The New Serbian Right and Anti-Semitism

The round table titled “The New Serbian Rights and Anti-Semitism” was organized on November 2, 2005, in the Belgrade Media Center.

This first in the series of activities under the project “Overcoming Anti-Semitism and Nationalistic Prejudice” – implemented with the assistance of the Council of Europe – provided the guidelines for further discussion of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance and hate speech in today’s Serbia.

Sonja Biserko, chairperson of the Helsinki Committee, Aleksandar Lebl, journalist and president of the Commission for Monitoring Anti-Semitism (Federation of Jewish Communities in Serbia-Montenegro), writer [and theologian] Mirko Djordjevic, journalist Teofil Pancic and writer Filip David [both journalists from the weekly Vreme] tackled the topics such as “Contemporary Anti-Semitism in Serbia and Worldwide,” “The New Serbian Right,” “Pop Culture and the Issue of Diversity” and “Discrepancy Between Declaration and Practice: Serbian Authorities' Attitude Towards Anti-Semitism and Other Forms of National and Religious Intolerance.”

The round table concluded that anti-Semitism in Serbia should not be perceived as an isolated phenomenon but ascribed to the overall radicalization of Serbian politics and society. In this context, anti-Semitism and its manifestations perfectly fit in the predominant exclusionist politics and conservative thought that [reject] any dissimilarity be it ethnic, religious or other.

The persistence of anti-Semitism is thus even more dangerous as it goes for the small Jewish community of no great weight in Serbia’s finances or politics. Major promoters of such anti-Jewish climate are to be traced down in a number of formal groups ranging from those that follow in the footsteps of a part of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s tradition leaning on the teachings of [the] recently [canonized] Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic and his overt anti-Semitism, through those in the limelight of pop culture to today’s authorities unwilling to come to grips with growing intolerance.

”Raising the questions of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and all forms of intolerance and discrimination goes in parallel with current international trends… A number of international summits/conferences discuss and define the frameworks for combating these phenomena. Their final documents detail such negative trends, including hate speech and hate crimes, and label them threats to democracy (tolerance) and the respect for human rights… If Serbia has an eye on getting integrated into European and global institutions, [it] must do by far more than merely adopting international political and legal guidelines. Serbia has to [confront] all her traditions, past experiences and today’s problems, [it] she want to be recognized as a democratic and tolerant society open to diversity… Thus, the main objective of this project is to sensitize both the civil sector, the media and NGO coalitions to [present] public opinion with factual information about these unacceptable trends, and the authorities to pursue proactive politics in combating racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.”

“…Recent years were marked by the revival of anti-Semitism worldwide – in developed Western democracies, societies in transition and underdeveloped countries, not to mention the Islamic world. Once again, anti-Semitism is “[fashionable]” in intellectual circles in many countries. It is spread by the media, books, public lectures, the Internet. Sometimes it is expressed in roundabout ways, sometimes openly, but is, as a rule, camouflaged as anti-Zionism and anti-Israelitic stances… Claims that Jewish conspiracies [aim] at dominating the word have practically never been crossed out… The world has become aware of this threatening revival… Many countries’ legislations provide that anti-Semitism and glorification of Nazi leaders and symbols are criminal offences… We are witnesses to [a] growing anti-Semitism in Serbia.”

“…The phrase “the new Serbian right” is not in itself too complicated to be understandable. However, its origin remains unclear. In its current form, it has been present throughout the past fifteen years, ever since some ideological groups have stepped on the public scene. These groups have occupied the void left after the fall of Russian communism…We are talking here of young people who have been joining various organizations – Obraz and St. Justin the Philosopher, and, as of recently, Dveri – all of which belong to the extreme right. In the wider context, this is about a trend that relies on the most conservative thought… The program of Serbian “rationalists” sources from the detailed document articulated in April 2004 that provides – though in a somewhat simplified manner — what attitudes should mark the new Serbian right. The later postulates that “both leftist and rightist politics are evil” because they divide an inseparable “organism.” Their [use] of the term “race” remains unclear, since, according to their discourse, it primarily refers to the ethnos-nation concept… In geopolitical terms, they perceive the state as the outcome of the unification of all ‘Serbian lands,’ including Montenegro and Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In such a “racial Serbian state,” there is no place for Jews, Roma, Albanians and Balije — "Turks", i.e. [Bosniaks]…”

Filip David: ”Speaking about anti-Semitism we can see some specifics. Jews in Serbia are not a national minority – the fact that in itself specifically mirrors anti-Semitism… Specifics of anti-Semitism is its continuous presence in publishing. There is even, so to speak, a distinct genre, the genre of anti-Semitic literature. It encompasses publications that openly assault Jews on racial basis, and the “literature” focused on various conspiracies, [stories] of secret societies, and world rulers in the shadow… The main sources of anti-Semitism can be found in a plethora of anti-Semitic literature, actions taken by certain, though major dignitaries of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and in statements of politicians and outstanding figures blaming

‘the world conspiracy against Serbia’ for all…What worries the most is the absence of reactions to anti-Semitic incidents. [P]ublic [awareness] on these matters is non-existent…”

"Although Serbian historians contend that the persecution of the Jews of Serbia was entirely the responsibility of Germans and began only with the German occupation, this is self- serving fiction. Fully six months before the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia, Serbia had issued legislation restricting Jewish participation in the economy and university enrolment.

