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Showing posts with the label Partisans

AVNOJ...70 years on.

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AVNOJ stands for Antifašističko Vijeće Narodnog Oslobođenja Jugoslavije, or Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia. If you were to take a visit to the AVNOJ museum in Jajce – and understand enough of the different languages the information panels are written in – you would come away with the impression that the establishing of Yugoslavia was a very organised affair. I've not come across anything to suggest this wasn't actually the case. That this organisation happened under occupation, while fighting a resistance movement is impressive. It provided the basis for a establishing a country that lasted fifty years, give or take. Yesterday was the 70th anniversary of the meeting in Jajce that saw Yugoslavia signed into existence. Today more people will pass through the museum's doors than probably will on any other day of the year. The local news are reporting more than a thousand visitors in town for today's commemorative events. We went out ear...

Snowtastic!

Much like the part of the UK we came from, Mostar does not often get decent snow. It's comes, then, as no great surprise that on a day when the fall could genuinely be counted in inches I was out there with the camera to capture the evidence.

Better under Tito?

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When it comes to remembering golden ages we tend to forget that even then the grass probably looked greener somewhere else. Nevertheless there’s nothing like a good bit of nostalgia to take the edge off today’s hardships and disappointment. Perhaps it should come as no surprise to you to learn that on more than one occasion we’ve heard people make comments to the effect that life was better under Tito. Sure, he still has his critics but in our experience they are few and far between. A great many people, regardless of their background, have very fond memories of Yugoslavia. And so when we had the opportunity to visit Jajce, where the decision to create a Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was agreed, on the anniversary of the big event we couldn’t pass it up. The video gives a glimpse inside the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia Museum, the picture shows that there are still Partisans out there.