Free Republic

Victims of Croatia's pro-Nazi World War II regime and their relatives are seeking $3.5 billion in damages in a suit filed in the US.Visitor walks past display at US Holocaust Memorial Museum (Reuters) Victims of Croatia's pro-Nazi World War II regime and their relatives are seeking $3.5 billion in damages in a suit filed in the United States, local media and officials said Monday. The group wants compensation from the Croatian government for property seized from ethnic Serbs, Roma and Jews, as well as for their suffering during the war, state-run HRT television reported. The suit was filed in a...

Croatian Jews said on Monday they would boycott the country's main Holocaust remembrance event this week, accusing the authorities of playing down crimes perpetrated under the Nazi-backed Ustasa regime during World War Two.Croatia's Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic addresses a news conference at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany December 12, 2016. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch International Holocaust Remembrance Day is held on Jan. 27 each year, the date in 1945 when the biggest Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz in occupied Poland, was liberated by Soviet troops. Three months ago, rightist veterans of Croatia's 1991-95 independence war raised a commemorative plaque in the town of...

<p>SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik has dismissed U.S. sanctions imposed on him for obstructing the peace accords that ended Bosnia’s war two decades ago, calling it a reversible act of revenge by the departing Obama administration.</p>

Lavrov: Kosovo Albanian forces should not be in northern Kosovo Russian Foreign Minister on Tuesday said that a new war in the Balkans must be avoided, and that Albanian forces should not be in northern Kosovo and Metohija. Lavrov is seen in Moscow on Tuesday (Tanjug/AP) Speaking during his annual news conference in Moscow, Lavrov touched on the latest tensions between Belgrade and Pristina. "The forces of Kosovo Albanians should not be present in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, which is inhabited by Serbs," said Lavrov. He also commented on the talk of "a war in the Balkans." "I...

People lay flower wreaths at the Jasenovac camp, known as "Croatia's Auschwitz", situated about 100 kilometres southeast of Zagreb (AFP Photo/)Zagreb (AFP) - The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Centre on Tuesday condemned a pro-Nazi slogan on a memorial plaque in a small Croatian town that housed a notorious World War II death camp. Former paramilitaries placed the plaque in central Jasenovac to honour 11 fellow fighters killed in the area at the start of Croatia's 1990s independence war. It carries the official emblem of the HOS paramilitary forces, which includes the slogan used by the country's WWII Ustasha regime. "It is...

Aleksandra's Note: I sure wish OSS veterans George "Guv" Musulin, Arthur "Jibby" Jibilian, Nick Lalich and others were alive to see this!A great step forward in "official recognition" of rescue operations such as the HALYARD MISSION in WWII Yugoslavia which was made possible by General Draza Mihailovich, his Chetniks, and the Serbian people loyal to them.Bravo!Sincerely,Aleksandra Rebic***** Congressman Latta with OSS Veterans and their families House Passes Legislation to Honor OSS Veterans with Congressional Gold MedalPassage applauded by legislation authors, Congressman Latta, Senator Blunt, and Senator WarnerLegislation to honor veterans of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) with a Congressional...

PRANJANI, Serbia -- The sky was black with the billowing smoke of the downed B-17 bombers and the canopies of Allied Airmen parachuting to an unknown fate behind Nazi lines in German-occupied Serbia. This is the sight the villagers of Pranjani remember from the late summer of 1944. Operation Halyard was an Office of Strategic Services mission to rescue more than 500 Allied Airmen who were scattered around a mountainous region in Serbia after their bombers were shot down by the Germans in WWII. It remains the largest rescue operation of American Airmen in history. The U.S. State Department, U.S....

70 YEARS SINCETHE KRAGUJEVAC MASSACRE of October 1941:A Legacy of 'Never Forget'German soldiers escorting Serbian civilians from Kragujevac and its surrounding area to be executed in October 1941. Photo: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.The policy was the Nazi response to the first successful organized uprising in occupied Europe. The Serbian resistance forces under the command of Serbia’s General Draza Mihailovich not only threatened Germany’s southern flank in Europe and her occupation of Serbia after Yugoslavia fell to Hitler in April of 1941, but critically delayed Hitler’s planned attack on the Soviet Union that summer. The Germans retaliated, but it wasn’t...

With xenophobia and regional tensions on the rise, the EU has to get tough with the new Croatian government – all cultural nods and winks towards second world war fascism must go.Andrej Plenkovic, president of HDZ, waves to his supporters in Zagreb, Croatia on 8 September 2016. Photograph: Antonio Bronic/Reuters Amid the alleys and ancient churches of Šibenik, Croatia, the late-summer tourists look quizzical as a tough old man harangues a meeting in the public square. “In 1945, people worked for free to build factories, roads, new houses. We wanted to build a better country then,” he says. “Find me...

American Flag and the Flag of Serbia image courtesy of the Studenica Foundation. REMEMBERING SERBIA'S GREAT GENERAL DRAZA MIHAILOVICH ON AMERICA'S MEMORIAL DAY Taking to the Ravna Gora hills of Serbia 75 years ago in May of 1941 with only a handful of men to mount the first real resistance to Hitler's occupying forces in Europe was impressive. The guts it took and the resolve necessary for these men and their leader to initiate such a courageous act against the Nazi war machine that in 1941 appeared to be invincible seems almost inconceivable now. But it was real, and the...

