In a Nutshell - Serbia

 

Belgrade from Balkan War - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Scott Sturman

Times have been difficult for Serbia since the recent Balkan Wars, when in 1999 the country lost land and citizens to an independent Kosovo.  What remains are 10 million people living in an area the size of South Carolina.  The Serbs are a close knit group and have survived repeated hardships.  In the long term the most imposing obstacle may be their lack of fertility and aging population.

 Kalemegdan Fortress - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Serbs live where the Balkans meet the Pannonian Plain, one Europe’s strategic crossroads where competing cultures have vied for power for over 2000 years.  Since its founding 2700 years ago, some estimate 6 million people have died battling for the capital Belgrade.  The city has been destroyed 44 times and exchanged hands 60 times during this period.  The bleakest time of its turbulent past was the 500 year occupation by the Ottoman Turks, a sentiment echoed by all countries of eastern Europe which were subjugated by these rapacious invaders.  From the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 to their departure in 1882, the Turks were more interested in taxation and oppression than building anything of importance or contributing to higher culture.  Their main focus seemed to be converting churches to mosques and abducting Serbian boys and whisking them off to Istanbul, where they were converted to the faith and returned to Serbia to rule as Janissaries. 

 St. Sava Streetside - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Belgrade rests on high ground at the confluence of the Danube and its largest tributary the Sava River.  The city’s men are tall and prefer short leather jackets, closely cropped hair, and scruffy beards, while the young women are stylishly dressed in skinny jeans, leather boots, and coats with scarves, but despite their chic tastes they are no less tough than their male counterparts.  Under going a major restoration, Belgrade’s Saint Sava Cathedral, the world’s largest Eastern Orthodox Church, is an imposing sight.  The Serbian Orthodox Church has forged Serbian identity and served as a powerful force to resist foreign domination.  Yet like much of eastern Europe, the church’s influence is waning, particularly among the young.

St. Sava - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Despite Serbia’s long recorded history, our guides preferred to discuss the lives of two 20th century personalities who could not have been more different:  Josip Broz Tito, a Croatian by birth and committed Communist who ruled Yugoslavia with an iron hand from immediately after WWII until his death in 1980 and Nicola Tesla, physicist and inventor, who was born in Croatia of Serbian parents and visited Belgrade only once.  

  St. Sava Renovation - photo by JoAnn Sturman

  
Tito, which roughly translates to “do it” and encapsulates the dictators leadership style, lead the partisan faction against the Germans during WWII.  He spent just as much effort warring against royalist and committed American ally Draza Mihailovich as he did the Germans.  The British along with the Americans threw their support behind Tito in 1943, which insured Communist domination of the Balkans for the next four decades.  “The Forgotten 500” tells the story of the rescue of downed American airmen in Yugoslavia in 1944 and the Allied foreign policy blunder supporting Tito rather than Mihailovich.

Tito, the consummate survivor, fell out with Stalin and played East against West.  Stalin reportedly attempted to assassinate Tito 22 times.  After the last botched attempt, Tito sent word to Stalin that these acts should cease or one of Tito’s henchmen would pay Uncle Joe a visit and do it right the first time.  Tito left no heir, and after his death Yugoslavia quickly disintegrated.  He, like many other tyrants, soon will be forgotten to all but history buffs.

Kalemegdan - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Serbia and Croatia both claim Tesla as one of their own.  At an early age he was able to solve integral equations in his head and developed the ability to conceive and invent complex machinery without having to use pencil and paper.  As the Serbs are quick to point out, his work in electromagnetism and alternating current deserved a Nobel Prize, but the more famous and politically connected Thomas Edison received the nod.  The only museum in the world dedicated to Tesla is located in Belgrade.  An attractive electrical engineering student who guided us through the exhibits pointed out the museum’s visitors are American or Western European and rarely from Serbia.  Tesla, immortalized by his contributions to science, received the ultimate compliment when in 1960 his peers defined magnetic flux density (Weber/m2) as equal to one Tesla.

Belgrade Mural - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Serbia became a democracy in 2000 and is a candidate to join the European Union.  What does the future hold?  Perhaps it has something to do with the enormous, ultra high security American Embassy perched on top of a Belgrade hilltop.  “You’re not allowed to take pictures of the embassy,” our guide warned.  Now what is that all about?