud and blaming him for everything. Listening to all these people who claim they opened Champagne bottles when he died, I wonder who were those millions of saddened faces I saw standing miles and miles as the train with his coffin passed by. Did everybody suddenly got Amnesia and forgot how country was overwhelmed with sadness? I was there and I remember.
Jovanka Broz was his wife and for decades she embodied the first lady of Yugoslavia. Generations of people loved her and watched as she slowly changed from stunning beauty by his side into mature, matronly figure always smiling and charming foreign politicians. From what I remember, she was impeccably dressed and coiffured presence on many public events (when older, she became much heavier and that bun became her trademark) and yes, as Tito was untouchable so was his wife. There were some allusions of her meddling into politics and being completely cut away from him in the last year's of Tito's life, however nobody knew "for sure" what exactly happened after his funeral. Some said she was under house arrest and for last 30+ years she was taboo and "persona non grata". Jovanka herself did not gave any interviews. Until now.
"Moj život, moja istina" (My life, my truth) is a slim volume (some 200 pages) based on interviews she gave to novelist and journalist Žarko Jokanović shortly before she died this year at the age of 89. Some parts of these interviews were published in newspapers and they were sensation, it seems people were more than curious to find out first hand experiences of someone who was almost royalty for them. Of course I was excited and purchased this book without thinking twice, though I somehow expected "poor me" perspective of its subject and Jokanović's idolising writing style. In a surprisingly dry and dour tone Broz talks with a voice of an old person, kind of voices I almost forgot from my childhood - provincial people who always asked about my family background and tried to pigeonhole everybody by where they came from. She obviously puts a great deal of importance of her own family background and almost third of the slim book is about her own roots, village and relatives. As a young, new generation born in a Croatian capitol I never cared less for these things and still don't think it really matters. For Jovanka Broz (and many of her readers) its still a big deal. So the book covers her family roots in a detail, than shortly describes WW2, very vaguely describes marriage of 28 years and than goes on about last 33 years she suffered poverty and isolation under new Serbian government. Not that she was Imelda Marcos, but she definitely lived lavish lifestyle and had everything taken away from her before she was officially placed in a house arrest.
I still don't understand why - Broz herself claims she was suspected as politically dangerous person because she knew "too much" and various fractions claimed she was either western or soviet spy. The person emerging from these pages is bitter, vindictive and obviously scarred with these experiences - on the other hand, I am aware of gleeful pleasure certain number of population felt with her circumstances and fall from grace. Maybe with time the tide will turn the other way and future generations might see her differently but as for the book itself it is a extremely short, vindictive (she calls certain politicians "pigs" and "bastards") and somewhat disappointing read full of self congratulations and claims of blamelessness.
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