These part of my pages are about the disintegration of Yugoslavia or better say the death of Yugoslavia. The disintegration of Yugoslavia cannot be explained simply by describing the years 1991-2008, the process started already long before. Maybe it already started after the Second World War, or even after the First World War: I have not the intention to give you answers to that on these pages: I want to show you how it is today and make a link to the past.
Yugoslavia was a multi-ethnic state after the Second World War (Socialist Federated Republic of Yugoslavia-SFRY), before it was as well: In 1918, after the First World War, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians was found. Before the First World War, Yugoslavia was a part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, although Serbia got some independence in 1878 by the treaty of Treaty of San Stefano.
It is complicated, as the whole history about Yugoslavia is, and especially history in this part of the world. I am Dutch, and most of the Dutch people do not care about history: See for example the promotion of Dutch history on http://entoen.nu for (young) people in the Netherlands. Most Dutch people are not aware of their history (of course in Dutch history there are also high and dept points), but on the Balkans history is much more important. As I want to say is that I wrote this for what I read and heard and I don not want to change history in favor of anybody. It is just what I want to present to my visitors of my website what I read, heard and saw.
When I talk with people from former-Yugoslavia, they almost say more or less the same: during the existence of Yugoslavia it was for us better. It doesn’t matter if it’s the young lady from Belgrade in Serbia who told me “I don’t like these new maps of former Yugoslavia on your website, look what it once was”. Or the Albanian men from Kosovo living now in the Netherlands for more than two decades told me; “I grew up in Yugoslavia, I did my military service for the JNA (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija) in Kičevo (Macedonia) and it were good times”.
A Macedonian friend from Kicevo told me: “Now we have our independence, but what with your independence if you can’t leave the country because of the visa you need”.
And to quote a lady from Presevo (South Serbia, near Macedonia): “last night I was watching on YouTube all these Yugoslavian bands, it used to be so great all united, together. I hate now that we are all split up and hate each other, before it did not matter at all where you came from, what religion, what language you spoke, we were all like friends, fuck Milosevic he ruined the whole thing”.I can continue with more stories like this, because I spoke a lot of people from former Yugoslavia, but I think you, as reader, do already understand the message….