VOL I, Nr. 1, NEW YORK - APRIL 2005

VOL I, Nr. 1, NEW YORK - APRIL 2005.

WELCOME TO JRI OBTAINS MONUMENT WHY JASENOVAC? OUR READERS! FOR VICTIMS OF JASENOVAC IN NEW YORK By Col. Antun Miletic, (Ret.), By Barry M. Lituchy, JRI JRI Honorary Advisory National Coordinator CITY’S HOLOCAUST Board Chairman MEMORIAL PARK As the chief executive officer and The Jasenovac Research Institute, founder of the JRI it is my privilege 16 February 2005 based in North America but with to welcome you to the first issue of active members in Serbia, is the our newsletter. Within these pages Three years and three months only international non-profit insti- we hope to inform our Associates, after the Jasenovac Research Insti- tution concerned with scholarly friends and colleagues of our work tute filed its application, and after research on the genocidal crimes in the coming period as well as pro- encountering many difficulties in that took place in the Ustashe con- vide news on events, research and the process, the Jasenovac Research centration camp in Jasenovac. The publications relating to the Holo- Institute finally won approval today question may be posed immedi- caust in the Balkans, on a quarterly from the City of New York for the ately: Why the Ustashe Concentra- basis. tion Camp in Jasenovac?

The initial effort to establish the The Ustashe of the Independent JRI came at the end of the final State of Croatia (NDH, Nezavisne session of the First International Drzave Hrvatske) were, by defini- Conference and Exhibition on tion, national chauvinists, Nazi- Jasenovac on October 31, 1997 at Fascists, and in many instances Kingsborough Community College clerico-Fascists. They came to in Brooklyn, NY, when a number of power with support from Hitler participants came together to find and Mussolini on April 10, 1941, a new approach for dealing with and announced the creation of the the study and commemoration of NDH. Immediately after the proc- the Holocaust in Yugoslavia. What lamation of the NDH, the Ustashe, was needed was an institutional led by Ante Pavelic, took control of and international approach to this all the prisons and jails under the problem modeled on the practice jurisdiction of the Yugoslav monar- of other Holocaust institutions. In chy on the territory of the former early 1998 a Board of Trustees was banovine (administrative districts organized and the JRI was soon Main monument at New York‘s Holocaust Park ruled by a ban—TN*) in Croatia thereafter incorporated as an offi- and Bosnia-Herzegovina. After- cial 501c-3 non-profit corporation first public monument to the victims wards, they began announcing in registered with the U.S. federal of Jasenovac to be unveiled outside their official newspaper, Narodne government. of the former Yugoslavia. novine (the People’s Newspaper), a series of genocidal laws regulat- The historical experience of the The inscription for the Jasenovac ing racial qualifications, the regis- twentieth century has revealed monument was formally approved tration of Serbs and Jews (officially that the lessons of history, and of by the New York City Department referred to as Yids), and the depor- the Holocaust especially, are not of Parks & Recreation’s Holocaust tation to concentration camps of all learned without struggle. We have Advisory Committee yesterday Jews, Serbs and Roma. learned from the past mistakes of afternoon, 15 February 2005, with others that we must fight for the some minor changes to the inscrip- The goal was an even greater mass truth to be known and we must cre- tion. The information was trans- incarceration of Orthodox Serbs, continued on page 2 continued on page 3 continued on page 2

1 continued from page 1 continued from page 1 chain factory, a blacksmith, a lock- ate our own institutions with which Jews and Roma in concentration smith, a carpentry shop, an electri- to advance it. Without an institution camps in accordance with the cians’ workshop, a brick factory, a such as ours it is uncertain whether Ustashe racist-clerico-fascist poli- manufacturer of pliers, a tinsmith, the crimes of the Holocaust in the tics of “the voice of blood, race an upholstery shop, a gunsmith, an Balkans would ever be fully rec- and soil,” along with all those auto repair shop, a steam-operated ognized or the victims would ever who opposed the Ustashe regime, sawmill and a steam-operated elec- be properly honored. Without an especially the anti-fascists. For trical generating plant. organization such as ours the peo- this reason, the Ustashe estab- ples most affected by these crimes lished, between August 15-21, In the very village of Jasenovac, – Serbs, Jews and Romas – would 1941, the Jasenovac Concentration there was a part of the Concentra- be intellectually disarmed in the Camp, one of the largest of Hitler’s tion Camp called “Kozara” or POW face of those who would perpetu- camps in Europe. It was capable Camp IV. POW Camp V in the con- ate racial hatred. We know that of receiving indefinite numbers centration camp system was Stara the denial of the Holocaust and of of detainees. On August 23, 1941, Gradiska. Vjekoslav “Maks” Lubu- the crimes of genocide committed the news reports announced that ric received instructions for the against Serbs, Jews and Romas the first barracks had been built organization of the Jasenovac con- in the Balkans during 1941-1945 to house workers who were forced centration camp from the Dachau became a conspicuous and pro- by the new legal statutes to par- Concentration Camp, but he made found problem in the 1990’s. This ticipate in projects on the Trebiza unique changes in the method of denial was a crime of racial hatred River and in the Lonje area of one liquidation applied to the detain- that resulted in massive violence. of the tributaries of the Sava River, ees: Dachau used industrial means “Never again!” is the first lesson i.e., to participate in draining the of liquidation; while Jasenovac of the Holocaust, and the creation Lonjska swamplands. In any case, would use daggers, mallets, hatch- of the JRI is the application of that these news reports were merely ets, metal bars as the instruments lesson. for public consumption because of liquidation. Those who were not the Ustashe exploited the public liquidated with these weapons died It is with a profound sense of works projects on racist principles of torture, hunger and illness. responsibility and personal com- to work the laborers to death with mitment that I urge you to support long hours, bad food and unhy- The Ustashe exceeded their Hit- us in our efforts and to encour- gienic living conditions, and it lerian tutors in sadistic crimes in age others in your community to was directed against Serbs, Jews many different ways. The laws of do the same. Our efforts already and Roma. civilized mankind did not apply to are yielding tangible results and them. The bestiality of their evil influencing the work of other Holo- In a geographic sense, they chose deeds are incomprehensible to the caust institutions. Not only have we the broad region from the village normal human mind. For this rea- embarked on an ambitious publish- of Jasenovac to Stara Gradiska son, the Ustashe regime determined ing and commemoration schedule, on the right bank of the Sava the fate of Serbs, Jews and Roma but we are fighting for restitution of River, which was an area of more on the basis of racial decrees con- properties and assets seized from than 210 square kilometers. The cerning “racial affiliation” and laws Holocaust victims in Ustashe Cro- Ustashe chose this spot because of about “the protection of the Arian atia. As part of our mission, our its strategic position, which easily blood and honor of the Croatian organization is dedicated to peace afforded security and defense; it people,” which, in essence, did not and tolerance through justice and was connected to railroad lines and distinguish themselves from the rac- human rights. But no understand- surrounded by water, i.e., situated ist laws of the German Third Reich ing of human rights in the Balkans on a navigable conjunction of the (Hitler’s Germany). The Ustashe can begin without a discussion rivers Sava, Una and Velika Struga committed the unprecedented of the greatest crimes ever com- in the middle of the swamplands of crime of genocide in the Jasenovac mitted there: the triple genocide Lonjska Polja, while on the other Concentration Camp for the sake against Serbs, Jews and Roma by bank of the Sava River was Gra- of creating of “an ethnically pure the Nazi, Ustashe and other fascists dina, which was difficult to reach. Croatian state” and “a pure Croa- in wartime Yugoslavia. Let us work However, when the principal parts tian nation.” Serbs, Jews and Roma together to establish the truth once of the Jasenovac Concentration discovered that they were obstacles and for all, and help others incor- Camp were taken into consider- blocking the path toward the cre- porate this history into the curricu- ation, it was a complex of build- ation a “pure Croatian lebensraum” lum of schools around the world. ings surrounding Baciceve Brick and national “internal cleansing.” Works (owned by Mr. Bacic and For that reason, it was necessary to others), where one could find: a systematically exterminate all the

