Belgrade's Museum of Yugoslav History. / AFP / (Photo credit: ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images)
Businesses across the Balkans are exploring new ways to turn their Communist past into profit. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, the idea of "Yugoslavism" had lost popularity. But, "Yugonostalgia" is seeing a comeback in former Yugoslav states—and it has turned into an opportunity for tourism entrepreneurs.
Designer Mario Milakovic decided to turn his passion for vintage into "Yugodom," a curated museum collection in the form of a guesthouse, or more simply, a stay-over museum. Yugodom showcases an original Yugoslav mid-century home with furniture, décor and memorabilia from the Yugoslav era and all with the original “Made in Yugoslavia” tag.
“I wanted to create a place where guests come feel like they are travelling back in time, but not in an awkward past, more like feeling like being at home. That is why it’s called 'Yugodom'—Yugo means Yugoslav and Dom means home,” says Milakovic.
Yugodom is distinctive for tourists because of the interior design focusing around mid-century Yugoslav aesthetics. The building, objects and furniture within the flat, are authentic. All objects represent selected aspects of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia aesthetic, art, design and history.
“I dug into basements and attics of friends and family. I religiously went around flee markets and second hand furniture shops. I also searched online. I've received gifts from unknown donators, usually something bought a long time ago, which doesn’t have use in their homes anymore, but they were sad to throw it away,” says Milakovic.
From the TV, to the posters on the bright walls, Yugodom is an excellent example of how the hospitality and museum industries have combined. There is even a Yugoslav passport, hanging in a frame on the wall—it is valuable because it is no longer in circulation.
The museum hosts guests from around the world, as well as from the former Yugoslav republics.
“The majority of our guests are not from the former Yugoslavia,” says Milakovic.
“Many say ‘Yugodom’ looks and feels “just like grandmas home.” I had one guest from Australia that said it reminds them the movie Good-Bye Lenin. ‘Yugodom’ always evokes some kind of emotion whether melancholy or nostalgia.”
Yugodom is an example of how a communist history has been turned into an entrepreneurial success by promoting the interest of the past into revenue. Yugonostalgic tourism seems to be a growing trend, not just in Serbia, but in all former Yugoslav states.
A nuclear bunker built for Yugoslavia's authoritarian leader Josip "Tito" Broz and up to 350 members of his inner circle has also become a very popular tourist attraction in the small town of Konjic, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are regular tours and the bunker, which remained a state secret until after the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, is preserved intact with all its symbols of the social, economical, political and ideological systems of Socialist Yugoslavia.
Croatian-based clothing company Titos is making sales across the globe, by rebranding the image and slogans of Yugoslavia’s communist symbols, such as the five-pointed red Communist star and concrete architecture, as t-shirts and hoodies.
A recent poll showed that many people in the former Yugoslavia look back fondly at their former homeland.
In Serbia, around 81% of people think that the breakup of Yugoslavia harmed their country in its current context. Bosnians are not far behind, with 77% expressing regret over Yugoslavia’s dissolution.
However, there are ethical issues for businesses re-creating products and experiences echoing a former Socialist Republic. Historic events are never a single story and the version tourists want to experience may be completely different. Therefore, should tourism have a responsibility to bring alive the stories of violence and repression as well?
Milos Nicic, a professor from the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Political Sciences has followed the rise of Tito-tourism in the Balkans and warns against turning the authoritarian leader, without a doubt a central figure within Yugonostalgia, into a “pop figure.”
A vase with a portrait of communist Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito at Belgrade's Museum of ... [+]
Yugoslavia does not only come alive with retro wallpapers and posters. It also lives within the abandoned walls of Goli Otok- the barren Croatian island that used to be a notorious political prison and labour camp for Tito’s opponents.
Nevertheless, Yugonostalgia is a growing trend, for foreigners and younger people in the region who want to learn more about the era. The reconstruction of the socialist experience and aesthetic has proven, thus far, to be a profitable and entrepreneurial success.
