Jasenovac Memorial Site Natasa Jovicic

NATAŠA JOVI ČIĆ (CV)

From recommendation for Rockefeller Foundation : Ms. Nataša Jovi čić, Director, Holocaust Museum, Jasenovac Memorial Site, Republic of Croatia, former Assistant Minister of Education

In her humaniterian work she contributes significantly to understanding among children, women and nations.

As Assistant Minister of Education, she defencs children's rights, trying to establish Children's Holocaust Museum- Against Violence and is changing the Croatian perception on peace and reconciliation. As Director at the Holocust Museum she establihsed new educational programme at the new Memorial Museum about education about genocide and Holocaust as a base to teach human rights.

She attends Ministerial conferences on education about Holocaust and human rights in Europe, Canda and the U.S.A. whetre she participated with video examples on combating racism, xenophobia and all manner of violence.

As a humanist , educator and art historian she is changing the politician's image throrough scolarly work on Holocuat education where she is openly presenting , promoting and maintaining peace worldwide. Her ideas on democratic citizenship evoke deep emotions towards justice and peace.

She opened new permanent exhibition ( November 27 th 2006) of the Memorial museum and new Educational Center at the Jasenovac Memorial Site as a new way of representing Genocide and Holocaust.

Ms Jovicic is active in defense of human rights, her contribution in sharing understanding among people and nation, her work with disabled shildren ( she is taking care of 21 year old young man who was blinded in his five in land mine explosion) and her action to establish Holocuast Museum in Jasneovac, Croatia- against Racjsm, Hate and all Kinds of Violence.

Education: M.A. in Art and Multicultural Education, Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.) 2001.

Doctoral student: Union University, Graduate College, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, 2000, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A. with the thesis in Contemporary Art and Multicultural Education for People with Disabilities.

Additoinal training: Certificate in English Braille, 2000, Hadley School for the Blind, Winnetka, Illinois, U.S.A.

Humaniterian demining and land mine awareness training ( June 1998, Fort Belvior, The Pentagon, Washington D.C)

School for Land Mine Assistance and Land Mine Awareness ( 1999. International red Cross, Zagreb, Croatia)

Humanitarian Work and Actions. homepage

1 www.jusp-jasenovac.hr

Natasa Jovicic Curriculum vitae

• Graduate/postgraduate theses in the area of art and multicultural education, Columbia College Chicago, 2000, USA.

Scholarships and stipends:

2006: Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio Study Centre, 30 January-12 February 2006) for the project for a new identity for the Memorial Museum and Educational Centre, Jasenovac Memorial Site. 2002/3: American Association of Museums/International Partnership Among Museums, for study period at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., USA. 1997-2000: Columbia College Chicago, for undergraduate/graduate studies.

Employment:

• Director, Jasenovac Memorial Site, Jasenovac, Croatia (2002 – present day) • Assistant Minister, Ministry of Education and Sport, Directorate for International Educational Co-operation, Zagreb, Croatia (2000-2002) • Adjunct Professor, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, USA – Women and War, Justice and Diversity, Uncovering Women's Heroes (1999-2000) • Assistant Field Consultant, Ecumenical Women's Solidarity Fund, World Council of Churches, Zagreb/Geneva (1996)

Publications

• 2006: Jasenovac Memorial Museum’s Permanent Exhibition – the Victim as an Individual, Croatian Institute of History, II. no 1, 2006, Zagreb • 2006: Alkemija cvijeta- Jasenova čki cvijet Bogdana Bogdanovi ća” (The Alchemy of the Flower – the Jasenovac Flower by Bogdan Bogdanovic) a monography of Jasenovac, Jasenovac Memorial Site, 2006, Zagreb • 2002: Apsolutno paf with Bogdan Bogdanovi ć, Zagreb, Meandar • 2002: Na kojim se vrijednostima odgajaju i obrazuju mlade generacije u Republici Hrvatskoj (The Value Basis of the Education of the Younger Generation in the Republic of Croatia), Nauman Stiftung, Zagreb • 2000: Curriculum for elementary schools in the Republics of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina on the dangers of landmines, Zagreb, NONA, used by the International Red Cross • 1995: Collection of essays, Peti kvadrant (Fifth Quadrant), NONA, Zagreb From 1985 to the present day, published articles in the areas of art history and education.

2007: Several prestigious awards were given for the project for the new Permanent Exhibition and the Educational Centre, Jasenovac Memorial Site, including the Carlo Scarpa Prize,

2 Fundacionne Benetton, Treviso, Italy, for the best conceived museum space in Europe in 2007, the Bernardo Bernardi Prize for the architectural design of the Memorial Museum, designed by Helena Njiri ć, and the First Prize awarded by the Salon of Architecture for the Memorial Museum, designed by Helena Njiri ć.

2006: Awarded a Rockefeller Foundation prize for the project for the new identity of the Memorial Museum and Educational Centre, Jasenovac Memorial Site, with a research scholarship to Bellagio Study Centre (30 January – 12 February 2006).

December 2002 and May 2003: study trips awarded by the International Partnership Among Museums to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, USA.

April 2001: awarded the Soroptimist International Prize for work in the area of human rights.

2000-2002: participated as a civil servant in ministerial conferences on education in EU countries and the USA.

