Entertainment and fun in the service of survival: Theatre of the People's Liberation in the battles of Neretva and Sutjeska.

Abstract

Using the accounts of the participants in the battles of Neretva and Sutjeska, particularly the members of the Theatre of the People's Liberation (Kazalište narodnog oslobođenja, KNO), this article focuses on ways of having fun as well as its functions among soldiers and civilians who were primarily busy with escaping enemy encirclements. It reveals the range of experiences and the accompanying emotional registers they were exposed to in everyday life while pondering the role of pleasure in the biggest battles of the Second World War in Yugoslavia.