Denial of genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia

Last updated

Contents

Denial of the genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a Nazi German puppet state which existed during World War II, is a historical negationist claim that no systematic mass crimes or genocide against Serbs took place in the NDH, as well as an attempt to minimize the scale and severity of genocide.

One of the strategies includes the claims that the Jasenovac concentration camp was just a labor camp, not an extermination camp. The Croatian Wikipedia has also attracted attention from international media because of bias and negationism about the crimes of the NDH.

Background

Ustase militia execute prisoners near the Jasenovac concentration camp Ustase militia execute prisoners near the Jasenovac concentration camp.jpg
Ustaše militia execute prisoners near the Jasenovac concentration camp

Historiography

SFR Yugoslavia

The genocide of Serbs was not properly examined in the aftermath of the war, because the post-war Yugoslav government led by the Communist Party didn't encourage independent scholars out of concern that ethnic tensions stemming from the war could have the capacity to destabilize the new regime. [1] [2] [3] [4] They tried to conceal wartime atrocities and to mask specific ethnic losses. [2] [5] The genocide scholar Henry R. Huttenbach wrote that “an ideologized and camouflaged Titoist Yugoslav history” suppressed the genocide against Serbs, as well as that “suppression bordering of total denial”. [5] All World War II casualties were presented as “Yugoslavs”, while all collaborationists were named as “fascists”. [5]

Croatia

Historian Mirjana Kasapović explained that in the most important scientific works on genocide, crimes against Serbs, Jews and Roma in the NDH are unequivocally classified as genocide. [6] However, she concluded that there are three main strategies of historical revisionism in the part of modern-day Croatian historiography: the NDH was a normal counter-insurgency state at the time; no mass crimes were committed in the NDH, especially genocide; the Jasenovac camp was just a labor camp, not an extermination camp. [6] Croatian textbooks justified the existence of the NDH with an emotional narrative: the “millennial thread” of Croatian statehood had been annulled under by “the greater-Serbian regime’s attempt to destroy all signs of Croatian nationness”. [7] Furthermore, textbooks relativize terror against Serbs by claiming that was a result of “their previous hegemony”. [7]

Historian Hrvoje Klasić noted that since the independence of Croatia during the Breakup of Yugoslavia, a new approach to the study and teaching of Croatian history was established, which includes downplaying and denying Ustaše crimes. [8] He stated that the trend of revisionism and negationism varied in intensity over the next twenty-five years, but was never completely stopped. [8] Historian Rory Yeomans said in 2018 that historical revisionism in the 1990s had “its strongholds in the academy and mainstream politics” and that today's revisionists aim to rehabilitate the Ustaše regime in its entirety, comparing it to a Tuđman-era when the trend was to minimize the crimes or rehabilitate only certain aspects of it. [9] He also noted that revisionists claim that commemorating the Ustaše crimes constitutes an attempt to “blacken the name of Croatia, declare the Croats a genocidal people and criminalize the Homeland War”. [9]

In his review of Josip Jurčević's work, The Origin of the Jasenovac Myth, the German historian Holm Sundhaussen notes that while Jurčević is justified in his criticism of communist Yugoslavia's Jasenovac casualty numbers, he "willingly and thoughtlessly" adopts the term "Jasenovac myth" and tries to demonstrate, through the omitting of information, that Jasenovac was a "labor camp" and that genocide in the WW2 Independent State of Croatia did not occur. [10] Jurčević also wrote that concentration camp victims dying from poor hygiene and infectious diseases. [7]

Croatia's far-right often advocates the false theory that Jasenovac was a "labour camp" where mass murder did not take place. [11] Some rights activists say that distortion of World War II crimes exist in Croatia and it was especially prevalent during the 1990s war when anti-Serb sentiment was high. [12] One prominent promoter of this is the far-right NGO "The Society for Research of the Threefold Jasenovac Camp". Its members include journalist Igor Vukić and academic Josip Pečarić who have written books promoting this theory. [13] The Ideas promoted by its members have been amplified by mainstream media interviews and book tours. [13] The last book, "The Jasenovac Lie Revealed" written by Vukić, prompted the Simon Wiesenthal Center to urge Croatian authorities to ban such works, noting that they "would immediately be banned in Germany and Austria and rightfully so". [14] [15] When asked if the society engaged in genocide denial, Vukić responded by saying "When it’s about genocide, it is often linked to Serbs. If it’s about that, we do deny it". [12] Menachem Z. Rosensaft, the general counsel of the World Jewish Congress, condemned the affirmative column about Vukić's book written by Milan Ivkošić in the Večernji list , emphasizing that “there are horrific realities of history that must not be questioned, distorted or denied by anyone”. [16]

In 2016, Croatian filmmaker Jakov Sedlar released a documentary Jasenovac – The Truth which advocated the same theories, labeling the camp as a "collection and labour camp". [17] The film contained alleged falsifications and forgeries, in addition to denial of crimes and hate speech towards politicians and journalists. [18]

High officials' statements

Some Croats, including politicians, have attempted to minimise the magnitude of the genocide perpetrated against Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia. [19]

By 1989, the future President of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman had embraced Croatian nationalism, and published Horrors of War: Historical Reality and Philosophy , in which he questioned the official number of victims killed by the Ustaše during the Second World War. In his book, Tuđman claimed that between 30,000 and 40,000 died at Jasenovac. [20] Some scholars and observers accused Tuđman of “flirting with ideas associated with the Ustaše movement” and downplaying the number of victims in the Independent State of Croatia. [21] [22] [23] [24] [25]

