From Constructed Memory to Imagined National Tradition: The Tomb of the Unknown Yugoslav Soldier (1934-38)

From Constructed Memory to Imagined National Tradition: The Tomb of the UnknownYugoslav Soldier (1934-38)Author(s): ALEKSANDAR IGNJATOVIĆSource: The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 88, No. 4 (October 2010), pp. 624-651Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41061896 .

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SEER, Vol. 88, No. 4, October 2010

From Constructed Memory to Imagined National Tradition: The Tomb of the Unknown Yugoslav Soldier (1934-38)

ALEKSANDAR IGNJATOVIC

When King Alexander I of Yugoslavia decided to have the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier built on the top oí Avala Mountain near Belgrade, it was not merely an act of generosity by the Yugoslav monarch. The king wanted the monument to be his own gift to future generations of Yugoslavs and in spring 1934 he commissioned Ivan Mestrovic, the most celebrated Yugoslav artist, to design it.1 Until then, on the site where the monument would be erected had been only a plain pyramid headstone raised by the local community in 1922 and dedicated to an unknown Serbian soldier fallen in the First World War.2 According to official interpretations, the soldier had sacrificed his life for the 'liberation and unification5 of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The old headstone had become a monument of great historical importance, often visited by Yugoslav officials and foreign delegations who came to pay homage to the unknown hero.3 However, the overall modesty of the site and the monument itself soon became inadequate due to its simple architectural arrangement and Orthodox Christian cross, which was associated with the largest ethnic group in Yugoslavia, the Serbs. For that reason it had to be replaced by something more appropriate which would be a symbol of all South

Aleksandar Ignjatovic is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Belgrade.

1 Archive of Yugoslavia, ff. 74-242-365, 74-349-247; 'Nj. V. Kralj osvetio je kamen temeljac spomeniku Neznanom junaku na Avali', Politika (Belgrade), 29 June 1934, p. 1. On Ivan Mestrovic's monument, see Elizabeth Glegg, Art, Design and Architecture in Central Europe i8go-ig2O, London, 2006, pp. 177-80; Laurence Schmeckebier, Ivan Mestrovic: Sculptor and Patriot, Syracuse, NY, 1959; Ivan Mestrovic, Uspomene na politiche ljude i dogadqje, Zagreb, 1969; Ivan Mestrovic, Mestrovic. Zagreb, 1933. 2 Archive of Yugoslavia, f. 66-627-1036; Stevan Zivanovic, Spomenik Neznanom junaku na Avali igj8-ig68, Belgrade, 1968, p. 6; Olga Manojlovic, 'Ideolosko i politicko u spomenickoj arhitekturi prvog i drugog svetskog rata na tlu Srbije', unpublished PhD, University of Belgrade, 1996, pp. 140-45. 3 Andrew B. Wachtel, Making a Nation, Breaking a Nation: Literature and Cultural Politics in Yugoslavia, Palo Alto, GA, 1998, p. 265.



ALEKSANDAR IGNJATOVIG 625

Figure i: The Tomb of the Unknown Yugoslav Soldier Photograph: Author

Slavs. Consequently, the new tomb that Mestrovic designed immediately acquired a certain ideological function even before its erection which was begun in June 1934.

The new Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was completed four years later, symbolized several different variants of Yugoslavism and Yugoslav national identity (Fig. 1). In the political landscape of internar Yugoslavia there were at least three competing visions of Yugoslavism which had the potential to be fused into one complex ideology.4 The first variant was based on the idea of the primordial unity of South Slavs (Serbs, Croats and Slovenes), transcending their respective national characteristics, whereas the second was focused on the

4 On Yugoslavism, see Dejan Djokic (ed.), Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea, igi8-igg2, London, 2003; Ivo Banac, The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics, Ithaca, NY, and London, 1988, pp. 98-102; John R. Lampe, Yugoslavia as History: Twice there was a Country, Cambridge, 2000, pp. 71-194; John B. Allcock, Explaining Yugoslavia, New York, 2000, pp. 13-63. For the most comprehensive account in Serbian, see Jovo Bakic, Ideologie jugoslovenstva izmedju srpskog i hrvatskog nacionalizma igi8-ig4i. Sociolosko-istorijska studija, Zrenjanin, 2004.



626 THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN YUGOSLAV SOLDIER

synthesis of their identities. According to the third variant of Yugoslav- ism, South Slavs were regarded beyond an ethnonationalist scope, as an intrinsically 'European5 and 'modern' Yugoslav nation. In this respect, the monument itself might be seen as the visual expression of the king's aims to reconcile these three visions of Yugoslavism and weld them into a single entity.

The Avala Memorial and the Ideology of Yugoslavism Like any tomb of a national hero in modern history, the memorial on Avala represents a pattern of collective identification that is devoid of an 'ontological core'.5 According to the well-known account by Benedict Anderson, the unknown national hero always had a specific cohesive function:

many different nations have such tombs without feeling any need to specify the nationality of their absent occupants. What else could they be but Germans, Americans, and Argentinians . . . ?6

Indeed, what else was Ein unbekannter serbischer Soldat1 supposed to be but the one reposed in death? Despite the fact that the soldier's personal identity had never been ascertained,8 his Serbian ethnicity was beyond any doubt. Yet officials stated that he was nothing less than a fighter for the 'liberation and unification' of all South Slavs.9 This understanding of the anonymous soldier aimed to transcend his ethnic, 'tribal' identity and transform it into a paradigm of a new Yugoslav, the one who sacrificed not only his own life but also his original, Serbian identity. The Unknown Soldier thus acquired importance for a sense of national identity and as a true symbol of narodno jedinstoo ('national oneness').10 After 1929 and 'The Sixth of January Dictatorship' when

5 Anthony D. Smith, Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity, Oxford, 2003,

pp. 246-50; George Mosse, Fallen Soldiers, Oxford, 2003, p. 80; Jay Winter, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History, Cambridge, 1995, pp. 92-107; Jay Winter, 'Forms of Kinship and Remembrance in the Aftermath of the Great War', in Jay Winter and Emmanuel Sivan (eds), War and Remembrance in the 20th Century, Cambridge, 2000, pp. 40-60. 6 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London, 10,83, p. 10. 7 The epitaph inscribed on a modest tombstone that the German Army erected after they conquered Serbia in 19 15, at the very place where the local community would erect the pyramid headstone seven years later.

8 Spomenik Neznanom junaku na Avoli igj8-ig68, pp. 6-7. 9 'Nj. V. Kralj osvetio je kamen temeljac spomeniku Neznanom junaku na Avail , p. 1; 'Uzbudljiva svecanost na Avali: u veliéanstveni granitoi hram na vrhu Avale polozene su iuce kosti Neznanog iunaka', Politika (Belgrade), 29 June 1938, p. 5. 10 On the idea of 'national oneness', see The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics, pp. 98-100; Dejan Djokic, '(Disintegrating Yugoslavia: King Alexander and Internar Yugoslavism', in Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea, igi8-igg2, pp. 136-56, esp. p. 141.




integral Yugoslav identity was enforced in order to resolve the Serbo-Croat conflict, King Alexander gradually began to change his ideological position, retreating from integral Yugoslavism to a more 'Realpolitik' Yugoslavism. The new king's position was characterized by a compromise formula aimed at resolving the national crisis, which combined integral Yugoslavism with the ethnic traditions of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.11 As he pursued many reforms after 1931, when he 'granted a new Constitution which made him "the guardian of the unity of the nation and the integrity of the state'",12 his plan to build a monument of historical and national importance may have been like- wise motivated by a desire to overcome Yugoslavia's national crisis. In this sense, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier served to promote national unity, as well as being a resource for national identity and a memorial to the Great War. In spite of the fact that 'Serbian sacrifices in the First World War were turned into one of the main founding myths of the Yugoslav state'13 and that Serbia was commonly seen as the Yugoslav Piedmont, the monument was supposed to be Yugoslav, not Serbian, in character. It was precisely this character that was constantly emphasized in public discourse. For instance, Nova Europa {New Europe), an influential and widely read monthly periodical from Zagreb, stated that:

As we accept this symbol, this sublime memory of the Unknown Soldier, we unite and fuse, irrespective of race, creed, religion, class; we become one in pain and joy, in all universal human feelings that are also Serbian, Croatian and Slovene - in one word, Yugoslav.14

This symbol of national unity was undeniably expected to enhance community cohesion not only among South Slavs, but also among other ex-Habsburg and ex-Ottoman ethnic groups and nationalities that were encompassed by the newly established Kingdom of Yugo- slavia in 19 1 8. Even the small Jewish Yugoslav community, notwith- standing its numerous traditions, considered the monument a proper commemorative image of their comrades fallen in the War. Moreover, a Jewish 'reunion [within the political borders of Yugoslavia], finally found its true expression in the Avala Memorial'.15

The role of the Unknown Soldier in the context of Yugoslavism was based on the idea of the nation as a sacred communion of people.