3 PROJECT ABSTRACT

JASENOVAC CONCENTRATION CAMP

The Independent State of Croatia was founded on 10 April 1941, with the full support of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. During the four years of its existence, the Independent State of Croatia was ruled by the Ustasha movement and its leader (Poglavnik), Ante Paveli ć, who had made plans for the extermination of the Serbs while still an émigré. On 7 June 1941, on the occasion of Paveli ć’s first visit to Hitler, the Ustasha movement gained the full support of Nazi Germany for carrying out genocidal policies aimed at the Serbian population. At a meeting with the German ambassador in Zagreb on 4 June 1941, it was concluded that the Serbian question could be resolved by the mass removal of Serbs to Serbia, mass executions in the field, and deportations to concentration camps. The Government of the Independent State of Croatia, at their own request, were included in the transfer plan, and promised to deport to Serbia 30,000 more Serbs than the number of Slovenes who would be transferred to Croatia from the Third Reich. Since the coming to power of the Ustasha movement had been entirely dependent on the policies of the Third Reich and, initially, of Fascist Italy, Paveli ć and his closest colleagues were under the domination and complete influence of these states. This was clearly reflected in the setting of state borders. A large part of the Croatian coastline, Gorski Kotar and part of Dalmatia (from Zadar to Split), the eastern part of Konavle and Boka Kotora, and almost all the islands (except Bra č, Hvar and Pag) were annexed to Italy. Horty’s Hungary annexed Me đimurje in December 1941. The remaining parts of Croatia, the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Srijem region formed the territory of the Independent State of Croatia. There was a population of about 6,640,000 living in an area of 102,725 km², including Croats, Serbs, Jews, Germans, Hungarians, Roma, Czechs, Ruthenians, Slovenes, Slovaks, Ukrainians, and others.

The largest concentration camp in the NDH was Jasenovac Concentration Camp. 26 It was established not far from the village of Jasenovac, on the left bank of the River Sava, in the summer of 1941. There were several reasons why this location was chosen. One was its undoubtedly convenient position on the railway line between Zagreb and Novska, which meant that prisoners could be transported relatively quickly. Due to frequent flooding caused by the Sava, Una and Veliki Strug rivers, the entire area was rather inaccessible for most of the year. Plans for the reclamation of the nearby marshlands of Lonjsko and Mokro Polje gave the Ustasha authorities a public explanation for concentrating large numbers of people in one place. No less important was the fact that the entire area downriver from Jasenovac (the villages of Uštica, Mlaka and Jablanac) was mostly populated by Orthodox Serbs. These people were interned in the camp as soon as it opened, or were liquidated. The deserted industrial plant formerly belonging to the Serbian Ba čić family (a brickworks, sawmill, chain factory, mill and small generator), who had escaped in fear of their lives, provided opportunities to get free labour out of the future internees. The concentration camp was composed of several camp units,

4 founded within a short space of time, all relatively close to the village of Jasenovac: Camp I (Bro čice), Camp II (Krapje), and Camp III (Brickworks). Stara Gradiška Camp was formed in February 1942, in the buildings of a former penitentiary and prison. Although it was practically independent, with its own commandant, who was in direct contact with Section III, which was responsible for all camps in the NDH, it nonetheless had unbreakable links with Jasenovac Concentration Camp. 27 The fact that the two camps were so close to each other meant that prisoners were frequently transferred from one to another, and internees from both camps were sent to work on the same farms in the area. In Camp III (Brickworks), up to August 1944, there was no accommodation for women, who were therefore either killed or sent to Stara Gradiška.

At the place where concentration camp was operated 1941/1945, Memorial Site is established in 1968. Memorial museum opened since then three PE. Monument the Flower was erected 1966 by Bogdan Bogdanovic in memory of all the victims killed in the camps. Of his monumental memorial, Bogdanovi ć wrote, “The entire design, the selected elements and their mutual correspondence, should not evoke images of horror and terror, but rather be a monument which through its basic metaphor expresses a noble, eternal, human truth – that life is indestructible and stronger than death. And so the basic symbol is precisely a FLOWER, the symbol of eternal renewal, and after a series of variations, stylized as a flower structure, with the superstructure, facing in two directions – through the crypt towards the victims from whom it draws its roots, and the canopy, as a kind of inverse dome, towards the light and the sun. Symbolically towards life and freedom.” The monument is made of reinforced concrete. It consists of a base with six niches divided by concrete walls, at the base of which there are pools for water, and a central column, which spreads out into the canopy of the “Flower”.

When we were planning the new permanent exhibition of the Memorial Museum, we were guided by what Bogdanovi ć wrote, “The melancholy lotus made of pre-stressed concrete, not only prevents evil thoughts on both sides, but even has a certain cathartic effect. It has offended no one it has threatened no one it has not sought revenge yet it has not hidden the truth.”

1. Description of the memory center: location, reasons for this location, opening year (specifying the time lap between the deeds subject to remembrance and the inauguration of the center).

Jasenovac Memorial Site is in the immediate vicinity of the former Jasenovac concentration camp, Camp III (Brickworks). In the Memorial Site the original sites of buildings and execution sites within the camp itself are marked by earth mounds and hollows. The path to the Flower Memorial is paved with railway sleepers. They denote symbolically part of the preserved railway track used to transport prisoners to the camp. Along with the memorial area, Jasenovac Memorial Site is responsible for the original, preserved camp building known as The Tower, the Stara Gradiška Camp cemetery, the Roma cemetery in Uštica and the mass graves in Krapje, Mlaka and Jablanac. The activities of Jasenovac Memorial Site have developed in different directions and include compiling, researching, scientifically processing, preserving and exhibiting the museum buildings and documents on how the Jasenovac Ustasha camp system operated; an educational programme; organising exhibitions and publications; ongoing co-operation with surviving prisoners and organising commemorative events in honour of the Jasenovac victims. Besides the Memorial Museum, the Education Centre is also part of Jasenovac Memorial Site. Jasenovac is a place in which visitors will discover the exceptional suffering and incredible courage of the Jasenovac victims, but also learn of the strength of hope in life and faith in humankind, as emphasised in particular by the survivors.

