Anyone that knows me knows that I have a somewhat unsettling interest in wars, genocides and oppresive regimes. And if it happened during my lifetime, I am even more intrigued. So being in the former Yugoslavia was right up my alley.
A Cliff's Notes history that will attempt to simplify the complicated and overlapping history The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was created in 1946, when a communist government was established. In 1963, it was renamed again to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia included 6 republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia. Communist, socialist, whatever, it was a regime that was somewhat oppressive and discouraged nationalism. It's political center was Belgrade (in Serbia). Tito was a very admired leader (one thing I heard was that the people loved Tito even though he was a corrupt thief, but at least he gave back to the people) who died in the 80s.
In the late 80s, as we know about the era, there was growing unrest with socialism. We know that in 1989, the Berlin Wall came down and brougt with it an end to the Eastern Bloc. In 1991, Slovenia decided to withdrawal from the federation. This happened quietly, with a 10 day war that ended in Slovenia getting its independence.
Some might say that the early bird gets the worm because when Croatia decided to do the same, boy did Serbia not like this. Serbia (along witb Montenegro) attacked Croatia. After some years of fighting in the mid-90s, the outnumbered Croatians won independence. Croats are Extremely proud of this, and I pity the Croat that happens to find himself sitting alone at a bar with me. I have had the opportunity to grill several different young people about their experience with the war all over Croatia, and how they view the tensions with Serbia today.
Marin Karlovic (pronounced Maureen Karlovich, like the girl I went to high school with) is a 31 year old who lives in Zadar. When he was 12 or 13, he fled alone to live with his uncle in switzerland for 6 months. He told of how he was escaping on a bus and on their was shelling on the other side of the highway. He said thathe lived on thr 4th floor of an apartment building through most of the war and thry were constantly on edge about fighting. While not constant, there was the constant threat wihh intermittent bouts of attacks, of course on civilians in homes, schools, hospitals, etc. He said when there was thunder, they often confused it wih bombings. He told one story that made me get goosebumps. During a period of relative peace, some neighborhood children were playing basketball on the playground across from his apartment. A neighborhood dog that had a history of biting came running into thr court and the children dispersed for fear of getting bit. Not two minutes later, a grenade (or some other sort of explosive...his english wasnt that great) hit the basketball court.
It was stories like this that made me especially interested in learning more about the siege on Croatia and other former republics of Yugoslavia.
First, we did a Wall Tour of Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is a walled city on the Adriatic Sea surrounded by rolling hills. It has been walled for a very long time, since about the 13th century. The walled city was originally created to ward off pirates or other enemies that would attack from the sea. It certainly served its purpose, as we learned on one of our tours. However, when Serbia and Montenegro attacked, they simply setup shop on the hillside and bombed down into the walled city to defenseless Dubrovnik.
Mostly, the women and children left, but the men stayed to fight and defend their city. Our tour guide was born in the walled city of Dubrovnik and had some interesting stories to tell about how his father stayed in the city while he and his mother fled until the fighting subsided. There was substantial damage to Dubrovnik, however most of it has been repaired, restored and renovated.
Our next tour was to Montenegro.
Montenegro is a small hilly country (literally it means Black Mountains) that sits to the south of Croatia on the Adriatic Coast. Montenegro remained part of Greater Serbia/Yugoslavia and was part of the attack on Dubrovnik from 1991-1995. However, in 2006 there was a vote to determine if Montenegro would separate from Serbia. They needed a 55% majority in order to declare their independence. 230,661 votes (55.5%) were for independence and 185,002 votes (44.5%) were against. This slight margin resulted in Montenegro becoming an independent nation with no formal opposition from Serbia.
We had a great time on our tour to Montenegro (which wasn't truly a war tour, but I turned it into one in my head). We had an excellent tour guide. The highlight for me was when he was giving the bus instructions at our first stop and said, "Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once." To which I immediately sat up, looked at him and flicked my sunglasses up and down and said, "It is I, Le Claire." No one got the 'Allo 'Allo reference except for me and the tour guide, but it was one of the highlights of the tour for me. We putzed around some old walled towns in Montenegro and spent the afternoon in Budva, an overdeveloped seaside town that I fell in love with for the big, buff beautiful men who walked around shirtless with fanny packs. Budva is also where I tried on a bathing suit, and fell in love with it until I looked at the price tag. Designer swimwear really isnt on a backpackers budget, but I worked some of that so-called charm and got a really good deal on it.
Peggy, Nancy and I really liked the air in Budva and remember it fondly.
Our next tour was to Bosnia and Hercegovina. Again, I turned this into a war tour in my head. We had a couple stops, but the main stop was Mostar, which is a city in the Hercegovina section of B-H. It has an old bridge, a lot of Turkish and Muslim influence and we had a really great time using a hookah, having a leisurely lunch along the river and bumping into our tour guide from the Montenegro tour.
