Yugoslavia: Trembling Dawn

In the predawn hours one morning last week, only a few people were stirring in the provincial Yugoslav city of Skoplje, near the Greek border. In the small Hotel Macedonia, facing the railway station, Pilot Aleksander Blagojevic was dressing before going to the airport for an early take-off for Belgrade. Two German girls, tourists from Bremen who were scheduled as passengers on a Belgrade flight, had just left the hotel and were crossing the square to catch the airport bus.

Then, at 5:17 a.m., the earthquake struck Skoplje, jarring awake its 170,000...

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