2 Jews and Roma, but a special fate Several changes were imposed on ships with both of these institutions was reserved for the Serbs: one- the inscription. The City’s Holo- during the process of obtaining the third would be killed, one-third caust Advisory Committee removed monument. would be driven into exile, and one- a sentence stating that the total third would be converted to Roman number of victims was between But most important of all is that Catholicism. Voilà, Jasenovac was 350,000 and 700,000. However, the victims of Jasenovac now will necessary for that reason, because they did allow the sentence stating never be forgotten. And the families according to the Ustashe regime, that “hundreds of thousands of vic- of those victims will forever have there was no place for them in the tims” were killed there. This was a place to recognize and remem- “pure Croatian nation.” the fourth time that the JRI’s origi- ber them. Moreover, Jasenovac is nal inscription had been revised. finally being recognized as central Unfortunately, to this very day, the to the study and commemoration of number of Serbs, Jews and Roma The JRI’s National Coordinator the Holocaust around the world (by and large elderly men, women Barry Lituchy will go to the Holo- and children), as well as anti-fas- caust Park Committee office tomor- cists who were killed, has not been row to review and sign the final FOURTH ANNUAL confirmed. Estimates of the num- agreement. The monument will be ber killed in the Jasenovac Concen- engraved at the end of March and JASENOVAC DAY OF tration Camp vary from 80,000 to the formal unveiling will be ready COMMEMORATION 750,000, and when, in addition to for the 4th annual Day of Jaseno- CEREMONY TO BE HELD AT this figure, are added the 180,000 vac Commemoration ceremony on people who were driven from their April 17th marking the 60th anniver- NEW YORK’S HOLOCAUST homes and the 240,000 people who sary of the end of the Holocaust in MEMORIAL PARK IN were forcibly converted to Roman Yugoslavia. Catholicism, one gets a full picture BROOKLYN ON APRIL of the genocidal crimes committed Had the JRI not made an enor- 17, 2005 AT 2 PM in the Independent State of Croa- mous effort and numerous protests, tia by the Ustashe regime. Why even this advisory meeting may On Sunday, April 17, 2005, the Jasenovac? That is the answer. That never have taken place as soon as Jasenovac Research Institute will was where the Ustashe commit- it did. JRI attorney David Gottfried hold its fourth annual Holocaust ted crimes just like the ones com- helped communicate the JRI’s con- commemoration ceremony to mitted in Auschwitz, Treblinka, cerns to the City’s agencies as did honor and remember the victims Mathauzen, Majdanek, Dachau, U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner and Survivors of the Holocaust in Buchenwald, and others. and New York City Public Advo- Yugoslavia and their families. The cate Ralph Perfetto. The JRI also ceremony will include a wreath lay- The JRI is working to confirm the launched a broad based letter writing, religious service and speeches number of people killed in Jaseno- ing and telephone calling campaign by Survivors, scholars and political vac by name and surname. The which was led by several Survivors leaders. The names of loved ones results we have arrived at thus including George Radan, Ricki lost at Jasenovac will be read and far are serious: to date more than Soltan and Michael Danon. candles lit in their memory. 80,000 have been confirmed by name, place of residence, date of JRI Advisory Board Member Dr. The ceremony will also include the birth and date of death. The former Ephraim Isaac and JRI Director unveiling of the newly engraved Jasenovac Concentration Camp Darko Trifunovic also played key monument to the victims of Jaseno- is one of the largest graveyards in roles. vac (see article above). Representa- Europe, and it merits and justifies tives from various countries will be the existence of the JRI. The establishment of a permanent invited to attend. monument in New York City and *TN = Translator’s Note the significant assistance obtained April 22nd marks the sixtieth anni- along the way from the US Holo- versary of the heroic attempted Translated by Milo Yelesiyevich, caust Memorial Museum and the breakout by the imprisoned vic- JRI Director New York Museum for Jewish tims of the Jasenovac camps. The Heritage for this project marks an memorial is timed to coincide as important achievement in the JRI’s closely as possible with that date. continued from page 1 global efforts to increase world- mitted to the JRI at 3 PM this after- wide awareness of Jasenovac and The Holocaust Memorial Park, noon, although the actual decision the Holocaust in Yugoslavia. The which is located at West End Ave- had been made 24 hours earlier. JRI established working relation- nue between Emmons Ave & Shore

3 Blvd in the Sheepshead Bay section Jasenovac Research of Brooklyn, is the only monument Institute, PO Box 10-0674, park commemorating the Holocaust HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR Brooklyn, NY 11210 USA in the New York City area. TESTIMONY RECOUNTS or you may order online Directions to the event can be found CROATIAN FASCIST by credit card at www. on the JRI website. jasenovac.org NIGHTMARE The annual JRI dinner will be held on Saturday, April 16th at 6 PM. A new release of Survivor CHANGES IN THE MUSEUM The JRI Board of Directors will Testimonies from Jasenovac meet earlier that same day. The Day Research Institute New Confusion over Jasenovac of Jasenovac Commemoration cer- New Contents and Presentation emony is open to the public, while The Testimony of Ricki Danon by the Museum of the Ustashe the dinner andDirectors meeting Soltan, Produced by the Jasenovac Concentration Camp Invites are by invitation only Research Institute, 42 Minutes, a Serious Polemic $20 ($14 for JRI Associates), includes shipping, (available By Radoje Arsenic, in either NTSC or PAL) Special Correspondent JRI FACT FINDING MISSION TO KOSOVO Born 1937 in Zagreb Yugoslavia, From Politika, 22 June 2004 Jewish Holocaust Survivor Ricki JRI Directors Darko Trifunovic and Danon Soltan recounts her tragic Thursday, April 22, 2004 marked Barry Lituchy travelled to Kosovska experience of loss and survival the fifty-ninth anniversary of the Mitrovica on 31 August 2004 on a during the Croatia Nazi state - the famous prison rebellion undertaken fact finding mission. Following a Independent State of Croatia, 1941- by the prisoners of the Jasenovac town hall style meeting and press 1945. While attempting to flee the Concentration Camp in Croatia, conference with the Serbian com- Croatian clerical fascist regime in when the last thousand or so sur- 1941 by train, her entire family was vivors fought back against annihi- arrested. Her mother was sent to lation and turned on their armed the Croatian camp at Loborgrad, Ustashe jailers. Their goal was her father and uncle to Jasenovac. clear: someone, at least, had to sur- Her parents murdered, Ricki and vive to tell the truth about this inhu- her sister are saved when two Croa- man “death factory.” Only about tian sisters promise to raise them as one hundred managed to reach “good Catholics.” Hear the entire freedom after they assaulted the story, with photographs and origi- barbed wire fencing and the armed munity in Mitrovica, Lituchy and nal film footage, and the none too murderers who guarded them, and Trifkovic viewed the ruins of Serbian surprising attitude of the present the truth about the Jasenovac Con- and Roma homes along the Ibar River day Croatian government toward centration Camp finally emerged, and then traveled to the Roma refu- former victims of Croatian crimes and that date has remained as its of genocide, as well as its refusal to symbol, honored by decades of recognize the citizenship of these reunions of survivors, the families victims born in Croatia. The Dan- of the victims and conscientious ons were just two of over 25,000 observers of the victims of fascist Jews killed in Jasenovac during the terror. Holocaust. On the eve of this year’s ceremo- Special offer: For new JRI Associ- nies, “The Stone Flower” memorial ates, receive the video free, as well monument (erected in 1966—TN*) gee camp in Mitrovica where Lituchy as additional materials and dis- by the Belgrade sculptor, Bogdan conducted interviews with a number counts on future books and videos, Bogdanovic, which pays respect to of Roma refugees. These along with plus the quarterly JRI newsletter the victims of the largest of Ustashe other interviews will be collected for $50. concentration camps, was restored. and published by JRI to document A month or so earlier, Bogdanovic the crimes of genocide committed in To order: Please send a met the Croatian Premier, Ivo Kosovo by the KLA against the non- check or money order to Sanader, in connection with this Albanian populations memorial monument. Sanader

