JSW #287
I too visited Yugoslavia John. I have mentioned before that my wife and I spent thirteen years traveling, Six months in Australia, a month home, four months, backpacking around Europe, a month home and back to Oz.
In 1989 we spent a little better than a month trecking down the coast and inland visiting Croatia, Bosnia, Hertzegovina,and Montenegro. You are correct it is a lovely country.
Not too many spoke English (shopkeepers and waiters excluded), however I speak reasonable German and that was the common foreign language spoken as many Yugos had gone to Germany to find work.
Through my knowledge of German I could have conversations with the husbands of the bread and breakfast places we stayed in as just like me they liked to practice German. It didn't take long to understand the hatred one country had for the other. Though all part of one forced together country, one country had been for German occupation in WWII, One country pro Russian and against, one far right Christian and another with a heavy ****** population, each country or group vehemently opposed to the other. I quite frankly didn't give it much credence at the time, after all look at the squabbles in the UK between counties, city vs city, and all taking shots against London. Even on this site in this day and age there are religious cracks against the Pope and Catholics. We have pot shots taken between North and South, Blacks, Jews, and any minority by the majority. Parisians think those from Marseilles are thick. Most Germans think Saxons are dumb (We leave for Saxony tomorrow) and none like Berliners and so it goes on world-wide. So I just thought it was more of the same and was sadden at the depth of the war.
Nobody ever mentioned Tito to me and quite frankly I never asked. All I know for a fact is they utterly disliked the union of countries.