The death of Mehmed Spaho and Džemal Bijedić in the context of mythical constructions

Abstract

During the Yugoslav period two of the most prominent personalities in the political life of Bosniaks from Bosnia and Herzegovina ended their lives while occupying prominent political offices at the Yugoslav level. Their deaths however were subject to various constructions, in scholarly as well as public discourse. These two individuals were Mehmed Spaho and Džemal Bijedić. In their political work they were connected by the Yugoslav idea, in which they both believed, by the fact that both died suddenly, and the subsequent mythologization of their deaths. This mythologization had the aim to completely revise their political actions and was mainly a product of the new political context. In this paper the author attempts to contextualize the political activities and deaths of these two figures, and to explain the reasons for the mythologization that took place afterwards.

Keywords

• Myths
• Mehmed Spaho
• Džemal Bijedić
• Bosniak politicians