11 Ljubodrag Dimic, Kulturna politika Kraljevine Jugoslavie igi8-ig4i, 3 vols, Belgrade, 1996,

1, pp. 285-^2». f2 Stevan K. Pavlowich, 'Serbia, Montenegro, and Yugoslavia', in Tugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea, 1018-1002, pp. 57-70 (p. 63). 13 '(Dis)Integrating Yugoslavia: King Alexander and Internar Yugoslavism', p. 1*1. 14 R. Djermanovic, 'Smisao kulta Neznanog junaka', Nova Europa, Zagreb, 32, 1939, pp- 15-17 (r- i6)- 15 Milan Slang, Jevreji u Beogradu, Belgrade, 1926, p. 121.




What else is the cult of the unknown hero but the glorification of the nation through the idea of self-sacrifice? As Anthony Smith put it: cThe Tomb of the Unknown Soldier served the important function of providing a national centre for the cult of the fallen, which would remind the living of their, and the nation's, mission.'16 Having the vivid picture of the monument in their minds, all Yugoslavs had the chance to hear the 'sacred' call of the nation, and to become part of a sacred communion where ethnicity and religion were irrelevant. The Unknown Soldier - formally inaugurated as a kind of national deity - had one particular aim: to transcend reality and set aside ethnic differences. In this way, it was given a special ideological role, symbolizing the martyrdom of the whole nation,17 just as Alexander I would very much also become the King-Martyr only a few months after he had laid the foundations of the Avala Monument. After his assassination in Marseilles in October 1934, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier became the symbol of the late king.

Nationalizing Nature As for any nation, the Tomb of the Unknown Yugoslav Soldier was crucial for the construction of national identity, but the Yugoslav case seems unique. The majority of European nations built similar tombs during the 1920s and 1930s, both as patriotic gestures to memorialize the First World War and as symbolic acts aimed at achieving community cohesion. However, while most of these memorials were built in or inserted into the historical urban fabric of national capitals (for example Rome, Paris, London, Sofia, Budapest and Moscow), Yugoslavs deliberately entombed their Unknown Soldier away from the centre of their capital city. Their chosen site was at the top of the wooded Avala Mountain, on the outskirts of Belgrade. Although this site was chosen primarily to commemorate the place of the Soldier's glorious death, there were other important reasons that need to be examined more closely.

The political culture of interwar Yugoslavia was dominated by the ideology of the Serbian 'liberators', which implied that 'because the Serbs suffered most during the war in order to liberate all Yugoslavs, they were entitled to lead, if not dominate the new state'.18 This ideology was supported by an extensive architectural programme which was implemented in Belgrade between 1918 and 1941, when a large number of monumental public edifices were constructed. Over the course of the

16 Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity, p. 246. 17 Antoine Prost, 'Monuments to the Dead', in Pierre Nora and Lawrence Kritzman (eds), Realms of Memory: The Construction of the French Past 3 vols, New York, iqq8, 2, pp. 307-30. 18 '(Dis)Integrating Yugoslavia: King Alexander and Interwar Yugoslavism', p. 151. Emphasis in original.




1920s, this representative architecture triggered sharp resistance amongst the majority of the Croatian and, to some extent, Slovenian elites. In January 1929, when the political crisis reached its climax, King Alexander abolished the parliamentary system and introduced a dictatorship. His intention to tame the nationalist threat from both Serbs and Croats resulted not only in the change of the state's name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (instead of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes), but also in the culture of representation.19 The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier can therefore be understood as a visual expression of the king's ideas which embodied the abstract premises of integral Yugoslavism. In order to reinforce the idea that old ethnic traditions were no longer important, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier had to be built away from the former Serbian capital.

After imposition of cThe Sixth of January Dictatorship' the country remained centralized despite the fact that it was divided administra- tively into nine banovinas ('provinces'), six of which were dominated by the Serbian population.20 The king's integral Yugoslavism was seen by some as a way of masking Serbian hegemony, and as a de- nationalization or even Serbianization of the country.21 Regardless of the monarch's attempts to enforce integral Yugoslavism, the Serbian elite retained the highest positions within the Yugoslav political structure.

There was, however, another reason for the monument's unusual setting. Avala was supposed to symbolize the ancestral South Slav home, representing the distinctive character of Yugoslavs who were imagined as a nation between European civilization and noble savagery, culture and primitivism, the West and the East. Nature was an important element in the creation of Yugoslav identity, because it was common to all South Slavs, uniting them on the basis of primordial attachment. Consequently, the new, representative culture of Yugoslavism had to be organically connected with nature in order to retain its authenticity.

Whereas the French, for example, had many reasons for erecting their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the Arc de Triomphe, the Italians within the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II and the British in Westminster Abbey,22 Yugoslavs did not have many

19Aleksandar Ignjatovic, Jugoslovenstuo u arhitekturi, 1904-1941, Belgrade, 2007, pp. 212- 2Q.

20 Holm Sundhaussen, Geschichte Serbiens 19.-21. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, Cologne and Weimar, 2007, p. 2QO.

21 '(Dis)Integrating Yugoslavia: King Alexander and Interwar Yugoslavism', p. 150; Stevan K. Pavlowitch, A History of the Balkans, 1804-1045, London, 1999, p. 403. 22 See Fallen Soldiers, pp. 80-98; Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning, p. 100; Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity, pp. 246-49.



63O THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN YUGOSLAV SOLDIER

reasons to follow the same pattern. As the most prominent places in Belgrade were connected with the historic events of Serbia, placing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier among them would have made the national hero Serbian, not Yugoslav, in character. For that reason it was essential that the Tomb was built on an appropriate site which would not compromise the ideology of integral Yugoslavism.

Realization of that idea faced, nevertheless, many problems. Before the king decided to erect the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the top of Avala Mountain, city officials had already planned to build it in Belgrade. They chose the Kalemegdan Fortress as the most appropriate site because it symbolized Serbian military tradition and nineteenth- century Serbian statehood. It was where Prince Michael of Serbia had been given the keys of the Belgrade citadel by the Ottoman sultan in April 1867, after which Serbia remained a vassal state in name only.23 As early as 1926, an architectural competition for both the Yugoslav Pantheon and the Memorial of the Unknown Soldier was launched, which proposed that the two structures should be built on the Kalemegdan Fortress. This caused disputes among politicians and doomed the competition to failure. The eventual lack of consensus and the resulting debacle reflected the political and ideological differences of an ethnically divided society.24

By contrast, the natural surroundings of the Avala Mountain connoted a set of values that corresponded to an invented Yugoslav identity, which was perceived as intrinsically distinct from the nations of both 'East' and 'West'. This was expressed in numerous narratives, both political and scientific. As early as 1924, one of the leading ideologists of Yugoslavism, philosopher Milos Djuric, adopted a mediatory attitude in his celebrated tract Kulturna misija Slovena (The Cultural Mission of The Slavs, 1924): 'Neither the East, nor the West is the home of South Slavs.'25 Viewed from this perspective, Yugoslav identity was supposed to overcome the divisions of the two predominant nations in Yugoslavia - Serbs and Croats. It was a policy that was based upon an epistemology that viewed South Slavs as a single ethnic group.

The idea of nature as a resource of original Yugoslav national identity was one of the core traits of integral Yugoslavism. The primordial

23 Stevan K. Pavlowitch, Serbia: The History Behind the Name, London, 2002, p. 56. 24 On the Yugoslav Pantheon, see Zoran Manevic, 'Zlokovicev put u modernizam', Godisnjak grada Beograda, 13, 1976, p. 288; Marina Djurdjevic, 'Zivot i délo arhitekte Milana Zlokovica (1898-1965)', Godisnjak grada Beograda, 37, 1991, p. 148; Aleksandar Kadijevic, 'Milan Zlokovic i trazenje nacionalnog stila u srpskoj arhitekturi', Godisnjak grada Beograda, 47-48, 2000-01, pp. 218-20; Tomislav Premerl, Hrvatska moderna arhitektura izmedu doa rata. Nova tradicija, Zagreb, 1990, pp. 56, 91. 25 Milos Djuric, 'Kulturna misija Slovena', Srpski knjizevni glasnik (Belgrade), 11, 1924, 8, p. 607.