4 bowed to the victims and rendered by Josip Broz Tito and also, for the camp. We have about 4,700 per- a judgment on the Ustashe regime, example, by Miroslav Krleza, who sonal objects that once belonged the emphasizing that “one must not used this figure in the Enciklope- camp’s inmates. Some of them were allow the criminal regime of the dija Jugoslavije. So it would have unearthed during exhumations of Independent State of Croatia (NDH) been a little unusual for these two mass graves that lie along the Sava to be forgotten.” men to support efforts to besmirch River, and others we obtained from the Croatian people with an alleged surviving family members of those Calculations on the genocide. who died in the camp. And we will Number of Deaths even present their days in captiv- At the head of the Croatian gov- ity, and, at the same time, we will However, confusion, as well as ernment, President Franjo Tudj- dedicate a great part of the exhibi- misunderstandings, are once again man, stated that barely 40,000 citi- tion to the courageous individuals arising over this most traumatic zens were liquidated in Jasenovac who risked their own lives to help aspect of modern Croatian history according to his own eye-witness the victims. as the sixtieth jubilee year of the confirmations. In addition to the great escape from the Jasenovac well known frustrations connected Removal of the Criminal Concentration Camp approaches. to this dispute, Tudjman tried to Instruments of Death The latest upheaval arose after “put” the two implacable sides “to the announcement of changes that rest … by mixing the bones of the Ms. Jovicic, in accordance with the have been effected in not only the deceased (victims)” along with newly announced concept that the concept, but also in the contents criminals who murdered them, i.e., content of the permanent museum of the permanent collection of the a common grave and memorial in exhibition must not be such that it Museum on the monument site. Jasenovac, to thus relativize and “provokes fear among the visitors, These changes have now invited mitigate what actually took place because hatred and revenge arise significant polemics and criticism there. But thanks to energetic pro- from fear.” She explained that the by those who are well acquainted tests from the international com- Museum’s displays would no long with the subject, both in Croatia munity and democratic domestic exhibit mallets, daggers and other and elsewhere. public opinion, this monstrous proj- instruments that were used daily to ect collapsed. Now a new project is kill the camp’s inmates basis during In addition, there has been no reso- being undertaken for the reorgani- their captivity. She commented on lution of the painful subject of cal- zation of the Jasenovac Memorial the fact that such content relating to culating the number of victims who site, but, taking all things into con- former Nazi concentration camps perished in the largest Ustashe death sideration, it is once again moving was not displayed in Europe; rather, camp. Slavko Goldstein, the presi- in a less than fortuitous direction. she continued, they (i.e., Europe- dent of the Council of the Jasenovac ans) insist on the authenticity of the Memorial Site and Museum, stated According to the director of the site and events. “In contrast to all that “manipulations were involved Memorial Site, Natasa Jovicic, the those other countries (i.e., where in arriving at the figure of 700,000 main idea behind the new concept there are Holocaust museums on (victims) in order to increase war and contents of the Concentration the sites of former concentration reparations, as well as to implicate Camp Museum is “to transform a camps—TN), we recently survived the Croatians in a genocide. A (Cro- horrible place into a life-affirming a war and we are not inclined to turn atian) parliamentary commission, one, and that’s how, in the presenta- the site of this former concentration disputing such figures, minimized tion, for example, we’re going to fit camp into a tourist location.” She the number of victims, and lowered in the story about the people who declined to elaborate on how the the figure to 2,386.” Accordingly, once lived here before the NDH.” museum would explain and present “we are coming close to establish- to visitors “the technology of death” ing the truth in connection with Ms. Jovicic, describing this goal in applied to the prisoners of the most the number of victims, which now, greater detail, went on to say: “The brutal fascist concentration camps according to the list of names, is human tragedies that took place in all of Europe, and she did not 59,188, and their (total) number in the concentration camp will be elaborate on whether visitors would is around 80,000, data which has individualized by stories of people be able to obtain any information at been accepted by the Holocaust with first and last names. We docu- all about such matters. Museum in Washington, D.C. and mented stories of the lives of about by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.” fifty survivors (before they were This new concept for the permanent The data that points to 700,000 sent to the concentration camp) on museum exhibition at the Jaseno- victims in Jasenovac, nevertheless, video, and we have family pictures vac Monument has received seri- is the official number provided by depicting scenes that took place ous criticism from a most unlikely the SFRY, which was supported before they were forcibly taken to source, which makes it all the more

5 unpleasant. The German Ambassa- tation and conversions of Serbs to dor to the Republic of Croatia, Geb- Catholicism, systematic extermina- hard Weiss, not long ago visited AN INTRODUCTION TO tion of Jews and almost complete Jasenovac and noted with uncon- extermination of Roma. Mass mur- cealed skepticism “the avoidance DONJA GRADINA ders of Serbs in the NDH began of explicit photographs of the reign immediately in April 1941, with of terror.” He also took notice of the THE LARGEST EXECUTION massacres in villages around Bjel- new displays in the museum: “The SITE OF THE JASENOVAC ovar, in Banija, in Lika, in Kor- assignment we have received in our dun, in Bosnian Krajina and Her- day and age consists in the fact that CONCENTRATION CAMP zegovina. Facts indicate that from the horror from that day and age April 1941 until mid-August 1942 must not forgotten, must not be not by Simo Brdar, Curator of the around 600,000 Serbs were killed pushed into the background, must Donja Gradina Memorial Area in the NDH in the most brutal not be relativized and not must not manner. Around 180,000 Serbs presented as something naive. The The area of land where the Memo- were deported to Serbia during the Jasenovac Memorial Monument is rial area of Donja Gradina is situ- war. Spiritual genocide, to which an expression of such responsibil- ated constitutes the outmost north- the Serbian Orthodox Church was ity.” western part of the Kozarska Dubica exposed, was especially perva- plain. It is conﬁned by the Sava and sive. During the war 450 Orthodox Ambassador Weiss, on the basis of Una Rivers and by a branch of the churches were destroyed. Germany’s experience, likewise Una named the Tisina, and encom- asked Ms. Jovicic: “Wouldn’t it be passes 800 hectares of land of the According to the model of their necessary to conceive a project that outer zone, and 116 hectares of the protector, Nazi Germany and the would, for instance, encompass a inner zone. other Fascist regimes, the Ustashe tour of physical locations that at founded concentration camps in the one time housed the principal insti- The Memorial-Area Donja Gradina NDH for the purpose of a more efﬁ- tutions of the Ustashe regime, as is situated at 45 ° 16’ latitude and cient “cleansing of the nation” from was done in Germany within the at 16 ° 57’ longitude. The average undesirables. They were intended framework of The Topography of altitude of the complex is 94 meters for mass internment and system- Terror, by which visitors are shown with deviations to a minimal alti- atic extermination of Serbs, Jews, buildings in Berlin that at one time tude of 91.5 meters and maximal Roma and anti-fascists. The foun- housed the Gestapo and other simi- altitude of 95.5 meters. dation, organization and adminis- lar organizations, so that this past tration of concentration camps in era presents to visitors acts of state The Memorial area of Donja Gra- the NDH was the concern of the terror in a vivid and intimate man- dina also was the largest execution “Ustashe Security Service”. ner?” place of the Ustashe concentration camp of Jasenovac and an insepa- The largest, the most monstrous When this journalist asked how rable part of the history of Jaseno- and the worst possible of all camps such a presentation in Zagreb could vac and of Pavelic’s Independent was Jasenovac. It was founded encompass buildings that at differ- State of Croatia - coded NDH. in August 1941,on the model of ent times housed the headquarters camps in Nazi Germany. It was of the Ustashe General Command, The “Ustashe army” (“Ustaska the largest torture place that ever the Headquarters of the Chief of vojnica”) was organized by Slavko existed in the territory of former Staff of the JNA, and today’s Head- Kvaternik. It was comprised of Yugoslavia. By horrors and atroci- quarters of the Croatian General Ustashe units, mostly volunteers ties committed by the Ustashe, it is Staff, Ambassador Weiss remarked: under the command of the Main without precedent in the history of “What can we do? Such is our archi- Ustashe Headquarters, special mankind, and by the dimensions tectural inheritance!” police forces and Domobrans of the crime it is the third largest (“Home Army”). In August 1941 concentration camp of occupied (TN* = Translator’s Note) the Ustashe Security Service Europe during the Second World (UNS) was formed as well. These War. German camps practiced Translated by Milo Yelesiyevich, institutions carried out the most industrial genocide, but in Jaseno- JRI Director severe forms of genocide against vac men, women and children Serbs, Jews and Roma in the NDH. were killed in the most bestial way, In order to enable only Croat and the sort of which has never been Muslim people to live in the NDH, recorded in history of mankind. the Ustashe authorities carried out Everything negative, pathological mass physical destruction, depor- and criminal that characterized

