Summary
Aleksandar Raković
The Development of Naturism in Yugoslavia on the Example of Koversada
(1961–1981)
Abstract: Based on Yugoslav tabloid, church, tourist, naturist, hotel and catering, and entertainment press, as well as archives from the Tourist Association of Yugoslavia and other relevant literature, the paper talks about the development of naturism in Yugoslavia on the example of Koversada and the position of the communist authorities and the Roman Catholic Church regarding the 13th Congress of the International Naturist Federation at Camp Koversada in 1972 and the social circumstances that led to Vrsar, HTP Anita, and Koversada naturist camp, and with them socialist Yugoslavia, becoming one of the centers of world naturism.
Key words: Yugoslavia, Naturism, Socialism, Roman Catholic Church, Adriatic Sea.
Naturism arrived on the Yugoslav coast in 1956 and grew into a social phenomenon. Yugoslavia saw naturism as a promotion of its open socialist system but even more as an opportunity for good profit. At the same time, the Yugoslav propaganda of naturism was significantly weaker than the propaganda of foreign agencies - especially from the Federal Republic of Germany - whose successes filled naturist camps in Yugoslavia to full capacity.
The social climate in Yugoslavia's socialist society was such that public nudity, especially with regard to women, had been promoted through the film industry, theaters, the press, and in rock and roll music since the late 1960s. In this respect, the Yugoslav tabloid press, especially in Belgrade and Zagreb, was sympathetic to naturism and followed, tolerated, and did not condemn it in the tourist press, and political and daily newspapers. The only institutional criticizer of naturism in Yugoslavia was the Roman Catholic Church, especially in Croatia.
The development of naturism in Yugoslavia developed without a plan and was imposed by foreigners. Despite this element, naturism in Yugoslavia exploded due to the interaction of favorable social circumstances for public nudity, domestic tourism and business companies that saw naturism as a huge source of income, Western travel agencies that also made very good money, and Western naturists themselves - mostly German-speaking - who really liked the Yugoslav coast and the warm Mediterranean climate.
Yugoslavia had the largest number of naturist centers, camps, hotels, and beaches in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s, but France had more naturist guests in the 1980s because its centers had a bigger capacity. Both countries had about a million naturist visits a year, or even more. At the same time, France had developed its own naturist culture, which Yugoslavia lacked. Camp Koversada in Vrsar was the biggest naturist gathering place in Europe after the French town of Montalivet.
The Anita hotel and tourist company from Vrsar, which incorporated camp Koversada, was the host and co-organizer of the 13th Congress of the International Naturist Federation (1972). It was the first naturist congress in a socialist country, and Anita was a prominent factor in the self-management socialist society of Istria, the Socialist Republic of Croatia, and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Roman Catholic Church tried to prevent this congress from being held in Yugoslavia but failed. In contrast, republic and local officials of the Socialist Republic of Croatia and the League of Communists of Croatia gave greater significance to the naturist congress in Koversada by being present and holding speeches at the opening ceremony. The leadership of the International Naturist Federation responded in 1972 with a compliment that "Yugoslavia is a democratic country, which in its understanding of human freedom has gone half a century ahead of other countries."
This was important recognition of Yugoslav's socialist system and definitely contributed to the development of naturism on the Yugoslav coast without placing any obstacles until the very end, when the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ceased to exist.