In the report “Die Korruption in Serbien. Aufklärungen über die Vorgänge am serbischen Königshof, in der Gesellschaft und am Lande” written by Philipp-Franz Bresnitz von Sydacoff in 1896, who traveled through Serbia, we can read of corruption and a kind of societal decay. Cited:
“The scandal in Europe aroused a tremendous echo of outrage. And indeed, the postal service is a sacred institution in all countries; it travels untouched through the wildest regions, right through uncivilized peoples. But in Belgrade, it cannot even be delivered from the train station to the post office.
The worst phenomenon in the social and political life of Serbia, however, is that these deeply sad conditions increase day by day, and that nowhere is a voice raised to object. One must ask oneself, do these people not know what is mine and yours, what is unjust and just, what is sin and virtue? The friend betrays the friend, and the wife barters her husband’s honor.
It must be said: the Serb is the worst friend and official, the Serbian woman the worst housewife and wife. Although people in Serbia marry at a very young age, and girls of 15 and 16 are frequently led to the altar, those marriages where a man brings an unspoiled creature into his home are nevertheless extremely rare. The girls who still attend school are mostly already given over to vice, and it is by no means uncommon for schoolgirls to be taken directly from school to a maternity hospital.
In Belgrade, there is a girls’ school under the patronage of Queen Nathalie, the so-called Nathalie School, which was built for the Belgrade aristocracy. There, in the spring of 1896, one of the pupils, a 15-year-old girl from a good family, had to be taken directly from school to the maternity hospital, where she died soon after giving birth. Before her death, she stated that she had had intimate relationships with two of her teachers and that several other girls in her class were also involved in the same.”
“The girl’s statement was simply acknowledged, and that was the end of it. Not the slightest step was taken against the two scoundrels. Incidentally, there is no law in Serbia under which such villains who seduce or rape girls could be punished. Adultery also goes unpunished in Serbia, although there are penal provisions for it. Society itself, however, finds no flaw in either; it considers expulsion and immorality natural, an amusement to which one must be allowed to indulge.
On such foundations and views, only a family life can develop that also plays into the hands of vice and offers not the slightest comfort for the flourishing and advancement of a healthy and uncorrupted mind. Thus, the door is once again opened to the progressive disintegration of society, and the further consequence is that public life lacks any healthy core. We already find today that the most blatant crimes that occur in every country…
The most devastating punishments should not be imposed in Serbia, neither by the courts nor by society. Murder, manslaughter, robbery, and disgrace—Serbian justice and Serbian society do not recognize these crimes. Countless shameful and criminal events have occurred within Belgrade society in recent years; only a few episodes are mentioned here.
But none of it has found atonement or punishment, and the numerous criminals, whose names every child in Belgrade knows, walk the streets adorned with medals and decorations. It is high time that Serbia returned to the natural order according to which every crime and offense must find its atonement.”
“A foolish generation has overlooked this natural law, but the consequence is that the affliction, in the form of disintegration and degeneration, is coming upon the entire nation. In Serbia, things happen daily that document the decay of both society and the state, and unless the Serbian people rouse themselves at the last hour to finally make a clean sweep and begin a new life, all is lost. The megalomania that certain politicians believe they are instilling in the Serbian people will not be able to protect them from their societal and political demise.”
