Remembering Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia was the most aggressive among socialist countries in using assassinations as a means of protecting the state and the communist party. Over its 45-year existence, the UDBA, the Yugoslav State Security Service, dropped at least 80 bodies of its political enemies, mostly Croats, abroad. Some with the contracted assistance of Yugoslav mobsters. And after the death of Yugoslavia, members of...

Bosnians are leaving their country in droves. Why? And what can be done about it? With Samir Beharić, Elma Hodžić, Danijela Majstorović, and Nela Porobić Isaković. Featuring music by Dubioza Kolektiv. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes two to three times per month. Shownotes: Remem...

Yugoslavia was a one-party system, and not everyone there liked it. One might get an impression Milovan Djilas was the only Yugoslav dissident. But there were thousands of Yugoslavs who criticized the regime, including Svetlana Slapšak who got involved in human rights advocacy in 1968 and has worked as an activist under Tito, Milošević, and Janša.  The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the m...

From July 2018 to January 2019, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City hosted the exhibition Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980 . The exhibition introduced socialist Yugoslavia’s architecture and architects to international audiences. It generated a ton of positive press and its impact continues to reverberate. What was Toward a Concrete Utopia and why was it such a...

In July 2020, a series of eighteen essays appeared on the Disorder of Things blog under the umbrella title, Yugosplaining the World . The project brought together 30 former Yugoslavs in the West to reflect "on what their lived experience can teach the US and other countries that are facing outbursts of nationalism, violence, and racism and help provide some avenues for addressing it or unders...

For some two decades now the 1980s have been a rich referential resource for culture-makers across ex-Yugoslavia (and globally, of course). Re-releases and reunion tours. Music echoing the ’80s sound. Documentaries. TV shows. Movies. Theater productions. Art retrospectives. Exhibitions… Now that we’ve entered the temporal territory of 40th anniversaries of this and that from the era, it’s clear th...

Do you remember that time in the early days and weeks of the pandemic when you picked up a new hobby? You baked bread. You gardened. You crocheted. You refurbished furniture. You wrote a novel. You created a podcast... Vlado Vince built a Yugoslav computer.  The little Galaksija, an 8-bit computer created by Voja Antonić that enthusiasts built themselves using instructions published in 1983 in Yug...

The Monument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija at Petrova Gora, or Peter’s Mountain, in central Croatia, belongs to the most notorious derelict Yugoslav-era monuments. In addition to a range of emotions, the Petrova Gora monument generates more questions than answers. What happened in the surrounding woods? Why build this sculpturally and architecturally exceptional behemoth on th...

Diaspora Voices is an occasional series of conversations with ex-Yugoslavs living abroad. In this, the third installment, two millennials from Croatia living and pursuing their PhD in the UK share their stories, poems, and scholarly findings of emigration.  Featuring the song "Uvelo misto" by Bobo & Saša Antić. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that...

Art, bravery, and community in the lesser known corner of the former country. Or how one Macedonian artist carries her father's legacy and brings a town together at a Yugoslav-era monument.  With Elena Chemerska, Vladimir Martinovski, Martin Milev, and Natalija Teodosijeva. Featuring songs by Bernays Propaganda, Martix, and The John & Space Rebel Gang. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast e...

On February 19th, 2015, Clemente Padín, the elder statesman of Uruguayan art, replied to an email from his compatriot and young artist Francisco Tomsich with a fateful attachment: a list of email and postal addresses of six Yugoslav mail artists. These were some of the people with whom Padín had corresponded in the 1970s and 80s and 90s as part of a mail art network. Padín’s list launched Tomsich...

The top scholar of Yugonostalgia, professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Ljubljana, and ex-Yugoslav National Army cook, Mitja Velikonja, discusses his military service, the good and the bad of Yugoslavia and Slovenia, the evolution of Titostalgia, political graffiti in Central/Eastern Europe...and a lot more. Featuring the songs "Vjeran pas" by Slobodná Európa "Lugje od...

Graffiti dating back to the 1940s survive on walls of towns and villages from Ljubljana to the Istrian peninsula. Who wrote them and why? How did they make it this long? Helena Konda and Eric Ušić, who research these slogans, discuss the creation, meaning, and persistence of the 1940s graffiti. With Helena Konda and Eric Ušić. Featuring songs by Dem Crew, Soundcheck Regaz, and Eric Ušić. The Remem...