6 the Ustashe movement, reached its Camp No. 1 – Krapje; chain factory, smithy, locksmith’s peak in Jasenovac. Camp No. 2 – Brocice or Versajev; shop, sawmill and other buildings. Camp No. 3 – The Brick Factory; The Ustashe banished Bacic, and The Poglavnik of the Indepen- Camp No. 4 – The Tannery; turned this area into a concentra- dent State of Croatia, Ante Pavelic, Camp No. 5 – Stara Gradiska. tion camp. The formation of Camp together with his Doglavniks, No. 3 – the Brick Factory was over- founded the infamous concentration Camp Krapje was located in the seen by Vjekoslav Maks Luburic, camp Jasenovac in August 1941, near area between villages Krapje and who was appointed in July 1941 as the town of Jasenovac in Lonjsko Plesma, south of the Strug canal on the “commandant of all concentra- field, at the Zagreb-Belgrade rail- meadows at the edge of the Gornja tion camps in the NDH”. way, in direct proximity of the con- Krndija forest, and in the forest itself fluence of the Una into the Sava. The there are mass graves even today. In the beginning Camp No. 3 – the entire area around the Sava river and Camp space was enclosed by barbed Brick Factory was improvised, around its left tributaries, the Veliki wire. First prisoners were brought enclosed by several rows of barbed Stug and Lonja, and around its right there from Zagreb in August 1941 wire. In time, inmates themselves tributary, the Una, would flood in the and were all killed. Krapje camp enclosed it on three sides by build- Spring and Autumn. The Ustashe was located 12 kilometers away ing a wall 3-5 meters high, and called this camp the “Headquarters from Jasenovac, upstream the Sava. the fourth side was a natural fence of Concentration and Labor Camps The camp in Krapje was built on – the Sava River. On the wall itself Jasenovac”, and they informed the swampy meadows. seven sentry towers were built, dis- public that inmates from this camp tributed in the way that from the would be used for labor in draining The Brocice camp was located on towers it was possible to control swamps in the Lonjsko field. Since the south side of the Strug canal, at the entire camp space, adjacent the majority of the population of the edge of the Donja Krndija for- and distant surroundings. All sen- the town of Jasenovac were Serbs, est and along the road Jasenovac- try towers were supplied with large Ustashe partly exterminated and Novska, 3 kilometers away from quantities of ammunition, weapons partly deported the population, and Jasenovac. Mass murders of inmates and large searchlights that were the town itself they turned into an were performed in this camp. The capable of lightening by necessity Ustashe garrison. existence of 43 mass graves was every corner of the camp and the determined in this area. T h e vicinity. The wall itself had rows Jasenovac spread across the territory camp was enclosed by barbed wire of barbed wire installed on top from Kostajnica, on the left and right and secured by Ustashe sentries. of it that were intermingled with bank of the Una, to Stara Gradiska Most of the inmates brought to this high voltage power lines. Entry on the left and Bosanska Gradiska camp were Serbs and Jews. Camp and exit was possible only through on the right bank of the Sava, span- No. 1 and Camp No. 2 were guarded two gates built out of solid wood ning 60 kilometers in length. The by experienced Ustashe who had and installed into a fence made width of the camp was 2 kilometers previously mastered their bloody of concrete and bricks. At every on the left and 2 kilometers on the work in Jadovno and Pag. Various gate, there were special sentries right banks of the Una and Sava diseases spread among inmates due with doubled guards. In the camp Rivers. The choice of Jasenovac as to hunger, thirst and horribly poor space, beside barracks for inmates, the site of an Ustashe concentra- and unsanitary accommodations. there were also various buildings tion camp was not accidental. It is Ustase beat these exhausted inmates such as the administration of the situated in the center of Serbian to death. Camp No. 1 and later camp camp, various workshops, ware- lands and as such it was chosen as No. 2 Brocice were liquidated after houses, etc. the central point of destruction for camp No. 3 – the “Brick Factory” Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-fascists. – was founded. The Ustashe intended to liquidate The entire terrain of Jasenovac is as many inmates as possible in the surrounded by the Sava, Una and When Jasenovac is spoken about, it greatest privations possible. Even Veliki Strug Rivers, in the middle of is usually in reference to camp No. today there is a dike in Jasenovac the swampy Lonjsko field, so escape 3 – the Brick Factory. This was the that stretches from the Belgrade- from the camp was impossible. On central camp, not only of Jaseno- Zagreb railway to the left bank of the other bank of the Sava there is vac, but also of the entire system the Sava. It was built by inmates in a hardly accessible and floodable of Ustase death camps. The area the most difficult conditions, they area Donja Gradina, far away from of Camp No. 3 was an industrial stumbled and fell into the dike human eyes and ears, an ideal place complex, prewar property of a and were buried in it. That dike is for mass murders.Concentration Serb industrialist, Ozren Bacic. today called the “Dike of Death”. It camp Jasenovac was a system of This complex was comprised of a was reinforced with thousands of camps. It was comprised of: brick factory (as a central facility), human skeletons.

7 A large number of inmates were tress where thousands of innocents, out and hid in villages below Mt. liquidated on the “Granik”. This mostly women and children, were Kozara. was in fact a cargo-crane that was liquidated in the most monstrous used before the war for loading and ways. Those were mostly Serbian Such a situation and the geographic unloading boats. It was placed over and Jewish women, and women of position of Gradina enabled undis- the surface of the Sava. An inmate other religions and nations – anti- turbed mass destruction of inmates would have to come to the Granik, fascists. From June 1942, children and peaceful population, because kneel, cross his arms on his back, were brought here en masse, mostly shrieks and wailing of victims who lean forward, while another inmate of Serbian nationality. were murdered in the most grue- would tie his arms with wire. An some ways could not be heard. That Ustashe would hit him on the head By monstrous crimes, atrocities, is precisely why Ustashe picked the with a sledgehammer and push the violence and number of murdered area of Gradina for mass murder body into the Sava. Thus the Sava innocent men, women and children and torture. The majority of inmates swallowed up thousands of inmates – Jasenovac belongs to the category from Jasenovac were transported and became one of the largest mass of the largest concentration camps over the Sava by ferry and mur- graves of Jasenovac. in Europe during World War II. dered in Donja Gradina. Inmates By the number of liquidated inno- waited in the camp for days to leave In order to expose inmates to the cent citizens of occupied European to Gradina, under the open sky, greatest privations possible, Ustashe countries – only Auschwitz and Tre- tortured by cold weather, hunger built a small pen-camp within blinka stand out before Jasenovac. and other misfortunes. Whenever Camp No. 3, enclosed by barbed But the largest number of inmates Ustashe criminals selected groups wire. They confined several tens were murdered in Donja Gradina. for “labor” in Bosnia, to inmates it of physically the strongest inmates seemed as salvation and the major- in that pen-camp. They wanted to From January 1942, the area of ity of them voluntarily went to the see how long could they last with- concentration camp Jasenovac also ferry that led to Donja Gradina, out food and water in horrible included the area of the village where they experienced the most heat. Days passed and informants Gradina, which stretches along horrible death, only because they reported that some were still alive. the right bank of the Sava, on the were born as Serbs, Jews, Roma That surpassed all human psycho- opposite side of Jasenovac itself, 14 or because they were anti-fascists, physical abilities. The Ustashe went kilometers away from Kozarska regardless of their national affilia- to see how it was possible that any (Bosanska) Dubica, 10 kilometers tion. of them were alive. And they had away from Mt. Prosara and 26 kilo- a sight to see: several living skel- meters away from Mt. Kozara. The genocide of Serbs, Jews and etons with overgrown beards, with Roma in the Ustashe concentration eyes wide open. They growled like Gradina is surrounded on one side camp Jasenovac, and especially in wild beasts, and all around them by the Una River, and on two sides Donja Gradina, was performed in there were white bones of their by the Sava river, and on the fourth the most literal sense until April 22, former comrades and inmates. In side by the villages of Draksenic 1945. On that morning, the remain- those horrible throes, cannibalism and Medjedja that lay under Mt. ing inmates, about 1,400 of them, appeared in Jasenovac. Prosara. This floodable and swampy charged towards the gates of the area sporadically overgrown with camp to break through, so that at It is possible to list for days the forests, willowy brushwood and least someone could survive and places of horrible suffering and similar vegetation was completely tell the story about the horrors of death of inmates. The Ustashe even isolated, inaccessible and far away Jasenovac. organized competitions in slaughter- from roads and larger settlements. ing innocent victims. Hinko Picili From a military standpoint, the What followed was a bloody and burned people alive in brick fur- defensive position of Gradina was unequal struggle of barehanded naces, thus using the brick factory as very favorable. On a line towards and exhausted inmates against a crematorium. Camp number 4 was Mt. Prosara, with the purpose of Ustashe armed to the teeth. Inmates known as “the Tannery.” This camp protection, Ustashe built numerous were falling like bundles of wheat was located in the town of Jaseno- bunkers, trenches and established from machine gun fire. The fields vac itself. Most of inmates in this strong Ustashe crews. of Jasenovac were covered with camp were specialized workers who corpses of inmates. Around eighty were used for special labors until the By January 1942, the area of the inmates managed to breakthrough moment of their liquidation. village of Gradina remained com- through the gates of the camp. It is pletely desolate. The Ustashe considered that on that day Jaseno- Camp number 5 was Stara Gradiska. killed a part of the population, vac concentration camp ceased to This is an old Austro-Hungarian for- while the remaining part moved function actively.

