During Josip Broz Tito's presidency and in the years following his death in 1980, several places in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and across the world were named or renamed in honor of him as part of his cult of personality. Since the breakup of Yugoslavia, several towns and squares in the former nation have reverted their names. Numerous streets were also named after Tito, both in former Yugoslavia as well as elsewhere as an honour to a foreign dignitary.
Cities formerly named after Tito
A total of eight towns and cities were named after Tito. Right after World War II, four municipalities whose role in the partisan resistance movement was perceived as significant gained the adjective "Tito's" (locally Titov/Titova/Titovo), while the capital of the smallest federal republic of Montenegro was renamed Titograd (Tito-city). After Tito's death in 1980, four more cities were added, for a total of one in each of the Yugoslav six federal republics and two autonomous provinces. These were as follows:
Montenegro
Titograd, July 13, 1946 – April 2, 1992 – Podgorica
Ljubljana: Titova cesta (renamed to Slovenska cesta (Slovenian Avenue) in 1991); Titova cesta, a section of Štajerska cesta named after Tito in 2009. After Tito street decision in Slovenia renamed to Štajerska cesta.
Maribor: Titova cesta (main street), Titov most (Tito's Bridge)
Velenje: Titov trg (main square with highest Tito's statue in the world)
In 2011, 2 years after a street in Ljubljana was named after Tito, the Constitutional Court of Slovenia ruled that naming of a new street after Josip Broz Tito was unconstitutional. The court unanimously ruled that Tito symbolizes severe human rights violations, and that naming the street after him glorifies totalitarian regime and violates human dignity.[1][2] In 2020, the Constitutional Court of Slovenia allowed a referendum against the renaming of Tito's street in Radenci. In contrast to the decision about the street in Ljubljana, the street in Radenci had been named after Tito more than 40 years ago; the court rejected the mayor's claim that a referendum to keep the name would violate the constitution.[3]
Croatia
Bust of Josip Broz Tito at Tito's Park (Titov park) in Pula, Croatia
Mursko Središće: Ulica Josipa Broza Tita (now Ulica Republike Hrvatske)
Zadar: Obala Maršala Tita (now Obala kralja Petra Krešimira IV)
Zagreb: Trg maršala Tita (now Trg Republike Hrvatske). In February 2008, 2,000 protestors gathered on Zagreb's Josip Broz square, which is the site of the Croatian National Theatre, to demand it be renamed to Theatre Square.[4] However, hundreds of anti-fascists accused this crowd to be revisionist and neo-Ustaše and the attempt to rename it failed.[5] Croatian President Stjepan Mesić publicly opposed the renaming.[6] However, the square was renamed to Republic of Croatia Square by mayor Milan Bandić in 2017.[7]
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