Now, Bosnia and Hercegovina's war history is a bit more complicated, so instead of boring you (because I am already depriving you of photos), I will refer you to wikipedia for a full history of Bosnia's place in the war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnia_and_Herzegovina#Bosnian_War_.281992.E2.80.931995.29)
A Cliff's Notes history that will attempt to simplify the complicated and overlapping history The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was created in 1946, when a communist government was established. In 1963, it was renamed again to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia included 6 republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia. Communist, socialist, whatever, it was a regime that was somewhat oppressive and discouraged nationalism. It's political center was Belgrade (in Serbia). Tito was a very admired leader (one thing I heard was that the people loved Tito even though he was a corrupt thief, but at least he gave back to the people) who died in the 80s.
In the late 80s, as we know about the era, there was growing unrest with socialism. We know that in 1989, the Berlin Wall came down and brougt with it an end to the Eastern Bloc. In 1991, Slovenia decided to withdrawal from the federation. This happened quietly, with a 10 day war that ended in Slovenia getting its independence.
Some might say that the early bird gets the worm because when Croatia decided to do the same, boy did Serbia not like this. Serbia (along witb Montenegro) attacked Croatia. After some years of fighting in the mid-90s, the outnumbered Croatians won independence. Croats are Extremely proud of this, and I pity the Croat that happens to find himself sitting alone at a bar with me. I have had the opportunity to grill several different young people about their experience with the war all over Croatia, and how they view the tensions with Serbia today.
Marin Karlovic (pronounced Maureen Karlovich, like the girl I went to high school with) is a 31 year old who lives in Zadar. When he was 12 or 13, he fled alone to live with his uncle in switzerland for 6 months. He told of how he was escaping on a bus and on their was shelling on the other side of the highway. He said thathe lived on thr 4th floor of an apartment building through most of the war and thry were constantly on edge about fighting. While not constant, there was the constant threat wihh intermittent bouts of attacks, of course on civilians in homes, schools, hospitals, etc. He said when there was thunder, they often confused it wih bombings. He told one story that made me get goosebumps. During a period of relative peace, some neighborhood children were playing basketball on the playground across from his apartment. A neighborhood dog that had a history of biting came running into thr court and the children dispersed for fear of getting bit. Not two minutes later, a grenade (or some other sort of explosive...his english wasnt that great) hit the basketball court.
It was stories like this that made me especially interested in learning more about the siege on Croatia and other former republics of Yugoslavia.
First, we did a Wall Tour of Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is a walled city on the Adriatic Sea surrounded by rolling hills. It has been walled for a very long time, since about the 13th century. The walled city was originally created to ward off pirates or other enemies that would attack from the sea. It certainly served its purpose, as we learned on one of our tours. However, when Serbia and Montenegro attacked, they simply setup shop on the hillside and bombed down into the walled city to defenseless Dubrovnik.
Mostly, the women and children left, but the men stayed to fight and defend their city. Our tour guide was born in the walled city of Dubrovnik and had some interesting stories to tell about how his father stayed in the city while he and his mother fled until the fighting subsided. There was substantial damage to Dubrovnik, however most of it has been repaired, restored and renovated.
Our next tour was to Montenegro.
Montenegro is a small hilly country (literally it means Black Mountains) that sits to the south of Croatia on the Adriatic Coast. Montenegro remained part of Greater Serbia/Yugoslavia and was part of the attack on Dubrovnik from 1991-1995. However, in 2006 there was a vote to determine if Montenegro would separate from Serbia. They needed a 55% majority in order to declare their independence. 230,661 votes (55.5%) were for independence and 185,002 votes (44.5%) were against. This slight margin resulted in Montenegro becoming an independent nation with no formal opposition from Serbia.
We had a great time on our tour to Montenegro (which wasn't truly a war tour, but I turned it into one in my head). We had an excellent tour guide. The highlight for me was when he was giving the bus instructions at our first stop and said, "Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once." To which I immediately sat up, looked at him and flicked my sunglasses up and down and said, "It is I, Le Claire." No one got the 'Allo 'Allo reference except for me and the tour guide, but it was one of the highlights of the tour for me. We putzed around some old walled towns in Montenegro and spent the afternoon in Budva, an overdeveloped seaside town that I fell in love with for the big, buff beautiful men who walked around shirtless with fanny packs. Budva is also where I tried on a bathing suit, and fell in love with it until I looked at the price tag. Designer swimwear really isnt on a backpackers budget, but I worked some of that so-called charm and got a really good deal on it.
Peggy, Nancy and I really liked the air in Budva and remember it fondly.
Our next tour was to Bosnia and Hercegovina. Again, I turned this into a war tour in my head. We had a couple stops, but the main stop was Mostar, which is a city in the Hercegovina section of B-H. It has an old bridge, a lot of Turkish and Muslim influence and we had a really great time using a hookah, having a leisurely lunch along the river and bumping into our tour guide from the Montenegro tour.
Now, Bosnia and Hercegovina's war history is a bit more complicated, so instead of boring you (because I am already depriving you of photos), I will refer you to wikipedia for a full history of Bosnia's place in the war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnia_and_Herzegovina#Bosnian_War_.281992.E2.80.931995.29)
After you have read "The politics of Genocide" by Herman and Peterson. come back and tell us your story. Also re Dubrovnik most of the damage in the old town was done by the Croats for political reasons. Tile roofs for example needed replacement so Croats did a nu,mber on them and UNESCO replaced all of them.
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