The sale of such inauthentic Nazi souvenirs in a country which was communist up till only 15 years ago is surpassed only by the perverse irony that they originate in the country which was regarded as the arch-enemy of the Nazis and which lost so many of its people to Hitler’s invading armies. Nowadays all the countries concerned are part of the worldwide market economy which not only divorces products from the conditions under which they are produced but from any historical context as well – a little like the Hitler cocktail and techno bar in Seoul, one floor up from the 7—11 shop.

It would also be interesting to discover what the communist knick-knacks here on the flea market mean to people who lived under the communist system and whether the students about to enter university will start to engage in communist icon nostalgia, since they never experienced directly what it meant in reality.

Back in our room I pick up Maria Todorova’s Imagining the Balkans and start trying to get a perspective on the country, its relationship to its neighbours and the rest of the West as well as a standpoint to examine my own mind set…