Military on the Coast in Times of Peace

INTRODUCTION

The arts-based research project Collective Utopias of Post-War Modernism: The Adriatic Coast as a Leisure and Defence Paradise by Antonia Dika and Anamarija Batista​ 1 examined the overlapping phenomena of military and tourism urbanization along the Adriatic coast during the Cold War. This transformation, driven by the rise of mass tourism and the establishment of concealed military defence sites, profoundly shaped the region's social and spatial dynamics.

In 2023, the findings of this interdisciplinary research were showcased in the exhibition The Distance View: Leisure and Defence on the Adriatic Coast at the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo. The installation A Map is a Map is a Map is a Map. Kumbor, Lastovo, Šepurine, Brijuni, Vis, Lošinj by Antonia Dika brought together fragmented data from various sources by geographically situating them within maps. Through six case study sites, the work interconnected locations, themes, time periods, official narratives, and personal stories.

This is a quote from the secret CIA Information Report on Yugoslavia, titled "Notes on the Yugoslav Armed Forces", June 20, 1948. It was shortly after Yugoslavia's exclusion from the Cominform, in other words, after Yugoslavia began its own path as a socialist federal republic between East and West. Today, it is impossible to say with certainty whether the Yugoslav Army officials were aware of the CIA knowing about their secret construction measures. However the local population, as well as the military employees stationed there, were instructed to "keep the secret" and report any suspected foreign spy activities.​ 5 In the Lastovo Islands National Park administration offices an old aerial photograph of the island is still hanging on the wall, where all the military installations have been manually pasted over with forest motifs. The author and year of creation are unknown.​ 6

COASTAL DEFENCE

A potential attack on the "territorial integrity of the Socialist, self-governing and non-aligned Yugoslavia"​ 7 was also anticipated from the sea. A secret "coastal defence plan," which is frequently mentioned in archival documents, and which could not be obtained by the time of writing this text, was drawn up and repeatedly renewed. Strategic points along the coast were selected for the construction of military sites. Existing military structures of prior "rulers" were partly taken over and rebuilt, though many sites were newly erected by the Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija/JNA). Unlike older structures, the Cold War military facilities (similar to modernist tourist compounds) were generally planned as separate territories outside of urban agglomerations.​ 8

The first possible sites for defence installations were the outer Adriatic islands, which is why many military facilities are found there. The coastal frontage was hence of equal strategic importance for the military as it was for the newly emerging (mass) tourism industry. One might think they were competing for the same space. However, the two plans, which ran in parallel, did not seem to care about each other, even though in reality, they very much had to take each other into account. Just as tourism is hardly mentioned in the military documents I had access to, military use is not mentioned at all in official coastal spatial planning. The grand strategic development plans for the Adriatic region, "Jadranski projekti,"​ 9 completely ignore the military zones that already existed. Even on Vis and Lastovo, the two islands that were closed to foreign visitors for military security reasons, large tourist zones were planned in areas where military installations were already located.​ 10

In the case of Vis and Lastovo, international tourism was not able to gain foothold until the ban on foreign arrivals was lifted in 1988. In some other places, tourist hotspots were developed in immediate proximity to military exclusion zones despite top-secret policies. Such was the case on the island of Lošinj and in the surroundings of Zadar, where the tourist resort Punta Skala was located next to the military site Šepurine. The French "Club Med" was located just opposite the military shipyard in Tivat, where Russian submarines were repaired at times. Tourists water-skied in front of the 'top-secret' military sites built to protect Yugoslavia from an attack by their respective countries.​ 11

Behind the barbed wire fence, the scenery was mostly the same: on the sites facing the open sea, especially on the outer islands, cannon systems were positioned to prevent potential invasion by foreign vessels. Some posts also included missile defence systems. They were surrounded by their associated military camps used for the accommodation of soldiers. Depending on their size, some of them were equipped with training areas, workshops, parade grounds, or clinics; favourably situated bays were used as military harbours including (underground) ammunition depots and fuel tanks. Additionally, a number of ship bunkers were distributed along the coast and on the islands.

Whether in the case of simple army barracks that imitated local residential homes or in the case of "invisible" bunker facilities, their architecture was generally standardised and only adapted slightly to accommodate the geographical features of different locations. An exception was facilities with a primarily representative function which were not shrouded in the veil of military secrecy: "Dom JNA" buildings (literally translated: "centres of the Yugoslav People's Army"), something like cultural centres managed by the army, serving as an interface between the military staff and the local population. They mostly included dining facilities and hosted concerts, film screenings, dance performances, chess tournaments, or even weddings. Especially in smaller municipalities, for instance on the islands, these types of venues played an important role in the cultural life of the community. They were situated on prominent locations and their representative character was also reflected in their architecture.​ 12 Another type of military architecture that was not subject to military secrecy included military facilities built for tourism. Like many other organisations in socialist Yugoslavia, the Army managed its own holiday resorts. Here, military staff had the opportunity to spend holidays with their families at a low cost — with guests ranging from high-ranking officers to cleaning personnel, which is why accommodation standards and architectural quality differed among the facilities. When not booked to full capacity, they were also open to external guests. The military tourist facility in Fažana, opposite Brijuni, was a simple "odmaralište" (workers' summer camp) of very modest quality.