8 The execution place of Donja Gra- dumped into these graves or trans- A CRITICAL REVIEW dina, as an integral part of con- ported by railway to the right bank OF PHILIP COHEN’S centration camp Jasenovac, later of the Sava and dumped them there. Memorial-Area Jasenovac, encom- SERBIA’S SECRET WAR passes the surface of 800 hectares. In order to hide their bloody traces, – PROPAGANDA AND THE Of the total surface, 116 hectares in March and April 1945 Ustashe DECEIT OF HISTORY have been explored and protected to opened up mass graves, took out this day. The explored surface com- corpses and incinerated them at spe- By Dr. Životije Đorđević, prises a third of the protected part cially made stakes. The remains that JRI Advisory Board and in this area, 9 grave fields with were created by incineration were 105 mass graves have been discov- dumped into graves or transported to (The following is a shortened ered and explored. The total surface the same place as the boiled parts of synopsis in English of of grave fields amounts to 66,460 corpses. On that place they also per- Dr. Đorđević’s serialized m2, and the total surface of mass formed mass executions of inmates, review published in “Glas” graves amounts to 10,130 m2, with- and their corpses were dumped on in February 2004) out information about mass graves piles into the Sava and its riverbank. in the grave field “Vrbe”. That is how the “Dump” was cre- The Serbian nation was proclaimed ated, which the people today call the guilty for all of the evils committed In April 1991, Agrarian-Pedological “Sava Graves”. by others within the former Yugo- Institute from Sarajevo performed slavia, even for ‘occupying’ its own explorations in the area adjacent to Soon in May 1945, by the order of territory on which it had been living grave field “Tisina” and established Communist authorities, the main from time immemorial. In his book the existence of another 19 mass “cauldrons” from the Ustashe soap “Serbia’s Secret War” the now well graves, the surface and structure of factory were driven out of Donja known Serbophobe Philip Cohen which has not been determined. Gradina. Only in 1989, in the back employed specific kinds of disin- yard of Stevo Borojevic in Jaseno- formation to demonize the Serbian Besides grave fields with mass vac a sedimentary cauldron was people which need to be publicly graves, in the inner area of Donja found, and in February 1990 a high confronted and refuted. Gradina there is also the “Poplar of pressure tank was found in Sarajevo Death”. On that tree Ustashe hanged and a separator device, all from the It is Cohen’s assertion that the thousands of men, women and chil- Ustashe soap factory. In that year reasons for the dismembering of dren, who were subjected to horrible these items were transported to Yugoslavia lay with the idea of tortures before they were hanged. Donja Gradina and placed there as ethnically pure “Greater Serbia” The poplar tree was blown down museum exhibits and testimonies of and the “terror” by the Kingdom by a storm in 1978. It was then con- the horrible Ustashe crime of geno- of Yugoslavia against the Croatian served, installed on iron pillars and cide over Serbs, Jews and Roma. people. He also asserts that Fascism today it represents one of the most in Yugoslavia originated in Serbia authentic testimonies of the Croat- In the area of Donja Gradina there and Slovenia, that anti-Semitism in Ustashe crimes of genocide. is a large number of identified Yugoslavia was particularly strong grave fields and graves of victims in Serbia, that the Ustashe ideology There are three types of graves in of the Ustashe crime of genocide was unpopular in Croatia, and that Gradina. The first type are graves in in concentration camp Jasenovac, Serbs collaborated with the occu- which Ustashe herded living prison- but there are even more unexplored pying forces. ers, clogged inside standing upright and unmarked graves. Every one of next to each other, and then they those graves is a gruesome and spe- Obviously, Cohen skips over many would hit them with blunt objects cific story, each one for itself, testi- relevant issues. For example, Cohen to the head, often not killing some fying to the fates of the martyrs of fails to note that the paper Hrvat, of of them, and then buried them. The Jasenovac. 19 June 1914, wrote: “In our country, second type are graves in which they on our body there are a lot of lousy dumped inmates who were already (To be continued in the next people such as the Serbs and Slavic dead. The third type are graves in issue of the JRI Newsletter.) Serbs. We have to get square with which Ustashe dumped the remains them for ever and to destroy them. of human bodies that were left over From now on, it should be our aim after boiling or incineration. Namely, for the future.” The 3 July 1914 issue in Donja Gradina Ustashe produced read as follows: “Our people are soap out of fat parts of corpses of declaring a life-and-death struggle inmates. The remains that were on the Serbs and their exile from created by such a process Ustashe Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

9 Cohen’s assertion about the per- people involved. If about 350,734 The commander of Division 132 secution of the Croats, whom he people served the fascistic regime ordered on 09 May 1941, the kill- claims were arrested on a regular of the NDH, then it does not make ing of every civilian on the spot if basis with their political leaders just 2% of all the citizens of the proved to be connected with the and intellectuals killed, was refuted NDH. Nor were they the only ones ‘bandits’. On March 15 1941, Ser- by the Ustashe newspaper Hrvatski under arms to support the fascistic bia was informed by way of post- narod, which in its issue of 20 June regime and its crimes. ers that one hundred Serbs would 1941 published the list of the Cro- be killed by firing squad for every ats killed by the authorities of the The fact that two unauthorized German soldier killed, and for Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1918 persons (General J. Janković and every wounded German, 50 Serbs to 1941. There 236 names are listed, A. Cincar-Marković), were taken would lose their lives. but among all the names of these from occupied Sarajevo to Bel- people, allegedly killed by the Ser- grade by a German plane (which Philip Cohen shamelessly contends bian hand, it was said that only would anul their legal capacity to that the Serbs, led by their political seven of them were killed by the negotiate even if they were autho- and intellectual leaders, ‘intensively Chetniks, two by the Sokols, and rized to do that) signed the Regu- and pervertedly’ collaborated with three of them by Puniša Račić (Dr. lations to Establish the Treaty at 9 the Germans, especially the Yugo- Dragoslav Stranjaković: Najveći p.m. on 17 April, was considered an slav Army in the Country headed zločini današnjice, Dečije novine, act of capitulation by Cohen. Such by Dragoljub-Draža Mihajlović, for Jedinstvo, Gornji Milanovac, 1991, an assertion is in line with those the reason that they did not suffer 565-566). made by the Third Reich, who pro- during the war. Of course, the top claimed the signing of the Regula- leaders of the Third Reich never It is an impudent fabrication of tions the document of the Kingdom took such a view. Cohen’s to say that only two percent of Yugoslavia to capitulate, having of the Croats supported the Ustashe. not in mind that such a Regulation, On 16 February 1943, Hitler wrote The Ustashe and their followers under the constitution of the King- to Mussolini: ‘I can see, Duce, a and helpers claimed that they killed dom of Yugoslavia, could have been special danger in the long run plans close to a million Serbs, about 40 signed only by the Commander-in- developed by the supporters of 000 Jews and 25 000 Romas. Her- Chief of all Army forces, His Royal Mihajlović. As regards the dangers man Neubacher, the representative Highness. potentially shown by Mihajlović’s of the German Ministry of Foreign movement, I gave the orders that Affairs to the Independent State Cohen does not bother to note the all his supportes should be killed in of Croatia during the war, with fact that the Royal Yugoslav Gov- the regions occupied by our troops. special tasks and authority given ernment announced at 6 p.m. on It would be desirable if your Second by Hitler, whose close friend he 17 April 1941 that the Kingdom of Army considered Mihajlović and was, had been sentenced to twenty Yugoslavia, together with its allies, his officers as the bitter enemies of years’ imprisonment by the Yugo- would continue its fight until the the Axis Powers.’ slav authorities before he published final victory and until it expelled his book at Göttingen in 1956, in the occupier out of the country. In any case, no one was better which he wrote: “When the leaders infromed as to whether General of the Ustashe movement say that The best proofs that the Yugoslav Mihajlović collaborated with the they slaughtered a million Serbs, it Army did not cease fighting even Nazis than the Nazis themselves. is, in my opinion, a boastful exag- for a moment are the extremely The Gestapo Chief for Serbia, Dr. eration. According to the reports repressive measures and orders of Fuchs, at his trial in Belgrade in sent to me, I estimate the number the German commanders. On 21 1947 when asked by the prosecu- of the slaughtered and the helpless April 1941, the German military tor about the relations of Draža to three quarters of a million,” (L. forces burned down the village of Mihajlović’s movement with the M. Kostić, Hrvatska zverstva u Dobrić. Fieldmarshal Vajks issued German police, said: ‘Never did the Drugom svetskom ratu prema izja- the order on 28 April, 1941 saying, Gestapo, whose chief I have always vama njihovih saveznika, Melburn, inter alia, the following: ‘Persis- been, have any contacts with Gen- Australija, 1983, 16). tent attacks upon the German sol- eral Mihajlović. Moreover, we have diers require that we should take always considered Mihajlović the Anyway, the popularity of fascism severe measures.’ The commander greatest enemy of the German in Croatia is most evident in some of the 11 Corps, on 29 April 1941, people. That is why all the support- of the evidence given by Cohen authorized all commanders above ers of Mihajlović’s movement have himself in his book. In the armed the rank of batallion commander been mercilessly persecuted... the conflicts in the NDH in Septem- to issue orders for the mass execu- national movement in Serbia under ber 1944, there were about 350,734 tion of all hostages by firing squad. Mihajlović’s command was the