"One year later on 22 October 1941, the rabidly antisemitic "Grand Anti-Masonic Exhibit" opened in occupied Belgrade, funded by the city of Belgrade. The central theme was an alleged Jewish- Communist-Masonic plot for world domination. Newspapers such as Obnova ("[Reconstruction]") and Nasa Borba ("Our Struggle") praised this exhibit, proclaiming that Jews were the ancient enemies of the [Serb] people and that Serbs should not wait for the Germans to begin the extermination of the Jews.

"A few months later, Serbian authorities issued postage stamps commemorating the opening of this popular exhibit. These stamps, which juxtaposed Jewish and Serbian symbols (but did not contain Nazi symbols), portrayed Judaism as the source of world evil and advocated the humiliation and violent subjugation of Jews.

"Serbia as well as neighboring Croatia was under Axis occupation during the Second World War. Although the efficient destruction of Serbian Jewry in the first two years of German occupation has been well documented by respected sources, the extent to which Serbia actively collaborated in that destruction has been less recognized. The Serbian government under General Milan Nedic worked closely with local Nazi officials in making Belgrade the first "Judenfrei" city of Europe. As late as 19 September 1943, Nedic made an official visit to Adolf Hitler, Serbs in Berlin advanced the idea that the Serbs were the "Übermenschen" (master race) of the Slavs.

"Although the Serbian version of history portrays wartime Serbia as a helpless, occupied territory, Serbian newspapers of the period offer a portrait of intensive collaboration. In November 1941, Mihajlo Olcan, a minister in Nedic's government boasted that "'Serbia has been allowed what no other occupied country [but France] has been allowed and that is to establish law and order with its own armed forces'.

"Indeed, with Nazi blessings, Nedic established the Serbian State Guard, numbering about 20,000, compared to the 3,400 German police in Serbia. Recruiting advertisements for the Serb police force specified that "applicants must have no Jewish or Gypsy blood".

"Nedic's second in command was Dimitrije Ljotic, founder of the Serbian Fascist Party and the principal Fascist ideologist of Serbia. Ljotic organized the Serbian Volunteers Corps, whose primary function was rounding up Jews, Gypsies, and partisans for execution. Serbian citizens and police received cash bounties for the capture and delivery of Jews.

"The Serbian Orthodox Church openly collaborated with the Nazis, and many priests publicly defended the persecution of the Jews. On 13 August 1941, approximately 500 distinguished Serbs signed "An Appeal to the Serbian Nation", which called for loyalty to the occupying Nazis. The first three signers were bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church. On 30 January 1942, Metropolitan Josif, the acting head of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, officially prohibited conversions of Jews to Serbian Orthodoxy, thereby blocking a means of saving Jewish lives. At a public rally, after the government Minister Olcan

"'thanked God that the enormously powerful fist of Germany had not come down upon the head of the Serbian nation'

"but instead "upon the heads of the Jews in our midst", the speaker of these words was then blessed by a high-ranking Serbian Orthodox priest.

"A most striking example of Serbian antisemitism combined with historical revisionism is the case of Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic (1880-1956), revered as one of the most influential church leaders and ideologists after Saint Sava, founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church [and "canonized" in 2003].

"To Serbs, Bishop Velimirovic was a martyr who survived torture in the Dachau prison camp. In truth he was brought to Dachau (as were other prominent European clergy), because the Nazis believed he could be useful for propaganda. There he spent approximately two months as an "Ehrenhaftling" (honour prisoner) in a special section, dining on the same food as the German officers, living in private quarters, and making excursions into town under German escort.

"From Dachau, this venerated priest endorsed the Holocaust:

"'Europe is presently the main battlefield of the Jew and his father, the devil, against the heavenly Father and his only begotten Son... (Jews) first need to become legally equal with Christians in order to repress Christianity next, turn Christians into atheist, and step on their necks.

"'All the modern European slogans have been made up by Jews, the crucifiers of Christ: democracy, strikes, socialism atheism, tolerance of all religions, pacifism, universal revolution, capitalism and communism... All this has been done with the intention to eliminate Christ... You should think about this, my Serbian brethren, and correspondingly correct your thoughts, desires and acts.'

