Serbs, Jews, Gypsies mark 60th anniversary of dismantling of Croatia's "Auschwitz"

xinhuanet.com ^ | 2005-04-18 12:02:16 | Xinhuanet

[Destro]

Serbs, Jews Gypsies mark 60th anniversary of dismantling of Croatia's "Auschwitz"

www.chinaview.cn 2005-04-18 12:02:16

BELGRADE, April 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Bosnian Serb President Dragan Cavic and about 3,000 people, mostly Serbs, gathered in Bosnia's northern village of Donja Gradina on Sunday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the dismantlement of the Jasenovac camp, Croatia's most notorious death camp in World War II.

The Jasenovac camp, known as Croatia's Auschwitz and located about 100 km southeast of Croatia's capital Zagreb, was set up in 1941 by Croatia's pro-Nazi Ustasha regime. Donja Gradina used to be part of the Jasenovac camp complex.

"In this place genocide was committed, the most serious crime against humanity, by killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, children and elderly only for being of another religion, nation or ideology," Cavic said at the ceremony which marked an attempted escape in 1945 by about 600 inmates, of whom only 90 survived, several days before the camp was dismantled.

"Blood cannot be removed by (another) blood," Cavic said, reminding people of the bloody Balkans wars in the 1990s that killed more than 200,000 people during clashes between people with different nations and religions.

"We in Bosnia, but also people in our neighborhood, are facing a historic exam to show whether we have found the strength to end the vicious circle in which today's victim becomes tomorrow's criminal, and today's hatred becomes tomorrow's revenge," the president said.

Boris Tadic, president of Serbia and Montenegro, also attended the ceremony.

Croatians and Serbs have held separate commemorations for the dismantlement of the Jasenovac camp since the Balkans wars.

Following Sunday's ceremony, Croatia will hold another ceremonynext Sunday in Jasenovac, reports from Zagreb said.

The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center estimates that about 600,000 people, including Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and Croatian resistance supporters against the fascist regime, were murdered inthe Jasenovac camp, while the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum puts the figure at up to 100,000. Enditem

[Destro]

Some have said that Jasenovac camp was worse than Auschwitz.

[FormerLib]

Why is there a difference of half-million victims between the figures published by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, I wonder?

Perhaps the Holocaust Museum established that number during the Clinton administration...

[kingsurfer]

Ping for the Romany ping list.
If anyone wants to addedd please let me know.

[Modernman]

Some have said that Jasenovac camp was worse than Auschwitz.

The German death camps were efficient, at least. Victims got off trains and were sent to the showers. The whole process was industrialized. It might be small comfort to the victims, but at least the process minimized suffering, to a certain extent.

Jasenovac was not like that. It was murder on a massive scale without the "benefits" of German efficiency. Even German advisors who were sent to observe the process were unsettled by the brutality and primitiveness of the camp.

[dj_animal_2000]

JRI Obtains Approval from New York City for a Jasenovac Monument in New York's Holocaust Memorial Park

Three years and three months after the Jasenovac Research Institute filed its application, and after encountering many difficulties in the process, the Jasenovac Research Institute finally won approval today from the City of New York for the first public monument to the victims of Jasenovac to be unveiled outside of the former Yugoslavia.

The inscription for the Jasenovac monument was formally approved by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation's Holocaust Advisory Committee yesterday afternoon, 15 February 2005, with some minor changes to the inscription.

The information was transmitted to the JRI at 3 PM this afternoon, although the actual decision had been made 24 hours earlier.

Several changes were imposed on the inscription. The City's Holocaust Advisory Committee removed a sentence stating that the total number of victims was between 350,000 and 700,000. However, they did allow the sentence stating that "hundreds of thousands of victims" were killed there. This was the fourth time that the JRI's original inscription had been revised.

The JRI's National Coordinator Barry Lituchy will go to the Holocaust Park Committee office tomorrow to review and sign the final agreement.

The main struggle now will be to insure that the final paperwork and engraving is completed in time for the Day of Jasenovac Commemoration Ceremony on April 17th.

Had the JRI not made an enormous effort and numerous protests, even this advisory meeting may never have taken place as soon as it did.

The establishment of a permanent monument in New York City and the significant help obtained along the way from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and the New York Museum for Jewish Heritage for this project marks an important achievement in the JRI's global efforts to increase worldwide awareness of Jasenovac and the Holocaust in Yugoslavia.

But most important of all is that the victims of Jasenovac now will never be forgotten. And the families of those victims will forever have a place to recognize and remember them. Moreover, Jasenovac is finally being recognized as central to the study and commemoration of the Holocaust around the world.

