[CHARLITE]

"For the millionth time, the Handzar Division had no role in the Holocaust of the Jews."

Thanks for the clarification. Can you elaborate?

Thanks.

Char

[Diocletian]

The Handzar was formed to patrol the far northwestern corner of Bosnia in 1943 so as to act as a buffer between Partisans and the German Volksdeutsche in neighbouring Srijem region. The Handzar was intended by Himmler to be a wholly Muslim force, but the Croatian Poglavnik lobbied Hitler to include some Croatians since he feared that this group would try to form an autonomous Bosnian protectorate under the Germans.

The Handzar themselves had a German officer corps and had some Imams attached to them. They were horrifed to learn that they had to cooperate with Serb Chetniks in sweeps against Partisans, when in fact they wanted revenge against these very Chetniks.

The Best English book on the Handzar is written by American author George Lepre.

[zagor-te-nej]

Regarding the Handzar division, the "Encyclopedia of the Holocaust" writes:
"These Muslim volunteer units, called Hanjar (sword), were put in Waffen-SS units, fought Yugoslav partisans in Bosnia, and carried out police and security duties in Hungary. They participated in the massacre of civilians in Bosnia and volunteered to join in the hunt for Jews in Croatia..."
-- Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, Edition 1990, Volume 2, page 707
The civilians whom Handzar massacred were mainly Serbs and Roma ('Gypsies'). They also slaughtered Jews, wherever they could find them.
When Mr. Izetbegovic resurrected this Waffen SS division he was telling Serbs, Roma and Jews: "Handzar is back!"