10 greatest danger for the security of Jews were victims in Serbia as well General Plenipotentiary in Serbia the German troops on the Balkans, - during the occupation. But in those (Conf. No. 2848/41 of 10 October and in the last resort, it was the sufferings the Serbs were friendly, 1941). There he emphasized: ‘In movement to cause the Germans trying to protect them as much as principle, it is confirmed that the the greatest troubles and’ . . .At that they could. It is well known that the Jews and Gypsies are the elements moment, the presiding judge cut Dr. Third Reich, headed by Hitler, on 6 of disorder and as such endangers Fuchs off and postponed the pro- April 1941, started the war against public peace and order. The Jew- ceedings. the Kingdom of Yugoslavia to use ish intellect was the cause of this force against the Serbs – to ‘destroy war and it must be destroyed’ (No. Franz Neuhausen, who had a high the bandits and plotters’ nest’; 44/41 of 26 October 1941, NOKWč, position during the occupation of hence we can say that the position Zdenko Levental, op. cit. 16-17). Yugoslavia, said at the Belgrade of the Serbs in the occupied Yugo- trial: ‘We did not even notice the slavia was far from being a cause Ante Pavelić was extremely proud Partisans and Communists in of envy. Jewish testimony is quite of the fact that when the leaders of Serbia. If our warehouses were clear on this. the Third Reich made the decision constantly attacked, plundered or to physically destroy the Jewish destroyed, it was Mihajlović’s peo- Avrama Mevorah testified on 7 nation at the Wahnsee Conference ple not the Partisans to blame. They May 1947, as follows: ‘I had been in January 1942 as the final solu- blocked all the roads to villages and hiding with my parents from 1941 tion to the ‘Jewish question’, they warehouses before us preventing until the liberation (October 1944) mentioned at the same time that the that way our exports from Serbia’. at the village of Ploče near Kopa- ‘Jewish question’ had already been onik. There were a few Jewish fam- solved in that way in the NDH. The At the Nuremberg trials the Ger- ilies hiding in the nearby villages. Government of the NDH went so man General Alfred Jodl submitted Not only our host we were stay- far as to beg the German authori- a war report which read ‘that Gen- ing with but also the whole village ties to exert pressure on Mussolini eral Mihajlović in guerrila fights knew we were the Jews and that the to bring back the Jews who had against the German forces was Germans were after us. There was managed to escape from Croatia to losing 15 to 30 soldiers on average nobody even thinking of inform- the Italian territories. We should not every day in 1942-1943.’ ing on us. The village priest was forget the host of anti-Semitic laws a member of Ljotić’s organization, the Croatian Parliament passed just Cohen’s claim that fascisim in but the villagers threatened to burn a few days before the proclamation Yugoslavia is deeply rooted in Ser- his house if something happened of the NDH which closely paral- bia and Slovenia overshoots the to us; so, he did not say a word for leled those of Nazi Germany. mark of impudent lies. Cohen bases another three years... Not a single his ‘truth’ on the fact the party Jew suffered anything staying with Many concentration and collection Zbor was organized in Serbia. It is their hosts thanks to the devotion camps were formed in the NDH. true that the party was founded in and good-heartedness of the vil- The Jewish people were tragically 1935, but it is also true that in the lagers...It is to the Serbian villagers forced into 11 concentration and elections at that time it took around that I can thank for my salvation, 13 collection camps. All of these 0.8% of the votes, and at the last to those who had sympathy for us camps were created by the NDH elections held in the Kingdom of and exposed themselves to extreme authorities who also were the only Yugoslavia -1938- 1.01% of the vote. danger as to save us.’ (Zdenko Lev- ones to manage them. Four con- If Zbor was a fascist organization, ental, ed., Zločini fašističkih oku- centration camps were formed in then the results of the elections tells patora i njihovih pomagača protiv Serbia, plus one collection and one us most persuasively how deeply Jevreja u Jugoslaviji, Savez jevre- labor camp. However, all of the fascisim was ‘rooted’ in Serbia. jskih opština FNRJ, Beograd, 1952, camps in Serbia were organized by Furthermore, Cohen does not tell str. 42-43). the German authorities who man- us anything about how the Nazis aged them while they were in oper- and Ustashe helped fascism to ‘take All of the persecutions of Jews ation. The Gestapo was in com- root’ in Yugoslavia. in Serbia were solely done by the mand of the camps, and the Feldg- occupying forces. endarmerie - the German military Perhaps Cohen’s most outrageous police (Zdenko Levental, op. cit. and malicious lie is his claim that The Head of the Military Office str. 15-24). anti-Semitism in Yugoslavia was in the occupied Serbia, Turner, as most prominent in Serbia. Atti- early as of 26 October 1941, sent Jewish property was confiscated in tudes toward Jews in occupied Ser- to all Feld- and Kreis Command- the most brutal way by the NDH bia and in the NDH cannot be com- ers detailed instructions to carry and by Croats. In Serbia, all Jew- pared in any way. It is true that the out the order of the Commanding ish property was confiscated by

11 the German authorities, not Serbs. Nedić was ordered to sell real Number of Number estate to provide the resources for Territory Jews (eve of killed Killed (%) the reconstruction of the mine at of war) Bor, whish was blown up after the retreat of theYugoslav Army. The Banat 4200 3800 92,8 Germans were especially interested in the copper and gold from Bor Serbia 12500 11000 88,0 mine. Even Nedić did not follow the German instructions exactly as Croatia, 25000 20000 80,0 ordered. Slavonia, Srem

The statistical data shows that on Bačka and 16000 13500 84,4 the eve of the war the Jewish popu- Baranja lation of Yugoslavia was 82 242, out of whom 67 148 ( 82%) were Bosnia and 14000 10000 71,5 killed. Herzegovina

