The unwritten "aesthetic" rule of every democratic government is that whenever it comes to its important people - especially political leaders - it almost always includes their wives. The attention of the media "spotlights" is almost equally divided between spouses. Let's just remember Jacqueline Kennedy, wives John Kennedy or Princess Diana, wives Prince Charles.
Evil tongues say that the wives of these people know how to interfere in the domain of some aspects of state politics. For example, Grace Kelly, wife of the Prince of Monaco Renijea III She even led the overall state policy of the principality.
Wives in the Shadow of the Leader
In totalitarian societies, this is not the case. There is no “aesthetic” rule. Wives are always in the shadow of the Leader. They are almost invisible. They have household duties. Let's not even talk about the influence of husbands on the dictator's rule. Stalinov The general public never saw his wife. (She eventually committed suicide, bravely explaining in - American - exile Svetlana Alliluyevna, daughter of JV Stalin.)
The function of a dictator's wife is to remain silent. Her voice has never been recorded on film. Eve Braun, life companions Adolf Hitler, amounts to deep old age Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) Hitler's official, family director of films about the Führer.
Admittedly, the smiles of these women are desirable for the general public. Even mandatory. (Although one never knows, nor is it possible to determine, to whom these smiles are addressed.)
Briefly, we would say here, the discretion of every Leader's wife is a social mystery. It is (a mystery) of supreme and permanent state significance and nurturing. Because the totalitarian caste protects itself with everything and anything - even mysteries as a form of preserving the Leader's power - with the obligatory smile of his wife.
Milovan Djilas was the first in Yugoslavia, and from the top of the government, to break the mystery about his wife Josip BrozUntil Milovan Đilas wrote about Tito's wife, no one in the wider and discreet Yugoslav public knew or dealt with Jovanka's “character and work.” However, they were not allowed to, because the issue was too “aesthetic” and therefore dangerous.
Milovan Đilas could and did reveal the “mystery-Jovanka” given his closeness to Josip Broz in the party and - for a time - the closeness of the Broz family and the Đilas family in the caste. In addition to the closeness of Tito and Đilas in the party, until January 1954, the wives of these people were, so to speak, housemates. (They prepared lunches, dinners, studied together, etc.)
Đilas was, therefore, the first to publicly reveal the mystery of Josip Broz's wife.
In addition, he was a man of lucid and concentrated observation. But also of the boldness and "aesthetic" responsibility to say everything he knew about power - including knowledge about the ruler's wife - publicly and freely. Thus, in his book "Druženje sa Titom" he presents a whole series of observations about Jovanka Budisavljević-Broz.
At the same time, his stories are short socio-political, in-depth reflections on the woman-wife whose only “lighthouse” in life was Josip Broz. But also reflections that abound in psychology, ethics and numerous other contents of this historical figure. (Jovanka Budisavljević was a historical figure simply because she was the wife of Josip Broz.)
Tito's marriages and politics
Jovanka Budisavljević was, according to Đilas, the fourth wife of Josip Broz. With the first, By Pelagia Belousova and lastly Jovanka Budisavljević, Josip Broz lived in a legal marriage, while with the second, Hertom Has and thirdly, Davorjanka-Zdenko Paunović, lived in a so-called extramarital relationship. (With Herta Has had a son Misha, and with his first wife he had a son Hot.)
It is obvious that Josip Broz correctly distributed and alleviated his emotions, ideological, war and IB stresses into: pre-revolutionary, revolutionary and post-revolutionary marriages.
There is every chance, intimate Đilas states, that J. Broz had the deepest emotional connection with Davorjanka Paunović. She was even buried in 1946, after a long and serious illness (tuberculosis), in the courtyard of the White Palace where Tito lived after the Second World War. And in this way he expressed his closeness to this unmarried wife.