Thanks to all the Jasenovac victims, Jasenovac today is a place which encourages contemplation, learning, research, building personal convictions and actively resisting evil and crime, and is also a place where the value of human life and the moral principles which characterise humankind are embraced. Jasenovac is a place from which we should all depart having reached the decision that evil and the “Jasenovac” crimes should never be repeated, anywhere. Differences between peoples, cultures and nationalities should be respected, communicated and taught, and never again allowed to be the causes of crimes against humanity.

2. Goals and philosophy of the center.

Jasenovac Memorial Site was founded with the task of compiling, scientifically processing and exhibiting museum and archive material concerning the Ustasha Jasenovac Concentration Camp, to care for the memorial area and the mass graves of the former Ustasha camp and, by telling the truth about what happened to the victims of the Jasenovac camps, to build an attitude of respect for human differences among young people today.

6 3. Activities organized by the center in its relationship with the broader society (exhibitions, guided tours, attention to students, public conferences, and the like).

The activities of the Memorial Museum include co-operating with survivors, projects involving exhibitions and publications, as well as organising commemorative events to honour the Jasenovac victims. The main purpose of Jasenovac Memorial Site is honoring and remembering all victims of Jasenovac Concentration Camp, condemning all the motives for the formation of the concentration camp, and condemning all the crimes committed there so that they are never repeated.

Jasenovac Memorial Site was founded in 1968 with the task of caring for the original camp locations and collecting and presenting in the Memorial Museum the museum and archive inventory - the truth about the suffering and deaths of the innocent in Ustasha camps.

Through the history of the Jasenovac victims in the Education Centre, young people learn that crimes against mankind can and must be prevented. The basic tasks of Jasenovac Memorial Site are to preserve the memory of the Jasenovac victims and to teach non-violence, democracy and human rights.

In Jasenovac Memorial Site Education Centre, young people are made aware of the consequences of denying human dignity. They learn to recognise problems before they arise, prevent and halt all forms of violence and protect potential victims.

Young people send the world a Message of Peace from Jasenovac Memorial Site Education Centre - a voice which speaks out against hatred, exclusivism, racism, xenophobia and all forms of intolerance.

The establishment of the Education Centre, to teach against genocide, the Holocaust and every form of racial, religious and other kind of intolerance, is part of the active, international cooperation which Jasenovac Memorial Site fosters with similar memorial and other museums in Europe, Israel and the USA. Teaching about genocide, the Holocaust and the suffering of Anti-Fascists represents a starting-point for working with schoolchildren, in order to help them understand and learn to accept differences, thus overcoming xenophobia, racism, sexism, and ethical or religious exclusion. In the Jasenovac Memorial Site Education Centre, young people are presented with the true facts regarding the past, based on documents, videos of survivor testimonies, photographs and items from the camp which have been preserved, as a means to help them understand their own futures. The basic idea behind the permanent exhibition in the Memorial Museum is to return the identity and dignity to the victims against whom these crimes were committed, and the work of the Education Centre builds on this idea. So visitors are encouraged to think about the victims, the reasons for the crimes, the perpetrators, those who opposed the crimes, and about their own personal attitudes to any kind of crime.

International cooperation. Since 2002 Jasenovac Memorial Site has been co-operating with many museums and memorial institutions in Europe, the United States of America and Israel. Through the operations of IPAM (International Partnership Among Museums) Jasenovac Memorial Site has established a good bilateral relationship with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and the Jasenovac curators have received training in all museological subjects. It is also important to mention our co-operation with the Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial Museum, the Imperial War Museum in London, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and the Shoah Memorial in Paris. In 2005 the Republic of Croatia became a regular member of the Task Force for International Co-operation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, and through its international network of institutions and museums, Jasenovac Memorial Site, whose director is a member of the national delegation to the work group for memorials and museums, has worked with all members of the International Task Force. Jasenovac Memorial Site cooperates with the Ministries of Culture and Science, Education and Sport in the Republic of Croatia in organising international seminars relating to commemorations of the Day of Holocaust Remembrance on 27 January, and organises many workshops at Jasenovac Memorial Site, in the Memorial Museum and Education Centre, for all visitors, as well a for groups of pupils and students from abroad. The international co-operation of Jasenovac Memorial Site is particularly important in using international connections and training to raise the profile of the Memorial Museum and the Education Centre, thus enabling Jasenovac Memorial Site to make a significant contribution to European cultural heritage and demonstrate to the international public ways of facing one’s own past, how to speak up for human rights and democracy in concert with international organisations, and how to provide contemporary teaching on genocide and holocaust.

The new permanent exhibition of the Jasenovac Memorial Site Memorial Museum and Education Centre have been visited by thousands of people, many of them schoolchildren. They have also been visited by diplomats, state officials, ambassadors, ministers, presidents, priests, rabbis, and others. Reactions to what visitors have seen and experienced vary. While some are exceptionally satisfied with the exhibition, some have expressed criticisms of various kinds. In July 2010, the President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres, paid a visit to Jasenovac Memorial Site, which was of great significance not only to the employees, but also to the Republic of Croatia as a whole. In the visitors’ book, he noted his impressions in Hebrew. “Through all this greenness, blood screams from the ground with all the force of sorrow. Here, where we see two opposing worlds, murderers and maniacs who left a heritage of shame to future generations, we, all of us, are ashamed. And here are the victims, brothers and sisters, whatever their backgrounds and to whomever they prayed. The victims do not allow us to forget for a moment that humankind, and each individual, must know how to strive to protect each child, each mother, each old man. In this place, each of us should be moved to depths of our souls. This place must

8 remind us that we are all human beings, all equally worthy of respect and a dignified life. We respect deeply the dignity with which the Republic of Croatia and its President treat this place and the historical lessons which the Holocaust has taught us so painfully.”