Across former Yugoslavia and beyond, songs of the Partisan struggle, resistance, and revolution reverberate anew in the public square. Why is that? And who’s that singing over there? Four activist choirs tell their origin stories, explain how they re-purpose the legacy of past antifascist struggles, and, yes, sing. Featuring (excerpts of) the songs "Pesem upora," "El Pueblo Unido,&q...

Artists have used Yugoslav World War II monuments as elements in their works to criticize official policies or inaction. In the process of performing such artistic interventions, these artists have created contemporary monuments. Three such artists, Siniša Labrović (Croatia), Elena Čemerska (North Macedonia), and D.A. Calf (Australia) discuss their interventions. Featuring the songs "Termopil...

In this installment of Diaspora Voices, an occasional series of conversations with ex-Yugoslavs living abroad, three people on three different continents—Australia (Parramatta, NSW), North America (Vancouver, BC), and Europe (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)—share stories of their journeys to and through life in diaspora. Home, identity, nationalism, family, love...and that disappeared country that con...

How and when did the world's fascination with Yugoslav socialist monuments begin? Who started the fire and who is stoking it? Photographers Jan Kempenaers (Belgium) and Jonk (France) share their work on spomenici , sources of their inspiration, and views on the monuments' social media notoriety. Featuring the song "Spomenik" by Lepša Brena (Serbia). Graffiti, abandoned places,...

More than a generation after Tito’s death, biographies of the Yugoslav statesman keep appearing apace. Why is that? What else is there to say about Tito, his life, and his legacy? And how do all these books on the same subject of historical record differ? Three authors of biographies of Josip Broz Tito published since 2000—Ivo Goldstein, Jože Pirjevec, and Geoffrey Swain—discuss their motivations...

Historian Jelena Djureinović parses the trajectory and the many facets of historical revisionism in Serbia.  Assorted presidents, collaborators, and royals also make an appearance. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes two to four times per month. Detailed show notes: RememberingYugoslavia.com/P...

Travel writing about former Yugoslavia exploded in the 1990s as the country disintegrated in violence. The lessons the author of the first such account, Brian Hall, learned when he traveled through then-Yugoslavia in 1991 resonate today more than ever. Marija Krivokapić from the University of Montenegro helps place Brian’s book and those about Montenegro in the context of travel writing as a genre...

Two photographers born in former Yugoslavia and living abroad, Olja Triaška Stefanović (Novi Sad, Serbia / Bratislava, Slovakia) and Dragana Jurišić (Slavonski Brod, Croatia / Dublin, Ireland) have (re)claimed the memory of their disappeared homeland through their art. Their photographs speak of searching, deep loss, fragmentary memory, and, in a way, closure.  Bogdan Bogdanović, Rebecca West, and...

...or New Yugoslavism in Contemporary Popular Music in Former Yugoslavia Parallel to Yugonostalgic enjoyment of Yugoslav-era music across the region, another related musical phenomenon emerged in the 1990s: original music glorifying Yugoslavia. In this episode of Remembering Yugoslavia: the music of New Yugoslavism. Thanks to the generosity of their creators, performers, and record labels, the epi...

... or A Field Report from the Days of AVNOJ Every last Saturday in November, several thousand people from all across former Yugoslavia gather in Jajce for Days of AVNOJ, an official celebration of Yugoslavia's founding at the Second Session of the Antifašističko vijeće narodnog oslobođenja Jugoslavije (Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia) which took place there on...

...or 25 Years of the Dayton Peace Accords What has Dayton wrought and where do we go from here? Bosnian policy analysts and activists Gorana Mlinarević and Nela Porobić Isaković bring a feminist perspective to discuss the reality and legacy of the Dayton Peace Accords after a quarter century of implementation. Milan Lajčák, Miss Bosnia, and JFK also make an appearance. The Remembering Yugoslavia...

A Serbian and a North Macedonian graphic designer discuss Yugoslavian design as an inspiration for their work. A legendary Yugoslav designer, Donald Niebyl, and Alexander the Great also make an appearance. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes two to four times per month. Detailed show notes: Re...