Utopia on the Sava.

My last Saturday in Zagreb. I spent the morning going to the City Library, which is open until 2pm on Saturdays, to check out a book and to make a little more progress on CiP magazine. I want to get through 1991, so today I did 1990 (almost done). That's actually where the title for the post comes from (It just seemed to also fit the picture, which is Hare Krishna in front of the statue). So, in 1990 CiP ran an article with the title "Utopia on the Sava." You might think that it would be about Zagreb (since Zagreb is on the Sava), but actually, it was a proposal to build a new Yugoslav capital city. The idea was to copy the concept of Washington D.C. and create a new city outside of any of the existing political entities right on the "dividing line" of Yugoslavia. The location proposed included parts of Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia.

I thought, "You know, that might have worked if they had done it in 1950, or even maybe 1960, but 1990 was a little late to try to start just talking about an idea like that." A true Yugoslav city as the Yugoslav capital, without a history preceding World War II, could have really served as a working example of what "Yugoslavia" could become. There was an idea of moving the capital from Belgrade to Sarajevo, but even that was "too radical" for the new revolutionary regime.

I have come to the conclusion that the Yugoslav revolution was really a very un-revolutionary enterprise. Unfortunately, the leadership thought if they could create a socialist economy and "transform the relationship between the workers and the means of production" that alone would suffice. Economic transformation would lead to social transformation. All they really ended up doing was recreating Royal Yugoslavia with a socialist economy. All the same political dilemmas still remained. The idea of the "Utopia on the Sava" was radical, and if it had been done in 1950 it might have really transformed Yugoslav politics. It is telling that it wasn't until the system was actually falling apart that radical ideas started to make it into the discussion.

Will the shopping mall accomplish what the socialist city planners couldn't?

Today I stopped off at the Cafe Barcelona across the street for breakfast again before heading to the City Library. The owner was there (he seems to be there a lot in the mornings) and we started chatting again. It is clear he has a fair amount of Yugo-nostalgia. I got the feeling he was probably a young up an comer in the early 80s. He made the comment that after the transition from the old system to the new one everything people had ever done, all their hard work, was just wiped away. No one was given any credit for anything they did under the old system. That is a fair enough critique. Seems to be pretty common that after a transition like happened here, anyone who was seen as even tangentially benefiting from the old system (except for the people in just the right position at the right time) was viewed as suspect. So, upper middle level bureaucrats, like Racan, end up with successful political careers, but the young 20 somethings who were trying to make the system work at the end got nothing for their efforts.

Anyway, to the part of the conversation that struck me most, this guy says that he thinks "the center" (the square and the area around it) is losing it's pull on people. He thinks that fewer and fewer people are coming into the center because of the new, rather large, shopping malls that are being built around town. I have to admit, the one under Starcevic square (yes, it is actually under the square, it goes down about 4 floors underground and has a full sized bowling alley) is always packed. This guy's comment was "The malls have everything people want, they can buy anything and grab a bite to eat. Why come into the center?" Which raises the question in my mind, will these actually accomplish what the city planners couldn't do for 40 years? Since the early 60s the urban planners here were trying to create a city with multiple centers, one where people wouldn't feel pulled into the old center of town. Up until now they really haven't succeeded. Maybe the new mega-malls will keep people in their local areas though. I'm not sure, but we will see.

Sve je lako kad si mlad

Friday was sort of a microcosm of my experiences here. It started of as a usual Friday, going to the City Museum Library for my two hours of research week there. At the end, Danka, the librarian (she is the entire library staff in fact) asked if I wanted to come by any other days over the next couple of weeks, because she knows I am almost out of time and would really like to spend more than one more 2 hour session there. By doing this she is really stretching the rules of the museum. But, as per usual here, rules are more like guidelines and she has taken it upon herself to adjust them to the situation. Ultimately, the rules are designed to keep people from distracting her (the library exists to support the museum staff, not the general public) so it makes perfect sense that she can bend them.

