For many decades now, even during his lifetime as Marshal of communist Yugoslavia, relentless whispers that Josip Broz, Croatian peasant, and Tito, leader of Yugoslavia, were not the same man, with the implication that the NKVD (Soviet Secret Police) switched an impostor at some point. There have been many variations of the Balkan urban legend: the real Broz died in battle in 1915, or in Russian captivity during WWI, or he was killed during the purges in the late 1930s…
“ As for hard evidence, there has never been any. What is not in doubt, however, is that many ‘Yugoslavs’ felt that Tito never spoke his native language very well, including people in Kumrovec who didn’t seem to recognize him. He made regular grammatical errors and used malapropisms that normal Croats wouldn’t say. To many, his pronunciation sounded a bit … Russian. When Dragoljub Mihajlovic, leader of the Serbian nationalist Chetnik resistance during WWII, first met Tito in 1941, he thought that he actually was a Russian – and Mihajlovic was far from the last to wonder.
… the U.S. National Security Agency has recently released a paper which sheds important light on this obscure, yet intriguing, topic. Shortly before the Yugoslav leader’s death, ‘Is Yugoslav President Tito Really a Yugoslav?’ appeared in Cryptologic Spectrum, a classified NSA in-house journal. Through close analysis of Tito’s speech patterns, the unnamed author concluded that Tito did not speak Croatian like a native, but like someone whose native tongue was Russian (or Polish). Moreover, Tito’s spoken variance with standard Serbo-Croatian (to use the Communist-approved linguistic term) could not be explained by spending a few years in a foreign country. Given’s NSA reputation as a – and perhaps the – world leader in language analysis, this conclusion deserves to be taken seriously…”
And now there’s a new edition of Vladimir Orsag’s novel “The Balkans Conspiracy” published by Vivid Publishing and released recently for sale.
The back cover of the new edition says:
The Balkans Conspiracy is a novel based on the history of Hrvatska (Croatia), and the numerous inconsistencies and incorrect information which were published in two well documented books on Tito and have been perpetuated by an unusual agreement between Western and Eastern intelligence fraternities. As the novel shows, the devastating effects of this deliberate misinformation persist in the Balkans even now.
The author is not responsible for any misinterpretation of facts. If it had been possible to have access to the dossiers of NKVD/KGB, CIA, MI5/MI6, ABWEHR/BND, ASIO or UDBA, then it would have been much easier to establish what is incorrect information, deliberate disinformation or just an oversight. However, the lack of such access leaves it up to readers to distinguish fact from fiction.
‘… should be compulsory reading for those who need to grasp more fully the meaning of the disruption of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the impact of totalitarianism and the world wars and resulting contribution of Central Europeans to multicultural America and Australia.’
Dr. John Eddy, SJ.,BA., ANU & USA
‘… it is evident that it adheres to the real story of tragedy, which was created by Tito, lived through and endured by countless Yugoslavians.’
Dame Elisabeth Murdoch
‘As I grew up in Hitler’s Germany, until able to find refuge elsewhere, I am well aware of the pervading atmosphere of suspicion and intolerance which author evokes so skilfully in his novel.’
Professor Ralph Elliott AM, ANU
‘… l do hope it goes on to reach a wider audience. The crisis in the Balkans continue and it is so important we keep abreast.’
The Hon. Tony Benn, MP, House of Commons
‘… your theory, which is much more than theory in my opinion.’
Chapman Pincher, the author of Their Trade is Treachery
Personally I have read this book and I was completely swept away by the author’s superior literary and story-telling skills in bringing to the readers a novel that is difficult to put down before finishing reading it. The intrigue, the details, the avenues and plots that strip away much of the book’s fictional classification with relative ease and thrust it into a certain record of facts are utterly eye-opening and, in some, certain to leave a sense of hard truth behind the urban legend and whispers – Yugoslavia’s Tito was an impostor. I trust many, particularly those keeping a vigilant eye on communist crimes, will enjoy reading the book as much as I have. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A.; M.A.Ps. (Syd)
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Buen Día Amiga
Good Day to you too Ruben 😀
As you stated in your comments Ina,this is the second time this author’s book has been touted on this blog and personally, I don’t see the fascination with this topic. The suppositions surrounding “Tito” are many, as are connected conspiracy theories but as pointed out by the back cover of the book itself – “However the lack of such access ( to dossiers of CIA, UDBA etc.) leaves it up to readers to distinguish fact from fiction.” If verifiable facts are not available and if in the end it remains to the reader to distinguish fact from fiction – then what new information is being gleaned? I would suggest that there are many more interesting and potentially more valuable topics concerning Croatians today! In the final analysis – the people he killed/tortured/imprisoned/suppressed could care less if they were being tormented at the hand of a “real” Croatian or a “fake” Croatian – the end result was the same! A KILLER IS A KILLER!
Thank you Velebit. There is no fascination with the topic I don’t think but there are many who follow the issues of clandestine operations of communist regimes that went against people. And I totally agree: a killer is a killer!
