Category Archives: Croatia

From Coca Cola Communism to Anarchy

2025 Cruise up the Danube River, Croatia, Extremism, History, Modern History, Pluralism

 

A Proud Croatian in Vukovar

At the end of World War II, communism was ushered in to Yugoslavia by the Russians. This was no favor.  Josip Broz Tito, commonly called Tito led the country as a communist prime minister from 1944 to 1963, and as president from1953 until his death in 1980. Of all the countries under the Soviet umbrella his regime was by far the least intrusive and most gentle. Some called his type of communism Coca Cola Communism.

 

To the amazement of many, Tito boldly declared Yugoslavia independent from the Soviet Union.  The people of Yugoslavia loved it. People around the world loved it, Celebrities from around the world, like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton came to visit him. Russia was not so keen, but to the surprise of many, it tolerated Tito.

Yugoslavia under the communist regime had been a federal regime, like Canada. It was designed to allow different groups from different regions to live together in relative harmony.  While he was alive it worked quite well. After Tito died things fell apart and as the poet W.B. Yeats said, “Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold.” That is exactly what happened.

After the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Empire the leaders of Slovenia, Croatia, (under its first President Franjo Tudjman) and Macedonia were persuaded that they should annul their federal ties and instead each declared independence after a referendum that clearly indicated the people favored separation. The same thing of course, could happen in Canada or the United States, and in fact, there have been some recent rumblings of discontent with the federal system in both countries.  That is why for Canada and the US Yugoslavia is so important.  We should learn from it, but so far there are few signs that we will do that, or even try to do that.

Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991. The Croatian Parliament officially announced the separation, following a referendum held in May 1991 where over 90% of voters favored independence. That should have been simple right? Wrong! It was actually very complicated by the awkward fact that Croatia had large ethnic minorities of Serbians who feared that they would be forever after dominated by the Croats. And the neighboring Serbian state who was dominating Yugoslavia after Tito died, saw themselves as the saviors of their fellow Serbs in Croatia.

 

The Serbs did not take kindly to this rejection of the state they dominated, citing traditional ties and the need to protect Serb minorities in these states. As a result, not just war, but wars, broke out.

 

One might have thought that in modern times with the advent of civilization, things would be more civilized and less bloody.  If one thought that one would be wrong.

 

Tito was a powerful and charismatic leader who amazingly managed to weld together the various ethnic groups of the country that otherwise found it all too easy to attack each other. However, as soon as he died in 1980, the ties that bound these ethnic groups began to fray. As Adam Michnik once said, “the worst thing about Communism is what comes after.”  There is at least a sad grain of truth in this remark.

 

With the collapse of the communist state of Yugoslavia, a number of states that had been held together by the iron fist and charisma of its long standing-leader, Tito, broke off like pieces of glass from a broken window.  With that breakdown the rule of law, such as it was under Tito, evaporated.  Anarchy soon prevailed. When states collapse, they rarely do that in an orderly fashion.

 

This is even more remarkable because Yugoslavia was generally considered the most liberal of all of the Communist regimes. Why did it collapse into such bloody anarchy while Czechoslovakia did not in 1989?

 

No treaty, no law governed what would happen when Yugoslavia broke apart.  It was thus even more fractious than the splintering of Mennonite churches, if that is possible. The basic problem was that the Imperial power, Soviet Russia disappeared, leaving a terrible vacuum behind.

As usually happens, the void was filled by the worst.

A Silly thing in the Balkans

2025 Cruise up the Danube River, Croatia, Hate

 

 

In the late 19th century, Otto von Bismarck, the great German statesman and first Chancellor of Germany predicted “If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans.” And that is exactly what happened in 1914. And it was silly. But deadly serious.

 

All hell broke loose in Europe in 1914 when the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.  For some unfathomable reason this precipitated an incredible melee that goes by the name of World War I or, even less aptly, The Great War. This initiated the Austro-Hungarian empire of the Habsburgs to dissolve, as for some mad and entirely irrational reasons, most of the countries of Europe and even Canada and the United States were drawn into this absurd conflict between disintegrating European empires. If any war showed how thin the veneer of European civilization was, this was it. One of the enduring legacies of Europe, like it or not, is frequent absurd wars.

 

 

World War I never really ended until the state of Yugoslavia, such as it was, got drawn into another European conflict, World War II in 1939. At first the country supported the Nazis, but later it was invaded by them.  Once again Hitler was not afraid to turn on his former allies, sort of like the current leader of the United States, who does so but of course, less violently.   The resistance to the Nazis was led by a communist, Marshall Tito who later became world famous when he became the leader of the Communist Party and the country.  During this time as well, there were bloody conflicts between various factions in the country, breeding hatreds which have not completely dimmed nor have they been forgotten to this day.

 

Hatred has a long life in the Balkans. Empathy, sadly, seems to have a much shorter shelf life.

Ilok Castle, Croatia

2025 Cruise up the Danube River, castle, Croatia

 

After sampling the wines, we returned to the boat. Although I did not have enough time to see the village, I did manage to sneak outside for a very brief view of Ilok Castle, or as some called it, the Odescalchi Castle. It is an impressive on a hill in the middle of town  built on the foundations of the castle of King Nikola Iločki from the 15th century . I managed to take a few photos of it.

 

The castle was built in the 15th century by Nicholas of Ilok a Croatian viceroy and king of Bosnia. We did not visit Bosnia-Herzegovina this year, which I did see the last time we were in the Balkans. It is another of those states that was created when Yugoslavia disintegrated and needless to say, a lots of serious warfare happened there. Many lives were lost in those battles.

