At Tito Frick Cafe

Then she definitely "buried" Him, the man who has always reminded her of her daughter' s arrest, strange people forcibly moving into her apartment, her being excommunicated after World War Two...

Last week, Mrs. Dimitrijevic gave away bunches of old newspapers with "that man's" obituaries as her contribution to the action of cleaning the cellars and attics in the neighbourhood. That Broz was "better than these ones" she realised when her pension payments could not cover even the cost of a loaf of bread and half a litre of yogurt.

Does this mean that someone might even miss Tito? How much? And why? Some of the answers can be found in a film called "Tito among the Serbs, Second Time Around." Its director Zelimir Zilnik says the film was originally envisaged as a happening, with actor Dragoljub Ljubicic in Tito's marshal uniform strolling the streets of Belgrade. But the Blegraders' unexpected readiness to accept Broz's "twin" as real Tito and talk to him turned the happening into a quite interesting movie.

It was easy to identify the "Marshal," personification of a dictator in his heavy overcoat, servicecap and white gloves. But even as dictator, Tito won the battle. It may seem that the current democracy and the then dictatorship negate eachother, but peace, prosperity and respect for the state during Tito's rule were much easier to live with than with the present quite opposite trends. Otherwise, who would dare walk the streets of Belgrade in Tito's costume.

Psychologist Tatjana Kecman says the nostalgy for Tito's time stems from the ordinary people' s need "for someone who can guarantee their subsistence, take all their responsibilites, make them children again, make them loved and important."

"During Tito's era, we had all those statesmen coming to visit us and we thought we were important. In terms of phychology, the Tito era was the era of stagnation, of encouraged narcicism. Our passports were in highest demand, we could travel anywhere and we had a country that everyone in the outside world knew as Tito's. We actually had the collective responsibility, or better say irresponsibility, which annulled the individual responsibility. Now we have to make an independent step towards democracy and we have to take all the responsibilities. Instead we stepped backwards, we were too afraid to go ahead," says Kecman.

"In 40 years of my life, I never lived better that during his rule. I had social welfare, I got an apartment, I could have slept in the street if I wanted to... Now, I have to stay awake until my two daughters come home, because you never know what could happen to them these days. After I lost my job, I opened a cafe which is what I never thought I would do in my life. My cafe is full of disgruntled idle young men," says Danilo Spasojevic, the owner of the Bebiko cafe.

Next to Bebiko, a cafe called Tito Frick Cafe was recently opened.

The cafe offers an intimate atmosphere, discreet music and lights, and its name tells you--Enjoy it like the Old Man did. A dozen of pictures are displayed on the walls, showing Tito and his wife Jovanka with a parade of world-known dictators: Czauscescu, Idi Amin, Bokasa, Pahlawi, Kim il Sung...

Why not, says Darko Mihajlovic, one of the coowners of the cafe. "The Greeks, the Italians are making business of their history. Why couldn't we?"

Mihajlovic rules out any political insinuations that might be linked to the name of the cafe. Every month, the cafe organises arts exhibitions, and visitors are bringing along Tito's books, photographs...

This may be the beginning of dismantling Broz, making him less unbearable and more acceptable... and harmless.