Director of Jasenovac Memorial Site Nataša Jovi čić received the letter by the President of the State of Isreal after his visit to Jasenovac Memorial Site:

Dear Mrs. Jovicic, Having returned to Jerusalem, I want to express my sincere appreciation for the impressive ceremony at the Jasenovac Memorial Site. It was one of the most moving experiences of my visit to Croatia, and it has left an indelible mark on me. In this day when the horrors of World War II are being denied, you are to be congratulated on your efforts to safeguard and perpetuate the memory of this dark chapter of history. At the Jasenovac Museum, and at the Memorial Site, those who have perished in this place have been given a voice, and I wish you every success with the museum's development. Sincerely yours, Shimon Peres

4. Relationships with groups of civil society and/or authorities; chances and obstacles found when dealing with those partners

Board of Governors and Advisory Board Jasenovac Memorial Site is governed a Board of Governors with five members. The Chairman and three members of the Board of Governors are appointed by the Minister of Culture, one of whom is nominated by the Minister for Environmental Protection and Physical Planning, and one by the expert staff of Jasenovac Memorial Site, as laid down in the Constitution. The mandate of members of the Board of Governors is four years. According to the Act on Amendments to the Jasenovac Memorial Site Act (OG 22/2001), “with the aim of ensuring policies to protect, maintain, use and present Jasenovac Memorial Site”, an Advisory Board was set up, consisting of nine members, appointed for a period of four years. The following bodies each appoint one representative to be a member of the Advisory Board: the Croatian Parliament, the Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Jasenovac, the surviving inmates, the Alliance of Anti-Fascist Fighters of Croatia, and the Roma, Serbian and director of the Museum is a member .

Today, Jasenovac Memorial Site cooperates with world-renowned institutions engaged in researching and presenting material on genocides and the Holocaust and educating young people. In November 2005, the Republic of Croatia became a member of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, and the Memorial Site became the chief implementer of a project to introduce new curriculum content into the education system of the Republic of Croatia. The Memorial Site boasts

9 two prestigious international awards: the Rockefeller Prize, for museum-based educational projects on genocide and the Holocaust, which was awarded to the Director of Jasenovac Memorial Site, Nataša Jovi čić; and the Carlo Scarpa Prize for the best designed and maintained memorial site in Europe (2007). Both prizes were linked to the new concept for the Memorial Museum and Education Centre, which indicates international recognition and respect for the work of Jasenovac Memorial Site in the wider international community.

More than 60 years have passed since the end of the Second World War. More than 1,300 articles, memoirs and scholary articles and studies have been written about Jasenovac Concentration Camp. Many documents and other items are kept in the archives of institutions in Croatia and the other former republics of Yugoslavia, providing a reliable record of what happened in this most infamous of the Ustasha camps. In spite of all this, there are still many open issues today which attract the attention of experts and the general public. Why was the camp literally razed to the ground? Why did units of the People’s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (Partisans) never attempt to liberate the inmates? Why did the President of Yugoslavia, Commander of the Army during the war, Josip Broz Tito, never visit Jasenovac Memorial Site? Was the camp used after the end of the war by the new Communist regime as a place to exact revenge on their ideological opponents? The most painful issue is that of the number of victims. Many estimates and assumptions have been made regarding the number and ethnic, religious and political profiles. There have been unreasonable exaggerations (over a million) and inappropriate reductions (10,000). Numbers have been banded about for political purposes and speculations been made which have little to do with the victims themselves, so that the actual number of victims of the Second World War in the territory of Yugoslavia has never been officially established and verified. In addition, estimates by individual state demographers and statisticians, not based on scientific investigation. The curators of Jasenovac Memorial Site, Đor đe Mihovilovi ć and Jelka Smreka, used hundreds of different sources and, through a process of comparison and critical investigation concerning each individual victim, produced the List of Individual Victims of Jasenovac Concentration Camp in 2007. According to data collected so far (the list is the subject of further systematic research by the staff of Jasenovac Memorial Site and is open to all critically confirmed amendments and additions), there are 72,193 individual names on the list, the victims of Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška camps. Of these, 32,577 were men, 18,453 women, and 18,812 children under the age of 14.

In a categhorie of obsticles besides discussion and manipulation with number of victims, I also put other issues on political manipulation with victims in communist era…. ( ATT1)

10 5. Basic guidelines to start up the center

The idea of establishing a memorial institution to study, research and present the Jasenovac camp through museum work became a reality on 1 July 1969, when Jasenovac Memorial Site was founded. Only a few days later, on 4 July, the Memorial Museum was opened. The speed with which the museum was built and its permanent exhibition assembled was surprising. It only took 16 months to produce the designs and complete the building work ,the interior of the exhibition rooms and the projection room and to put together the museum collection. The first exhibition was created 1968, second one 1986 and third one 2006. Last one is also the first one where just experts work together without any political influence. The new permanent exhibition was opened officially on 27 November 2006, in the presence of the President of the Republic of Croatia, the Prime Minister, the Leader of Parliament and many other high-ranking guests and church representatives.69 The concept behind the new Jasenovac Memorial Museum permanent exhibition is not simply based on a memorial site, which in the first instance implies a memorial to the actual victims of the crimes committed in this place. Crimes were committed against tens of thousands of victims, each of whom had a name, rather than against a multitude, grouped into the joint concept of “victims”. The victims in our exhibition signify the sum of individual human fates, individual joys and sorrows, plans and hopes, which were destroyed when their lives were destroyed. In order to give visitors an insight into as many documents, photographs and other material as possible, showing the crimes which were committed, a multimedia approach to presenting the museum material was adopted. It allows visitors to gain a comprehensive view of material related to the camp, while allowing them to experience and encounter at first hand the personal testimonies of the victims of crime.

