Yugoslave Communist Get No Respect
Barry Marjanovich
December 13, 2001
Widow of late Yugoslav dictator Tito says she lives in 'despair and misery'
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Breaking a 20-year silence, the widow of former
Yugoslav communist dictator Josip Broz Tito said in comments published Thursday
that she has been stripped of basic human rights and is living a life of
"despair and misery."
Jovanka Broz, 77, told the Blic daily that she lives in a Belgrade house without
heating, and often no electricity, and that she has no funds or property to
support herself.
"I'm totally deprived of any rights," Broz said. "All my property has been taken
away from me."
She told Blic that even her pension is still in dispute nearly 22 years after
the death of her husband.
Tito died May 4, 1980. Broz was evicted soon afterward from their residence in
the plush Belgrade Dedinje district to a nearby government house. Since then,
she has lived in a self-imposed isolation under police protection.
Vilified by some, adored by others, Tito was a murderous dictator who held the
country's different nations together in one country from the end of the Second
World War until his death at age 88. Broz and Tito informally split up shortly
before his death, leaving her unpopular among his communist successors.
Broz told Blic that since the ouster of former Yugoslav president Slobodan
Milosevic in October 2000, "I had hoped things would change for me, but nothing
happened."
"My house has not been heated for two years and I live like on a peak of an ice
hill," Ms. Broz said. "The house is big, and I have no financial means for
repairs."
"Some of my valuables were found under Milosevic's bedroom after his arrest,"
she said, without giving details. She complained that despite repeated demands,
her property was never returned.
Reacting to her complaints, Yugoslav government officials said they had tried to
send a repairmen to the house but that security guards did not allow them in.
dmitry.fedotov
Tito was a murderous dictator who held the
> country's different nations together in one country from the end of the
Second
> World War
Liberal peaceloving Milocevich couldn't. May be Slobodan wasn't murderous
enough dictator? Why do they need dictatorship to live in peace? Stalin
kept even more different nations together. Tito was Angel comparing to
Stalin.