The Confession That Never Was

Continued from Mein Abkommen – Part I

Sometimes I remember him vividly. It’s a strange sensation. I always wanted to be his friend. Some even say we shared a similar aesthetic sense. I considered him, you know, not exactly an idol…

Grandpa looked into his granddaughter’s eyes.

– We never should idolize anyone, my dear. Anyone! You have to learn this. It’s important.

Suddenly his eyes darkened for a moment.

I considered him someone who trully benefited Croatia and us Croats, someone who brought us Croats to the right side of history after all. Josip Broz Tito was, as Krleža said, the most successful Croatian politician of his time. That is for sure.

He directed his gaze back to the window again and sighed almost imperceptibly. – I don’t hold a grudge against Tito.

It wasn’t really him who sent me to prison, neither the first nor the second time. It was the “Aparat” we all built. And when he found out – he didn’t intervene directly. I can respect that as a leader. The first time, my sentence was reduced from two years to nine months. I believe it was him somehow. I didn’t ask. Didn’t beg. I think he respected that.

Later, I learned he said “Tuđmanu ne pakovati” – “Don’t frame Tuđman”.  The second time, they reduced my sentence as well. He was already dead, but I think he left some kind of testament behind. I think he knew I was like him. Someone he recognized as a true Croatian leader.

Slobo – he still wasn’t that important in those days, you know. Heheh – little Slobo. He was doing some banking daredevilry to keep a Yugoslav bank, Beobanka, afloat. A smart cookie, I must say. He did some nasty things later to his mentor, Ivan Stambolić – but who didn’t play dirty in the world of politics.

I think we both knew, I before him, that communism couldn’t survive much longer in Europe, and that Yugoslavia – that country Tito made – would and should necessarily be destroyed. You know, we Croats are a “državotvorni narod” – we are a state-building nation. Country makers. If you distract our people and make them forget that they are Croats first, they will create Yugoslavia. And then what? Me? If I wanted, I could have been the next Tito, but I wanted to be the Father of the Independent Croatian State.

And Slobo? As soon as he felt the real energy of the Serbian people and the strength of Serbia’s deep mythos, he knew that Serbia and Croatia had to be two different countries. Then his speeches changed. I could even find the exact moment.

Serbs have a strong mythical background and even their own Serbian Church –  they call themselves “Nebeski Narod” – The Celestial Nation. That is strong. They lost the “Battle of Kosovo” against the Ottomans, but they mixed everything there – even their Prince Lazar, who died in the battle, became a kind of Christ-like martyr. He chose the Heavenly Kingdom instead of victory on Earth.  And they say they didn’t lose – they were betrayed. So they are always invincible. All that is very strong. Slobo felt it.

We Croats have a motto: “Bog i Hrvati” – “God and the Croats”. As we don’t have our own religion, pardon, a Church of our own – we are Catholics, and the other Catholics could hardly approve of such a motto. Probably blasphemous to some, eh?

Again, he turned to his granddaughter, this time with a smile. He touched the little gold cross hanging from her necklace.

– It’s great that you can profess our Catholic faith in our own Croatian way, dear.

She nodded, smiling back, even though she wasn’t sure what he meant.

– Heheh. The Serbs have an advantage there. Their saints are former kings or princes,  patriarchs and national heroes, Lazar, for example. Or, who knows, one day Slobo himself.

Slobo knew he had the keys to Yugoslavia, so to speak. It’s quite ironic that fate brought us together at that particular resort in Karađorđevo – a place Tito had been very fond of. Somehow, Slobo wanted to portray himself as a new Tito – but a better one for the Serbs, of course.

He had the support of the Yugoslav Army’s High Command. The “Aparat” we built had at its disposal this massive Yugoslav Army – the fourth largest in Europe at that time. Fifty long years of producing heavy weapons and ammunition, hundreds of thousands of professional officers, millions of reservists, and almost all the men in the country completed at least a year of compulsory military service. The Army was called “Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija” – the “Yugoslav People’s Army” – for a reason.

The real danger to an independent Croatia was Slobodan Milosevic deciding to preserve Yugoslavia within its existing borders by using the Yugoslav Army. As I told you before, we Croats build states, and fortunately for us, Slobo destroys them. We needed him to destroy Yugoslavia. Him to choose the “Greater Serbia” option, so we could build an Independent Croatia.

End of Part II

Continue to Mein Abkommen – Part III