ALEKSANDAR IGNJATOVIG 63I

'Yugoslavs' were seen as 'pagans with their ancient Slavic blood5,26 the same-blooded nation which strove to resurrect itself. Being different from Serbian, Croatian and Slovene identities, which had developed historically and politically, Yugoslav identity was perceived as both standing outside history and yet resting on an a priori sense of natural- ness, rooted in a common South Slav origin. The concept of a South Slav identity was promoted to overcome disputes between groups that confronted each other across the country, mostly the centralists and federalists, although not necessarily Serbs and Croats. Consequently, the chosen site for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier suggested the idea of the Yugoslavs who shared common values deeply rooted in their alleged primordial source. On the other hand, the particular national traditions of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were seen as superficial, devoid of original Yugoslav characteristics. The national regeneration of South Slavs was supposed to take place in their mythical Slavic cradle, an imaginary land of ease and concord, which had always been conceived of as mountainous and wooded.27 Avala Mountain was perfectly suited to perform this ideological function.

At the same time, the erection of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier aimed to show the European, 'civilized5 character of Yugoslavia, which was otherwise deemed an artificial creation, the progeny of the Versailles Treaty. By building the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and in this way following the example of other European nations, the new-born Yugoslavia would join the ranks of the civilized. However, the main task was to design and construct a monument which would clearly demonstrate Yugoslav national authenticity. This meant that the monument should be unique and quite distinct from any of its counterparts in Europe. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was intended to prove that Yugoslav identity - as much as any other national identity - was a bounded entity, constructed as a relational system of similarities and differences, with cultural boundaries as its key element.28

Finding an appropriate site for the tomb meant the creation of an ideal setting that would connote the primordial South Slav cradle. Thus, the main aim was to transform Avala into an artificial landscape of the nation. The extensive forestation of the mountain became the

26Milivoj Savie, 'Osnovi naseg narodnog jedinstva', Novi iivot (Belgrade), 5, 1922, p. 100.

27 See, for instance, Viktor Novak, Antología jugoslovenske misli i narodnogjedinstva (1390-1930), Belgrade, 1930. 28 See Frederik Barth, 'Ethnic Groups and Boundaries', in Frederik Barth (ed.), The Social Organization of Culture Difference, Bergen, Oslo and London, 1969, pp. 9-38; Philippe Pouti- gnat, Théories de ïethnicité, Paris, 1995; Richard Jenkins, Social Identity, London, 2004; Günther Schlee, Imagined Differences: Hatred and the Construction of Identity, Basingstoke, 2002.




most important task of the whole project. At the same time, the original Avala Wood, covered with numerous native species (pedunculate and Turkey oak, hornbeam, beech, linden and Austrian pine)29 was seen as a biological refuge and witness to a Yugoslav Golden Age.30 The mountain, therefore, epitomized the idea of a South Slav ancestral home in the form of a national arboretum, which would be the perfect setting for the Unknown Warrior's eternal life. Thus Avala was transformed into a living symbol of primordial Yugoslav unity which exemplified the organic concept of the Yugoslav nation.

With the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier crowning the top of the mountain, the whole area was transformed into a symbiosis of nationalized nature and national culture. At night the tomb was illuminated by electric lights that were installed all around it, so that it could be seen not only from neighbouring roads to Belgrade, but also from the capital itself. It was also visually connected with the Dedinje Hill in Belgrade - the place of the king's official residence. Dedinje too underwent extensive forestation in order to simulate the original imagery of Serbia proper (Sumadija, literally 'land of the forest'), which was commonly perceived as a nucleus of modern Serbia and Yugoslavia. The Dedinje royal mansion offered a perfect setting for the king's home, which was designed as a vernacular building similar to the traditional civic architecture of the Balkans. The visual and symbolic equivalence of Avala and Dedinje - two national sanctuaries par excellence - fostered the identity of both places. Avala's quasi-mystical illumination, set on the top of the mountain - as Mestrovic's drawings show31 - intensified the sacred quality of this symbolic refuge of Yugoslav nationalism.

Apart from the mountain itself, the view from the platform where the monument had been erected also performed an important ideological role. Broad views and long vistas across the landscape gave the Unknown Soldier the role of guardian of the surrounding fields, vineyards and orchards, as well as of the new railway and roads, and the Danube itself, the river that traversed Yugoslavia and served as a vital shipping lane connecting it with the rest of Europe. In this way, the monument popularized not only the image of the country as a cultural crossroads, but also influenced the perception of Yugoslavia as a modern, 'European' nation.

29 J. Lucie, 'Avala - predeo izuzetnih odlika', Politika (Belgrade), 29 March 2008, <http://www.politika.rs/iribrike/Beograd/Avala-predeo-izuzetniri-odlika.sr.html> [accessed 18 March 2010I (para. 7 of q).

30 Nada Tovovic, Avala, Belgrade, 2003, p. 84. 31 Archive of Yugoslavia, The Collection of Plans, if. 74-399-592.



ALEKSANDAR IGNJATOVIG 633 The idea of a monument surmounting a hill was not new, however.

Its origin dates back to the nineteenth-century Romantic tradition, and particularly to the well-established Central European practice of building national memorials in natural surroundings and landscape. Since the nineteenth century the ideology of Yugoslavism exploited imported models of national identification, which stemmed from the German idea of Kulturnation. Beginning with the construction of a national language, which was driven by Herderian ideas,32 to the Rankean concept of national historiography33 and representative visual culture,34 many South Slav intellectuals adopted Central European models of national identity in their efforts to represent the idea of a single Yugo- slav nation. In terms of architecture, the German model of a national monument set in natural surroundings was particularly popular during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Numerous monuments in Germany which represented national heroes or celebrated important historical events were installed in the landscape.35 The most popular were those close to towns and, as the Avala Monument followed this pattern, it can be said that the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was a variant of the same prototype. It was the notion of a sacred hill, a sort of a spatial hiatus in the everyday world, that became a conceptual model for the place where the modern religion of nationalism had to be worshipped. There are numerous predecessors of the Tomb of the Unknown Yugoslav Soldier: Leo von Klenze's Walhalla (1830-42) or the Befreiungshalle (1843), Ernst von Bandel's Hermanns- denkmal (1841-75), Johannes Schilling's Niederwalddenkmal (1874-85), or the Völkerschlachtdenkmal that Bruno Schmietz and Franz Metzner built between 1894 and 1913.36 The nations of Central Europe pursued a similar identity-model over the course of their nationalist policies

32 Jürgen Trabant, 'Herder and Language', in Hans Adler and Wulf Koepke (eds), A Companion to the Works of Johann Gottfried von Herder, Rochester, NY, 2009, pp. 117-40; Wulf Koepke, 'Kulturnation and its Authorization through Herder', in Wulf Koepke (ed.), Johann Gottfried Herder: Academic Disciplines and the Pursuit of Knowledge, Columbia, SC, 1996, pp. 177-98. 33

Hayden White, Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe, Balti- more, MD and London, 1973, pp. 163-75; Jörn Rüsen, 'Rhetoric and Aesthetics of History: Leopold von Ranke', History and Theory, 2Q, iqqo, 2, pp. iqo- 204. 34 Nenad Makuljevic, Umetnost i nacionalna ideja u XIX veku, Belgrade, 2006; Jugoslovenstuo u arhitekturi, iqoa-iqai, pp. 43-306. 35 See David Blackbourn, The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany, London, 2006. 36 See George Mosse, The Nationalization of the Masses: Political Symbolism and Mass Movements in Germany from the Napoleonic Wars through the Third Reich, Ithaca, NY, 1975, pp. 53-66; Eric Hobsbawm, 'Mass-Producing Traditions: Europe, 1870-1914', in Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (eds), The Invention of Tradition, Cambridge, 1992, pp. 263-306; Barry Bergdoll, 'Nationalism and Stylistic Debates in Architecture', in Barry BergdoU, European Architecture iyjo-i8go, Oxford, 2000, pp. 159-61.




at the turn of the twentieth century. In 1903, Hungary planned the building of the National Pantheon on St Gellért-Hegy in Budapest.37 A year later, Czechoslovakia tried to install its National Pantheon too, on the top of the Vysehrad Hill in Prague.38 At the same time, the Serbian elite commissioned the Croatian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic, who conceived the Avala Memorial, to design the Kosovo Temple (1906- 14),39 which was to be built in Kosovo, a province occupied by Serbian troops during the First Balkan War in 191 2. Representing a monumental national pantheon, the most celebrated of Mestrovic's designs was a work of the highest ideological importance and a symbol of South Slav political emancipation from both the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires.40

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was designed in the form of a gigantic mausoleum set in natural landscape, as the epitome of the noble primitivism that allegedly characterized all Yugoslavs. In the internar period countless scholarly narratives reinforced the primitive idea - from Jovan C vijic's Jedinstvo i psihicki tipovi Juznih Slovena {The Unity and Psychological Types of South Slavs, 1915)41 to Vladimir Dvornikovic's Karakterologija Jugoslovena (The Characterology of Yugoslavs, 1939).42 The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier comported with this conceptual model of identity. The words of Ivan Me§trovic testified to the fact that every detail of the monument had to support the overall notion of the Yugoslav noble savagery:

I have already said that the plateau, which encircles the Tomb, must not be surrounded by any plantation [. . .] and, besides, the access lane should be bordered by shrubs that can sprout up to 2.5-3 m5 serving as the perfect setting for the stairways and primitive, rather rude, columns that will carry candelabra. I have never paid particular attention to the genus of these shrubs, albeit I certainly did not have in mind some exotic plants, but something that [. . .] harmonizes with our, so to speak, crude national milieu*3

37 See János Gerle, 'Hungarian Architecture from 1900 to 1918', in Dora Wiebenson and József Sisa (eds), The Architecture of Historic Hungary, Cambridge, MA, and London, 1998, p. 233; János Gerle, Attila Kovács, Imre Makovecz, A századforduló magyar építészete, Békéscaba, iqqo, pp. 13, 139-40; Imre Kathy, Medgyaszay István, Budapest, 1979. 38 See Marco Pozzetto, La Scuola di Wagner: i8g4~igi2. Idee-premi-concorsi, Trieste, 1979, p. no.

