In the Name of the People: Communist Terror in Serbia, 1944-1945

Three decades after the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia is still struggling to deal with its communist past. Statues of communist leaders remain. Former communist officials were voted into office, rather than face repercussions for their crimes. Josip Broz Tito, the communist dictator of Yugoslavia, is still viewed as an infallible leader by many.

To explore why Serbia is unable to reckon with its past, and how the country can move on, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation convened on December 2 to hear from leading Serbian scholars. Dr. Srdjan Cvetkovic, Dr. Ena Mirkovic, Father Sasha Petrovic, and VOC’s Stefan Mandic considered: the challenges facing researchers working to memorialize the victims of communism, the origin of Yugoslavia’s cult of personality, and how Serbia can reckon with the crimes of its past.