"(Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic: Addresses to the Serbian People — Through the Prison Window. Himmelsthur, Germany: Serbian Orthodox Eparchy for Western Europe, 1985, pp. 161-162).

"Despite Serbian claims to the contrary, Germans were not alone in killing the Jews of Serbia. The long concealed Historical Archives in Belgrade reveal that Banjica, a concentration camp located in Belgrade, was primarily staffed by Serbs. Funding forthe conversion of the former barracks of the Serbian 18th infantry division to a concentration [camp], came from the municipal budget of Belgrade. The camp was divided into German and Serbian sections. From Banjica there survive death lists written entirely in Serbian in the Cyrillic alphabet. At least 23,697 victims passed through the Serbian section of this camp. Many were Jews, including at least 798 children, of whom at least 120 were shot by Serbian guards.

"The use of mobile gassing vans by Nazis in Serbia for the extermination of Jewish women and children has been well documented. It is less appreciated, however, that a Serbian business firm had contracted with the Gestapo to purchase these same victims' clothes, which sometimes contained hidden money or jewelry in the linings.

"In August 1942, following the virtual liquidation of Serbia's Jews, Nedic's government attempted to claim all Jewish property for the Serbian state. In the same month, Dr. Harald Turner; the chief of the Nazi civil administration of Serbia, boasted that Serbia was the only country in which the "Jewish question" was solved. Turner himself attributed this "success" to Serbian help. Thus, 94 percent of Serbia's 16,000 Jews were exterminated, with the considerable cooperation of the Serbian government, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Serbian State Guard, the Serbian police and the Serbian public. http://void.nothingness.org/archives/situationist/display/8932

The fable that the Serbs protected Jews is just that — a fable. Jews were saved in Bulgaria, in Hungary until 1944, in Denmark, in France, in Albania — not in Serbia.

To call Sonja Biserko a "Holocaust denier" has no basis in fact. I wouldn't be surprised if you called her that just because she doesn't buy into the propagandistic exaggeration of the number of Serb victims during the Second World War.

I have come to the conclusion that Sonja Biserko is indeed an irreplaceable analyst of Serbian politics, because she makes the most sense of all the facts normal people agree upon, and I intend to publish her further. She is truthful, clever and courageous, and beautiful too.

There is no evidence of Sonja Biserko being an antisemite and this does not stand to scrutiny: if she were, she wouldn't be denouncing the antisemitism of the Serbs and particularly of the so-called Serb Orthodox Church together with Jews; on the contrary these, together with the other Helsinki human rights groups, rather than Balkanic pseudo-nationalists, would be denouncing her as such.

She might even be an Jew herself or be married to a Jew, with a name such as hers (biser = "pearl" in Serbian). In that case, we would have a typical Serb lie: not only false and unable to resist a few seconds' reflection, but the very opposite of the truth.

The Serbs treat as second-class citizens all the sizeable ethnic groups which do not share their allegiance to the so-called Serb Orthodox Church

They also massacred the Bosniaks during the Second World War and from 1992 to 1995. Pavle Djurisic, commander of the Lim-Sanjak Chetnik Detachment, reported to Mihailovic on 13 February 1943 the results of the Chetnik actions in the Pljevlja, Foca and Cajnice districts:

"‘All Muslim villages in the three mentioned districts were totally burned so that not a single home remained in one piece. All property was destroyed except cattle, corn and senna.’ Furthermore: ‘During the operation the total destruction of the Muslim inhabitants was carried out regardless of sex and age.’ In this operation, ‘our total losses were 22 dead, of which 2 through accidents, and 32 wounded. Among the Muslims, around 1,200 fighters and up to 8,000 other victims: women, old people and children.’ http://www.bosnia.org.uk/bosrep/report_format.cfm?articleid=3026&reportid=169

All ethnic groups were divided during the Second Wordl War, and most of them determined themselves for local reasons. Yet, a majority of the Croats opposed the Nazis, while the Serb Chetniks, who are now presented as "resistants", actually collaborated with them.

"Among the Serbs, the resisters were the Partisans under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia; the quislings were the followers of the puppet prime minister General Milan Nedic and the fascist leader Dimitrije Ljotic; and the opportunists were Mihailovic and the Chetniks. In practice, there was very little difference in behaviour between Nedic’s and Ljotic’s outright quislings and Mihailovic’s Chetniks, who collaborated with the Nazis while seeking to crush the real resisters — the Partisans — and exterminate Muslims, Croats, Jews and others into the bargain." http://www.bosnia.org.uk/bosrep/report_format.cfm?articleid=3026&reportid=169

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