39 Jugoslovenstuo u arhitekturi, igo4~ig4i, pp. 43-60. *u See Making a Nation, Breaking a Nation: Literature and Cultural rolitics in Jugoslavia, pp. 67-127. 41 Jovan Gvijic, Jedinstvo i psihicki tipovi dinarskih "Juznih Slovena" (pisano u Nisu 1915. godine)', in Vladimir Stojancevic (ed.), Jovan Cvijic: autobiografija i drugi spisi, Beigrade, 1965, pp. 110-47. 42 Vladimir Dvornikovic, KarakterohgJLJa Jugoslovena, Beigrade, 1939. 43 Archive of Yugoslavia, f. 74-520, op. 252, d. 349. Emphasis added.



ALEKSANDAR IGNJATOVIC 635

Paradoxically, none of the nurseries in Yugoslavia contained saplings capable of representing the 'authentic5 Yugoslav identity that Mestrovic was trying to represent. In order to find suitable trees, the authorities set up a special committee that would bring about Tour thousand saplings of Taxus Baccata [Yew]' from a single German nursery.44 It is ironic that the only living part of the memorial had to be shipped from the country that the Unknown Soldier had recently fought against. Mestrovic's archaism was further reinforced by his plan to illuminate the path leading to the tomb with gas brackets rather than with standard electric lamps.45

At the same time, the authorities made an effort to mask the artificial appearance of the pseudo-classical architecture of the monument and to make it comprehensible to the common people. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier had to be a structure that local peasants would see as something ordinary, a structure inherent in their vernacular culture, and this ideological imperative guided the ceremonies that attended the various stages of the monument. For example, it was constantly emphasized that the natives and inhabitants of Avala district had built the old Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on their own.46 The press consistently emphasized the fact that, along with state officials, the local peasant community had taken part in the 'modest, yet significant'47 ceremony that commenced construction work in 1934. What is more, during the ceremony of consecration in June 1934, the king spent some time talking to local peasants gathered on 'Avala, the holy place', who 'for a moment had put aside their scythes and sickles'48 in order to salute their beloved ruler.49 Four years later, when the monument was completed, 'peasants from neighbouring villages'50 vol- untarily joined the rite of the Soldier's national sanctification. It was these peasants who moved the remains of the National Hero from the 'temporary vault' to the crypt of the new monument in 1938.51 Even during the official ceremony to open the rustic and picturesque Avala Hotel - built in close vicinity to the Tomb - 'a great number of

44 Archive of Yugoslavia, f. 74.-34.Q. od. ̂ 20. d. 264.. 26^. 45 Archive of Yugoslavia, f. 74-349, op. 252; Spomenik Neznanom junaku na Avail igj8-ig68}

p. 52. 46 'Ideolosko i politicko u spomenickoj arhitekturi prvog i drugog svetskog rata na du Srbije', p. 70; Spomenik Neznanom junaku na Avali 1018-1068. p. 7. 47 *Nj. V. Kralj osvetio je temelj spomenika Neznanom junaku', Beogradske opstinske novine (Belgrade), 52, 1934, 6, p. 470. 48 'Kralj je osvetio na Àvali kamen temeljac novog spomenika Neznanom junaku', Pravda (Belgrade), 30 Tune 1934, p. 2. 49 Ibid. See also 'Nj. V. Kralj osvetio je kamen temeljac spomeniku Neznanom junaku na Avali', p. 1. 50 Spomenik Neznanom junaku na Avali iqq8-iq68. p. w. 51 'Üzbudljiva svecanost na Avali: u velicanstveni granimi hram na vrhu Avale polozene su juce kosti Neznanog junaka', p. 5.




local peasants were gathered there'.52 All these examples had a prominent function in public discourse as they reinforced a sense of common identity shared by the whole nation - from peasantry to the royal family of Yugoslavia.

Furthermore, the popular image of the monument reflected the idea of Yugoslavia as a 'peasant state5 and the perception of Yugoslavs as people closely associated to a nationalized landscape and national history. The narratives of integral Yugoslavism outlined the idea that all Cproto-Yugoslav states' were based on the model of the zadruga (the extended family). Yugoslav historiography of the time, for example, recorded that the medieval Serbian state was established in the ninth century on the basis of a communion of 'authentic peasantry'. Simi- larly, the first Slovene state, 'developed in the eighth century', was a kind of 'fellow-peasant cooperative', whereas the ancient Croatian state was 'originally organized as a genuine peasant country'.53 It was commonly believed that 'the countryside was our driving force and common denominator, being the basis of our national life not only in the past but even today'.54 According to the ideology of Yugoslavism in the 1930s, which incorporated an organic model of national culture, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia had to follow her 'predecessors' and become a real peasant state. Considering the fact that not only ideological, but also political orientation towards the countryside and peasantry was very important over the course of the 1930s,55 the plan to create a rural milieu at the Avala Memorial had great significance. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier reinforced an ideal image of the nation, conceived solely to confirm the premises of integral Yugoslavism.

The image of the monument, a structure that local peasants recognized as part of their own culture, confirmed the idea that the Yugoslav royal family - which was behind the whole project - was the only 'authentic' ruling dynasty of the Balkans. Unlike the Bulgarian, Roma- nian and Greek royal families who were descended from German nobility, the Yugoslav royal family were descendants of Karadjordje (1768-1817), who was an ordinary peasant from Serbia proper.

The monument itself served as a link between the king and his people, and was thus essential to the political legitimization of integral Yugoslavism. At the same time, the king's affinity with the countryside

52 'Otvaranje avalskosr hotela', Politika (Belgrade), 1 August 1931. 53 St. Stanojevic, 'Nase seljacke drzave', in Milosav Stojadinovic (ed.), Nase selo, Belgrade, IQ2Q, D. 5. 54 Ibid., p. 6. 55 See Ljubodrag Dimic, Kulturna politika Kraljevine Jugoslauije igiö-ig^, 3 vols, Belgrade, 1996; Branka Prpa-Jovanovic, 'Jugoslavia kao moderna evropska drzava u videnjima srpskih intelektualaca 1918-1929', unpublished PhD, University of Belgrade, 2005, pp. 340-58.



ALEKSANDAR IGNJATOVIG 637 and the peasantry was popularized by the media: 'His Majesty is very fond of simple peasant festivities because he finds their rusticity and intimacy noble.'56 All this was important to the ideology of integral Yugoslavism which insisted on the idea that there was no need for an intermediary between the people and the king.57 The same principle was institutionalized as one of the basic premises of the 1931 Constitution.

From this perspective, the Avala Memorial could be understood as a place of national cohesion, since every mention of 'the countryside' and 'common folk' was supposed to tame the rising ethno-nationalism of Serbs and Croats. Furthermore, the notion that the countryside represented a vital, cohesive force for the whole of society was preva- lent in the Yugoslav political arena of the 1930s. As Ljubodrag Dimic explains:

It was believed that the ideal [of national cohesion] could be achieved because conditions of life throughout the Yugoslav countryside were quite similar. A certain aloofness towards politics, combined with epic-informed attitudes and a patriarchal lifestyle enabled the peasants to withstand the influence of urban culture which they perceived as something alien.58

Another important issue concerning the meaning of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was the Yugoslav Army,59 which was in charge of the construction work and all the major events related to constructing the Avala Monument. Even the mere presence of Army representatives affected the ceremonies held in front of the monument, reinforcing the desired sense of communal and national cohesion that the Tomb of the Unknown Hero epitomized. Having evolved from the Serbian military traditions which had played a crucial role in the 'liberation and unification' of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the Yugoslav Army publicly demonstrated 'the true spirit of Yugoslavism',60 representing the living source of the national exempla virtutis. The Army was perceived as a force that unified different ethnic, religious and social groups, something which the king persistently promoted in public. During the 1930s, it was not uncommon to read that the Army's principal task was 'not

