Doctoral Project
„Exotic Animals as Gifts to Josip Broz Tito: Political Symbols in Yugoslav Propaganda“
The dissertation investigates the largely unexplored phenomenon of diplomatic animal gifts to Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980), President of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1953 to 1980. It examines the provenance, species, and symbolic significance of the animals Tito received in various diplomatic contexts, as well as their placement and representation in Yugoslav media. At its core lies the question of how and why Tito employed these animal gifts for political representation, media staging, and symbolic self-positioning – particularly in light of his unique geopolitical role between East and West. The central thesis is that Tito deliberately used these animals as visual symbols of power, masculinity, exoticism, and international connectedness. They functioned as political signs in the staging of rule, both domestically and externally. Within this framework, “animal diplomacy” served not only to legitimize Tito’s leadership claim in non-aligned Yugoslavia but also to profile Titoism as a distinct ideology of the Cold War.
By analyzing animals as political signs, media actors, and living carriers of international messages, the project demonstrates that they were more than curiosities: they became integral to Tito’s media strategy and diplomatic performance. The dissertation draws on a broad range of sources, including diplomatic records, letters of thanks, press reports (e.g. Borba and Politika), and cinematic depictions, especially the Filmske Novosti newsreels. Methodologically, it combines approaches from the history of cultural diplomacy with media history, discourse analysis, and animal history, thereby analyzing animals not merely as gifts but as visual and political actors. In doing so, it contributes to cultural diplomand history, media history, and animal studies, while highlighting the role of non-human actors in the symbolic politics of authoritarian systems – a pattern traceable into the present.
Keywords: animal gifts, Yugoslavia, media, diplomacy, staging, political symbols, masculinity, power, Cold War, Non-Alignment, Titoism, cultural diplomacy
Curriculum Vitae
Born in 2001 in Munich. From 2020 to 2022 B.A. in History (major) and Languages, Literature and Culture (minor) at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. From 2022 to 2024 M.A. in History at LMU Munich. From March 2023 to September 2024 student research assistant at Collegium Carolinum Munich. Since October 2024 PhD student in the History of East and Southeast Europe at LMU Munich.
Awards
- DAAD Go East Summer School Scholarship, Tashkent State University of World Languages (Uzbekistan), Aug-Sep 2022
- DAAD Go East Summer School Scholarship, Azerbaijan University of Languages, Baku, Aug-Sep 2024
Publications
Conference Reports
Crossing Boundaries. Human-Animal Relations from Post-Petrine Russia to the Soviet State (1725-1991), in: H-Soz-Kult, 30.08.2023, hsozkult.de/conferencereport
Das 28. Bohemisten-Treffen: Forum für Tschechien und Slowakei-Forschung, in: H-Soz-Kult, 29.04.2024, hsozkult.de/conferencereport
Das 28. Bohemisten-Treffen: Forum für Tschechien und Slowakei-Forschung, in: Germanoslavica. Zeitschrift für germano-slawische Studien 35 (2024) 1.
Das 28. Bohemisten-Treffen: Forum für Tschechien und Slowakei-Forschung, in: Bohemia 63 (2023) 1.
Articles
With Jeschke, Felix/ Kira, Rettinger: Zwischen Volkstum- und Gegnerforschung. Die Münchner Osteuropahistoriographie in der Nachkriegszeit, in: Osteuropäisches München. Displaced Persons und Geflüchtete in der Nachkriegszeit, ed. by A. Stephan/ F. Jeschke/ H. Maischein, Munich 2025, pp. 457-476.