tito widow hospitalized: Listed In Critical Condition

The widow of Yugoslavian communist dictator Josip Broz Tito (PHOTO) has been hospitalized in Serbia. Jovanka Broz, who is currently eighty-eight, was rushed to the hospital in critical condition according to the direction of the Belgrade emergency hospital, Zlatibor Loncar. The early tests conducted at the hospital apparently indicated the onset of septicaemia, likely resulting from bedsores that went untreated. The last report indicated that doctors were still trying to save her life.

Tito died in 1980 and his widow quickly fell out of favor. She was put under house arrest by his successors. Tito had ruled Yugoslavia as an iron-fisted dictator from World War II until the time of his death and his personalty cult soon crumbled after he passed away. At the time, there were rumors that Broz planned to take over the country, following in her husband’s footsteps.

She was so unpopular and the news of the supposed coup she was planning resulted in her being forced from her luxurious Belgrade home. She was not even able to obtain Serbian citizenship documents until just recently in 2009. She spent thirty years in poverty as well as seclusion. She also received a pension in 2009 when she got her identity papers.