56Branislav M. Stepanovic, Nacionalni testament kralja Aleksandra /, Belgrade, 1936, p. 316. See also, Jugoslovenstvo u arhitekturi iqoa-iqai, pp. 11 2-1 3. 57 See Stenografske beleske Senato Kraljevine Juposlavije. Belgrade, 10,32, 1, pp. 234.-3^. 58 Kulturna politika Kraljevine Juposlavije 1Q18-1Q41. 1, p. 460; 2, p. 260. 59 See Mile Bjelajac, 'The Military and Yugoslav Unity', in Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea, igi8-igg2, pp. 208-21; id., Vojska Kraljevine Srba, Hrvato i Slovenaca /Jugoslavie, Belgrade, !994- 60 Words of Petar Pesic, Chief of the Yugoslav Army General Staff, spoken at the Yugoslav Assembly during the debate on the Military Law in 1923. See Vojska Kraljevine Srba, Hrvato i Slovenaca / Jugoslavie, pp. 269-70.




only to train recruits, but to cultivate and promote the sense of being the [Yugoslav] nation as well'.61

During the 1930s, the Yugoslav Army was closely aligned with official ideology not only in terms of politics,62 but also as part of the official culture of representation. The presence of army officials and decoration in the form of military emblems at most events organized by the state was inevitable. Moreover, it was very uncommon for the king to appear in public wearing anything but uniform, and he was depicted in this guise on all public monuments.63 The fact that the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was built by 'a special squad of the Yugoslav Army'64 named 'the Avala platoon'65 was crucial in commu- nicating the ideological function of the monument. Since it did not exclusively represent Serbian military tradition, but was predominantly Yugoslav in character, the monument supported the ideal of social and national cohesion. Both the Yugoslav Army and the unknown 'national martyr' symbolized national harmony and peace, serving as the focus of the national communion of South Slavs.

Racialization of Body; Nationalization of Architecture The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, together with the whole memorial complex on Avala, embodied the process of dual legitimization, simultaneously achieving the ideals of national authenticity and the European civüizational character of the South Slavs. On the one hand, Yugoslav identity was seen as genuine, natural and primordial, while on the other it had to share the common values of European civilization.66 This is why the architectural iconography of the Avala Monu- ment was based upon traditions that evoked equilibrium between rude nature and sophisticated culture, virility and grace, the rustic and classical character.

First, the landscape of Avala was chosen to support the pseudo- mythical aura of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and its connotations. The bucolic character of the mountain inspired the architecture of the neighbouring Avala Hotel (1931-34), which was deliberately styled to evoke rustic simplicity, in the same fashion as the Tomb

61 Vqjska Kraljevine Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca / Jugoslavije, p. 269. w Ibid., pp. 163-248. 63 See 'Ideolosko i politicko u spomenickoj arhitekturi prvog i drugog svetskog rata na tlu Srbije', pp. 210-15. 64 Archive of Yugoslavia, f. 74.-2A2. od. 36^, d. <?6o.

65 Spomenik Neznanom junaku na Avali igj8-ig68, p. 18. 66 These ideas were developed by some of the most outstanding Yugoslav Hellenists of

the time: Milo§ Djuric, Anica Savic-Rebac and Milan Budimir, for example. On the struc- tural and comparative Hellenist interpretation of Yugoslavism, see Jugoslovenstvo u arhitekturi, igo4~ig4i, p. 2O5n. On Yugoslav Hellenism, see Sta§a Babic, Grá i drugi: anticka percepája i percepája antike, Belgrade, 2008, pp. 120-37.



ALEKSANDAR IGNJATOVIG 639 of the Unknown Soldier. While the plain façades of the hotel were designed to resemble archaic stone masonry, the iconography of its picturesque arcades (akin to the Dedinje Royal Mansion) had a special meaning which stressed the ambiguity of Yugoslav identity, perceived as somewhere between noble barbarism and a highly developed civilization. The carved capitals of the arcades were decorated with Arcadian scenes, including representations of Pan, Sylvanus, Silenus and other forest gods, along with the Sphinx and archaic korai. This imagery evoked the ideal of an imagined prototype culture symbolizing the mythical history of the South Slavs.

Historical references and cultural citations were common in the visual repertoire of Yugoslavism.67 These references suggested equilibrium between culture and nature which - contrary to the nations of the West - characterized all ancient civilizations as dynamic and vital. In the numerous historical, ethnographical and anthropological text- books of the 1930s, 'the Yugoslav civilization' was conceived as vital, primitive, archaic and thus comparable to the ancient civilizations of Egypt or Greece. It was Mestrovic who relied on this identity model to enable him to envisage the hieratic structure of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Conceived in this manner, and devoid of any historical references to the horrors of the Great War or any controversial aspects of Yugoslav modern life, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier sought to overcome the drama of the current national crisis by looking back to a mythical past, thereby blurring the sharp divisions amongst South Slavs and uniting them through the idea of primordial unity.

The ideological role of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was important in the complex politics that characterized the mid-ig3os. During the years of the Royal Regency (1934-41) there was a growing anti-democratic tendency and a strong propensity for authoritarianism. The intensification of international relations, the global policy of 'hard power' and the approach of war influenced Prince Regent Paul and the prime minister Milan Stojadinovic to adapt their country to the new circumstances in Europe. At home, the Yugoslav regime tacitly disowned integral Yugoslavism, adopting a more pragmatic, 'Realpoli- tik' ideology. The idea of South Slav primordial unity was no longer emphasized and this shift gave credibility to a quasi-federalization of the country. This led to the so-called Yugoslav 'Anschluss' in August 1939, when the autonomous Banovina of Croatia was established. Nevertheless, this change did not mean complete renunciation of the idea of national unity. Its shadow had to remain in order that the state's centralism, which had never been questioned by the Serbian

67 Jugoslovenstuo u arhitekturi, 1904-1941, pp. 212-29.




political elite, was legitimized.68 For this reason it was important for the regime to propagate simultaneously the concepts of South Slav ethnic unity and diversity and to support these ideas by means of representative culture.

This notion of Yugoslav identity - which incorporated both integral and synthetic ideas of nationhood - was overshadowed by the concept of the racial unity of the South Slavs which was firmly established during the 1930s throughout various scientific disciplines and cultural practices that reflected contemporary European racialist paradigms. South Slav racial unity, accompanied by the notion of cultural diversity, was clearly demonstrated in Mestrovic's design. Eight colossal caryatides, which were the central iconographie motif of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, were designed to represent an ideal of the Yugoslav racial body. They can be understood as a typical example of the 'somatic norm image',69 displaying the imagined Yugoslav racial ideal.70 The physical appearance of these women, portrayed by Mestrovic, revealed complete uniformity. Their vital, serene and sturdy bodies represented the ideal of national unity which had to be achieved not only among the living, but also among the dead victims of the Great War.

In a sense, Mestrovic's caryatides relied on the racial ideal already constructed in scientific discourse, for it was the so-called Dinaric race ideal (according to Joseph Deniker and Hans Günther),71 that embodied the idea of primordial South Slav identity. At the same time, influential theories of psychical anthropology propounded by Jovan Cvijic in La Péninsule balkanique {The Balkan Peninsula, 1918),72 and in the work of Vladimir Dvornikovic,73 recognized the Dinaric race as a genuine Yugoslav racial type. Mestrovic's iconography confirmed these ideas,

68 See, A History of the Balkans, 1804-1945, pp. 401-13; Geschichte Serbiens 19.-21. Jahrhunderts, pp. 292-94; Serbia: The History Behind the Name, p. 15911; Jacob Hoptner, Yugoslavia in Crisis: 1934-1941, New York, 1963. b9 Pierre van den Berghe, 'Race and Ethnicity: A Sociobiological Perspective', Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1, 1978, 4, pp. 402-11. See David Theo Goldberg, 'The Semantics of Race', in Martin Blumer and John Solomos (eds), Racism, Oxford, 1999, pp. 362-77. 70 See Athena S. Leoussi, Nationalism and Classicism: The Classical Body as National Symbol in Nineteenth-Century England and France, London, 1998. 7

Joseph Deniker, Races of Man: Outlines of Anthropobgy and Ethnography, Manchester, 1977; Carleton Stevens Coon, The Races of Europe, New York, 1939. See also, Joseph L. Graves, The Emôeror's New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium. Chapel Hill, NC, 2003. 72 This is the classic study supported by the Serbian Government and issued a few months before the Versailles Treaty: Jovan Cvijic, La Péninsule balkanique. Géographie humaine, Paris, iQi8.

