The following is a response sent in to the Washington Times regarding the Kuhner commentary. The author is Dragan Rakic from France. He quotes Kuhner, then responds.
Regarding Jeffery Kuhner’s statements that “Hundreds of thousands of Croatians were systematically butchered by Tito’s Partisans; priests, nuns and peasants were massacred; their lands were confiscated; and slave labor camps were established. My grandfather’s brother - a priest - was murdered in his own church, hung with piano wire through the back of his head. My grandfather and his wife and family were rounded up into a concentration camp for three agonizing years - he and my grandmother survived, most of my other ancestors didn’t. Upon leaving the death camp, my grandfather’s small farm was seized, his family persecuted and eventually driven into exile. Despite all their suffering, my grandparents managed to rebuild a life for themselves and their children”.
If Mr. Jeffrey Kuhner did not forget his glorious grandfather, he did forget, or never learned the history of Balkans, particularly the period from 1940 to 1945. In his above sentence he refers to the event when Croat Nazis tried with the help of Vatican’s priest Draganovic,( see the documentary: The Rat Lines), to cross the border and reach Italy and Austria.
Why should the Nazi try to escape the justice? Because they were Croats or because they committed crimes, maybe worse than German Nazis did in Yugoslavia. Those “good” Croat Nazis murdered a cousin of mine just because her name was Sarah, burned my grand uncle and all the members of his parish in the concentration camp of Jasenovac, executed and committed genocide against Serbs, Jews, and Roma. And while the Serbian royalist leader Draza Mihajlovic was executed, the Croat Nazi Ustasha leader, Pavelic died in the age of nearly 90 years in Argentina, his right hand Andrija Artukovic hada Mickey Mouse judgment in Zagreb and died in age of 85, and many other war criminals still live and write odious articles to ignorant American readers.
Mr. Kuhner should know better who started and when the last civil war in the former Yugoslavia. It was not in 1990 but in 1989, when irregulars started attacking the federal army., and expulse Serbs from Croatia. Before the war there were 12% of Serbs in Croatia, and if you go to CIA site and take a look at the recent data about Croatia, you will find out that there is only 3% of Serbs left there. So who committed crimes or ethnic cleansing, it is up to normal people to judge according to facts and figures and not fairy tales and stories.
Sincerely
Dragan Rakic
Strasbourg
France
EU
__________________________
Dragan Rakic is an idiot.
Why should the Nazi try to escape the justice? Because they were Croats or because they committed crimes, maybe worse than German Nazis did in Yugoslavia.
Croatians weren't Nazis. They were either Ustashi, Domobrans, or Partisans. The attempt to form a Nazi party in Croatia was halted by the NDH regime and the party banned from ever assembling.
Those “good” Croat Nazis murdered a cousin of mine just because her name was Sarah, burned my grand uncle and all the members of his parish in the concentration camp of Jasenovac, executed and committed genocide against Serbs, Jews, and Roma.
Your personal anecdotes are worthless Mr. Rakic.
As for those in Bleiburg, the majority were not Ustashi but were Domobrans who were quite different from the Ustashi....and many of those were recently mobilized teenagers. Apart from that, you had women and children who were escaping the communist regime.
Alongside them, you had Montenegrin Chetniks who didn't want any part of life under communism just like those Croatian people.
And while the Serbian royalist leader Draza Mihajlovic was executed, the Croat Nazi Ustasha leader, Pavelic died in the age of nearly 90 years in Argentina, his right hand Andrija Artukovic hada Mickey Mouse judgment in Zagreb and died in age of 85, and many other war criminals still live and write odious articles to ignorant American readers.
Ante Pavelic died not at 90, but at 70 and not in Argentina, but in Madrid, Spain, from complications stemming from an assassination attempt.
Andrija Artukovic was like Draza Mihailovic, subjected to a communist show trial in which Artukovic wasn't allowed to present evidence in his defense nor call witnesses to his defense.
Mr. Kuhner should know better who started and when the last civil war in the former Yugoslavia. It was not in 1990 but in 1989, when irregulars started attacking the federal army., and expulse Serbs from Croatia.
Utter crap. The first fight in Croatia occurred at Plitvice in 1990 between Croatian police forces and Serbian irregulars. There was no fighting in 1989. The first fighting between the JNA and Croatian forces didn't take place until the spring of 1991 when the JNA took the Serb side and attempted to steal Croatian land.
Before the war there were 12% of Serbs in Croatia, and if you go to CIA site and take a look at the recent data about Croatia, you will find out that there is only 3% of Serbs left there. So who committed crimes or ethnic cleansing, it is up to normal people to judge according to facts and figures and not fairy tales and stories.
Tell us how many Croatians remained within the borders of the "RSK" and "RS" and you'll see that the answer to the question is that the Serbs did by far the most ethnic cleansing during those wars.