Communism’s War on Tradition and the Karadjordjevic Family  

When communists seize power, one of their first actions is moving swiftly against everyone and anything that stands against them politically. Opposition candidates are arrested, political parties are dismantled, and rivals are sidelined or killed. When nobody is left to challenge them politically, they then go after the people and organizations that hold social relevance. Churches, civic groups, private enterprises, independent media, and many others are dismantled and destroyed if they cannot be hijacked. In this pursuit of power and creation of an all-encompassing state, independent institutions, social groups, and upstanding individuals must be destroyed or controlled for they exist and act outside party influence, something that is unacceptable for the communists. Across Europe, one such institution that was seen as a massive threat to be destroyed were the monarchies and in Serbia it was no different. 

For centuries on the continent, the king or queen of a nation was the highest authority who held power in directing state affairs and acted as a symbolic figurehead which the nation could rally around. They represented a national heritage spanning generations, tangible and visible authority, and a point of unity for the country regardless of partisan politics. Over time, politics and nations changed with many populations choosing republicanism or democratic reforms for the monarchy, but communist movements and regimes chose another path. In their violent revolutions, they deposed or extrajudicially killed the royal families and claimed that their wealth, image, status, and power were unacceptable injustices. Yet what came next was not a great improvement. 

In the king’s place came dictators and “general secretaries” living in great luxury, enjoying wild personality cults, and exercising unrestrained power that put previous kings to shame but all under red flags and egalitarian slogans. Nicolae Ceaușescu was showered with titles and received an ornate scepter, Joseph Stalin was to be promoted to the rank of “Generalissimo” and receive an ornate czarist-like uniform, the Kim family of North Korea has hereditary succession, and the list goes on. The red kings of the communist world condemned the monarchies for their power and opulence when they practiced it themselves, and Serbia had a similar experience, but unlike the powerful monarchies of the west it was a history tied with a long struggle for national independence. 

For centuries, Serbia was under foreign occupation by the Ottoman Empire, but many resisted with firm conviction to preserve their culture, traditions, independence, and identity. One of the most famous figures of Serbian resistance was Djordje Petrovic, given the title “Karadjordje” or “Black George,” who served as the founder of the Karadjordjevic dynasty, a dynasty that would exist along with another major dynasty founded by a Serbian revolutionary, the Obrenovic family. Even though Karadjordje was assassinated in 1817, his family legacy continued with later monarchs serving both under constitutional authority and important symbolic stature as the fight for independence went on into the rest of the 19th century both with Obrenovic and Karadjordjevic kings. For the monarchy and common Serbs, national tradition and memory, the Orthodox faith, and Serbia’s identity remained a paramount concern, especially as massive foreign powers remained on the country’s doorstep. In times of unique crisis there were moments when the monarchs even had to stand with the people and face it together. Karadjordje fought with fellow revolutionaries to overthrow foreign occupation and his grandson King Peter marched with his men through ice and starvation in the “Albanian Golgotha” during World War One. However, the arrival of totalitarian ideologies in the Balkans, first with the Axis invasion in 1941 and then in 1945 with communism, would change everything. 

In 1945, the communist partisans under Josip Broz Tito seized control of Yugoslavia after defeating the occupying Axis powers and quickly established a dictatorship. Serbian Orthodox priests, intellectuals, wealthy Serbs, influential socialites, and many more were arrested or shot. Religion was then suppressed, national history was minimized or rewritten, social traditions were scorned, and national identity was assimilated and subservient to a new socialist Yugoslavia of “Brotherhood and Unity.” Tradition and history were to serve the new state, and if it ran contrary to it, it would then be stigmatized.  

Of course, one of the most prominent targets of pre-communist Serbia were the Karadjordjevic family. The communists seized the family’s property, illegally abolished the monarchy, and stripped them of their citizenship, the communists feeling that their wealth and status made them reactionaries and enemies of the people. It was an ironic position when Tito exercised unchallenged authority, enjoyed amazing luxury, wore an extravagant Marshall’s uniform, was the subject of a personality cult, and even took up residence in the seized royal palace in Belgrade. The red king of Yugoslavia ruled while the Serbian royal family remained exiled, refusing to abdicate, and allying themselves with the democratic west and hoping to return to a Serbia free of totalitarianism. They held on as a symbol of a Serbia the communists tried to dismantle. 

For all the commitment to keeping Tito’s socialism going, the system would dismantle itself a decade after his death with the chaos of the Yugoslav wars. Serbia emerged out of crisis and in the late 1990s and 2000s it seemed that change was coming. The Karadjordjevic family returned to Serbia from exile amidst hopes to reassert national history and traditions suppressed by communism. Yet this has proven both difficult and controversial as Yugonostalgia and lingering propaganda from communist times persist with many regurgitating the purest of innocence of their beloved red king Tito. Similar issues also afflict the royal family as conflicts over confiscated property, legal recognition, and persistent presence of communist disinformation about their lives continue to this day. Just like in the face of Ottoman occupation or communist dictatorship, the challenge of preserving a national heritage, both tangible like the royal family and intangible like national memory and tradition, remains for today and for the many years forward.