RUINS

The collapse of Yugoslavia, the fall of the Iron Curtain, and not least the technological changes in art of warfare gradually made the military sites obsolete. Most of them were already abandoned by the army during the Yugoslav Wars and were never used for their original purpose. Today, isolated examples of their reuse for civilian purposes can be found mainly in larger coastal towns, for example the conversion of barracks in Pula into an alternative cultural centre, or the usage of former military sites for new university campuses.

In smaller towns, as on islands, there have only been a few remarkable examples of repurposing: on the island of Vis, a wine cellar was integrated into a former power supply bunker, and on the island of Lastovo, a car mechanic now operates within an ex-military warehouse. The training pitch of the local football club of Vis used to be the parade ground of the Samogor military barracks, which were temporarily repurposed for workshops and art and architecture camps in previous years. These small-scale examples of repurposing, implemented with limited funds on the local level, demonstrate how the usage of existing resources can ideally be beneficial to the whole community.

However, most of the facilities, being situated outside of civilian agglomerations, are empty and left to ruin and decay. Various "utilisation plans" for this "dead capital,"​ 13 developed by different governments, which usually envisaged their transformation into luxurious tourist resorts by major foreign investors, have failed so far in the case of Croatia.​ 14 The situation in Montenegro is different. The former military complex "Orjenski Bataljon" in Kumbor was recently converted into the luxury resort Portonovi Montenegro by the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic according to the tabula rasa principle. The former military shipyard in Tivat and a former barracks on the Luštica peninsula have also been converted into tourism facilities. According to the current zoning plans, almost all former army areas on the coast of Montenegro are dedicated to tourism.

Whether left to decay or to demolition all those mentioned sites have never been processed from a historical perspective neither in Croatia nor in Montenegro.​ 15

ARCHIVES

Yet a necessary historical review is not that easy to carry out. Military structures of Yugoslav People's Army were never recorded in any official document like zoning plans or land registers. The once joint army split up into several factions during the civil wars of the 1990s and left behind huge gaps in the archives. Already scarce and limited documentation ended up in new archives dispersed among different successor states. The records kept there are not only fragmented, but also difficult to access.​ 16 It often depends on the political preferences of the archive officials if and when the records will be processed and catalogued, or made accessible to the public. Knowledge of (former) military spaces, infrastructures, and their use is almost non-existent among the general population because of the long period of military secrecy. In the collective memory, these spaces still represent a void. One may also say that it is not a very welcome topic in the successor states of Yugoslavia.

Yet, one particular group does have a specific local knowledge of these sites: men (and only a few women),​ 17 aged over 50 today, who served in the Yugoslav People's Army before its disintegration in 1991.​ 18 Today, they are scattered all over the newly formed republics, and, because of extensive emigration during the war years and afterwards, all across the world. Their experiences of this time are so specific that they can hardly share them within their current local community (apart from some funny anecdotes).

However, some of them have found channels to connect with their peers through Internet forums and social media. Several forums and Facebook groups focusing on the JNA have emerged over the last years.​ 19 They serve as platforms either to search for former best friends from the army or to share and comment photos from "back then." Common "army stories" about "male friendship," the "school of life," or "of subversive strategies undertaken by soldiers during the army service in order to make it their time easier or simply to confront the authorities"​ 20 are exchanged there. Forums are also used to discuss military technology, strategies, sensibilities, etc., or to renew memories of the places they spent a significant time of their youth. This oral history written on the Internet is a very valuable source of information for my research.

EXHIBITION

The exhibition The Distance View: Leisure and Defence on the Adriatic Coast juxtaposes interviews with locals, archival documents, media coverage, reuse strategies, and the memories of former servicemen and military members. They help us to examine the impact these spaces had on the localities in relation to the tourist development of the area. Small municipalities are chosen as case studies, as the influence of "external" military and tourist presence is more easily visible there than in large cities.

Together with the involved citizens and visitors, we want to figure out: are these spaces "worthy of protection" in the sense of cultural heritage? Is the preservation of the spaces (or at least some of them) important for the collective memory of the population? And even more important: whose spaces are these? Who should decide what happens to them? Is their past even of any significance for their subsequent use? Finally, we ask the visitors and ourselves: which experiences and memories from the time should be passed on to future generations?​ 21

