Dire warnings for our present from the past – in an old Guardian found in Croatia

A copy of the Manchester Guardian from 22 October 1938, found in a demolished house in Jagodnjak, Croatia

Having flattened an old house in the village of Jagodnjak in Croatia several days ago, workers noticed an old Manchester Guardian dated Saturday 22 October 1938 and brought it to me. The house in Branko Radičević street belonged to a villager named Vlajko Krakan, who passed away a long time ago. I couldn’t believe that anyone in this remote, cut-off village had been reading an English newspaper in the year 1938. Sounds like a curiosity. Having appeared on the eve of the second world war, most articles reflected great concern for the future. The Nazis had already grabbed the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia, the Anschluss of Austria had also occurred. If read carefully, the articles had announced the gathering storm. It could be felt in between the lines of text. Somehow, our present situation reminds me of the year 1938.
Ljubomir Damjanović
Jagodnjak, Croatia

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