In order to come to a clear picture of how to prepare the new, permanent exhibition of Memorial Museum in Jasenovac in a contemporary way as well as in accordance with the standards of The Council of Europe and EU, the founding group spent two years researching and finding documents, artifacts and photographs that would testify to the Ustasha crime that took place in Jasenovac from 1941 till 1945. We also needed to keep up, with the expert and scientific work, as well as with events in the field of modern museology and changes in the educational system on the Holocaust and genocide. In accordance with that, in 2002 the expert team of JUSPJ* together with collaborators, participated in expert meetings, platforms, lectures and workshops. Several lectures were held and the idea for the premanent exhibition was presented before expert audience in Croatia, Europe and the U.S.A. We participated at international meetings and collaborated with institutions that specialize in fashist and Nazi crime representation. Furthermore we actively participated at Task Force meetings at which, besides the Ministry of Culture, JUSPJ played the main role in the process of moving the Republic of Croatia closer to the status of a liasing country.

11 It is important to pay attention to the international activities . The concept we presented is the result of long-term effort and the work of intensified bilateral meetings. We have also established partnership with experts of the biggest world museum of the Holocaust to whom profession stands above all interests. Lead by the frames and directions on teaching about the Holocaust by The Council of Europe and EU, as well as via IPAM, which directed us towards contemporary museological concepts on the representation of crime, we stand for the concept of the new, permanent exhibition of the Memorial Museum in Jasenovac that is being worked on by historians and art historians who are experts in museology.

The following idea, with the accompanying documentation and feasibility study for visual art and architectural design, was delivered and reviewed by art historians who have PhD degrees, museologists and experts in the field of education. Reviews , together with the preliminary design, was sent for consideration to the Croatian Museum Council for discussion and decision about financing for the year 2005. Then the detailed, reviewed project, together with opinion and explanation of the authors, was presented to the Management Council and the Council of JUSPJ.

Meaning, the basic idea of the permanent exhibition is to present crime so that the key role is given to the victim of the crime. We believed that crime should be presented from the perspective of the victim and not of the executor. We also wish to give victims identity and dignity in order to inspire visitors to understand the crime committed. At the same time, by presenting it in such a way we do not wish to allow for a possibility to appear for anyone to lessen crimes committed at the camp. For example the topic of death – the way murders were committed and mass liquidations of camp detainees were conducted – presented via documents, artifacts and photographs. Above all, by this permanent exhibition we wish to make possible for future visitors to work out their own attitude towards monstrous Ustasha crimes that took place at that location.

In accordance with the above mentioned, we presented (the so-far incomplete) individualized list of victims of Camp Jasenovac and Camp Stara Gradiška that was put together based on the list published in the book Jasenovac – Victims of War by the Statistical Bureau of Yugoslavia. It represents a frame for the whole picture about Concentration camp Jasenovac, and is simultaneously accessible to visitors as database that they are able to search according to their own interests.

The exhibited artifacts, photographs, documents and other museographical material are selected and presented in such a way that they present a certain topic to the audience in a very documentary, convincing and strong manner. At the same time they should, with their documentary value and meaning, pass on to the visitor certain content and idea without the exhibition authors interpreting them and imposing certain ideological and emotional frames of understanding. Section descriptions that describe the material exhibited and clarify the historical context are explicitly documentary.

12 The integral part of the permanent exhibit is documentary video recordings of survivors' testimonies that stress the idea of the exhibit itself. The central position is given to the victims of crimes committed at Concentration Camp Jasenovac.

Such a way of presenting the topic of Jasenovac camp is synchronized with scientific foundings that are applied in education about the genocide and the Holocaust and the way fascism and nazism are presented. We believe that it can contribute to museological and pedagogical attitudes especially with the aim of raising awareness and establishing of expert, objective and museum body and truths about Ustasha crimes in Jasenovac. They would further be proved by documented truth on Ustasha crimes in Jasenovac.

ATT1

Exploitation of Jasenovac victims via manipulation of museum activities of Memorial Museum Jasenovac with the aim of creating a project of ethnic cleansing during the aggression against The Republic of Croatia from 1991-1995

1 New permanent exhibition and educational center of Jasenovac Memorial Site, 2006.g is just explained, but let me repeat few points:

The basic idea of Jasenovac Memorial Museum's permanent exhibition and educational centre is to present crime in a way that the victims of that crime are given a central role, Genocide and Holocaust is presented from the victim's perspective, and not from the perspective of the executor. To the Victims are given identity and dignity, in order to instigate understanding of committed crime in visitors.

The integral part of the permanent exhibition and educational center are video recordings of testimonies of those detainees who survived. They underline the idea of the exhibition in which the central place is given to the victims of crimes committed in Concentration Camp Jasenovac.

Another integral part is the database that can be searched via computers. They contains, besides individualized lists of crime victims at Jasenovac Camp, additional information about the presented topic.

2. First permanent exhibition of Jasenovac Memorial Area Memorial Museum, 1968

First permanent exhibition of the Memorial Museum in Jasenovac was opened on 4 th July, 1968. The authors of the preliminary design and scenario were the curators at the Museum of revolution of people of Croatia and the School museum in Zagreb.

13 According to the photos of the exhibition premises, one can conclude that there were no photographs of bodies, of naked dismembered bodies, of those who were killed or of the process of killing. The means used for killing were also not exhibited. The priority in functioning, and later showing, of the Ustasha camp was given to those artifacts that were explaining the life of detainees – cutlery, postcards that detainees sent from the camp, documents that speak of the founding of the Independent State of Croatia and of Jasenovac Camp (annex 1). Besides the exhibition they were also showing the film "The Gospel of Evil" that every visitor had no choice but to see.