THE DESECRATION OF THE MEMORIAL AREA

Jasenovac Memorial Park is the largest graveyard in the Balkans. It has been believed for a long time that the Ustasha's crimes committed in Jasenovac presented an eternal warning to the people from these areas. However, that was not true. >>The young Croatian democracy<<, as the new nationalistic Croation authorities called themselves, under the leadership of Franjo Tudjman, immediately after coming to the scene took the Ustasha symbols, and took a series of concrete further steps (seceeding from Yugoslavia, adopting laws with racist characteristics very similar to those of 1941, organizing state terror against the Serbs and so on), thus showing clearly that it accepted the politics of the Ustasha's Independent State of Croatia.

Even before the beginning of the new war in 1991, the Croatian authorities reduced the financing of the Jasenovac Memorial Park and declared >>Lonjsko polje<< a natural protected area, probably in order to turn the attention from the victims to the flora and fauna of the region. Croatian propaganda and Franjo Tudjman himself tried to minimize the crime with numerous articles, >>studies<< and statements, asserting that there were >>not more than<< 20,000-50,000 victims in Jasenovac.

At the end of September 1991, the Croatian Army entered the Jasenovac memorial park by force. According to the Hague Convention on the protection of historical and cultural monuments, the Croatian Army severely broke the agreement by entering the protected area. Although the international public informed about desecration of the memorial park. there was not much of a response.

The Serbian forces liberated Jasenovac Memorial Park on October 8, 1991. During the withdrawal the Croatian Army placed explosives blew up the bridge on the Sava River which connected the two parts of the Memorial Park; they also blew up the graves, destroyed the Museum artifacts and stole the Museum equipment. Due to the courage and enthusiasm of individuals who worked at the Memorial Park, some historical materials and objects were saved.

WE WONT FORGET !!!!

Jasenovac Research Institute

The Pavelic Papers

[rasblue]

We forget what happened after WWII. What happened to all those Ustasha when they returned home? I'll tell you what, the Chetniks and Partisani killed most of them. What about Krajina in 1991? Who fired rockets into Central Zagreb killing scores of civilians? Serbs. Who killed thousands in Bihac? Serbs. Who commited genocide in Northern Bosnia? Serbs. In fact the Serbs committed genocide in the 1990s in the Sisak area which is the same area where the Jasenovac camps were. How ironic.
Serbs are more guilty than Croatia in the eyes of the world. After all it was Serbs who shot down a US fighter plane, not Croats, Albanians, Slovenes, Bosniaks, or anyone else Serbia has made war with in the last few years.

I see a dysfunctional pattern in regards to Serbian Nationalism here. The Serbs are never wrong after all in their minds. Woe me. Serbs have no friends. If they would behave they would maybe get out of their 3rd world kleptocrtic squalor.

[dj_animal_2000]

Let me guess, you are a Croatian or someone who still belives the Ustasha were the "good ones" during WWII....

How ironic is it to tell you, that my family was almost wipped out by your "Ustasha friends" just because they were Jews...????

We didn' forget what happend during WWII....

[MadelineZapeezda]

Serbs have no friends, you say????????

Serbia is home to Serbs, Hungarians, Croatians, Bosnians, Roma, Ruthenians, Jews, Romanians, Armenians, and Slovaks -- a total of twenty-some ethnic groups -- living side-by-side.If it's so bad why are there so many different ethnicities? What's the ethnic makeup of Croatia?

You are a Serb hater. Who would of killed the returning ustashi? Most of the Serb men were slaughtered.

[rasblue]

Serbia is a rogue state. Not according to me, but according to the United States State Department. As for the ethnic makeup of the former Yugoslavia, I remember too well who ran things. It was the Partisani Communist Party members who mostly were Serbs.
I would give Serbia the benefit of the doubt if they only attacked one country but they attacked five! Serbs even attacked a US Fighter Plane.
To the Western World Serbia is the enemy, and from Serbian recent elections we know its the Serbian people who are the enemy, not just the leadership.

[BobL]

I think that this clown is just trying to incite. There are better websites for that, like Arian Nation (sp.).

There are a lot of people, with a lot to answer for, in that part of the world. As anyone who studies the area would admit, the Serbs weren't angels, but they were saints compared to the Croatians and the Muslims.

[dj_animal_2000]

It was the Partisani Communist Party members who mostly were Serbs.

