The Death of Josip Broz Tito
Tito knew how to enjoy life - among other things…
On this day, twenty-seven years ago, at 15.10 Josip Broz - Tito died in Ljubljana Clinical Centre at the age of 88.
The announcement of his death on Radio Belgrade
at first you hear a commentary of a football match between Hajduk and Crvena zvezda, then a male voice interrupts, saying “and now for some music from our studio”, upon which we hear the first bars of The Internationale played at a very slow tempo. A female voice than says.
Radio Belgrade, first, second and third programmes and Radio Belgrade 202. United Serbian radio stations and Radio Titograd
Male voice:
Central Committee of League of Communists of Yugoslavia and Presidency of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have issued a statement at 18.00 hours. The statement reads: To the working class, to the working people and citizens, to the nations of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Comrade Tito has died.
And this is how his funeral looked like:
A clip from film “Underground” by Emir Kusturica
Despite Tito’s controversial role (or precisely because of it) his death was mourned all over the world. It also meant a start of the true dissolution of Yugoslavia - and some people are liable to see his death in Ljubljana as a sign of things that were to follow and start precisely in Slovenia.
In any event, it was an end of an era…. And a start of a new, much more turbulent one…
P.S.: Friday Foxies have been pushed back to Saturday this week… Sorry…There’s just so much history crammped in a week…
May 4th, 2007 at 8:37 am
Wow! What a fox! You really pulled out all the stops this time, P!
But seriously : I even remember where I was when Tito died, even though it wasn’t my concern since I lived in Belgium. What I’m trying to say is that indeed, the world outside of Yugoslavia deemed the decline of his health and his subsequent death as very important. I recall news bulletins about his deteriorating health in much the same fashion as Yasser Arafat’s final weeks were covered. As controversial as Tito was, he clearly made a strong impact on world politics. So much, even, that when a documentary about his life was shown on Belgian tv about a year before I first came to Slovenija (and hence knew not too much about the country), I didn’t want to miss it and stayed home instead of going out…
May 4th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Yes, he was a phenomenon - bot in political and social terms… And he was a womanizer
May 4th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Well: do you know anyone who wouldn’t want to reach out and take them all in a position of such power?
May 4th, 2007 at 11:35 am
Yes, but he was a womanizer even before that
May 4th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Well, he WAS half-SLovenian, after all.
May 4th, 2007 at 11:45 am
That he was
May 4th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Lucky b*stard. Half Slovene ánd pulling all the chicks. Some guys have all the luck. No wonder he was run off his feet in the end…
May 4th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
[…] Danes sem čakal, kdo od soblogerjev se bo spomnil, da je pred 27 leti, ob 15:10 umrl Josip Broz - Tito v Kliničnem centru v Ljubljani, v starosti 88 let. In tega sta se spomnila samo Pengovsky - The Death of Josip Broz Tito in Nejc - Umrl Josip Broz Tito « Gumball 3000 dokončno odpovedan || […]
May 4th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
@ARF: Foot… Singular
His other leg was cut off prior to his death due to gangrene 
May 4th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
That was surely his Croatian leg
May 4th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
It was 15:05 when he was officially disconnected from the medical apparatus.
May 4th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
@alcessa: could have been, yes
@ervinator: probably… But I remember the sirens going off all over Yugoslavia at 15.10 on May 4th.
May 6th, 2007 at 1:28 am
If only for the old-good-times…
http://www.carniola.org/theglory/images/tito_libido.jpg
May 6th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Damn… I was saving that one for May 25th