Titostalgija – život posle smrti Josipa Broza u kolektivnom pamćenju
Titostalgia – The Afterlife of Josip Broz Tito in the Collective Memory

Museum of Yugoslav History Souvenir Store

Summary/Abstract: The paper aims to provide description, analysis and explanation of creation of a cult of personality in the collective memory, concentrating on the objects of popular culture connected to the cult, with nostalgia or “imagined nostalgia” embedded in them. The term “imagined nostalgia” refers to the sensation of nostalgia towards things that never were, things we never had etc. The cult treated is the cult of the Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito (in office 1953-1980). Such an embedding of nostalgia is done with the goal of accelerating the commerce, but has an effect not only on the commercial sphere. Its effects are investigated using the example of the souvenir store which forms a part of The Museum of Yugoslav History complex. The souvenirs sold in this store are examples of how heritage can be used with the purpose of maximizing the profit but also how this process creates an alternative product, other than financial gain – it establishes a specific idealized view of a person, in this case Josip Broz Tito, which also leads to an idealized view of the things he symbolizes, such as a time period, ideology, political system etc. The paper also looks into the reasons that cause people to look back at Tito’s rule as the “golden era”, in connection with the things that may be lacking in their lives nowadays.

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