Communist Yugoslav Leadership (Redirected from Communist Yugoslav Government)

Presidents of the Federal Executive Council (premiers)

14 Jan 1953 - 29 Jun 1963 Josip Broz Tito (Croat)

29 Jun 1963 - 16 May 1967 Petar Stambolic (Serb)

16 May 1967 - 18 May 1969 Mika Špiljak (Croat)

18 May 1969 - 30 Jul 1971 Mitja Ribicic (Slovene)

30 Jul 1971 - 18 Jan 1977 DŽemal Bijedic (Bosnian Muslim)

14 Feb 1977 - 16 May 1982 Veselin Curanovic (Montenegrin)

16 May 1982 - 15 May 1986 Milka Planinc (Croat)

15 May 1986 - 16 Mar 1989 Branko Mikulic (Croat)

16 Mar 1989 - 20 Dec 1991 Ante Markovic (Croat)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commun...slav_Government

Chairman of the Presidium of the Provisional People's Assembly

4 Dec 1943 - 5 Mar 1945 Ivan Ribar (b. 1881 - d. 1968)

Chairman of the Presidium of the National Assembly 29 Dec 1945 - 14 Jan 1953 Ivan Ribar (s.a.)

President 14 Jan 1953 - 4 May 1980 Josip Broz Tito (s.a.)

Presidents of the Collective Presidency

4 May 1980 - 15 May 1980 Lazar Kolisevski (b. 1914 - d. 2000)

15 May 1980 - 15 May 1981 Cvijetin Mijatovic (b. 1913 - d. 1993)

15 May 1981 - 16 May 1982 Sergej Kraigher (b. 1914 - d. 2001)

16 May 1982 - 13 May 1983 Petar Stambolic (b. 1912)

13 May 1983 - 15 May 1984 Mika Spiljak (b. 1916)

15 May 1984 - 15 May 1985 Veselin Djuranovic (b. 1925 - d. 1997)

15 May 1985 - 15 May 1986 Radovan Vlajkovic (b. 1922 - d. 2001)

15 May 1986 - 15 May 1987 Sinan Hasani (b. 1922)

15 May 1987 - 15 May 1988 Lazar Mojsov (s.a.)

15 May 1988 - 15 May 1989 Raif Dizdarevic (b. 1926)

15 May 1989 - 15 May 1990 Janez Drnovsek (b. 1950)

15 May 1990 - 15 May 1991 Borisav Jovic (b. 1928)

15 May 1991 - 1 Jul 1991 vacant¹ 1 Jul 1991 - 3 Oct 1991 Stipe Mesic (b. 1934)

One of the major theoretical and empirical dictums of international law and political theory states that a country's president, prime minister, foreign minister and top military officials, including party leaders in the former Communist countries, are politically empowered to generate political (and legally binding) decisions. In former Yugoslavia, the omnipotent federal communist masters (the Yugoslav Communist Party Politburo chiefs)

1) J. B. TITO (Croat),

2) E. KARDELJ (Slovene), and

3) V. BAKARIC (Croat),

with their disciples in the post-Tito era

1) S. DOLANC (Slovene),

2) J. VRHOVEC (Croat), and

3) B. MIKULIC (Croat from Bosnia and Herzegovina)

were the major decision-makers until Tito's death (1980).

The following list includes political principals of the Yugoslav enterprise who, during the post-Tito era (between 1980 and 1991), held the top federal and Communist Party positions in \"Serb- dominated Yugoslavia.\"

----

POLITICAL LEADERSHIP OF YUGOSLAVIA (1980-1991) ----

YUGOSLAV PRIME MINISTERS:

V. Djuranovic (MONTENEGRIN)

M. Planinc (CROAT)

B. Mikulic (CROAT FROM BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA)

A. Markovic (CROAT)

----

YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTERS:

J. Vrhovec (CROAT)

L. Mojsov (MACEDONIAN)

R. Dizdarevic (BOSNIAN MUSLIM)

B. Loncar (CROAT)

----

PRESIDENTS OF FEDERAL PRESIDENCY:

L. Kolisevski (MACEDONIAN)

S. Krajger (SLOVENE)

P. Stambolic (SERB)

F. Hodza (ALBANIAN)

S. Dolanc (SLOVENE)

V. Zarkovic (MONTENEGRIN)

L. Mojsov (MACEDONIAN)

R. Dizdarevic (BOSNIAN MUSLIM)

S. Suvar (CROAT)

J. Drnovsek (SLOVENE)

B. Jovic (SERB)

S. Mesic (CROAT)

----

THE YUGOSLAV PEOPLE'S ARMY'S LEADERSHIP IN JUNE 1991 (The Year of Disintegration)

FEDERAL DEFENSE MINISTER

General V. Kadijevic (CROAT-SERB)

FEDERAL DEPUTY DEFENSE MINISTER

Admiral S. Brovet (SLOVENE)

CHIEF OF THE GENERAL STAFF

General B. Adzic (SERB)

COMMANDER OF THE FIRST MILITARY AREA (SERBIA)

General A. Spirkovski (MACEDONIAN)

COMMANDER OF THE FIFTH MILITARY AREA (CROATIA AND SLOVENIA)

