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Tito's corpse replaced by sand in the coffin at the funeral
Former secret agent reveals, hygienic reasons & unbearable smell
15 October, 09:48
(ANSA) - TRIESTE - Hundreds of thousands of Yugoslav citizens,
dozens of heads of state and PMs came to Yugoslavia from around
the world to bestow the last honours on the Marshal. But there
was no corpse in Tito's coffin: everyone cried in front of a
coffin filled only with sand, in order to simulate the weight of
a human body.
This is the controversial background of Josip Broz Tito's grandiose funeral, held in Belgrade on May 8, 1980, unveiled to the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti by Obren Djordjevic, former senior officer of the Yugoslav security services. According to Djordjevic, the coffin that everyone expected to contain Tito's mortal remains, was actually full of sand. This weird decision should be ascribed to a small group of employees of the Yugoslav leader, since soon after the death - that officially took place on May 4, 1980 in Ljubljana - the body is supposed to have started smelling bad, because of a rapid decomposition process due to gangrene. This pathology occurred as a consequence of the drugs which had been prescribed for months to the patient. Therefore, none of the many mysteries that we are used to see in the communist regimes in those years, but ''an empty coffin for hygienic reasons'', Djordjevic explained.
According to the interviewee, the secret would be known by only two highest leaders of the regime, Doronjski and Dolanc, both disappeared, as well as by a small number of body guards of Titus. This confession made by Djordjevic while he was speaking to Vecernje Novosti, who called the story ''Tito's latest scam'', was reported by the major media of the Balkans and widely commented online. Readers are divided into two parties: skeptical and interested. The first party thinks that the spread of extravagant stories about Marshal should finally come to an end; the second party is composed of those who do not hesitate to consider plausible the story told by former official Djordjevic, a senior officer who has been in service for decades and that the newspaper itself considers reliable. Although his version does not seem to be verifiable: he would be the only witness who's still alive. Anyway, there are also wiser comments posted by readers who pointed out the true value of the ceremony held in May 1980: the people's genuine emotions.
Therefore, it makes little difference whether the coffin contained sand or human remains. ( ANSA).
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This is the controversial background of Josip Broz Tito's grandiose funeral, held in Belgrade on May 8, 1980, unveiled to the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti by Obren Djordjevic, former senior officer of the Yugoslav security services. According to Djordjevic, the coffin that everyone expected to contain Tito's mortal remains, was actually full of sand. This weird decision should be ascribed to a small group of employees of the Yugoslav leader, since soon after the death - that officially took place on May 4, 1980 in Ljubljana - the body is supposed to have started smelling bad, because of a rapid decomposition process due to gangrene. This pathology occurred as a consequence of the drugs which had been prescribed for months to the patient. Therefore, none of the many mysteries that we are used to see in the communist regimes in those years, but ''an empty coffin for hygienic reasons'', Djordjevic explained.
According to the interviewee, the secret would be known by only two highest leaders of the regime, Doronjski and Dolanc, both disappeared, as well as by a small number of body guards of Titus. This confession made by Djordjevic while he was speaking to Vecernje Novosti, who called the story ''Tito's latest scam'', was reported by the major media of the Balkans and widely commented online. Readers are divided into two parties: skeptical and interested. The first party thinks that the spread of extravagant stories about Marshal should finally come to an end; the second party is composed of those who do not hesitate to consider plausible the story told by former official Djordjevic, a senior officer who has been in service for decades and that the newspaper itself considers reliable. Although his version does not seem to be verifiable: he would be the only witness who's still alive. Anyway, there are also wiser comments posted by readers who pointed out the true value of the ceremony held in May 1980: the people's genuine emotions.
Therefore, it makes little difference whether the coffin contained sand or human remains. ( ANSA).