3 The second permanent exhibition of Memorial Area Jasenovac Memorial Museum, 1988

On 11 th and 12 th October, 1986 the delegation of SANU ( Serbian Academy of Arts) came to visit Jasenovac Memorial Area. It consisted of two academy members: Vladimir DEDIJER and Miloš MACURA and of general-colonel Đuro MEŠTROVI Ć, dr Milan BULAJI Ć and colonel Antun MILETI Ć. During that visit one member of the delegation (Vladimir DEDIJER) expressed his dissatisfaction and according to the minutes by Antun MILETI Ć, he said that the exhibited documents are not first class documents (he was referring to the present permanent exhibition). Following that comment, some changes of the permanent exhibition began to take place and on 24th April, 1986, the second permanent exhibition of the Memorial Museum was opened. The authors of the preliminary design were Dragoje LUKI Ć and Antun MILETI Ć, Joža REBERNIK was the author of the artistic layout and Petar VOVK of the architectural solution.

At that second, permanent exhibition in 1986, a special, prominent place was given to a frieze with large photographs showing exclusively torture, details and body parts of those murdered, massacred human bodies. Besides mentioned changes in comparison to the first permanent exhibition from 1968, they kept on showing the film "The Gospel of Evil" in the movie hall of the Museum. Meaning, the movie "The Gospel of Evil" that was shown during both permanent exhibitions as integral part of the exhibition, had the intention to shock a visitor and was especially successful at that. Pupils and other visitors were forced to watch. A visitor had no choice. Simply everyone had to pass through that movie hall. Therefore, the film that was shown was not a type of educational- museological movie analyzed by a museum educator and intended for understanding of the genocide topic. It was simply a film used for exploitation of Jasenovac victims for some other purposes whose aim was definitely not the education about genocide.

4 Travelling exhibition "Dead opening the eyes of the living, 1986-1991"

Today it is a well-known fact that every genocide commences with propaganda.

At the already mentioned meeting at Memorial Area Jasenovac during that visit of the SANU delegation on 11 th and 12 th October, 1986, Vladimir DEDIJER said

14 the following; "...however, the conditions are difficult and the young generations might again be summoned to defend their homeland. If they see how the graves of their predecessors are neglected, it might have an unfavorable reflection on their combat moral. And finally, it is only human for me to thank general Ivan GOŠNJAK, who, during 1960s, energetically worked towards Jasenovac being visibly marked because hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Muslims, Jews, Roma and other people lost their lives here. I believe, in case it might be necessary, that the Army will help us the way it has helped us before." It is very indicative that then, at Memorial Area Jasenovac in 1985 they are speaking of "defending the homeland", "neglecting of graves" and "Army that will help". I believe that one has the right to wonder; are they already then speaking of planned war actions that many could not suspect at that time. It is interesting that the location of the first SANU war cry is Memorial Area Jasenovac, and SANU Memorandum was published in 1986.

The sequence of events is interesting:

Namely, the very same year – 1986 – we see, as it was described earlier, the opening of the second permanent exhibition of the Memorial Museum, but it seems quite important that they also organized a travelling exhibition called "Dead opening the eyes of the living" by Dragoje LUKI Ć. According to Jelka SMREKA, a curator at Jasenovac Memorial Area, the exhibition was laid out in Yugoslav National Army (JNA) barracks as well ("the Army that will help"). This was confirmed by texts from weeklies called 'Front' and 'National Army' that were at the time published and intended for the Yugoslav National Army (JNA).

The travelling exhibition consisted of photographs from the frieze of the permanent exhibition. At the bottom of every photograph there was a brief description of what was on the photo - a key. If we analyze the language the keys were written in, we can come to a conclusion that the text was not intended for understanding of the topic of genocide but that it is about "neglecting of graves" meaning about calls for hate and revenge. For example; "Eyes to remember: death is the refrain of immortality" next to the body of a child; "Bloody Ustasha fairy tale: at the camp for children in Sisak" next to the body of a child; "The coast of corpses", "The triumph of the cut-throat"; "They did what noone else did: the horrific reflection of Ustasha crimes" next to cut-off heads; "Everything is allowed to them: after rape – death", etc.

Meaning, in the period between 1986 and 1991 in the JNA barracks throughout Yugoslavia, they were showing to soldiers the travelling exhibition from Jasenovac Museum about war crimes from the Second World War. It was presented and the exhibited material and photographs were conceptualized in a way that was in accordance with the standards of propaganda and not of educational exhibitions, with the clear goal of connecting the Second World War crimes with actual political tendencies of "separatism" in contemporary Socialist Republic of Croatia. We can find proof about that in numerous articles intended for the JNA soldiers in magazines mentioned earlier ('Front' and 'National army'). In the period between 1986 and 1991, one can also find in both of these magazines feuilletons by Antun MILETI Ć who was a colonel, meaning a person well-instructed about war strategies. He was also a co-author when they were

15 working on the second permanent exhibition in 1986. In the texts intended for the JNA soldiers, MILETI Ć describes in detail suffering at Jasenovac camp, and he writes at considerable length about the ways victims were killed. The photo material that correlates with the photos of the travelling exhibition accompanies his texts and of the frieze from the permanent exhibition of the Memorial Museum meaning they are the ones showing exclusively bodies of Ustasha victims. Considering that these feuilletons in military magazines and travelling exhibitions appeared simultaneously in the period from 1986 – 1991 (I hereby repeat the fact that the SANU Memorandum was published in 1986), I conclude that this is the matter of unique abuse and manipulation of museological material of Jasenovac Museum – the museum of genocide, that was supposed to serve quite a contrary purpose: education and prevention of similar crimes.