General K. Kolsek (SLOVENE)

COMMANDER OF THE THIRD MILITARY AREA (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA)

General A. Luketic (CROAT)

COMMANDER OF THE NAVY

Admiral Z. Letica (CROAT)

COMMANDER OF THE MARITIME AREA

Admiral P. Grubisic (CROAT)

COMMANDER OF THE YUGOSLAV AIR FORCE

General A. Tus (CROAT) ----

YUGOSLAVIA'S AMBASSADORS IN SELECTED COUNTRIES (JUNE 1991)

UNITES STATES OF AMERICA: Dz. Mujezinovic (BOSNIAN MUSLIM)

SOVIET UNION: A. Runjic (CROAT)

FRANCE: B. Gagro (CROAT)

UNITED KINGDOM: S. Rikanovic (SERB)

PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA: Z. Dragan (SLOVENE)

UNITED NATIONS (New York): D. Silovic (CROAT)

UNITED NATIONS (Geneva): N. Calovski (MACEDONIAN)

AUSTRIA: I. Brnelic (CROAT)

VATICAN: I. Mastruko (CROAT)

SPAIN: F. Dizdarevic (BOSNIAN MUSLIM)

HUNGARY: R. Sova (HUNGARIAN)

EGYPT: I. Ivekovic (CROAT)

TURKEY: T. Petrovski (MACEDONIAN)

IRAN: T. Trajkovski (MACEDONIAN)

ARGENTINA: R. Mazuran (CROAT)

INDONESIA: V. Koprivnjak (CROAT)

---------

Soooooooooo...how was that again with the "It was mostly the Serbs"-thing.....?????

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

[joan]

In fact the Serbs committed genocide in the 1990s in the Sisak area which is the same area where the Jasenovac camps were.

The Croats ran a death camp in Sisak in the 1990s according to a Freeper, "wonders", who was an American UN official in Croatia during the war (though, she later concluded that it was August 1991, not 1990 when the Croat run camp started operating, the media's silence was Croats and Muslim's cover in these recent wars):

As far as camps the Croats put Serbs in before hostilities officially began, the only one I have personal knowledge of is the ZNG-run death camp in Sisak which began operation in August 1990 (yes, 1990!). I'm sure there must have been others. Strange how no one seems to know about them!

At that same time, Croats also began flattening Serb villages around former Sector West and erasing them from maps as though they never existed. Somehow, no one seems to know about that, either. The majority of ordinary Croats have no idea all this happened. In one happens to find out, he/she is totally shocked!

It was always so sad when a displaced family from one of the "flattened villages" came to me when I was a Return Officer in the UNTAES Mission -- how can you return someone to a village which no longer exists?

[montyspython]

Rasblue's rose colored glasses just fogged up.

Ras, do you support the Ustasa movement?

[montyspython]

The "Serb thing" strawman just got debunked, again.

[rasblue]

I know who the Militia were in my town, and they were all Serb. I wonder where they are all now? ;-)

[rasblue]

Croatia and Bosnia never attacked a US Fighter Plane. That much I know. Is the embargo on Serbia still on? I wonder why an embargo was even necessary? Oh thats right, the Serbs are the enemy of the United States!
Why you ask does the whole world, minus Russia and friends hate Serbia? Well thats a question you will have to ask yourselves.

As for my affiliations, I am HDZ. The same HDZ that Republican Party employees came and helped organize the election campaign with last year.

They couldn't help Serbians though because Serbs are the enemy of the US.

How embarrasing for such a "proud" nation. Where is your "Greater Serbia" now? I know its not in Krajina because the Serbs got chased out with their tails between their legs out of Sisak, Petrinja, Glina, and Topusko.

[Destro]

Croatia and Bosnia never attacked a US Fighter Plane.

Of course not - we were helping them - what a stupid comment. What did you expect the Serbs to do allow themselves to be bombed? Americans are the only people that act indignant when someone shoots back.

[Destro]

As for my affiliations, I am HDZ. The same HDZ that made an alliance with al-Qaeda/Osama Bin Laden. Once a Nazi terrorist always a Nazi terrorist.

From Stars & Stripes:

"Al-Qaida trained Mujahedeen to go and fight in Bosnia during the early ’90s, and bin Laden’s Services Office also maintained an office in neighboring Croatia’s capital, Zagreb."

The Mujahedeen came into Bosnia from Croatia, the colonel said. "They came into Croatia at the ports of Split and Rijeka. Those were big centers."

Along with the fighters, the arms pipeline came through Croatia and was funded by Third World Relief Agency, the Washington Post reported in a September 1996 story.

[dj_animal_2000]

Ras, do you support the Ustasa movement?

Isn't that obvious...???