The autobiography of Jovanka Broz

Following the death of the former first lady of Yugoslavia, Jovanka Broz, I decided to educate myself more on the woman behind the man.

I picked up a copy of My Life My Truth, the autobiography of Broz, written by Zarko Jokanovic. In the beginning, I was reading what I already knew. I knew that she was a guerilla war fighter. I knew that she lived a life of luxury. But almost half way through, I never expected to read her thoughts on some of her husband’s policies.

In particular, she mentioned how she didn’t agree with the dealings surrounding Kosovo and Albania in the 1980. She said if it was handled differently, the ethnic conflict in the region, more than 30 years after her husband’s death, would not have occurred.

It was shocking to read that she foresaw then what would occur if the two nations mixed.

When Jovanka Broz died, articles came out that either painted her like a hardened criminal or a wrongfully imprisoned saint of former Yugoslavia. Those articles made me aware of why she was arrest, but until I read the book, I had no idea how she has been treated since 1980.

Even before Tito died, his cabinet speculated that Jovanka Broz would take over the throne, and they would allow that to happen. The stole all her goods, threatened her, kicked her out of multiple homes and stole and erased all of her identification, forcing her to be a house prisoner for over 30 years.

What was especially interesting to me was that they would not let her attend Tito’s funeral. Indira Ghandi was the one who forced them to allow her to attend.

When I talked to a few close friends, and some not so close acquaintances about her death, they all said it signified the death of Yugoslavia. While most weren’t happy that someone died, they were happy that the countries history was finally being erased. But not all felt like that.

My mother and grandmother woke up at 3 a.m. to watch the live broadcast of her funeral on Serbian television.

But, for the overall Bosnian and Serbian communities in Chicago, it was a day that will go in history.