According to the above-mentioned facts, it can be concluded that in two ex museum presentations of Jasenovac camp (1968 and 1986) and via this travelling exhibition, the victim is marginalized and becomes nonexistent, invisible. The victim is not named, but in the way of presenting it is actually victimized twice, whereas the Ustasha crime served as a point of reference of the new ideology that was preparing the war against the Republic of Croatia. Via this ideology Jasenovac victims are exploited and used for generating hate that will lead towards the attack on the Republic of Croatia in 1991 and inspire crimes that the JNA ( National Army) and Serb paramilitary forces committed against non-Serb population in The Republic of Croatia during the Home War. The aim of the aggression against The Republic of Croatia was the creation of Greater Serbia, and events in Jasenovac in the period between 1941 – 1945 served as excuse to justify the aggressors' crimes.

It is an example of exploitation of Jasenovac museum and its artifacts- photographs. Therefore after the events in Vukovar, in Omarska camp and tens of other death camps that existed in the period between 1991-1998, another new issue of great cultural relevance surfaces: whether and how ideologically manipulated presentation of war crime can generate new war crime?

Bogdan BOGDANOVI Ć, philosopher and artist, the author of Jasenovac monument 'Flower', wrote; "... Unfortunately, so far on many occasions, I had an opportunity to see horrified children when faced with a drastic presentation of facts. A whole chain of National Liberation Struggle (NOB) museums in former Yugoslavia was presenting the same or similar photographs of war crimes. Therefore in the recent years I have wondered whether the unintentional, museological trivializing of crime played a certain role in atrocities of the recent wars as an almost psychological preparation for further cycles of hate and bloodshed". (excerpt from the letter to N. J. dated 23 rd April, 2004)

5 Trials against Serb war criminals in The Hague (ICTY)

Having in mind that the propaganda for Greater Serbia instigated crimes against non-Serb population in the war between 1991-1995 by exploiting the victims from Jasenovac camp, I have searched 35,900 documents-transcripts from the trials against Serb war criminals in The Hague (the search of the ICTY web-site)

16 and I have noticed that Jasenovac is mentioned in106 of them, 33 of them being relevant for my research.

For example, Z.D., a Serb convicted by the ICTY, mentions Jasenovac ten times. M. K, a Serb convicted of crimes against humanity, a couple of times mentions Jasenovac camp from the Second World War (I will elaborate on this later). Defense witness dr BULAJI Ć (let us be reminded that the same dr Milan BULAJI Ć visited Jasenovac in 1985 with the SANU delegation), when questioned by attorney FILA, bases the defense of the convicted Serb criminals on the grounds of Serb suffering in Jasenovac from 1941-1945. He also showed a film about Jasenovac.

It is obvious, from mentioned testimonies of Serb detainees of the ICTY, that the propaganda for Greater Serbia ideologized the Ustasha crime in Jasenovac lifting it to the level of a national myth.

That is confirmed by the trial to Slobodan MILOŠEVIĆ as well. a) It is a fact that MILOŠEVI Ć during the trial at which he is accused of "genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva conventions and violations of the laws or customs of war", refers to Jasenovac camp mentioning the number of victims at its potential most of 600,000. It is obvious from the transcript of his cross-examination and cross-examination of the expert for genocide and the Holocaust of the University of Amsterdam, dr Ton Zwaan that the propaganda of the Greater Serbia in the early 1990s manipulated with the memory of Jasenovac camp for the purpose of homogenization of Serb people residing in Croatia and its organizational and emotional preparation for the attack against the country they lived in.

Suspect MILOŠEVI Ć, as many other suspect Serbs at the Tribunal in the Hague, uses the Ustasha crime in Jasenovac as possible "justification" for crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dr Ton Zwaan tells the following about that:

“ Yes, that certainly is the case (it also happened when I was cross-examined by Milosevic), but this also touches on a larger issue. As you may know, so far nearly all defendants at the ICTY (from all sides) pleaded 'not guilty' after their indictment. They all point to the guilt of others, they all see themselves as victims of the (perceived) evil intentions of these others (and that is also how they try to legitimate their own violence), and they seem to be unable to accept and acknowledge their own responsibility and their own part in the overall development of events. Naturally, such an attitude is opportune seen the fact they are in court - but in one way or another it also seems to me to point to something 'deeper': a systematic lack of self-criticism.”

b) Having an insight into transcripts from the trial in The Hague from 16th and 17th September, 2002, indictee STAKI Ć, a Serb M.D. from Prijedor, indicted for crimes against humanity committed in Concentration camp Omarska, also

17 mentions Jasenovac (this will be elaborated on later). Therefore the implication is that he uses the Ustasha crime in Jasenovac as possible "justification" of his own crimes committed in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. c) In cross examination of indictee KOVA ČEVI Ć, with a defense witness Ed VULLIAMY, a journalist from "The Guardian" during the period between 13th and 15th July, 1998, KOVA ČEVI Ć speaks of Jasenovac horrors and states claims that became ideology. He compares Jasenovac with Omarska saying; "Omarska could never have been as horrific as Jasenovac." Then, according to the transcript in English, KOVA ČEVI Ć also says the following about Jasenovac: "Po činili su ratne zlo čine (referring to the Ustasha crime committed in Jasenovac between 1941-1945), a sada je to suprotno." (referrs to crimes committed in Concentration amp Omarska against Muslim and Croatian women in 1992 in which he himself participated).

