As we have been reporting in recent weeks, there is something of a population crisis in Croatia, with low birth rates and much higher emigration, but as we reported on February 12, 2016, we had no idea how bad the situation really was until the Croatian National Tourist Board thoughtfully pointed out the extent of the crisis with their inspiring new promotional video for Slavonia, called ‘Where the Horizon is Always Golden’.
The truth was out! If you visited Slavonia, you would have to go to that golden horizon – and beyond – to find any people, for here was a promotional video from a country whose official slogan is ‘Full of Life’ with not a single living person in the video. Not one!
We know that Slavonia is economically depressed, and that many people leave looking for jobs elsewhere, but we had no idea things were SO bad that the only things still living there were a few horses and a couple of birds, so we took the first bus to Osijek yesterday after watching the video, and asked Slavonian photographers Romulic and Stojcic to take us round to see if everyone had really left, and if it was true that all Slavonia had left to offer were lots of fields belonging to a certain major businessman, or if indeed there were any signs of life.
Here is what we found – please feel free to forward to the tourist board, as they must be worrying about depopulation too, as they obviously found no signs of life while filming.