After a commemoration organized by the Jewish Communities last week [April 15, 2016] and the official state commemoration on Friday [April 22], the third commemoration takes place at Jasenovac camp.

General Draza Mihailovich Belgrade 1946 The famous bridge over the Drina River in Visegrad, Bosnia. Photo: Creative Commons Aleksandra's note: 70 years ago, on the night of March 12-13, 1946 near Visegrad in Bosnia, the town made famous by Ivo Andric's classic novel "The Bridge on the Drina" published in 1945, the most decorated Serbian military officer and leader of the first successful uprising against the Nazis in all of occupied Europe was finally captured by the Yugoslav communist special security agents (OZNA) loyal to Marshal Josip Broz Tito after a long manhunt. A short time later the Yugoslav communists...

Lt. Col. James M. Inks (USAF) 1921-2004 Lt. Col. James M. Inks (USAF): American Military Forces treated as prisoners by Tito's Partisans / The Chetniks treated us like free men and allies."...I kept an accurate account of what happened to me and my comrades while we were in Yugoslavia. This has recently had its secret classification removed by the army and is now cleared for publication. I hope in the near future to have it before every citizen in the United States, in one of our popular magazines and you can rest assured that I will leave nothing out that...

General Draza Mihailovich on Ravna Gora in Serbia 1943 Aleksandra's Note: This year, 2016, will mark the 70th anniversary of the martyrdom of Serbian legend General Draza Mihailovich. There have been many testimonies over the last 70 years that accurately reflect who the General was as both military commander and as a man. Due to the vast institutionalization of communist propaganda over the course of these same seven decades, the truth has had to fight its way to the light. But "Truth" does, and always will, prevail. That is the nature of God's justice, and God's justice will always be...

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic was in the Vatican on Friday [Sept. 11, 2015] where he met with the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis.The Roman Catholic Church "is not rushing to declare Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac a saint," Francis said during his meeting, according to Nikolic. Nikolic told Tanjug late on Friday that he "had a very open discussion with the pope about Stepinac" during which he told him that the Croatian Catholic cardinal had played "a very bad role" in the Second World War. "He (Stepinac) should at least not have remained silent as someone was killing more...

Serbia is this Wednesday marking a day of remembrance for the Serbs who were killed or exiled in the wars during the 1990s.A convoy of ethnic Serb refugees expelled from Croatia 20 yearsa ago (Tanjug, file) The government also declared today a day of mourning for the victims of Croatia's Operation Storm that took place 20 years ago and resulted in the expulsion of over 200,000 Serbs, while more than 2,000 were listed as killed or missing. A memorial service for the victims in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina will be held in St. Marko's Church in Belgrade. At noon, bells will...

Croatia's Operation Storm was a joint criminal enterprise whose goal was to expel the Serb people in Croatia from the areas they lived in for centuries.This has been stated by the head of the Coalition of Refugee Associations Miodrag Linta. He spoke for Serbia's state broadcaster RTS on the occasion of the upcoming 20th anniversary of Croatia's military and police campaign. Linta said that over 220,000 Serbs were expelled from Croatia during Operation Storm, while around 2,000 were killed - 1,200 of them civilians. At the same time more than 40,000 residential and business premises owned by Serbs were set...

Aleksandra's Note: Many thanks to Tom Djurdjevich for this essay and reminder about the Serbs who were directly involved with the American Apollo Space Program. This makes me very proud to be an American Serb and I'm honored to call one of these gentlemen, NASA Project Coordinator David Vuich, a friend. David Vuich is one of our esteemed Serbian patriots here in America who was also very active in the "Mihailovich Monument in Washington, D.C. project" that was initiated in the mid 1970's. So glad that David Vuich is still going strong today. The Serbian Diaspora is very fortunate to...

Portrait of General Mihailovich by Wisconsin artist Jim Pollard. JUSTICE PREVAILS EVEN IN DEATH - A VICTORIOUS VINDICATION FOR GENERAL DRAZA MIHAILOVICH! On May 14, 2015 what so many of us have been hoping and praying for all these years finally came to pass! As the world marked the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, one of the war's greatest heroes and martyrs was officially rehabilitated by the Higher Court in Belgrade, Serbia! The historic decision was final, reversing one of the most unjust convictions in the history of mankind, and restored all civil rights to Serbian...

A monument to Gavrilo Princip was unveiled on Sunday in Belgrade in the presence of Serbian and RS [Republika Srpska in Bosnia] presidents Tomislav Nikolic and Milorad Dodik. Princip was a member of the Young Bosnia (Mlada Bosna) movement in the early 20th century, who on Vidovdan (St. Vitus Day, June 28) 1914 in Sarajevo assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. “Gavrilo Princip was a hero, a symbol of the idea of freedom, the assassin of tyrants and the carrier of the European idea of liberation from slavery,” Nikolic said at the ceremony. As far as Germany and Austria-Hungary were concerned,...