The Hague proceedings brought to surface recent instrumenatalization of Jasenovac and Jasenovac victims as preparation of committing new mass crimes and, what is especially dangerous in this region, periodical repeating of mass crimes. That is supported by documents, my foundings based on transcripts, archived newspaper klippings and other documents from the archive of Memorial Area Jasenovac, that I came across when analyzing museum exhibitions and travelling exhibition of the Memorial Museum.

6 Conclusion

Besides the data from the trial transcripts of the Serb war criminals in The Hague, it is obvious that Yugoslav communist regime instrumentalized Jasenovac for its propaganda with the aim to impose collective guilt to Croats because of Ustasha crimes committed at Jasenovac camp.

The frequency and the way Jasenovac appears in the statements of the ICTY indictees for genocide against Muslims and Croats in the period between 1991- 1995, demonstrates that what happened in Jasenovac was one of the reasons, but also a justification for attacks on The Republic of Croatia and on The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Now it is possible to show in detail and describe how the fact that former Ustasha camp Jasenovac existed was instrumentalized for activating the Greater Serbia idea and homogenizing of, primarily, non-Serbia-Proper Serbs for the attack against The Republic of Croatia. The activities of Memorial Museum Jasenovac were also used for the above mentioned aims on behalf of SANU, as well as ideologized, agitating and propagandist permanent exhibition. It was also done via travelling exhibitions that were presented at JNA barracks from 1986 (when SANU Memorandum was declared until 1991 (the beginning JNA aggression against The Republic of Croatia).

Once the light is shed on new facts, the use of Jasenovac as ideological weapon for warpath against all those who are, at the given moment in time, recognized as opponents and probable enemies, shows what in Europe is a unique missuse of remembrance of crime where commemoration of crime (not

18 of victims) becomes the seed and justification for new, planned, mass crime. Innocent Jasenovac victims served as seeds of evil, demonstrating how the victim is "used" to become a weapon, how the victim is dehumanized, how we do not know the victim's face – how the victim has no name (for example photographs of unidentified pile of bodies at permanent exhibitions from 1986 onwards). But what is known is how the victims can be used – they are worth as much as you can use them for continued killing. Historically, hate's foundations were built consciously and here Jasenovac served "favourably" for achieving final aim of creating hate towards Croats and Muslims. Genocide is not possible if there is no systematic production of hate. (according to dr Ton Zwaan). The sentence we often utter – 'Never again' – turned out even more important during 1998 proceedings at ICTY against KOVA ČEVI Ć who was indicted for genocide when he stated: «They committed war crimes (thinks of Ustasha crimes committed in Jasenovac in 1941-1945), "and now it is the other way round (thinks of crimes committed in 1992 in Concentration camp Omarska against Muslim and Croat women in which he himself participated).

This sentence inspires fear and anxiety and it is unbelievable that it referrs to Jasenovac, the place that should offer reconsideration about that NEVER AGAIN, that being civilizational tradition of the west when speaking for example about the Holocaust-Shoah; because in the final run the basic intention of every reminder and mapmaking of big crimes at execution sites is learning about the way crimes can and have to be stopped, and not use such locations (memorials) for teaching the reasons why crimes should be repeated.

Only systematic analyzing of testimonies from The Hague offers us an opportunity:

1 to show that there was manipulation with Jasenovac victims for the purpose of reaching the aims of a policy whose task was to create hate and prepare the terrain for the following killing 2 to show within European context that remebrance created by a totalitarian regime necessarily creates the following crime

The Republic of Croatia condemned the Ustasha crimes committed in Jasenovac which, without a doubt, was a place of mass crime committed against Serbs, Jews, Roma and Croats. However, one should not keep silent about the fact that totalitarian, communist regime instrumentalized events in Jasenovac on multiple levels (one of them being manipulating of museum activities). It also simultaneously imposed the feeling of collective guilt onto Croats, provoking an alibi or justification but also a motif for following mass crime that became real during the attack on Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1991-1995. The Hague transcripts, for the first time, show it quite clearly.

When The Republic of Croatia becomes a part of the European Union, Jasenovac Memorial will become a part of European heritage, meaning it is important for it to have a European shape of crime remembrance. Therefore, the data base that will be the integral part of the future, new, permanent exhibition will include the segment with the transcripts of war indictees from The

19 Hague in order to point to the danger of manipulating with victims that then become a weapon for further suffering meaning further genocide. If that is not presented, there is room left for the danger of potential, following genocides as can be detected from the words of a Serb historian Latinka PEROVI Ć, PhD who is worried and states; "Serbs lost the war in the military sense, but not emotionally."

Meaning:

With this research I wish to show the dangers of presenting fascist crimes by the means of shots of naked, massacred bodies or by exposing objects that were used as weapons for committing crimes. Such a way of presenting crime instigates hate and revenge, as well as it creates resistance with the visitor which then contributes to not only further misunderstanding of the problem of genocide but also to spreading of hate. Being aware of the fact that the Greater Serbia propaganda by instrumentalizing Jasenovac victims instigated crimes against non-Serb population in the war between 1991-1995, the new, museum exhibition cannot serve as means of possible ideologization that would lead to a new crime.

We approached our work on the new, permanent exhibition and educational center in a scientific way without any ideological diktat in connection with the basic function of Jasenovac museum: the education and prevention of crime against humanity.

The new, permanent exhibition aims towards naming of victims and freeing from ideological layers that have, so far, too often made it a favorable instrument for generating hate.

I am giving meaning to Memorial Museum in Jasenovac and to the new exhibition and educational center for the year 2006, according to new museological standards in order to be able to include it, on equal basis, in the network of similar European institutions that are dealing with archiving of data about the Nazi crime and genocide in the Second World War; the way it was done for example in Anne Frank House in Amsterdam or in The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.