Following that I headed over to the library on the other side of town (well, I stopped off for lunch first) to catch up on newspaper research. This really was catching up because I was redoing some work I did last November before I had really set my routine. I had some old newspaper stories I had found by just looking though a bound volume of papers after digging out a specific story. Problem was I hadn't taken a picture of the front page and the pages themselves didn't actually have the year on them or the newspaper name, so I really didn't know which of the two papers I'd been looking though that day they were from. So, I requested both months from both papers to sort all of that out. I found the stuff I was looking for, but since I had already had them go through the work of digging the extra two volumes out I decided to look through them too. And, of course, I found even more stuff. On one level it is satisfying that I can basically pick up any given newspaper for any given time period (the course of 2 or 3 months) find things that support my thesis. On another level it is frustrating because I will leave here knowing there are so many things I haven't found yet.

So, finally around 4pm I decided to head home. But, since the City Library is kind of on the way home figured I would stop by there and get a book to look though over the weekend. The book I was looking for was Sve je lako kad si mlad (Everything is easy when you're young, which is also the title of one of their most popular songs). It is the "biography" of the band Prljavo Kazaliste (Dirty Theater), which is important because they played a huge concert on the square in 1989 that was a big deal because one of their songs was considered very nationalist (it is actually pretty mild). The title of the song at the time was Mojoj Majci (To my mother), but everyone started calling it Ruza Hrvatska (Croatian Rose). [Well, there is a line in the song about being like two fingers, which is an old saying about two people being close, but the Croatian vitory sign is also two finger, so, there could be some double meaning there.] So, I wanted to get the story about the concert from the band's perspective (the book is an official biograhy of the group). Not a big deal, the book was in the computer catalog. The City Library supposedly had 5 copies. One was checked out and due back some time last year, but the other four were supposedly on the shelf. Well, when I got to the City Library I filled out my little "signatura" request and turned it in. A few minuets later, the librarian called my name (always and adventure here, as it has not just one but two letter combinations/sounds that don't exist in Croatian) and informed me "Zao mi je, nama." Which means, "I'm sorry, we don't have it." Once again, I am the victim of pilferage. This is, unfortunately, very common at the City Library. They (unlike the library across town) have no security system so books literally go out the door on a regular basis.

Up until now, that really hasn't been a huge issue because the library across town actually has as large a collection (if not larger) and better security, so books that are missing from the City Library collection I can get there. But not this one. The other library only has one copy, and it was due back on 15 March, but wasn't returned on time (also not uncommon for any library). So, basically I was out of luck. Any way, I was low on cash at that point so I walked up to "flower" square (which isn't actually named flower square, but that is what everyone calls it) to use the ATM and walk off my frustration. I then went to a book store that I thought might have a copy of the book, but I wasn't expecting to find it. Books are printed in small runs here, so if you don't get a book when it is first published, your odds of finding it diminish rapidly over time. And, no luck.

Finally on my way home I decided to stop at my favorite "old book" store on the off chance they might have it. Amazingly enough they did. And it was actually an unused copy (the "old book" stores also sell new books, but they usually only get one or two copies of new print runs) with the accompanying CD of the groups Christmas Concert from 1996 (I think, I have to double check that). So, finally, about 6:30 I made it home, with the book (which I now own).

And why does all this matter? Well, besides the concert in 89, the group also did an album in 1980 call Hero of the Street (that's the cover up top). If you notice, there is a clock in the picture. That mean it is on the square (because that clock is on the square). The song Hero of the Street is about a guy who is trying to find the courage to ask a girl out. The album cover makes that point because of the clock. So, the clock, and therefore the square, are at the center of the process of social reproduction (courtship) in Zagreb. And since the square is a national space, Croatia was still at the center of social reproduction. I'm not sure that makes any sense to anyone else at the moment, but it makes perfect sense to me (though it will probably take me at least 10 pages or so to explain it properly).

Europe as an idea and a reality in Croatia.

