‘Slavic Misery’: the Instagram account celebrating Eastern European history through departed personalities

Instagram account @slavicmisery mixes archive pics, colourful illustrations, and witty captions to celebrate writers, artists, scientists, and revolutionaries from Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, as well as Bulgaria and Poland.

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Many a soul has fallen in love with the sweeping landscapes of Slovakia, entranced by the simultaneous flourishing of serenity and vitality. Creatives are particularly susceptible to this, especially painters, painty men like Jan Hala. He painted this delight, a colourful Art Nouveau charmer of a group of women leaving church in Važec, a village at the foot of the Tatras.

A post shared by SLAVIC MISERY (@slavicmisery) on Apr 24, 2020 at 2:35am PDT

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Happy 80th birthday to the unfortunately dead Vesna Bugarski, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first female architect. She worked in Denmark for many years, specialising in interior design, before returning to Sarajevo to deal in tapestries and offices. She died during the war.

A post shared by SLAVIC MISERY (@slavicmisery) on May 2, 2020 at 3:40am PDT

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We always wanted to write children’s books, but we never got round to doing so (i.e.; we’re too lazy). Margita Figuli was known for her children’s literature however, another titan in the long history of Slovak prose. She was born into a farmer’s family, eventually moving to the big(ish) city to work as an English language correspondent. Her writings were full of love and compassion, which is the sort of thing you want to encourage in the little whipper-snappers after all.

A post shared by SLAVIC MISERY (@slavicmisery) on Mar 27, 2020 at 11:18am PDT

This caption honouring Yugoslav writer Meša Selimović is just a taste of the deadpan humour that brings the account to life. “The man, the damn man. Meša Selimović is one of the greatest writers in the history of writers. [...] If you’ve not read ‘Death the Dervish’ then you really do owe it to yourself to do so. Actually, put this Instagram page down, go and pick the book up, and thank me later. A slow-burner, but then when has art been immediate? Happy birthday Meša, you magic man you.”

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A post shared by SLAVIC MISERY (@slavicmisery) on Apr 26, 2020 at 7:23am PDT

Account curator John Bills says he set up @slavicmisery after living in Mostar, Ljubljana, Belgrade, and Prague. “Slavs get a rough ride, totally unfairly, and I wanted to inform my fellow Brits,” Bills told The Calvert Journal.

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Božena Benešová here, a Czech author and poet who penned some seriously analytical prose, revolutionising psychological literature in Prague in the process. A prodigious talent, Benešová was introduced to many important members of Prague’s fertile literary scene and was able to develop in vaulted company, although don’t make the mistake of attributing her quality to influences. Like many of her peers she wrote about idealistic young people from small towns going through the eternal battle between selfishness and selflessness, loneliness and the misery of other people. She died on this day in 1936.

A post shared by SLAVIC MISERY (@slavicmisery) on Apr 8, 2020 at 2:26am PDT

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If we had to make a list of film directors from favourite to least favourite, the name Krzysztof Kieślowski would stand proudly at the top. Big K received international adoration for his Three Colors trilogy, the collection of short films known as the Dekalog and a whole lot more. That first film in the Dekalog series remains one of our favourite pieces of cinema that ever did exist.

A post shared by SLAVIC MISERY (@slavicmisery) on Mar 13, 2020 at 4:22am PDT

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If you close your eyes and try to imagine what someone who has spent a winter in Antarctica looks like, you’re going to be thinking of something pretty close to Polish scientist Henryk Arctowski. The man from Warsaw was actually one of the first people to winter in Antarctica and was also a hugely respected meteorologist, not to mention a guy who dabbled in politics and helped restore Poland to the world map following World War I. Blimey, quite the life.

A post shared by SLAVIC MISERY (@slavicmisery) on Feb 21, 2020 at 8:21am PST

But @slavicmisery has also become popular with Eastern Europeans across the globe, leading to lively debate surrounding the more controversial historical figures in the comments.

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THE DRAGON OF BOSNIA. Sort of tells you all you need to know, right? Husein Gradaščević was everyone’s favourite 19th century Bosnian individual, an Ottoman commander who fought for the Bosnian people like no other before or after. He rebelled against the Ottoman government and gained autonomy for Bosnia, although it didn’t last particularly long. He died at the age of 32, and you can make your own assumptions about his death. He was the sort of person who became iconic in his own time, a larger than life personality who put his money where his mouth was. An absolute champion of history.

A post shared by SLAVIC MISERY (@slavicmisery) on Apr 18, 2020 at 6:01am PDT

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Does anyone know any good books about the history of Slovenes in Italy? Your boy here might be interested in reading them. Pavlina Pajk was one such Slovene, born in Pavia on this day in 1854. She was a poet, essayist and novelist who published her first collection when she was 19, just three years before she married a dude she had never met. Her prose was better than her novels, and she eventually found her stride as an elite obituary writer, a bit like that guy from Death and the Penguin. She fought at the forefront of the women’s rights movement in Slovenia, writing articles demanding improved education for women of all social classes.

A post shared by SLAVIC MISERY (@slavicmisery) on Apr 9, 2020 at 7:22am PDT

You can also get a copy of Bill’s books here.