Tito’s Home Village, Where Yugo-Nostalgics Come to Pay Tribute

As buses started to arrive just before the start of the official programme, the old Yugoslav Partisan song 'Fall, Oh Force and Injustice' could be heard coming from the speakers.

The visitors walked towards the Kumrovec Old Village Museum, at first just humming the tune, but then singing until the song could be heard coming from hundreds of throats. Although it has not been performed publicly for over 30 years, everyone knew the words.

An elderly woman discreetly wiped a tear from the corner of her eye with her sleeve while elderly men headed for the onlyhouse in the villageat which an entrance fee of five euros has to be paid. The house has no name, but everybody knows that it is the one where Josip Broz Tito was born.

Tito's birthdayhas long been commemorated by his most loyal fans in Kumrovec on the Saturday of the month that falls closest to May 25. The date used to be a Yugoslav national holiday, the Day of Youth.

People came in organised groups on dozens of buses. Photo: Vuk Tesija.

The president-for-life of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a state that outlived its ruler by not much more than a decade, is still for many the "greatest son of our nations and nationalities", as he was called during his long rule overa country that created a powerful cult of personality around him, to the extent that his birthday was a national holiday.

Even now, his name still evokes nostalgia for many, as the annual gathering in Kumrovec shows. Greeting the attendees, the prefect of Krapina-Zagorje County, Zeljko Kolar, highlighted what he said was the greatness of Tito'smilitary leadership and statesmanship.

"This man, who the whole world came to revere, left an indelible mark," Kolar said.

All visitors were...