This morning I decided to get breakfast across the street rather than make something for myself. The place I went to is a little bar with small grill that makes hot ham and cheese sandwiches. They have a special they call a Happy Hour (which the used to only have between 2 and 5pm, but now you can get it any time). The Happy Hour is a hot sandwich, a cup of coffee with milk, and a drink which is a do it yourself thing like cool aid, only not sweet. They charge 23 Kuna for it, which is pretty good (roughly $4). I've been there a couple of times before, but this time the owner was there. He picked up that I was an American right away because of the way I pronounced Happy Hour.

Anyway, getting to the point of all of this, at one point he said, "Our special is only 3 Euros. After we join the EU it will be 5 Euros, but right now, only 3." That's because when Croatia joins the EU it is going to have to implement a lot of taxes that they don't have at the moment. This was front page news the other day, when the headline was "5 percent tax on bread and milk the day we join the EU." Off on the side there was a little note that said cigarettes were going to cost 30 Kuna a pack too. That is going to really hurt the pro-EU vote on the referendum. And this sort of puts the soft support that EU membership has here in focus. Croats see themselves as European. It is a key part of their identity. Yet, at the same time, barely 50% support EU membership because getting in is going to be very painful economically.

The HDZ has forced this issue because they have announced that the target date for Croatia to get in is 2009. That was actually a very smart political move because national elections are due here next year. The SDP has always claimed that they were the party that really wanted EU membership. The HDZ was initially opposed to it, but have come to support it in the last few years. The SDP always claimed the HDZ wouldn't carry though with the push for entering the EU because a lot of the HDZ base really doesn't want it. Putting EU membership in 2009 also robs the SDP of any real campaign agenda. They can't put up a package of government programs they want to implement because all of the first year of the new government will be consumed with entering the EU, and if the SDP's program busts EU spending caps, then it would be the SDP derailing EU membership. And on top of it all, the SDP will have to push for their members to vote for EU membership and take the heat of the increased cost of living that is going to cause.

Ultimately, the real question is, does Croatia have to be in the EU to be considered European? That's a question they have to figure out themselves. Right now their pride is stung because Roumania and Bulgaria got in already, and they are still on the outside. Croatia has always seen itself as the most European of the Southeastern European countries, so seeing those two get in first really kind of knocked them back a little. And Croats have always been a little ticked at Slovenia, since they started the whole breakup of Yugoslavia and then slipped into the EU like they were never even in "that country with all the problems."

And the picture this time is some public art in Croatia. Its Kuna playing by the water in the entry way to a local bank (the Kuna is actually an animal, kind of a local version of a Ferret). It just kind of caught my eye one day.

Another odd day of research.

Just so every one is clear, the picture has nothing to do with the post, well, except that it is a picture of a mythical beast (the Hapsburg double headed eagle). The crest is the Triune Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia, and Slavonia. I just thought it was a neat picture.

Well, today I finally confronted the beast. That is to say, I finally waded into the Ustase thinking. I happened in a round about way. I finally pretty much caught up and finished working in the current set of archived newspapers and it will take them until after noon tomorrow to get the next set out of storage. So, around noon time I was headed back to my place to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of the day when I decided to stop at one of the old book stores on the way home. While I looking around I discovered they had a copy of the 1942 "Geography of Croatia." I've seen this in a couple of other old book stores, but usually it is on display under lock and key, so you can't just thumb through it. This one was just one the shelf, so I started looking though it. It turns out that it completely supports my idea that the Ustase were trying to destroy the idea of Zagreb as the center of the Croatian National Project.

Now, there are only about 10 pages of this two volume book that really relate to my research, so I didn't want to buy it. I figured that I could probably check a copy out of one of the libraries and copy the pages. So, I headed over to a local branch of the library and looked it up in their on line catalog. It turns out that you can't actually check this book out. There are only 4 copies of the 2 volume set in the whole library system, and they are all only available to use in a reading room. Well, the library where I work with the newspapers (mostly) had a copy machine in the reading room, so I figured I would see if I could get copies made there. So, I went there and asked if they had the book.

