House of European History - Online Collection

    Diktatur in Jugoslawien. Dokumente, Tatsachen
    Dictatorship in Yugoslavia. Documents, Facts

    Artist / Maker
    Date
    Publication: 1930
    Object Name
    books
    Inventory Number
    C.2023.015.001
    Physical Description
    Book of 85 pages, containing illustrations. The cover is a photomontage of black-and-white photographs arranged on top of an archive document (a police report). The book’s title is superimposed on the document, in red lettering. The overall background is also red. The photographs show a man in military uniform with several medals on his chest (King Alexander I of Yugoslavia) standing on the lifeless body of Vjekoslav Oreški Slavko, a young Yugoslav communist leader. Slavko’s body, which is proportionally larger, is depicted nearly naked and bears numerous bleeding wounds.
    Content Description
    This book was published by the Bund Freier Balkan (Free Balkans League), a Berlin-based organisation of German communist intellectuals. It is a pamphlet that documents and condemns the violence perpetrated against communist opponents by the dictatorship established in the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The cover depicts King Alexander I, who ruthlessly persecuted any opponents. The book, featuring an introduction by the French writer Henri Barbusse, demonstrates international communist solidarity, which was also triggered by the arrival of Yugoslav political refugees in Germany. It was published in the context of the increasingly polarised Europe of the 1920s and 1930s, where authoritarian regimes were gradually supplanting democracies.
    Keywords
    DictatorshipCommunismArtBauhaus
    Exhibition Theme
    2B. Europe in ruins (1914-1945) -> 2B.2. Totalitarianism versus democracy -> 2B.2.3. Democracy: between obstacles and ideals -> 2B.2.3.6. Authoritarian regimes (not on display)
    Material / Technique
    Paper and ink
    Dimensions
    H x W x D 19,90 x 14,90 x 0,60 cm
    Place
    Place of publication: Berlin
    Curator’s Note
    In the midst of a political crisis in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, on 6 January 1929 King Alexander I abolished the Constitution and established a dictatorship, renaming the country the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This was followed by a severe economic crisis, staunch resistance from the communists, and the persecution of political opponents. The book’s cover refers to this situation. It was designed by Werner Eggert, inspired by a (lost) photomontage created by the Croatian artist Ivana Tomljenović. Photomontage is a form of art that uses photographs cut out from the press and popular-culture magazines to create new images. It was popularised by the surrealist Dadaist movement in the 1920s, which often used it to deliver political messages. Tomljenović briefly studied photography at the Bauhaus, the famous avant-garde art school, which was then based in Dessau, Germany. The Bauhaus attracted students from all over Europe. Tomljenović, like other students, was politically engaged and was affiliated with the German Communist Party. In Berlin, where she was in contact with Yugoslav political refugees, she visited the exhibition Tod und Terror in Jugoslawien (Death and terror in Yugoslavia) held by the Bund Freier Balkan in December 1929 at the gallery Sturm. She used material exhibited there to create the photomontage. In 1930, rising tensions, mirroring the increasing polarisation of German (and European) politics, led to the expulsion of several communist students from the Bauhaus and, eventually, the firing of its director, Hannes Meyer. Tomljenović decided to leave the Bauhaus that summer. In another photomontage, she depicted herself on the road to Berlin, greeting her ‘comrades’ from the Bauhaus with a cheery ‘see you after the revolution!’
    Inscription
    Inscription Diktatur in Jugoslawien. Dokumente, Tatsachen Translation: Dictatorship in Yugoslavia. Documents, Facts
    Credit line
    Acquired 2023. EU, EP, House of European History, Brussels. © Marinko Sudac.
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