TITO. THE MAN WHO WAS YUGOSLAVIA

1991 marks the beginning of the Yugoslav wars between ethnic groups that were once all part of Yugoslavia. More than 200,000 people died in years of bloody clashes over territory and “ethnic cleanliness“ and over a million left their homes. How could this happen?

In world history and politics, there is not just one truth. But one thing is undisputed: Josip Broz – “Tito” – was a man who had steered the destiny of the multi-ethnic state of Yugoslavia since the end of the Second World War and united its different ethnic groups until his death in 1980.

The series resembles a journey of discovery and makes use of a collective “we”-perspective – composed by a diverse group of contributors, mostly ex-Yugoslavs, among them political scientist Dejan Jović, performance artist Marina Abramović, historian and biographer Jože Pirjevec, film director Rajko Grlić, as well as time witnesses like the former partisan Ivan Mišković or the son of Tito’s closest confidant Aleksandar Ranković: Slobodan Ranković.

All contributors are driven by the question of who this man, Tito, really was. This man who has deeply impacted their lives and identities; who was once a partisan leader who took on Hitler; who broke away from his political mentor Joseph Stalin and helped Yugoslavia to achieve its very own position within the conflict between the bloc states; who over the ye­ars became a dictator who lost sight of the welfare of his people – and who, after all, many people today are deeply nostalgic about.

With a mixture of extensive archive material, and both personal remembrance and expert analyses, the series delves into the eventful life of a man who knew how to glorify himself, and punches holes in the façade that Tito used to skillfully maintain.

By examining the figure of Tito within a unique historical setting – from the First World War to the Cold War – the series also reveals the mechanics of his authoritarian rule and and his becoming one with Yugoslavia.

Photo: LOOKSfilm/Bianca Domula/Muzej Jugoslavije/AI-assisted