There must be some code in the numbering system they use here for cataloging books that identifies them as Ustase, because as soon as I gave the woman working the desk the request number she started looking worried. Then she asked who told me they actually had a copy there. Then, they had to go find it, since the code said it was in the reading room, but actually, it was kept in a separate, non-public area. Once they finally found it I asked if I could make copies of a few pages, and it tuned out that I could, but you could just see the look in the librarian's eyes while she was doing it. It was as if the book was toxic, which in a way I can understand because I've been putting off dealing with this stuff myself for kind of the same reason. Once I read it, I realised that what I found actually supports my idea that the Ustase movement was very much anti-Croatian, at least in the classic (19th and early 20th century) idea of Croatia. But it is clear that part of the reason people don't know that is that the ideas, and the books themselves have become "unreadable."

Update: After reading though yesterday's post again, I got the feeling that you might think the staff at the City Archive weren't as helpful as they could have been. That's not true at all. They were very helpful and one of them spent a good 10 minutes explaining how the particular catalog I needed to use was organized and even tried to find the specific item I wanted himself, but after 10 minutes, he just couldn't give me any more time. There are only three people who work there in the reading room, and they had about 15 people using or requesting items while I was there.

Taking the good with the bad.

Today was one of those days when I was reminded about what is great and what is not so great about this place. It is very informal. This morning I went to the City Archives to see if I could get a copy made of a book the city published in 1930 (or 31, that date is kind of hard to pin down). It was an announcement of an international competition to design a new urban plan for the city. I have already found one copy in the City Library, but they are being a pain about copying it, so I decided to see if I could get a copy from another source. The City Archive is an odd combination of old and new. Anything recent is on microfilm with readers available to use. Older stuff (which is anything basically more than 20 years old) is still in hard copy. After discussing with the staff what I was looking for, they gave me their catalog for everything before 1955. It is a little hand typed manuscript catalog of the collection when the archive was was initially created from consolidated collections. Then they basically said, if you can find it in there, we'll get it for you. No nicely cross-referenced computer data base, not even a card catalog. It took a little digging (like about an hour), but I think I found it. It will take them a couple of days to dig it out, and if it is what I am looking for, then they will make a copy of it for me (not sure what it is going to cost).

So, after that I decided to head over to the Croatian National History Museum. Now, I wasn't expecting much because every time I have been here as part of a group operation, we have never gone there. I actually had to go to the tourist info office to get the location since I have been where they guide book says the museum is, and don't recall ever seeing it. That's because it really is pretty poorly marked.

Their exhibition at the moment is "I Gave Gold for Iron" Croatia's participation in the Great War of 1914 to 1918. So, it was a nice little exhibit. The museum is small, but they did a nice job arranging the display. Anyway, at the very end I actually found something that I really wanted to get a picture of. The very last item in the entire exhibit had some old newspaper front pages. One was from an Osijek newspaper, and it had a discretion of the events on the square on 5 December.

So, I asked if I could take a picture, and they said no. Then they got a little defensive (which really wasn't necessary because I completely understand, every museum has its rules, some allow pictures, some don't). So, then they asked me what I wanted to take a picture of and why. When I told them it was just the one newspaper and that I was doing research on the square, this started a debate between two of the staff members. The younger one seemed very adamant about enforcing the rules, but the older (and obviously more senior in position) decided to let me take the pictures.

So, that's the two sides of the system. It is antiquated, and it can take a lot of work to find something that a modern system would spit out in no time. On the other hand, the bureaucracy is much more lax, and if you can provided a good reason for why you want to do something that is technically prohibited, they will usually let you do it.

This picture this time is a model of Zagreb from sometime in the 14th or 15th Century at the City Museum. Just thought is kind of fit the tone of the post.

Symbolic destruction

So, this is the only parking lot in and around the square. It is just between Zrinksi Trg and Ban Jelacic Trg, which makes it really prime real estate. Now, you might ask yourself, why haven't they built on the land. That is an interesting question. Up until WWII there was a building here. In an act of architectural cleansing, the building was destroyed. But, in this part of the world, when you destroy a building like this, you don't build a new one on top of it. That actually defeats the meaning of what you are doing. The point is to leave the open space so that everyone knows what was removed. If you built on top of it, then people would forget that you destroyed what was there, and the whole point of symbolic destruction is, well, that people remember that something was destroyed. I've always been interested about why Westerners in general, and Americans in particular don't understand this dynamic. It's not about erasing the memory that people were here, it's about preserving the memory that people were here, but those in charge have the power to make them go away.

