30 years since Tito’s death marked

Belgrade, May 05, 2010 ( Source: Beta) - Tuesday marks thirty years since the death of the late Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito. The Yugoslav Communist dictator, the former country's president for life, and also life-long president of its only party, died on May 3, 1980, in Ljubljana. Thirty years after, there is still no clear stance on his historical role. Historian Branka Prpa said that there is no realistic picture of Tito’s period today, because that part of history is looked at from a different ideological position. Many believe that Tito’s death was the beginning of the break-up of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRJ). The years before the country began to dissolve, there was much criticism and distancing from his actions and persona. He was accused of the murder of political opponents during his long reign, but also for leading economic policies based on taking loans in order to keep the people content, which led to high foreign debt and a fall into economic crisis. There are also many conspiracy theories that aim to find out where Tito’s power and influence in the state and entire world came from. Some claim that Tito was replaced by a “doppelganger” and that he was buried without any religious denotations because he was a Mason, while others claim that he was not buried at the place he was believed to be laid to rest, in the Belgrade neighborhood of Dedinje. But 30 years after his death and 20 years after the bloody disintegration of the country, many still fondly remember the high living standard, safety and well-organized nature of the country during his rule. His tomb has become a much more popular tourist destination over the last ten years. “My memories are nice and warm, grandfather respected us as people, we did not want to trouble him with our problems, but we could talk to him,” his granddaughter Zlatica Broz said.