The Ottoman Turks conquered Ilok in the 16th century but the Austrian Hungarians recaptured it in the Battle of Vienna in 1683. As a result, the grateful Emperor Leopold I granted the castle to Livio Odescalchi, the nephew of Pope Innocent XI who was also a member of the powerful Odescalchi family. That family reconstructed the castle in the Baroque style in the 18th century. The Yugoslavian government (communist at the time) nationalized the castle in 1945. Apparently, the wine cellars are among the most famous in Croatia, and we never got to sample any of the wine from there. Sometimes, life sucks.

ILOK, CROATIA: Paradise for Wine-lovers

2025 Cruise up the Danube River, Croatia

 

Church of St. John of Capistrano

Today we visited our 4th country as we cruised and explored. Christiane and I had visited other parts of Croatia the last time we visited the Balkans and I have always thought it is the most beautiful country in Europe. Not just the Balkans, but the most beautiful country in all of Europe. Today we saw only a small part of the country, but it was a part we had not seen before so that was good.

Our guide today was the perky and enthusiastic Marda and it was a joy to spend the day with her. We started in the village of Ilok, which is a tiny village whose history goes back to the 3rd century when it was under Roman domination.

 

This was a wall still standing in the town, built by the Romans in the 3rd century.

 

The  village had many small and ancient buildings that I would have loved to explore and  photograph. Sadly, that was not to be. I was only able to take a few photos from the shore where our boat was tied up. The problem with tours is that I can’t go where I want to go. I have a leader and have to follow the leader or risk getting lost or abandoned. Usually, I am quite content with the places selected by the tour host. Today was not one of those days.  I tried to hide my disappointment and take it like a man.

 

That does not mean what we saw was uninteresting. It was interesting, but I would have liked to explore this tiny village. With hindsight, I could have done that and rejoined the group when they got back. My hindsight is always perfect. Unlike my foresight.

 

Our coach driver first took us to a drive-through of interesting little farmhouse where a lot of weddings were held. It was high on a hill top and people loved the view from there. The weddings were marathon affairs.   They lasted all day and all night. Usually, they start at about 9 in the morning and ended the next morning. Many people are usually invited. As a rule they have, about 400-750 people in attendance.

 

At our first stop, we got out of the coach and visited the lovely Church of St. John of Capistrano.  St. John of Capistrano, for whom the church was named, was a 15th-century Franciscan friar, lawyer, and preacher, known as the “Soldier Saint” for his vital role in leading an army to relieve the Siege of Belgrade by the Turks. Like so many others in the Balkans, he and the people of the area took great pride in their roles in the defense of Christian Europe. Serbians and Croatian often are proud of their history as defenders of European civilization and the true Christian church against the hordes from the Turkish empire. Notice though that he was a lawyer and preacher. How is that possible? It seems like an unholy combination.

John of Capistrano was born in 1386 during what has been called “a turbulent time in history.”  Really, one must look hard to find times in European history that were not turbulent. But they might have a legitimate claim to the word. First, one-third of the people and nearly 40 percent of the clergy had been wiped out by the bubonic plague. There was also a Schism in the Catholic Church as 3 different men claimed to be the Pope at one time!  England and France were at war, but times were actually rare when they were not at war. Added to that, the city states of Italy were constantly warring against each other. I guess “turbulent” is a fair description of the times.

 

John was a very talented man who really had earned the title of Renaissance man. He became governor of Perugia at the age of 26. At the battle with the people of  Malatesta he decided to change his life so at the age of 30 he entered the Franciscan order as a novitiate. He was ordained as a priest 4 years later. His preaching was so popular that it attracted large throngs of people even though most people were apathetic about religion. He and his 12 fellow Franciscan brethren were received by the countries of central Europe as ‘angels of God’. Together, they were instrumental in reviving what looked like a dying faith.

 

Perhaps his greatest achievement occurred after the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453. He was commissioned to rescue the city of Belgrade and actually Europe from the devastation of takeover by an alien religion. Why would they commission a lawyer who was also a priest? But he was a good choice for he successively led an army of mainly Hungarians and won a victory against overwhelming odds leading to the siege of Belgrade being lifted. Sadly, he caught an infection (the plague) in the fighting and died on October 23 1456 in the town of what is now called Ilok where we were. Naturally, his grave became a site of pilgrimage and it is credited with nearly 500 miracles in the first 70 years.

The church as built in the 14th century and has survived numerous wars including the most recent war for the Independence of Croatia about 30 years ago. This was one of the rare churches in the area that survived that stupid conflagration. Over the centuries the Christians destroyed the mosques and the Turks destroyed the churches.  We could call it “mutually assured destruction.” Or perhaps, madly assured destruction would be more apt.

We were able to walk through the wine cellars built in the 15th and 18th centuries, withs massive wine barrels of fine wines. During the most recent war, in the 1990s, time between Serbs and Croats, when the Serbian Army was approaching one diligent man, quickly built a wall to hide the collection of vintage wines, from the marauders. He even went to the trouble of covering the wall with dirt and mould to make it look old. It was sufficient to fool the Serbians who missed out on a real treat.

This part of Croatia is famous for its wines and even though we stopped for a wine testing at 10:30 in the morning, we were prepared to make the big sacrifice and enjoy a glass or two of wine.

 

The area here is a well-known and respected wine growing region. We were fortunate enough to go to a local establishment for a wine tasting of several local wines. The wines here are so famous that Queen Elizabeth of England came here as a young woman shortly before she got married and loved the wine so much that she bought 11,000 bottles of wine for her wedding. Locals claim that after that she always kept some bottles for herself in her various castles. I can attest to the fact that the wines are good, even though we were not given the best of the wines as she was. After all, peasants should know their place. And we did.