Računari was a computer magazine of the former Yugoslavia which lasted from 1984 until the late 1990s – surviving the economic turbulence and wars of the 1980s-90s, and even outlasting the country itself. The title simply means “computers” in Bosnian – and its content was just that: very bland, very technical, nothing flashy… but its covers were another matter entirely.

Despite the very low-key tech content, the guys at Računari decided to put some spice on just about every cover. Nearly every issue featured a ravishing Eastern Bloc Beauty straddling computer hardware. Let’s have a look at some of these covers spanning the late 1980s and into the early 1990s. Enjoy.

To give you a sense of the world going on outside – Slovenia and Croatia declare their independence one month after this issue was released. Following that, Croatia is embroiled in serious fighting among its Serbian and Croation populations.

Računari -July 1987

The following month, Bosnia and Herzegovina is recognized as an independent county. It’s fascinating that, as geopolitical conflicts are waged, this humble computer magazine with its sexy cover models, pressed onward as if everything were “normal”. But that’s how it is – amid bloody conflicts, life goes on.

I wonder if Slobodan Milošević took time to enjoy the cover babes of Računari.

Is it just me, or does this look like a hostage situation. We’ve got a panicked woman in bondage held in a bare room clearly against her will. Should we alert the authorities?

But it’s not the only one to feature this theme. The next issue features a much happier girl… But, again, she’s in bondage, in a bare room with computer parts on the floor.

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what this is about? I’m thinking the tubing wrapped around her head is supposed to be a hardwire connection from brain to PC… but I could be wrong.

Just a girl and her joystick.