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Footnotes

• 1The project Collective Utopias of Post-War Modernism: The Adriatic Coast as a Leisure and Defence Paradise was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): AR 482-G24 and TCS 114-G (project head: Antonia Dika, University of Art and Design Linz; national research partner: Anamarija Batista, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna)
• 2Cruzola = Korčula, Lissa = Vis, Lesina = Hvar
• 3Lagosta = Lastovo
• 4Central Intelligence Agency. (1948, June 20). Economic, industrial, military and political information on Yugoslavia (CIA-RDP83-00415R001700110001-9). Retrieved June 5, 2023, from https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp83-00415r001700110001-9
• 5Even in the country's own tourist reports from this era the local population is criticized for still seeing a "spy" in every foreign visitor; cf. Tschoukarine, I. (2010). The Yugoslav road to international tourism. In H. Grandits & K. Taylor (Eds.), Yugoslavia's sunny side: A history of tourism in socialism (1950s–1980s). Budapest and New York: CEU Press. P. 113
• 6According to the Nature Park Lastovo Island officials.
• 7Excerpt from the slogan on an army barracks building on the island Lastovo, originally: "Budno oko titove armije čuva slobodu, teritorijalni integritet naše socijalističke samoupravne i nesvrstane Jugoslavije." [The watchful eye of Tito's army guards the freedom, the territorial integrity of our socialist self-governing and nonaligned Yugoslavia.]
• 8Höhns, U. (1983). Städtebau im Atomzeitalter. Arch+, 71, P. 36
• 9"Adriatic Projects" (1967-1972), two spatial development plans for the "upper" and "southern Adriatic" region, financed by the United Nations and developed by local experts together with specialists from East and West.
• 10The plans were in the end rarely carried out. For more info on this topic, see: Mattioni, V. (2003). Jadranski projekti. Zagreb: Urbanistički institut Hrvatske; Barović, M. (2022). Adriatic projects revisited (Master's thesis). Harvard Graduate School of Design.
• 11Thank you Siniša Luković for referring me to this information. See also: Browne, M. W. (1977, February 7). Yugoslav dockyards repair Soviet ships. The New York Times. Retrieved June 5, 2023, from https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/07/archives/yugoslav-dockyards-repair-soviet-ships-analysts-uneasy-over.html
• 12Ivan Vitić, one of the most prestigious architects of the time, created three exceptional buildings for the National Army: Dom JNA Komiža (on the island of Vis), Dom JNA Split and Dom JNA Šibenik.
• 13As often dubbed in the media. See for example: Jutarnji List. (2009, July 30). Zašto ovih 230 milijuna eura i dalje stoji kao mrtvi kapital. Jutarnji List. Retrieved from https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/zasto-ovih-230-milijuna-eura-i-dalje-stoji-kao-mrtvi-kapital-2828330
• 14Numerous offices, funds, agencies and sub-agencies have managed the state own real estate since the 1990s. In 2016, even a "Ministry of State Property" was established.
• 15Kardov, K. (2014). Uvod. In K. Kardov & I. Tabak (Eds.), Kome propadaju bivše vojne nekretnine? Iskustva prenamjene u Hrvatskoj. Zagreb: Centar za mirovne studije i Zavod za sociologiju Filozofskog fakulteta u Zagrebu. pp. 8-10.
• 16One example: I had to wait twelve months for the permission to access the Military Archive in Belgrade. A complicated bureaucratic path through embassies and ministries was required. I was finally allowed to do the research in a narrow window of time. On site, "the server was broken" and I had to rely on the goodwill of the staff to provide me with the suitable records. This was in 2015. My next attempt to access the Military Archive, in 2021, was completely unsuccessful.
• 17The Yugoslav army, despite hailing back to the partisans of World War II, in which women played a pivotal role, didn't allow women into its ranks with very few exemptions. There was a short-lived attempt to introduce voluntary army service for women between 1983 and 1985.
• 18Even these individuals only have knowledge of the particular location where they did their military service, as an integral component of military security strategy was that even high-ranking military officials only knew about the site they were assigned to; according to the historian Mithat Kozličić (University of Zadar), former member of the Yugoslav Navy and former vice director of the Yugoslav naval museum, in a telephone interview, 2014.
• 19See for example: JNA-SFRJ Forum. Retrieved April 25, 2021, from https://jna-sfrj.forumbo.net/; MyCity Military. Retrieved April 25, 2021, from https://www.mycity-military.com/; Facebook group. Retrieved April 25, 2021, from https://www.facebook.com/groups/1426107641004634/; and another Facebook group. Retrieved April 25, 2021, from https://www.facebook.com/groups/314423362477/
• 20Petrović, T. (2010). Nostalgia for the JNA? Remembering the army in the former Yugoslavia. In M. Todorova & Z. Gille (Eds.), Post-Communist nostalgia. New York: Berghahn Books. P.66
• 21Some parts of this essay are slightly revised versions of sections in earlier works: Dika, A. (2020). Adriatic coast between mass tourism and Cold War. In A. Dika & B. Krejs (Eds.), Mapping the Croatian coast. A road trip to architectural legacies of Cold War and tourism boom. Berlin: jovis; Dika, A., & Batista, A. (2021). From army stories to community heritage. FWF-TCS project proposal, Vienna; Dika, A. (2015). Mapping the void: Of secret bunkers, popular beaches and the life amongst. FWF-Peek project proposal, Vienna.