But the genocide against the Jewish Macedonia 7762 7182 92,5 population in Serbia was carried out by the occupying forces – the Montenegro 330 288 88,0 Gestapo, while in Croatia it was and Sandžak carried out by Croatian Chauvinists - the Ustashe and their supporters. Slovenia and 1500 1300 86,6 Prekomurje Cohen’s claim that fascism was deeply rooted in Serbia and Slove- Dalmatia 400 148 37,0 nia, with anti-Semitism most evi- dently expressed in Serbia, is obvi- Kosovo and 550 210 38,2 ously a highly malicious lie. During Metohija the Second World War in Europe there did not exist a more fascis- Total 82242 67148 82,0 tic, Nazi or bloodthirsty movement than the Croatian Ustashe move- (Milica Mihajlović, Jevrejka na jugoslovenskom tlu, Centar za toleranciju ment, whose members, supported i dijalog, Podgorica, Forum za etničke odnose, Beograd, 2000, str. 65). by a large percentage of its own population, committed unprec- Reference: Croatia’s application cated by the Croatian government edented war and genocide crimes for membership to the European for no other reason but that they against the Serbian, Jewish and Union and article 17 of the E.U. were Jewish. The confiscation of Roma peoples. Charter of Fundamental Rights their property by the Croatian government of 1941-1945 was part of a 25 February 2005 larger planned crime of genocide perpetrated against all Jews, Serbs JRI CALLS ON THE Dear Mr. President: and Romas under their rule. EUROPEAN UNION TO DEMAND RESTITUTION I am writing to you on behalf of a The names of the first group of group of Survivors of the Holocaust individuals on whose behalf we are OF STOLEN PROPERTY in Croatia with whom our organi- writing are: FROM CROATIA TO ITS zation is working to obtain finan- HOLOCAUST VICTIMS cial compensation for their stolen Eva Deutsch Costabel, properties in Croatia. (-address given-) Michael Danon, 25 February 2005 The names I am furnishing below (-address given-) represent just a small number of Leonard Danon, President of the European Union individuals who were born in Croa- (-address given-) Rue Wiertz tia before World War II and whose Otto Friedmann, B-1047, Brussels families were persecuted, mur- (-address given-) Belgium dered and had properties confis- George Bozo Radan,

12 (-address given-) possessions, except in the public Ricki Danon Soltan, interest and in the cases and under JRI NEWS (-address given-) then conditions provided for by law, subject to fair compensations being JRI National Coordinator, Barry All of these individuals are natural- paid in good time for their loss.” Lituchy, testiﬁed as a defense wit- ized American citizens and Holo- ness at the ICTY (International caust Survivors. In some cases, Croatia’s refusal to come to terms Criminal Tribunal for the Former these individuals hold dual Croa- with its past crimes is in direct con- Yugoslavia) at The Hague, Neth- tian and American citizenship. In travention of the laws and practices erlands on March 9th, 10th and other cases their birthright to Croa- of the European Union. To allow 14th, 2005 in the trial of Slobodan tian citizenship has been denied by Croatia entry in to the European Milosevic. Lituchy was called to the current government of Croatia. Union without forcing it to resolve testify in regard to interviews he All of the individuals named have its longstanding disputes with its conducted in August 1999 with been denied compensation for their own Holocaust victims would Roma, Egyptian and Albanian ref- property. The present government constitute both an in insult and an ugees from Kosovo who recounted of Croatia is deliberately attempting injury to these victims as well as a how Yugoslav government forces to dispossess and deprive these and travesty of immense proportions. protected them from KLA terror- other victims of World War II Cro- ism until they were later expelled atian crimes of genocide, and evade To allow Croatia’s entry under such from Kosovo by the KLA under responsibility for such crimes prior conditions would inevitably harm KFOR and UNMIK “protection.” to joining the European Union. In and undermine the reputation and Lituchy did follow up interviews the process they are engaging in stature of the E.U., for these are in Kosovo and Belgrade in 2004 the most extreme forms of Holo- claims that will never go away or with Roma and Jewish refugees caust denial. be forgotten. They must be settled who told the same story. All but legally and it is yours and the Euro- the Jewish interview was on video The Croatian government has ada- pean Union’s responsibility to rec- brought to The Hague. The 1999 mantly refused either to return ognize this beforehand. I feel cer- interviews were conducted as the properties of the above named tain you will agree. part of a human rights delega- individuals or to compensate them tion sponsored by the Jasenovac in any way. Legislation passed by I urge you to make the return of Research Institute to investigate the Croatian government makes it properties to the rightful owners war crimes. virtually impossible for anyone to without conditions a mandatory qualify for compensation. Talks requirement for Croatia’s admis- with representatives of the United sion to the European Union. In SMILJA AVRAMOV States on a bilateral agreement to doing so, Croatia will not only ful- compensate American citizens ﬁll the requirements of the Euro- JOINS JRI HONORARY (but not their heirs) for their loss pean Union constitution but it will ADVISORY BOARD of property have been taking place also join the rest of the European for years without result. This agree- community in closing this painful One of the world’s leading schol- ment would, in any case, contradict chapter of its history. ars of international law, Dr. Smilja the individual’s right to bequeath property, as guaranteed by the con- Sincerely, stitution of the European Union. (signed) Barry Lituchy, National Article 17, of the European Char- CoordinatorJasenovac ter of Fundamental Rights states Research Institute that: “The right to property is a traditional fundamental right in cc: U.S. Ambassador Edward B. Avramov, joined the Jasenovac democratic and liberal societies. It O’Donnell, Jr. Research Institute’s Advisory is contained in all national consti- cc: D. Sprajic, Secretary General, Board last September. She is tutions and has been established by Jewish Communities in Croatia shown here with JRI Directors the jurisprudence of the Court of cc: U.S. Senator Charles Schumer Barry Lituchy and Darko Trifu- Justice.” of New York novic and (on far left) JRI Advisor cc: U.S. Senator Hilary Clinton of Zivotije Djordjevic, Dr. Avramov is “Everyone has the right to own, use, New York planning to attend the JRI annual dispose of and bequeath his or her cc: U.S. Representative Anthony dinner and Jasenovac commemo- lawfully acquired Possessions. No Weiner of New York ration ceremony in New York in one may deprived of his or her cc: Claims Conference April.

