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)