Belgrade: History and Hot Rods
Something I was not at all prepared for before coming to Serbia was what an interesting recent history they have - and I mean recent history as in when my parents were alive and when I was alive. It was the largest part of Yugoslavia, which was a federation that included many of the Balkan nations that rose to global significance during the Cold War era and led the non-aligned movement of countries that
were neither on the US or the Soviet side. A guy named Tito led
Yugoslavia for close to 40 years, keeping the union together and the
warring sides of the Cold War at bay by sheer force of personality. Many
loved him but ultimately he was a brutal socialist leader who did not allow for
any sort of representative system of governance.
In 1980 Tito died and Yugoslavia collapsed with the various areas all claiming independence. It was the Balkan equivalent of if Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all left the United Kingdom, leaving just England on its own. Since then the former nations of Yugoslavia have struggled to improve their economies and gain global recognition. To this day depending on who you ask the breakup of Yugoslavia was either the best or the worst thing to ever happen to the Balkan region. And even those who admit that the breakup was positive or at least inevitable often comment on Serbia's insignificance in a post-Yugoslav era.
AND THEN in 1999 we bombed Belgrade. Yeah I didn't know that either and I never quite figured out why they kept some of the bombed out buildings in the middle of the city as they were (see picture above). Maybe as proof to uninformed Americans like me that had never learned or had forgotten this. NATO led by the US bombed several parts of Serbia - especially Belgrade - in response to its oppression (to include murder) of Kosovars - an ethnic Albanian majority living mostly in the south of Serbia.
Accounts vary though on the extent of the murders (which were being perpetrated by both sides) and information that has come out since suggests that far fewer Kosovars were killed than the NATO nations thought at the time. Regardless, the leader of Serbia - Slobodan Milosevic - was later convicted of war crimes and died of a heart attack in his prison cell in the Hague. To this day there is a huge banner condemning NATO and specifically Bill Clinton for the bombing on the parliament building (see picture below). While most Serbians we encountered seemed wholly uninterested in blaming any of us for the bombings one person in our group was told by an older Serbian that his son was killed by an American bomb during the '99 attack.
Finally perhaps the most important historical icon I was introduced to during my time in Belgrade was the Yugo. This was an automobile (using the term loosely here) and the only one that I found in my nonexhaustive research that was named after the political union. Like many socialist endeavors it was known for operating poorly even in its heyday. Apparently some of these gems were shipped to the US for a while and the Serbians I talked to were all convinced that it must have been the result of bribery or some other form of corruption as they couldn't believe that any American would import Yugos of their own free will.
I was even lucky enough to ride in one while I was in Belgrade. The one I got to ride in had an all orange interior complete with orange velvet seats, no side mirrors, and a paper clip for an antenna (see picture below). For an international relations nerd like me it was a blast. We went to abandoned communist strongholds, communist malls that are largely inhabited by mafia front stores, and the grave of Tito himself.
In 1980 Tito died and Yugoslavia collapsed with the various areas all claiming independence. It was the Balkan equivalent of if Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all left the United Kingdom, leaving just England on its own. Since then the former nations of Yugoslavia have struggled to improve their economies and gain global recognition. To this day depending on who you ask the breakup of Yugoslavia was either the best or the worst thing to ever happen to the Balkan region. And even those who admit that the breakup was positive or at least inevitable often comment on Serbia's insignificance in a post-Yugoslav era.
AND THEN in 1999 we bombed Belgrade. Yeah I didn't know that either and I never quite figured out why they kept some of the bombed out buildings in the middle of the city as they were (see picture above). Maybe as proof to uninformed Americans like me that had never learned or had forgotten this. NATO led by the US bombed several parts of Serbia - especially Belgrade - in response to its oppression (to include murder) of Kosovars - an ethnic Albanian majority living mostly in the south of Serbia.
Accounts vary though on the extent of the murders (which were being perpetrated by both sides) and information that has come out since suggests that far fewer Kosovars were killed than the NATO nations thought at the time. Regardless, the leader of Serbia - Slobodan Milosevic - was later convicted of war crimes and died of a heart attack in his prison cell in the Hague. To this day there is a huge banner condemning NATO and specifically Bill Clinton for the bombing on the parliament building (see picture below). While most Serbians we encountered seemed wholly uninterested in blaming any of us for the bombings one person in our group was told by an older Serbian that his son was killed by an American bomb during the '99 attack.
Finally perhaps the most important historical icon I was introduced to during my time in Belgrade was the Yugo. This was an automobile (using the term loosely here) and the only one that I found in my nonexhaustive research that was named after the political union. Like many socialist endeavors it was known for operating poorly even in its heyday. Apparently some of these gems were shipped to the US for a while and the Serbians I talked to were all convinced that it must have been the result of bribery or some other form of corruption as they couldn't believe that any American would import Yugos of their own free will.
I was even lucky enough to ride in one while I was in Belgrade. The one I got to ride in had an all orange interior complete with orange velvet seats, no side mirrors, and a paper clip for an antenna (see picture below). For an international relations nerd like me it was a blast. We went to abandoned communist strongholds, communist malls that are largely inhabited by mafia front stores, and the grave of Tito himself.
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