All of Tito's wives were communists, loyal to the party, and considerably younger than him. Pelagia was 16 when she married Broz. Tito was then about thirty. Davorjanka was about 30 years younger than Broz, and Jovanka was 32. When they began their relationship, she was 23 and he was 55, and when they got married, Jovanka was 28 and Josip Broz was 60.
With Tito, everything was politics, even absolute politics. His extramarital/marital life was like that, regardless, Đilas states, of the fact that he tried to separate public activities from private life. (It is an old truth that absolute power also subordinates the private life of the absolutist to itself.) In this “subordination” to absolute politics, his wife Jovanka Budisavljević was Tito’s companion. Or perhaps even a companion, in a way.
After World War II, Tito's common-law "wife" Davorijanka Paunović died of tuberculosis in 1946, and Tito was left "alone." And that is already a political problem that must be "aesthetically" solved. The Soviet NKVD's "red love" model was used to solve the problem. It should be noted that the NKVD adopted and improved this method from the Russian revolutionary, feminist, and Soviet ambassador to Norway. Alexander Kolontai (1872-1952).
Therefore, the Leader's new emotion, a new woman and a new love, Đilas states, could only be found in Tito's immediate and close environment, which was controlled by the UBD. The environment was, naturally, full of beautiful, young, loyal to Tito, dedicated and devoted communist women and secretaries. Therefore, the UDB took care of this emotional environment with vigilant attention.
Zinke Kunc's Disinterest
Jovanka Budisavljević, by virtue of her position, was in close proximity to Tito on a daily basis. She was part of Tito's closest bodyguard and personal escort. Jovanka was, as Đilas describes, striking, striking, healthy, of racial beauty. Black hair, white skin, large eyes full of anxiety and suffering, a wide Yugo-smile, without coquetry. But with a feminine restraint despite the officer's UDB uniform she wore, because she was always on duty.
Tito noticed and recognized Jovanka.
Much later, at their wedding in early 1952, Đilas curiously but also mischievously asked A. Ranković for the beginning of their love and the role of UBD in it. Ranković, according to Đilas, smiled - persistently.
The biography, especially the party part of Jovanka Budisavljević's biography, was impeccable, according to Đilas.
Tito and Jovanka's premarital relationship lasted nearly six years. It is not excluded, notes Đilas, that Jovanka experienced this time of relationship with the party and war deity as both love and a party obligation.
Over time, she also got to know Tito as a man and fell in love with him more and more devotedly and deeply. But all this time "She held herself with silent, unobtrusive patience - never lashing out, never using unnecessary words (...) Determined to burn and wither away, unknown and unrecognized, by the side of the divinity she had dreamed of, like so many others, and to whom she could only belong, since he had already chosen her."
Tito insisted that the relationship between them be discreet and hidden from the wider public. Even the party. Is the reason because Jovanka was not representative enough for him by origin and education, says Đilas, or because after three failed marriages he had no hope of marital happiness, or he wanted to remain single, these are some of the questions that Milovan Đilas asks. But - naturally - he does not provide answers.
It is important and necessary to note, says Đilas, that Josip Broz also had a fondness for the great opera singer. Metropolitan, a woman of imposing stature and elegance, radiant beauty, world-famous Zinki Rabbit. But in Kuncova, Đilas states up close, there was no noticeable affection for Tito "at least not more significantly than a worldly lady shows towards a big-name suitor. Besides, she was already married to a Yugoslav General Ilic - a revolutionary of fine, nonconformist intelligence. "
Although - here Đilas is seriously mistaken - Broz won over Davorija's Zdenka Paunović at the beginning of World War II, even though she was in a love affair with Jov Kapičić.
The secret relationship between Broz and Jovanka would have lasted, says Đilas, who knows how long if an unforeseen circumstance had not occurred. Namely, at the end of March 1951, Tito suffered a very dangerous attack of gallstones, and his liver was also involved. Panic reigned in the top ranks of the party, army, and police, and a surgeon flew in from Ljubljana. Lavric. "Ranković and I burst into Tito's bedroom. He was also somewhere there. Kardelj... Jovanka met me on the steps... stifling a sob, she cried out, "What will happen, Comrade Đido?" That was the first time Jovanka had addressed a member of the Politburo."
