Belgrade
A benevolent unifier or power-hungry dictator? On the 40th anniversary of his death, the legacy of the late Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito remains a subject of debate in the Balkan lands once united by his grip.
Though coronavirus restrictions put on a damper on mass gatherings Monday, small groups of faithful devotees still paid tribute at various sites honouring Tito in the countries that emerged from Yugoslavia’s bloody unravelling.
“If everything was as it should have been, now there would be a big gathering here. From Macedonia, Croatia, from the whole of ex-Yugoslavia,” lamented Vladimir Vignjevic, one of about 15 people who visited Tito’s marble grave in Belgrade, normally a site of pilgrimage for fans from the region.
Across the border in Tito’s native Croatian village of Kumrovec, sirens were set to wail at 13:05 GMT—the exact time of his passing—while supporters will lay a wreath.
“This is a modest commemoration for a great man. We will do what we can in current circumstances,” Franjo Habulin, whose anti-fascist association is organising the ceremony, told AFP.
With a mix of charisma and coercion, Tito held Yugoslavia’s diverse peoples together for almost 40 years until his death at age 87 on May 4, 1980. Without him, the federation lasted only a decade longer before fracturing along ethnic lines in a series of wars that claimed more than 130,000 lives.
Today, the Marshal’s shadow falls unevenly across the countries that still bear the scars of those conflicts. Critics highlight his jailing of political opponents.—APP
