Yugoslavia: A History of its Demise - Indymedia

Preface
This book was written at the end of a nearly 35-year-long career as a journalist
and political observer of Southeast Europe—first with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung
(until 1966), then for a pool of German regional newspapers, and finally,
beginning in 1975, for the Frankfurter Allgemeine. My first contact with this
part of the world, and with Yugoslavia in particular, came when I was already a
student and doctoral candidate; the theme of my dissertation, “The New
Yugoslav Economic System”, still seemed meaningful and relevant in the 1950s.
Yugoslavia did not seem to me either then or later to be an artificial creation,
but at the moment that the state formation became unrealistic and politically
unsustainable, it became necessary to draw the appropriate conclusions. As of
summer 1991, Yugoslavia had become uninhabitable for the country’s non-
Serbian nations and nationalities. This book undertakes to inquire into the
reasons for Yugoslavia’s collapse and to identify those responsible. I did not
write this book as a historian, but rather as a contemporary witness and observer.
The book is not the first to treat of these events; nor will it be the last. But I hope
that I have been able to contribute something unique to the understanding of the
tragic events in the former Yugoslavia. I was always aware of the extent to which
the past has affected the present in this country.
In writing this book, I made use of the archival materials kept in the Republic
of Slovenia, above all of the records of the presidium of the Central Committee of
the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, of its Central Committee, and of the
presidency of the Republic of Slovenia. The first two sets of records were federal
materials, which were delivered to the republics; the third consisted of purely
Slovenian documents. These materials were very voluminous but the essential
information could be consulted. The protocols of the Yugoslav state presidency
were not deposited in republic archives and were not available to me, but I talked
once again with persons in positions of power, who had taken part in the events
that constitute the tale herein. In addition, I made use of the records of my earlier
interviews, observations, and accounts (especially those published in the
Frankfurter Allgemeine).
The reader may find that Slovenian perspectives and interpretations are given
ample space in this book. The explanation for that lies in the situation itself.
Even in the days when there was little understanding in Yugoslavia of the need