The “ Politika”, 15 May 2002

Which Yugoslavia was the best

Over the last fifty years, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia has been thoroughly erased from the memory of our people.

Shortly before Easter I watched an afternoon TV show on “Politika” channel, which presented an instant poll to the question: “In which Yugoslavia people lived best?”. To my amazement, I listened a few answers, some of them I would say from intellectuals, and none of them mentioned the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which was – I hope the communist would not object – the first, free and a big country.

The answers were different and mostly mentioned communist Yugoslavia: FNRJ (Federal People’s Republic), SFRJ (Socialistic Federative Republic) and FR Yugoslavia. And the answer to why that was so, could be found in the fact that all the questionees went to school at the times of dictator communist regimes and were unfamiliar with history before 1941, for that lesson in national history they didn’t study.

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and especially King Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic (who was famous as great persecutor and exterminator of communists) were very thoroughly erased from the memory of Serbian people by Tito and his regime. However, it seems that the time has come to gradually restore those facts into people’s memory, although in a rather slow pace and disorganized manner.

On this occasion let it be mentioned that King Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic as the supreme commander of Serbian Army liberated the whole Vardar region (in today’s Macedonia) in 1912, eastern parts of Serbia in 1913 – “For Kosovo - Kumanovo, for Slivnica - Bregalnica”, and during the First World War from 1914 to 1918, all parts of (the then future) Yugoslavia that were under Austro-Hungarian rule, including, of course, Bosnia, Vojvodina, Herzegovina and Croatia. It was the First, Free and Big Yugoslavia under the Serbian crown (the others who hadn’t been a part of victorious team shouldn’t object me).

And, I would answer with no doubt in my mind to the question in which Yugoslavia life was better: “In the First one!”

Konstantin Babić,

Belgrade