Naked Nebodar

So I have been taking the weekend off because on Wednesday of last week I was convinced it was Thursday for half the day. This was probably because I essentially was working double days ever since I stared looking for that book that was mentioned in the paper. During the day I was working with the newspapers, then I would check out a book or two from the library and read though it that evening and decide what I wanted to get photocopied the next day. So I actually found about 8 more books that have something important to say about my topic in one way or another. I also finally managed to find "the book" I was looking for. It took a while, and they had to dig it out of their basement archives, but I got it.

Anyway, the result was that I basically burned myself out. So I kind of took Thursday off (actually, I went to the sculpture institute museum). I had to work Friday because of the situation with the City Museum, but took yesterday and today off. But today there was a special market at Britanski Trg, which is right up the street from my apartment, and I stumbled across it, and ended up book shopping for about 2 hours.

So, after spending 180 kuna on old books, I finally ended up headed to Dolac for lunch. Beautiful day, so everyone was outside. Warm if you were in the sun, and still not too cold in the shade. The picture up top is a little place on the North end of Britanski Trg that I like, but as you can see, no place to sit, so I headed into "the Center" for lunch instead. On the way, I finally got a chance to take a few pictures that I've been wanting to take. This one if of the Nebodar or Skyscraper. There are several tall buildings in Zagreb now, but if you say Nebodar, it only means this one. As you can see, it is being rebuilt, hence the title of this post. the building is completely open on the west side at the moment.

More on the Nebodar later, or at least in the dissertation.

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So, for lunch, Civapi (sorry, but after New Blogger messed up the link to Vecernji list, I'm not going to try to use the special characters any more, so you will have to insert the little divot above the C here in your imagination) at the Dolac Grill. For those who are not failure with Civapi, it is a stand-by fast food here, but not like it used to be. In the 80s there were lots of little places that just sold Civapi with a little stand up bar to eat it. Now it is mostly only for sit down restaurants. (This picture isn't actually today's lunch, but it's the only one I have of Civapi).

The Balkans Start South of the Hotel Esplanade.

So, the picture has nothing to do with the title of this post. It's just too good a statement to let go of though. The picture is the front page of Vecernji list from 1969. It's the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. 300,000 people in the square to hear a speech from Tito. In 1969 that was somewhere around half the population of the city. What is also interesting is that, for some reason, the picture is reversed.

Anyway, to the quote. I was working in the City Museum today (as I do every Friday from 10 to 12 when the library there is open to outsiders) and the librarian (a very nice lady, who's husband was a visiting faculty member at UofI Chicago) mentioned the quote. It is from Krleze, one of the most renowned (if not the most, but I am sure Ivo Andric fans would have something to say about that) Croatian writers of the 20th Century. It's an interesting quote because the Hotel Esplanade is right next to the main train station, just north of the railroad tracks. Now, when Krleze said that there was alreay a lot of the city south of the railroad tracks, but that was the poorer part of town, cut off from the rest of the city by the tracks. So there is a definite class element to the comment. In reference to The Square, as Danka said, that means The Square is in Europe. Krleze is an interesting guy too, because he was a life long communist, and a member of the central committee of the party in Croatia until 1969, when he resigned over the language unification project. When he left the party he said "I am a communist, and I am a Croat, but it appears I am a Croat first." That comment kind of sums up everything that was going on here in the 1980s too.

In other news, if there was any doubt in people's minds that politics is primarily an exercise in emotion, the latest polls in Croatia should put an end to that. The SDP has pulled ahead of the HDZ in a national poll for the first time in 4 years. This appears to be completely out of sympathy for Mr. Racan, who is fighting cancer and probably will never return to politics. Very ironic since Racan was the guy that gave the SDP a sense of legitimacy. He was a life long technocrat who didn't seem to have an addiction to corruption. Can't say the same for the rest of the people running the SDP.