73 Vladimir Dvornikovic, Kriza zapadno-evropske kulture, Sarajevo, 1923; id., Psihajugoslovenske melanholije, Zagreb, 1925; id., Nasa kulturna orijentacija u danasnjoj Europi, Zagreb, 1930; id., Religioni i religiozno-umetnicki duh Juznih Slovena, Belgrade, 1936; id., Borba ideja, Belgrade, 1937; id., Karakterologija Jugoslovena, Belgrade, 1939.




suggesting that South Slav diversity was a diversity of artificial cultural layers, while the original character of South Slavs was indivisible. Considering the complex meaning of the architectural and sculptural details of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the representation of the victors and victims of the Great War - the former associated with Serbs and the latter with Groats and Slovenes - implies that they were united not only after the War, but also throughout their history. Through the image of the caryatides the South Slavs appeared transformed and rejuvenated, united by the idea of the Yugoslav race.

The eight caryatides were thus draped in völkisch costumes, representing different Yugoslav regions and ethno-territorial units of the country. Despite their Takeloric' appearance,74 the caryatides express the harmony of the united South Slavs who had renounced their particular ethnic interests and different identities. Furthermore, these women confirm the cultural significance of the Fallen Soldier, whose glorious mission transcends his ethnic, social and religious incarnation to mature into the 'real' Yugoslav identity. Just as the Unknown Soldier's destiny goes beyond the limits of his personal history to be shared by the whole nation, the common national interest comes before the individual interests of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Standing on holy Yugoslav soil, the figures represent the nation as a sacred communion of peoples, erected in a place devoid of any symbol of the official Yugoslav faiths (Orthodox and Catholic Christianity, Islam). Contrary to the ideal of integral Yugoslavism, the divided religious body of South Slavs continually triggered animosities, separating the national body in real life.

There is another feature of Mestrovic's caryatides which is important in understanding the overall significance of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The figures were sculpted to personify different Yugoslav regions - Sumadija (i.e. Serbia proper), Montenegro, Croatia, Slove- nia, Banat, South Serbia, Bosnia and Dalmatia.75 The message of their arrangement was clear: they were united in an inseparable connection which aimed to symbolize both national stability and the cultural diversity of Yugoslavia. These draped female figures, however, used instead of pillars to carry the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, do not actually support the structure. Various photographs taken on the

74 Making a Nation, Breaking a Nation: Literature and Cultural Politics in Yugoslavia, p. 139. 75 'Osam karijatida za spomenik Neznanom junaku, koje ce predstavljati osam jugoslov-

enskih zena, bice isklesano za 6 meseci', Vreme (Belgrade), 17 January 1936, p. 1; Uspomene na politicke ljude i dogadaje, p. 216. On geographic regions of interwar Yugoslavia and their political background, see The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics, PP- 59-69-




building site show that the caryatides were put in place at the end of construction.76 It is ironic, therefore, that these sculpted guardians of the Unknown Warrior do not carry out their expected load-bearing function, intended to symbolize the stability of Yugoslavia supported by her ethnic and cultural diversity.

It is essential to view the formal and iconographie arrangement of the caryatides in the broader perspective of the idea of syncretic Yugoslavism during the 1930s. One of its governing principles was the concept of the 'amalgamation of diversity5, which perceived Yugoslav national identity as a compound system of cultural diversities. Originat- ing in nineteenth-century ethnographic discourse, this syncretic model was widely shared by many Serbian and Croatian intellectuals, being eventually transferred into the official cultural paradigm of the first Yugoslavia. There were representative examples which clearly showed the syncretic concept of Yugoslav identity: the official Yugoslav coat of arms, the Yugoslav tripartite national hymn or the official Serbo- Croato-Slovene language. In addition, the representative visual culture of Yugoslavia was heavily dependent on this identity pattern that reflected the ongoing process of ideological transition from integral to synthetic Yugoslavism. In its essence, syncretic Yugoslavism suggested that the country could prosper due to the abundance of its particular cultures and ethnic traditions. Displaying the diversity of Yugoslav geographic phenomena aimed to divert attention from the different and contested political traditions of South Slavs. These features included mountains, woodlands, forests, valleys, gorges and the seaside, or the country's various regions, whose historical status was irrelevant. It was not uncommon for the state's official culture to represent different geographic or cultural entities joined together in order to create the impression of Yugoslav national unity. The most telling examples were different maps and other visual representations of the country displayed at international events such as the World Exhibitions in Paris in 1925 and 1937.77 All these examples revealed the fact that the idea of Yugoslav unity was based solely on the country's geographic features. The historical traditions of the South Slavs were completely excluded from this concept since they could pose a problematic national question that had never been really raised until 1939. Mestrovic's caryatides comport with this syncretic pattern, clearly showing 'different varieties

76 Spomemk Neznanomjunaku na Avali igj8-ig68; Archive of Yugoslavia, ff. 74-399-592.

77Aleksandar Ignjatovic, 'Peripheral Empire, Internal Colony: Yugoslav National Pavilions at the Paris World Exhibitions in 1925 and 1937', Centropa, 8, 2008, 2, pp. 186- 97-




of the Dinaric type'.78 The idea of Yugoslav syncretism was the credo of King Alexander himself. He believed that the national aim was ca higher synthesis of our national expressions and characteristics which would in our internal harmony enable the development of all the beautiful and distinguishing features of our race'.79

On closer inspection of the arrangement of these caryatides, which was executed according to the king's and Mestrovic's ideas,80 it appears that it did not conform to the ideology of integral Yugoslavism. The fact that the caryatides personified both the 'historical' states (Monte- negro, Croatia, Dalmatia, Bosnia) and 'unhistorical' (Sumadija, Banat, South Serbia) regions stood in contrast to the official disapproval of the Serbian and Croatian state traditions in Yugoslavia. What is more, the position of the caryatides gave out a political message concerning the most traumatic issue of internar Yugoslavia, that is the question of 'Serbian', 'non-Serbian' and 'Croatian' territories in Yugoslavia.

At the main portal on the western side of the Tomb, Mestrovic installed four caryatides that embodied the most significant Yugoslav regions: Sumadija, Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia. While the caryatides representing Sumadija and Montenegro - traditionally 'Serbian' ethnic realms - were grouped together in the south, the opposite, northern side of the portal was decorated with Croatian and Slovenian caryatides. The same principle was applied to the rear portal, where the other four caryatides - those of Banat and South Serbia, Bosnia and Dalmatia - were faced towards the east. Here again, the southern side of the portal was occupied by two 'Serbian' caryatides - the Banatian and South Serbian - whereas the opposite, northern side was decorated with the Bosnian and Dalmatian caryatides.81

The arrangement can be perceived as a mirror image of the Yugoslav political landscape of the late 1930s, dominated by territorial disputes between Serbian and Croatian nationalists. As early as 1937 - a year before the completion of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

78 See Karl Kaser, 'Peoples of the Mountains, Peoples of the Plains: Space and Ethno- graphic Representation', in Nancy M. Wingfield (ed.), Creating the Other: Ethnic Conflicts and Nationalism in Habsburg Central Europe, New York and Oxford, 2005, pp. 216-30; Wendy Bracewell, '"The Proud Name of Hajduks": Bandits as Ambiguous Heroes in Balkan Politics and Culture', in Yugoslavia and Its Historians, eds Norman M. Naimark and Holly Case, Stanford, CA, 2003. dd. 22-36 fo. 28Ì.

9 'Ree Njegova Velicanstva Kralja u noci od Stare 1929. na Novu 1930. godinu', Almanah Kraljevine .Jugoslawe, IV iubilarni svezaL Belgrade. IQ20.-31. dd. i6c?-6a. EmDhasis added.

00 Stoomenik Neznanom iunaku na Avali 1018-1068* dd. 4.q-^o. 81 The majority of historical master narratives on the Second World War, which mainly pursued the official ideology of Yugoslav federalism, deliberately interpreted the Banatian caryatid as Vojvodina, while the sculptural representation of South Serbia was seen as a Macedonian caryatid.



644 THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN YUGOSLAV SOLDIER - a group of Croatian intellectuals, including Ivan Mestrovic, signed a petition demanding political and administrative decentralization of the country according to the criteria of ethnicity and historical rights.82 Instead of representing the geographic and cultural diversity of Yugo- slavia, the layout of the caryatides implicitly confirmed the claims of the petition. To illustrate this better, it is necessary to find out which Yugoslav territories were not represented by the caryatides. In respect of the orientation of the caryatides, on the southern side of the Tomb were gathered 'Serbian5 territories (Serbia proper and Montenegro at the front entrance; Banat and South Serbia at the rear). On the northern side of the monument were grouped 'non-Serbian5 regions (Croatia and Slovenia at the front entrance; Bosnia and Dalmatia at the rear). This means that Mestrovic divided the Yugoslav national territory into two parts. Accordingly, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier unexpect- edly became a symbol of the national crisis in Yugoslavia, an antithesis of the Yugoslav 'concord of diversity5 which the monument was to represent. The overall scheme symbolized a deeply divided nation, characterized by the two major ethnic groups that constantly competed in order to dominate the territories they considered theirs. As regards the regions represented by the caryatides, only Vojvodina (which con- sisted of Backa and Srem, excluding 'Serbian5 Banat that was already embodied by one caryatid) was missing on Mestrovic's sculptural map of Yugoslavia. Indeed, Backa and Srem - uncovered, blank areas on the map - were actually formidable obstacles on the road to solving the national question, for both the Serbian and Croatian elites considered these wealthy and prosperous districts to be the property of their own respective nations. According to the petition, Backa and Srem should have represented a corpus separatum within a re-organized Yugoslavia, which would have been divided among the Serbs and the Croats. It is no wonder, therefore, that Mestrovic represented Banat, instead of the whole province of Vojvodina which, apart from Banat, had two further districts - Backa and Srem. Although the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was originally conceived to symbolize South Slav unity, it is ironic that its central iconographical motif appeared to be the national crisis in Yugoslavia.