Godfathers - Ranković and Gošnjak
Jovanka's care for Tito, especially after his operation on April 19, 1951, which took place in Bled (Slovenia), was remarkably caring and individual. The whole situation of Tito's illness made their premarital relationship open and natural. The relationship ended with marriage in early 1952. Tito's best man was Aleksandar Ranković, and Jovanka's general Ivan Gosnjak.
Đilas states about Jovanka Broz that it is about "not at all" neither a stupid nor an evil person. Slow and hard but reliable mind... with her, orderliness and conscientiousness reigned around Tito".
Jovanka, as Broz's wife, appeared in public for the first time on the occasion of the British minister's visit. Antoni Idna Yugoslavia in mid-1952.
After the war, in addition to Broz, Đilas himself married for the second time. (The "new-class" leaders replaced revolutionary, ideological love with "peacetime" marriages.) By departing from Leninist dogmas, Đilas states, the emotional sides of their personalities became more expressive, freer, more non-partisan, and - as we would say today - (naturally) more erotic. Everything ended with new marriages. And not only with Tito. New marriages were also established by A. Ranković, V. Dedijer, P. Dapčević and numerous others.
This implosion of marriages by the “new class” that seized power after the war is harder to acknowledge “from within” but easier to see from “outside.” Namely, at a reception at Tito’s on the occasion of the visit of the British minister, Antonio Idno, the wife of the French Ambassador Bodea, commenting on the “flood” of “new class” marriages after the war, Đilasu astutely remarked that “You have a honeymoon lined up.".
Perhaps this remark by a worldly lady of fantastic charm and refined intellect, as Đilas says, was the basis for Đilas's later great, important, revolutionary documentary-serial story "Anatomy of a Morality" (1954). This story resonated like a bombshell at the top of Tito's government. The story "pointed its finger" at the "aesthetics" of the new class.
With this story, the political death of Milovan Đilas suddenly appeared on the southern horizon. A few days later, Milovan Đilas "fell" at the Third Extraordinary Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, in January 1954.
A sad monument to an era
Let's go back to Jovanka Broz.
We said that Jovanka Broz - as in feudal courts - appeared very rarely before the wider Yugoslav public. The exceptions were television reports, official visits or newspaper reports when Jovanka Broz appeared next to Tito. (Jovana Broz most often wore exclusive fur coats with loads of eye-catching jewelry.)
Tito's sons from previous marriages neither loved nor cared for Jovanka. Although, Đilas reveals, they were not on good terms with Tito either.The older Zarko was raging in his own way and the boy Miša was offended.". Jovanka, she confided in Đilas's wife, wanted to have children, but Tito didn't want to. He thought he was unlucky with children and that they were a burden.
While Đilas was "in power", Jovanka did not interfere in any state or similar affairs and discussions. There was no mention of decision-making. Her "responsibility" was clearly her husband and home. She even tried to separate personal from representative Tito's expenses.
Djilas in the book "Hanging out with Tito"” concludes about Jovanka Budisavljević-Broz that she became aware of her life's failures, personal sacrifices, her ideological expectations were betrayed, her youth and life were meaninglessly sacrificed, etc. Collectively and individually, everything created a crushed and stifled personality in her.
Against her will, Jovanka fell among the rejected and unfortunate. That is how she spent her life after Tito. Even in poverty.
Let's conclude.
Today, we should all learn from the "mystery of Jovanka" or know that behind the "character and deeds" of this person and everything she went through in her life, there is something that does not honor anyone - and primarily the Belgrade authorities - a humiliating attitude towards an important woman who became a sad monument to an ideology, an era, an authority and a personality.
Bonus video:
