In my time of growing up, my city of Sarajevo was made famous for two momentous events. We captured world headlines with the 1984 winter olympics and one of the most bloody wars in modern history. Ironically, these events occurred less than a decade apart.
I was born in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia which was a republic of the former Yugoslavia. The republics of Yugoslavia were essentially the same as states to the US, differing slightly in dialect and religious alignment. However different these regions were, the country was held together under the strength of President Josip Tito. As one of the last standing communist states in Europe, Yugoslavia existed as a cohesive country and we happy. Unlike other communist countries, we were not oppressed under a dictator government, or living under the tyranny of some invisible iron fist. In reality, we enjoyed a great deal of freedom and in some ways had the best of both worlds. Yes, it was socialism. Absolutely, it was a dictatorship. Funny to say though, that it may have had its perks.
Until Tito’s death in 1980, Yugoslavia was a mix of firmness and fairness, with zero tolerance for corruption or abuse. As a result, society operated as closely to the ideals of communism as possible. Under this system we enjoyed free university education, health care, good social structure, and decently stable economy. At least we believed that to be true. With Marchal Tito at the helm, there were minimal extremes in standards from the wealthy to the poor and there was relative social freedom with a few possible exceptions. Religion being one.
Religion- a Time and Place
Religion was not officially forbidden but if you were actively religious there were “Limitations”. For example, being religious you were not able to be employed in certain jobs of any importance including government jobs and teaching. Along with this, religious people were not able to be part of the Communist Party which, not surprisingly, had many perks for those involved. Taking into consideration that communist regimes in most countries such as Russia, North Korea and China Heavily disapprove of religion, we were probably the most tolerant version of communism. As long as you kept your spiritual beliefs to yourself you were fine. My family was a perfect example of this, my mother was a devout Catholic that worked as a court stenographer. Although she had challenges being a practising Christian, she somehow hovered under the radar at her workplace.