82 This programme represented 'a compromise needed for Yugoslav re-composition', with three regions of 'mainly ethno-historical status (Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia) and two separate territories of compound ethnic identity (Bosnia and Vojvodina)'. However, both pro-Serbian state authorities and the Serbian political opposition immediately refused this programme, as Vojvodina was undoubtedly considered one of the Serbian outposts. See Mira Radivojevic, 'Bosna i Hercegovina u raspravama o drzavnom uredenju Kraljevine (SHS) Jugoslavie 1918-1941 godine', Istorija XX veka (Belgrade), 12, 1994, 1, pp. 21-22. The programme was integrally published in Nova Europa (Zagreb), 30, 1937, 7-8, pp. 228-36.




Apart from the caryatides, there was another suggestive aspect of the Tomb, one that Andrew B. Wachtel considers important. The overall layout of the monument was 'meant to symbolize Yugoslavia's role as mediator between East and West, for the monumental portals, supported by gigantic caryatides clad in the folk clothing from various regions of Yugoslavia, face in those directions5.83 Such orientation con- formed to the ideological representation of Yugoslavia as a cultural synthesis. Yet, installing 'Serbian' caryatides at the southern, and 'non- Serbian' (that is 'Croatian') at the northern side of the Tomb, did not correspond solely to the general geographic distribution of these ethnic groups, although both Serbs and Croats had been scattered throughout the central part of the Yugoslav territory.

There is another possible way of reading the grouping of the caryatides which could provide a further explanation of the general ideological significance of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. During the 1930s, an important feature of Mestrovic's work was the use of classical architecture, as shown by the general concept of the Tomb. Apart from many classical details applied to the Avala Monument, the grouping of the caryatides can be interpreted in regard to their north- south orientation, which is closely associated with the practice of the ancient Romans. As a symbol of the Saturnian Golden Age - a time of perfect peace and harmony - the north was the place of the Roman Olympus and a more honourable part of the world than the south.84 Considering the strong classicizing tendencies of Mestrovic's work, it is possible to assume that he used the ancient meaning of the north-south orientation to emphasize the cryptic message of the monument.

The classicizing tendency of Mestrovic's design was supported not only by the use of classical paraphernalia (caryatides, entablature, pediments and so on), but also by his sketches. For example, the plans for the monument held in the Archive of Yugoslavia reveal excessive use of Roman square capitals (with letter 'V instead of modern 'U') which Mestrovic deliberately applied.85 It is evident that Mestrovic aimed to underline the overall pseudo-classical character of the design and, in addition to that, establish its apocryphal connotations in respect of any ethno-territorial rearrangement of Yugoslavia.

The German nineteenth-century architectural model of connecting national culture and nationalized nature was precisely what the Yugo- slav king and his favourite artist employed when the decision to erect the Memorial of the Unknown Soldier was finally made. However,

83 Making a Nation, Breaking, a Nation: Literature and Cultural Politics in Yugoslavia* pp. ioq-io. 84 See the classical study by A. L. Frithingham: 'Ancient Orientation Unveiled: IF, American Journal of Archaeology, 21 (1917), 2, pp. 187-201; Georges Dumézil, Archaic Roman Religion. 2 vols, Baltimore, MD, iqo6. 85 Archive of Yugoslavia, The Collection of Plans, ff. 74-399-592, 74-399-388.




unlike the majority of similar German examples which glorified the idea of Germandom, the Avala Mountain was devoid of any Yugoslav connotations, being connected only with Serbian ethno-history. Since the nineteenth century, Avala had gained an important place in Serbian national narratives, associated with national independence and national unification.86 The main task of the builders of the Tomb was, therefore, to Yugoslavize the site and to downplay its Serbian identity which was marked by the remains of the medieval fortress Zrnov that had stood atop the mountain until 1934.87 This goal was rather hard to achieve since nineteenth-century Serbian Romantic poetry had portrayed Avala as a symbol of Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire.88 With the construction of the Tomb of the Unknown Hero, the mountain transcended its previous identity and became Yugoslav in character. In other words, both the Tomb and the mountain were re-interpreted as symbols of the united South Slavs, which was clearly shown in a poem of the pro-regime poet Vojislav Ilic the Younger:

There rests solely the one, yet unknown, here Stands for all the nameless brothers Yugoslav, here, the Unknown Soldier slumbers.89

The same process of identity transformation - from historical and ethnic, to meta-historical and national - was evident in the process of the construction of the Tomb. The first step in the four-year-long construction was the demolition of the Zrnov fortress, which had been ruined for centuries, in order to make space for the new monument.90 The fortress had been widely known as the 'Serbian tower' and had actually served as an Ottoman stronghold until the early nineteenth century. In spring 1934 King Alexander ceremonially mined and demolished Zrnov using explosives.91 The demolition of the old fortress provoked a series of protests by the Serbian intellectual elite, who objected to this act of vandalism.92 However, it was clear that the

86 One of the most prominent Serbian Romantic poets, Djura Jaksic, established the tradition of the national 'Blue Avala' in his poem 'Padajte, braco!' ('Brothers, fall!', 1862) as a symbol of Serbian national identity. See Djura Jaksic, Pesme Djure Jaksica, vol. 1, Belgrade, 1900. 87

Djurdje Boskovic, 'Grad Zrnov', Sfarinar (Belgrade), 15, 1940, pp. 70-91; Aleksandar Deroko, Srednjovekovni gradovi u Srbiji, Crnqj Gori i Makedoniji, Belgrade, 1950, pp. 101-02. 88 In patriotic nineteenth-century Serbian literature, Avala is widely depicted as a symbol of freedom. In poetical constructions framed within the culture of Serbian nationalism, this mountain was seen as a paradigm of Serbian political independence, and a reminder of indispensable national unification.

89 'Tu lezi samo jedan, al' i k'o neznan, ovde / Predstavlja i ostalu neznanu bracu svoju / Jugoslovenski, onde, Neznani junak spava'. Translated by the author.

90 Djurdje Boskovic, 'Ispitivanje i rusenje grada na Avali', Sfarinar (Belgrade), 10-11, 1935-36, PP- I44-45- 91 R. M. Murko, 'Spomenik Neznanom junaku na Avali', Nova Evropa (Zagreb), December !938, pp. 386-99-




ceremony was aimed at construction, not destruction. The act of demolition reflected the essence of the cult of the Unknown Hero: the nation's mission was to overcome separate South Slav ethnic traditions and identities. It would be wrong to understand the monarch's drastic action as an act of cultural vandalism although it was often thought that the king had neglected Serbian national heritage.93 On the contrary, the destruction of Zrnov represented a paradigm of the national mission of South Slavs, united by innate, primordial attachments, which dates back to ancient times long before the stronghold was built. Its demolition could also mean that the commemoration of the First World War and the cult of the Unknown Warrior were focused on the recon- ciliation of Yugoslav ethnic groups, rather than on the glorification of the victors of the Great War.

This general Yugoslavizing narrative was further reinforced by rejecting the idea that the Avala Complex should carry Serbian military ensigns. Mestrovic initially proposed that the monument's architectural companion - the circular plateau at the beginning of the central stairway-lane - should be equipped with an obelisk inscribed with the dates of the victorious battles of the First World War. How- ever, the king eventually gave up on this idea and decided that the most appropriate spatial companion for the Unknown Soldier's Tomb was to be a thin metal flagpole, carrying the Yugoslav national tricolore.94 This detail complemented the idea of commemorating Serbian merits in the War for Yugoslav unification. In that way, the symbolic shift from a 'historical' obelisk to an 'abstract' standard - national symbol par excellence which reflected 'the entire background, thought and culture of a nation'95 - sheds light on the overall meaning of the Tomb. Both the demolition of the medieval fortress and the decision not to erect the Serbian military obelisk were aimed at fostering the national integration of South Slavs. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was built 'as a homage to the Serbian struggle for [Yugoslav] unification and liberation' and as a memorial that 'provided the new nation with a crucial symbol of its identity'.96

92 The protests were orchestrated by a few professional institutions in Belgrade: the Society of Connoisseurs, the Museum of Art History, the Institute of Folklore Art, and the Club of Architects. See 'Ispitivanje i rusenje grada na Avali', pp. 144-45. 93 See for example, Mihajlo Petrov, 'Rusenje starog Avalskog grada', 20. okotobar (Belgrade), 2, July 1948. 94 'Zavrsen je velelepni spomenik Neznanom Junaku na Avali koja je potpuno preuredjena', Politika (Belgrade), 25 September IQ38, p. q. 95 Eric Hobsbawm, 'Introduction: Inventing Traditions', in The Invention of Tradition, p. 11. 96 'Ideolosko i politicko u spomenickoj arhitekturi prvog i drugog svetskog rata na tlu Srbije', p. 142.




