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

Abstract

The Tomb of the Unknown Yugoslav Soldier is considered one of the most telling examples of the representational culture of interwar Yugoslavism. Having initially been constructed as a symbol of national identification of the South Slays, the Tomb gives an insight into the complexity of the national idea in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). This article examines the ideological and political roles of the Tomb with regard to the competing and complementary visions of Yugoslavism that dominated the political Yugoslav landscape between 1934 and 1938.