13 CROATIA NOT FIT FOR claiming to be divorced from its Holocaust victims. The JRI is pur- EU MEMBERSHIP UNTIL fascist heritage, conveniently looks suing several efforts along these the other way while the Croatian lines simultaneously. IT COMES TO TERMS Liberation Movement and sympa- WITH ITS FASCIST PAST thizers openly parade in Zagreb Our case against the Vatican Bank and towns throughout Croatia and faced a major setback in 2003 when by Jonathan Levy Herceg–Bosna, gives the fascist a U.S. Federal Court judge dis- salute at sporting events, and holds missed the suit on the basis that the Nearly 60 years after the end of the requiem masses for its founder, the matter was “political” and therefore Second World War, Croatia - vir- war criminal Ante Pavelic and his not appropriate for United States’ tually alone among EU aspirant henchmen. The Vatican is similarly courts. This was an outcome sim- nations - has still not denounced unrepentant with its number two ilar to the one experienced in the its homegrown Nazis known as the man, Cardinal Sodano, recently parallel case of George Zivkovic Ustashe. During the Second World unsuccessfully requesting that against the Vatican Bank, which War the Ustashe murdered upwards Condoleeza Rice intervene in the was litigated by the law firm Zim- of 500,000 Serbs, Jews, Romas and JRI lawsuit and seek its dismissal. merman-Reed. In both decisions anti Fascists. In 1945 with Berlin in the courts contended that matters flames, the Ustashe fled Zagreb, but Jonathan Levy, Esq. concerning the Vatican (a sovereign with the help of corrupt officials in state) are to be considered matters the Vatican the leadership reached Jonathan Levy has played the of U.S. foreign policy. initial safety in Italy and Spain. leading role in both litigating and Later South American dictators researching the class action law- However, unlike the Zivkovich case like Argentina’s Juan Peron and suit on behalf of the JRI and other (in which he was the only plaintiff), Paraguay’s Alfredo Stroessner pro- plaintiffs against the Vatican Bank, the ruling in this case was appealed vided safe havens for the Ustashe to Franciscan Order and the Croatian by the plaintiffs and it was heard in regroup and prosper. Liberation Movement. His FOIA the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals searches have uncovered hundreds on October 7, 2004. A ruling on the Cells of the Croatian Liberation of previously unknown documents appeal is expected some time later Movement, as the Ustashe offi- exposing the true history of the in 2005. In a development related cially became known in 1956, were Croatian fascist movement in the to the case, Jonathan Levy has established in Toronto, Buenos post-war era. informed the JRI that he received Aires, Chicago and Australia. But in March through a freedom of the Ustashe became no less deadly, information act request a one page embarking on a campaign of terror U.S. government document reveal- UPDATE ON THE VATICAN that included bombings, hijackings, ing that the Croatian Liberation and assassinations worldwide. The BANK LAWSUIT Movement (Hrvatski Oslobodilacki war in former Yugoslavia brought Pokret) has made threats to assassi- the Croatian Liberation Movement by Barry Lituchy, JRI nate Croatian President Stipe Mesic back to Zagreb in 1991, its agents National Coordinator and Prime Minister Ivica Racan involving themselves in a new wave because of their efforts to extradite of genocide and ethnic cleansing The Jasenovac Research Institute Croatians to The Hague Tribunal. against Serbs in Croatia, Bosnia, is one of the original plaintiffs in As we point out elsewhere in this and Krajina. Today the Croatian the class action lawsuit filed by newsletter, this is not the only issue Liberation Movement continues its attorneys Jonathan Levy and Tom that has recently infuriated Croa- legacy preaching hatred towards Easton against the Vatican Bank, tia’s mass neo-Nazi movement (see Serbs, Jews, and Romas. Franciscan Order, and the Croatian our article on the Budak plaque). Liberation Movement. This class Since the HOP is one of the defen- The Jasenovac Research Institute action lawsuit accuses the Vatican dants in our class action lawsuit, its along with two dozen other groups Bank of receiving hundreds of mil- activities are of great interest to our and individuals filed a class action lions of dollars of gold and other attorneys and to the court. lawsuit against the Croatian Lib- assets looted from victims of Cro- eration Movement and the Vatican atia’s fascist Ustashe regime from The Croatian Liberation Move- which remains pending in a United 1941-1945. As part of its founding ment or HOP (Hrvatski Oslobodi- States federal court. This lawsuit mandate to obtain justice for the lacki Pokret) was founded in 1956 seeks restitution and an account- victims of crimes of genocide dur- by Croatian fascist leader Ante ing of wartime loot that even ing the Holocaust, the JRI is com- Pavelic as the successor to his today funds the Ustashe. The cur- mitted to seeking financial restitu- Ustashe movement. The HOP has rent government of Croatia, while tion of all properties stolen from been active worldwide and in par-

14 ticular in Croatia, Argentina, the 1st Prize: $500.00 United States, and Canada. It func- 2nd Prize: $250.00 VISIT THE JASENOVAC tioned as a government in exile 3rd Prize: $100.00 and coordinated terrorist activi- RESEARCH INSTITUTE ties around the world, for example The contest will be judged by a WEBSITE murdering Yugoslav politicians panel of experts comprised of and citizens. As the successor scholars and Survivors chosen by at www.jasenovac.org and learn organization to the Croatian Nazi the Jasenovac Research Institute. more about the Holocaust in movement it has had access to the Yugoslavia and its implications looted funds of Jewish, Serb and Entries will be accepted only by for contemporary history Roma victims of the Holocaust regular mail and must be addressed to finance its murderous, fascist to: Jasenovac Research Institute, Recruitment Poster activities, among which included PO Box 10-0674, Brooklyn, NY for Croatian and the break up of Yugoslavia, the 11210 USA. All entries must be Bosnian Muslim SS rise to power of the regime of postmarked no later than April 5, Divisions Franjo Tudjman, and the civil war 2005. (The deadline was extended which cost thousands of lives in from March 28th.) In February 1943, the former Yugoslavia. The JRI is SS leader Hein- committed to bringing worldwide Prizes will be announced and rich Himmler attention to the dangers posed by awarded at the Jasenovac Day of established two the existense of this mass Neo- Commemoration Ceremony in Croatian-Bosnian Muslim SS divi- Nazi movement based in Croatia New York City on April 17, 2005. sions: the 13th “Handschar” and the and encourages others to do the Winning essays will be published 23rd “Kama” Waffen SS divisions. same, not only in the name of by the JRI. Winners will be invited Unsuccessful in their main task - justice for Yugoslav Holocaust to attend and read selections from to defeat Tito’s Partisans -“it con- victims, but also for the sake of their essays at the Jasenovac Day of fined itself chiefly to massacring human rights and socialjustice for Commemoration Ceremony. and pillaging the defenseless (Serb) all people today. We see this as Christians.” - from John Keegan’s one in the same struggle. Rules: Waffen SS - The Asphalt Soldiers, 1970. The recruitment poster above 1. Applicants must be born on or reads: Croatians of Herzeg-Bosnia! after January 1, 1987 and no later Your Great Leaders Adolf Hitler 2005 JASENOVAC than January 1, 1991. and the Fuhrer Dr. Ante Pavelic COMMEMORATIVE ESSAY 2. Essays must be typed, double CALL UPON YOU TO DEFEN- CONTEST FOR HIGH spaced, and between 1500 and DYOUR HOMES ENLIST IN 5000 words including footnotes, in THE VOLUNTEER CROATIAN SCHOOL STUDENTS IN English. SS DIVISIONS THE USA AND CANADA 3. Entries must be postmarked no later than April 5, 2005. Sponsored by the Jasenovac 4. Applicants must provide a copy RECENT PUBLICATIONS Research Institute of either their birth certificate or passport and include on the cover OF INTEREST In this, the 60th anniversary of the end page of their essay their name, of the Holocaust and the liberation or address, telephone number, date Cadik Danon, The Smell of closure of the death camps inluding of birth, name of school, and the Human Flesh. A Witness of the Jasenovac, the JRI is initiating an name of a sponsoring teacher at Holocaust. Memories of Jasenovac. annual essay writing contest for stu- that school. Translated to English by dents ages 14 to 18 to study the Holo- 5. All entries become the property Nadezhda Obradovic. Belgrade: caust in Southeastern Europe. Three of the JRI and can be reproduced Nova195, 2002. 160 pages. prizes will be awarded to students by the JRI. 6. Relatives of any currently enrolled in schools in the past or current Board Member We Survived...Yugoslav Jews United States or Canada for an essay of the JRI (Director, Advisor, on the Holocaust. Edited by answering the following theme: or Trustee) are ineligible. Aleksandar Gaon. Belgrade: Jewish Historical Museum, 2005 How does an understanding of Jasenovac contribute to a better understanding of the Holocaust in general?

15 JASENOVAC RESEARCH INSTITUTE

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Steve Cooper (Secretary), Dr. Angelo D’Angelo, Gregory Elich, Joe Friendly (JRI Videographer), Suzanne Jenkins, Jovanka Krainovich, Barry M. Lituchy (C.E.O.), Dr. Norman Markowitz (Rutgers University), Kosa Martjak, Alexandar Mosic, (Chief Editor of JRI Newsletter), Jean Neftin, (JRI IT & Web design), Dr. Craig Pearson, John Ranz, (President of Buchenwald Survivors, USA), Darko Trifunovic, James Yarker (C.F.O.), Milo Yelesiyevich (JRI Editor & Chief Translator).

HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD

Col. Antun Militic (Chairman of Advisory Board), Dr. Smilja Avramov, Eva Deutsch Costabel (Survivor), Cadik Danon (Jasenovac Survivor), Josip Erlih (Jasenovac Survivor), Vladimir Brodich (Survivor), Dr. Zivotije Djordjevic, Dr. Ephraim Isaac (Princeton University), Dejan Miletic, Dr. Michael Parenti, George B. Radan (Survivor), Mladan Selak (Survivor), Dr. Traian Stoyanovich (Rutgers University), Bozo Svarz (Jasenovac Survivor).

JRI ASSOCIATES (partial list only)

Dr. Harry Cliadakis (Pace University), Dr. Veljko Djuric, David Gottfried (JRI Attorney), Dr. Norman Ness (University of Deleware), Ricki Danon Soltan (Survivor), Danko Vasovic, Dr. Walter Vukcevic

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