It is important to understand this shifting identity mechanism as a metaphor of transubstantial change - from the dilapidated sandstone remnants of the medieval citadel Zrnov to the lustrous granite masonry of the Tomb. A question of the highest importance was not only which kind of stone would be suitable for the construction of the Tomb, but also the geographic location of an adequate quarry. In 1934 a special State Committee was set up in order to make the final decision on which stone would be used, although the king himself had suggested that the most appropriate stone should have a reddish colour.97 At the same time, the government considered the stone-pit Tenda (near Zajecar in Serbia) to be the most convenient quarry, in spite of the bad quality of the stone. The logic of their argument was based on the idea that the origin of the stone had to be Serbian - the same as the fallen soldier. In the meantime, the Committee proposed three optional quarries: Josanicka Banja (in Serbia), Pohorje (in Slovenia) and Jablanica (in Herzegovina). Having carried out thorough evaluations, the Committee finally made a decision to use granite from the Jablanica quarry due to its excellent qualities.98 Yet, it was more than obvious that ideologically it was the most acceptable solution, irrespective of the quality of the building material. The identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina was commonly interpreted as a synthesis of the main Yugoslav ethnic groups and confessions, thus performing a crucial role in the concept of Yugoslav unity.99 What is more, Bosnia and Herzegovina were considered completely Dinaric in character. As a result, massive blocks of Jablanica granite were immediately shipped both to the building lot in Avala and to Mestrovic's atelier in Split in Dalmatia where they were later cut into the monumental caryatides. The building stone can thus be seen as a metaphor of a genuine Yugoslav petra genetrix, taken from the Dinaric terra mater. Having been cut with perfect edges and even surfaces and sculpted into the caryatides, the Jablanica granite simultaneously symbolized the authenticity, fertility and vitality of the Yugoslav race and the sacredness of the nation. This belief was not so dissimilar to the immense mass of archaic lithic mythology, 'concerning men born from stone and the generation and ripening of stones in the bowels of the earth'.100 The

97 Uspomene na politiche ljude i dogadqje, p. 223; Hajna Tucic, Spomenik Neznanom junaku na

Avail Sùomenik kulture od izuzetnoz znacaia* Belgrade, 2008, pp. 1-2. 98 Archive of Yugoslavia, ff. 74-399-592. These details concord with Mestrovic's descrip- tion of the events, published in his autobiography: Uspomene na politicke ljude i dogadqje, pp. 223-26. For further discussion, see Jugoslovenstuo u arhitekturi, 1904-1941, pp. 227-29. 99 See Aleksandar Ignjatovic, 'Jugoslovenstvo izmedju idealizovanog i pragmaticnog: Bosna i Herceerovina kao paradigma jugoslovenskog identiteta', in ibid., pp. 119-38. 100 Mircea Eliade, The Forge and the Crucible, Chicago, IL, 1979, pp. 43-52 (p. 43).




old belief that stone is the source of life and that it rejuvenates and procreates mankind could be understood as an additional interpretation of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Finally, both the womb (of Dinaric stone) and the tomb (of the Unknown Soldier) could be seen as the birthplace of a genuine Yugoslavia, determined by land, soil and natural environment.

* * *

An essentially important issue in the process of nation- and identity- building in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was its culture of memory which was based on a wide variety of resources. These supported the premises of the ideology of Yugoslavism, which connoted a set of values that referred to the imagined community of Yugoslavs, and in this respect, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier played an integral part. At the same time, the Tomb was constructed to perform a cohesive role, uniting different South Slav ethnic groups into one, integral nation which was simultaneously based on the idea of racial unity and cultural diversity. The cohesive function of the Tomb was even more prominent as the usual sepulchral iconography of a Christian burial place was replaced by a set of universal symbols which Mestrovic had designed. Instead of putting a simple cross on the top of the Tomb, Mestrovic used the language of classical architecture as part of newly established traditions in order to underline the idea of Yugoslavism as a secular religion. The new cult of the Unknown Warrior meant neglecting the religious traditions of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and creating an 'ontological' identity for all Yugoslav citizens, regardless of their ethnic, religious or cultural background. Having such an ambitious aim, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier might become the key symbol of Yugoslav national unification and ethnic egalitarianism. Nationwide ceremonies were planned to be continually performed at the Tomb, connecting the living and the dead.101 The Avala Memo- rial, therefore, was to represent the core of Yugoslav national imagery, being one of the central narratives of invented Yugoslav traditions. For the supporters of integral Yugoslavism the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier continually represented 'the most important source of our recent national past'.102

* * *

Due to the gradual decline of the king's integral Yugoslavism and the decentralization of the state in 1939, the Tomb ceased to be the focus

101 R. M. Murko, 'Spomenik Neznanom junaku na Avali', p. 38611. 102 R. Djermanovic, 'Smisao kulta Neznanog junaka', p. 16.




of media attention.103 Not a single important national holiday was celebrated at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after June 1938, when the earthly remains of the unknown warrior were placed in a new crypt - this time, without the oversight of any prominent state official. In addition, nationwide ceremonies on annual Statehood Day (1 Decem- ber) were no longer held there. A comparison between the two official charts inserted into the monument - the first signed by King Alexan- der in 1934 and the second by state representatives in 1938 - reveals a stark difference in the interpretation of the monument's significance. While the king's idea was to build the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as 'a shining example for future Yugoslav generations',104 four years later the message was altered so that the Tomb would 'send light to the future generations of our people'.105 As time passed, the Yugoslav character of the monument gradually faded into oblivion.

After 1945 the new Communist regime of Socialist Federal Yugosla- via further marginalized the significance of the monument, now no longer seen as a symbol of Yugoslav national identity. Another monument was erected in 1971 on the neighbouring Kosmaj mountain to commemorate fallen partisans in the Second World War. It served as a symbol of the Socialist Revolution and represented one of the central ideological narratives of the Communist regime. The Kosmaj Monument became a counter-monument to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. In 1965 there was a further attempt to marginalize the memorial when the Monument of Soviet War Veterans was built in close proximity to the top of Avala.106 Despite this, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier did not entirely lose its significance, as its caryatides were renamed to suit the new federal composition of Yugoslavia, bearing the names of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Dalmatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Croatia and Serbia.107

At the end of the twentieth century, however, the monument regained its position as the central lieu de mémoire of the First World War in Serbia. It is no surprise that the cult of the Unknown Soldier was re-established during the renaissance of Serbian nationalism in the late 1980s and 1990s, when the idea of Serbian martyrdom became crucial

103 por exampiej in the most widely read newspaper Politika (Politics) between 1938 and 1941 one can find scarce information regarding the Avala Memorial. 104 'Nj. V. Kralj osvetio je kamen temeljac spomeniku Neznanom junaku na Avali', p. 1.

Emphasis added. 105 'Uzbudljiva svecanost na Avali: u velicanstveni granimi hram na vrhu Avale polozene

su iuce kosti Neznanog junaka', p. 5. Emphasis added. 106 Branko Vujovic, Beograd u proslosti i sadasnjosti, Belgrade, 1994, p. 335. 107 Ibid., p. 334.




to the process of reconstruction of national identity.108 The old inscrip- tion 'Aleksandar, Kralj Jugoslavie, Neznanomjunaku' ('Alexander, the King of Yugoslavia, to the Unknown Soldier5) was put back on the monument, which is now a place of central interest on Serbian State- hood Day, 15 February, when the president pays homage to all Serbs killed in wars. However, the monument no longer represents the idea of Yugoslavism and the Unknown Warrior is no longer a Yugoslav Soldier.

108 Olga Manojlovic Pintar, Tradicije Prvog svetskog rata u Srbiji: od simbola sanjanog jugoslovenstva do simbola izneverenog srpstva', in Tihomir Gipek and Olivera Milosavljevic (eds), Kultura sjecanja: povijesni lomovi i savhdavanje proslosti, Zagreb, 2007, pp. 155-66.



Documents

From Constructed Memory to Imagined National Tradition: The Tomb of the Unknown Yugoslav Soldier (1934-38)