Lies and lessons from the 1970's

I've always had a fascination for the former Yugolslavia. During the late 1970's I studied Business Studies at Portsmouth Polytechnic. For Part 2 of the degree course there were various options from which to choose. I chose Marketing and The Sociology of Industrial Relations, both fascinating subjects.
The Sociology option included studying Yugolslavia and the regime of Josip Broz, commonly known as Tito, the communist dictator who dominated the now emergent Balkan States of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosova and North Macedonia. Tito was held up to be a great example of how to lead a controlled economy and how to unify disparate ethnic groups. His internationalism and rejection of Soviet style communism was lauded on the international political stage. He became a hero to me and my fellow students.
The events following the break up of Yugolslavia with its widespread ethnic cleansing, the use of rape as a weapon of war and the truth about Tito's oppressive regime which had more political prisoners than anywhere else in Eastern Europe (Russia excepted), all give the lie to what I studied. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
What have all these pictures got to do with all this? Well, as it happens the closest beach to where we are staying is called Kupari. This resort was off limits to ordinary citizens in Tito's time. It developed around the Grand Hotel, built in the 1920's.



In the 1960's 4 concrete hotels with luxurious amenities were added, exclusively for the Serbian dominated JNA (Yugoslav National Army) and its officer core who were also members of the Communist Party. Here is the swimming pool...
One of the many bars ... 
Inner courtyard ... 
Marble lined staircases... 
Table tennis tables... 
Beach bars ... 
Experimental concrete construction ... 
Beautiful balconies... 
All now in fascinating ruins, testament to the rotten regime which purported to be such a wonderful example to the world. This is how it was in 1984.
How was it all reduced to this looted, bombed, pock marked scene from a disaster movie? 


Well, during the 1991-2 siege of Dubrovnik the JNA used this resort as a base. When they were defeated and forced to retreat they weren't going to let anyone else use their precious luxurious holiday complex! So they looted it, used phosphorous bombs to destroy every floor of every building and then used it for target practice.
Several developers have expressed interest but the ruins are just too far gone.
I found it all fascinating and loved wandering through the ruins, reflecting on the realities of my studies in the 1970's.



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