TITO’s HAWAII
(Synopsis, 560 words)
Vladimir is a young professional in the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1948. Had he been in neighboring Italy or Austria, he would have become a doubting and thinking priest; here he is expelled from the party, in jail, awaiting trial. His guilt is that he could not accept the rapid change to the status of Stalin, his idol- from hero to enemy. His main worry is how he is going to stand the pressure when the going gets tough. After the trial he is chained to Moth, an old party member who has experience in party matters which has made him a beaten, resigned fellow. "Everyone becomes what he is accused of " is his conclusion. This is the theme of the novel.
On the Barren Island (Goli Otok) their predecessors have formed a gauntlet through which Vladimir’s group runs. The old-timers beat them, spit on them shouting: Bandits, Traitors. Everyone is forced to betray his friends and relatives outside, report all conversations, spill the beans on all relationships, then, after his statement is accepted, he has to treat the new group with the same vigor.
The concentration camp is called "worksite", beating is "comrades help", distortion of the truth is "opening eyes", even the latrine is called "golden horn." They call the camp itself "Hawaii." Food and water are rationed. The newcomers are under boycott: they are not allowed to speak, except to answer questions, everyone praising the party helping them to become new men. The secret police (UDBA) are called the flower of the Party. The Party will forgive them all provided they become the spies of the secret police. The last fact is not spelled out: everyone must discover it for himself.
Vladimir is attached to Alex, former party worker himself who quickly destroys his illusions about deception. He watches the changes in his comrades and notices the same development in himself. His personality splits into many factions, each of them seeing the new world with different eyes. Vladimir "the truth seeker" is the remnant of the old Vladimir, but there is a coward, newly established offspring who urges the other factions to accept the reality, start denouncing his friends and even praise it as the highest and most honorable duty of man.
The time comes when he awaits a new group of prisoners and under the approving eye of the barracks leader he displays all the brutality which had been executed on him. The leader entrusts to his care a Commissar , a former people's hero who turned into a traitor. The fellow is a passionate smoker and watches avidly Vladimir’s cigarette. Vladimir makes his last mistake on the Island. During a rest on the "worksite" he "accidentally" drops three cigarettes.
In a month’s time the Commissar is ready to give his political statement. He says Vladimir gave him cigarettes which act he understood as support for his banditry. Vladimir, already an experienced hand, vehemently denies the charge. With surprise he discovers that his lies have the taste of a rotten tooth.
True, Vladimir was discharged from the Camp, but somehow he never got out of the barbed wire- wherever he moved, the camp was around him.
Rade Panich, PO BOX 2084,Harare, Zimbabwe, Tel 792 527, 302 344
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