Thank you Velebit. When I wrote my novel, I wasn’t fascinated with the topic, rather with a political engineering initiated in England, in 1918. So that makes two of us.
However, if 4.7 million Croatians living in Croatia and 3 million (approx.) living in Diaspora share our views we would be still a minority. The Croatian readership hardly know that Tito was the architect of the Third Bloc (1948) exactly as envisaged by Adam Weishaupt in 1776. He was the architect of a global government, manipulating banks, oil companies and mining industry. Tito worshipers exist in Croatia, India, Egypt, Ethiopia,Indonesia, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, a former Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Cuba, just to mention a few. Quite naturally the Australian government (1967) found Tito the most attractive choice to seek support for Australian bid to obtain the seat at the Security Council in the UN. What fascinated me that Allan Dulles (brother of Foster Dulles and a former Secretary of the USA government) saved SS general Reinhard Gehlen at the end of WWII, smuggled him out of war-torn Berlin and taking him to Bonn and ultimately Washington. Once there he was allocated a deserted military campus to run his own organisation with a financial backing from the American administration in tune of 200 millions a year.
When Germany become a sovereign state, known as West Germany, Dulles persuades Konrad Adenauer to appoint general Gehlen to a Chief position at BND – West German intelligence organisation, stationed in Pullach. Unfortunately our well known journalist, now late, Rudolf Arapovic could not find Pulach on the Geran map and was wondering why Gehlen selected such a small Timbaktu settlement in Germany. That luck of understanding demonstrate his intelligence prowess. This fascinating detail is very interesting because the French military historian, Lucas Delattre, the author of Betraying Hitler mentioned in his book Dallas’ failure to persuade Adenauer to give job back to Fritz Kolbe, the Third Reich diplomatic courier , who supplied during the WWII, Dulles in Bern with a sensitive intelligence – so sensitive that kept doyens at MI6 flabbergasted. So naturally, Gehlen became a major protagonist in order to provide a bridge between the first and second part of my novel. Quite obviously there was a room for Kim Philby (a taboo subject in Yugoslavia), who was mole inside MI6 recruited at Cambridge University by NKVD, in 1930. He actually saved Tito’s dictatorship in 1945 by derailing Churchill plan to use a part of DD force for landing in the Adriatic.
There is another fascinating detail, which I was unable to use because it took place in 1991. My story finale took place in 1977, with a tragic death of Djemal and Razija Bijedic near Sarajevo’s airport. Their deaths are still the state secret in BiH (refer to a review by Fuad Dzidic published in hrvatska misao)
In 1991, Alfred Sherman received a knighthood and left England as Sir Alfred on his way to Pale to become Radovan Karadzic’s advisor. Up to 1990 he was Margaret Thatcher’s advisor (since 1979). Not being aware of his duplicity she nominated him for an award.
I am wondering now where was the Croatian intelligence. Why this detail wasn’t used as a trump card to persuade John Major to recognise Croatia in 1991. This would certainly open a flood gate to the Commonwealth countries recognition.
If we adopt your notion that a killer is a killer we should much easier adopt notion that Communist is always Communist and yet the majority of voters in Croatia keep electing them. So much for democracy!!!
http://youtu.be/VcOCCrKlXRM
Nice one, Aliosa 🙂
Do you think it’s true, was Tito a different man, switched? Many novels hint at the truth so as not to get sued. Your opinion?
My opinion – having listened to him speak many a times while he was alive did raise doubts in me as to his origins (his pronunciation in many ways was not that of someone who had grown up, or spent formative childhood years/into teenage years in the place he was said to have been born and brought up) and, therefore, my opinion is that he was a different man. Not only do the recent US intelligence agency’s phonetic analysis seem to confirm that but my professional insight and study of psycholinguistics give me confidence. But, that is my opinion and the truth we all may find – yet!
Thank you for your knowledgeable opinion and quick response.
Hahaha, not hard to express an opinion I’ve held for decades gpcox. Thank you so much and I’ll stay on the case if for nothing else then for my insatiable interest in history and it’s intrigues 🙂
Hehehe, not hard to quickly express an opinion I’ve held for decades – will keep interested in this issue as it fits well with my interest in history and its workings particularly those “behind the scenes” so to speak. Cheers gpcox.
Didn’t Tito spend few/several years of his early childhood mostly in Slovenia, at his grandmother’s? And when he returned, he couldn’t speak proper Croatian? So, he’d mix language forms and “padeze” etc. That could leave a strong impact on one’s language.
His accent definitely was not Croat, Lik
I understand that. I’m saying that the influence of his time spent in Slovenia and speaking Slovenian might have affected his ability to properly speak Croatian. So, it was a weird accent combination of those two languages, like improper Croatian with Slovenian accent.
On the other hand, Lik, Tito spent a long time in Russia and some research points that his accent was more like Russian that native Croatian
thank you for all your visits … a raw biting history and so needed lesson
Thanks Nativegrl77 – all good
Much to learn here. My son’s learned where the Balkan peninsula is. Thank you so much for the faithful reading. You’ve been awesome. =)