Nonetheless, in his book, he did confirm that genocide happened:

It is a historical fact that the Ustaše regime of NDH, in its implementation of the plan to reduce the 'hostile Serb Orthodox people in Croatian lands', committed a large genocidal crime over the Serbs, and proportionately even higher over the Roma and Jews, in the implementation of Nazi racial politics. [26]

Franjo Tudman sparked controversy over "flirting with the Ustase ideas" and downplaying the number of victims in the NDH FranjoTudman.JPG
Franjo Tuđman sparked controversy over “flirting with the Ustaše ideas” and downplaying the number of victims in the NDH

In 2006, a video was leaked showing Croatian President Stipe Mesić giving a speech in Australia in the early 1990s, in which he said that the Croats had "won a great victory on April 10th" (the date of the formation of the Independent State of Croatia in 1941), and that Croatia needed to apologize to no one for Jasenovac. [27] Later on, Mesić apologized for his indecent statement and stated that he undoubtedly considered anti-fascism to be the basis of modern-day Croatia, appreciated Yugoslav Partisans and considered it necessary to "reaffirm anti-fascism as a human and civilization commitment in the function of the unavoidable condition for the building of a democratic Croatia, a country of equal citizens." [28] In 2017, two new videos Mesić from 1992 were made public in which he stated that Jasenovac wasn't a death camp and praised Ustashe minister Andrija Artuković. [11]

On 17 April 2011, in a commemoration ceremony, Croatian President Ivo Josipović warned that there were "attempts to drastically reduce or decrease the number of Jasenovac victims", adding, "faced with the devastating truth here that certain members of the Croatian people were capable of committing the cruelest of crimes." [29]

Croatian historian and politician Zlatko Hasanbegović, who previously served as the country's Minister of Culture in 2016, has been accused of downplaying the crimes of the Ustaše and trying to rehabilitate their ideas in his work. [30] In 1996, Hasanbegović wrote at least two articles in the magazine "The Independent State of Croatia", edited by the small far-right Croatian Liberation Movement party (HOP), in which he glorified the Ustaše as heroes and martyrs and denied crimes committed by the regime. [31] In response, Hasanbegović denied being an apologist for the regime, stating that Ustaša crimes during the Second World War were "the biggest moral lapse" of the Croatian people in their history and that his words were taken out of context for political manipulation. [32]

Since 2016, anti-fascist groups, leaders of Croatia's Serb, Roma and Jewish communities and former top Croat officials have boycotted the official state commemoration for the victims of the Jasenovac concentration camp because, as they said, Croatian authorities refused to denounce the Ustaše legacy explicitly and they downplayed and revitalized crimes committed by Ustaše. [33] [34] [35] [36]

In September 2019, during the meeting with Adama Dieng, the UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide, Željko Komšić, the Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina said that the crime of genocide against Serbs, Roma and Jews committed by the Independent State of Croatia is denied through the public and political activity of some individuals in Croatia. [37]

Croatian Wikipedia

The Croatian Wikipedia has received attention from international media for promoting a fascist worldview as well as a bias against Serbs by means of historical revisionism and negating or diluting the severity of the crimes that were committed by the Ustaše regime. The controversy erupted in September 2013 when a group of exiled Wikipedians started a Facebook page in order to discuss the takeover of the Croatian Wikipedia by right-wingers, bringing the issue to the attention of Croatian and Serbian news outlets. [38] The issue was reported by Croatia's daily Jutarnji list and even made its print edition's front page on 11 September 2013. [39] In one pertinent example, the Croatian page on the Jasenovac concentration camp refers to the camp as both a “collection camp” and a labor camp, and it downplays the crimes that were committed at Jasenovac, as well as the number of victims who died there, and it also relies on right-wing media and private blogs as references. [40]

Related Research Articles

Jasenovac concentration camp Concentration camp run by the Ustaše in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II

Jasenovac was a concentration and extermination camp established in Slavonia by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. The concentration camp, one of the ten largest in Europe, was established and operated by the governing Ustaše regime, which was the only quisling regime in occupied Europe to operate extermination camps solely on their own for Jews and other ethnic groups.

Ustaše Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization

The Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionary Movement, commonly known as Ustaše or by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croatian fascist, and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945. Its members murdered hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, and Roma as well as political dissidents in Yugoslavia during World War II.

Independent State of Croatia Puppet state of Nazi Germany and Italy within occupied Yugoslavia (1941-45)

The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, after the invasion by the Axis powers. Its territory consisted of most of modern-day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as some parts of modern-day Serbia and Slovenia, but also excluded many Croat-populated areas in Dalmatia, Istria, and Međimurje regions.

Ljubo Miloš

Ljubomir "Ljubo" Miloš was a Croatian public official who was a member of the Ustashe of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II. He served as commandant of the Jasenovac concentration camp on several occasions and was responsible for various atrocities committed there during the war. He fled Yugoslavia in May 1945 and sought refuge in Austria. In 1947, he returned to Yugoslavia with the intention of starting an anti-communist uprising. He was soon arrested by Yugoslav authorities and charged with war crimes. Miloš was found guilty on all counts and hanged in August 1948.

Vjekoslav Luburić Croatian Ustaše official

Vjekoslav Luburić was a Croatian Ustaše official who headed the system of concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during much of World War II. Luburić also personally oversaw and spearheaded the contemporaneous genocides of Serbs, Jews and Roma in the NDH.

Dinko Šakić was a Croatian Ustaše official who commanded the Jasenovac concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) from April to November 1944, during World War II.

Far-right politics in Croatia refers to any manifestation of far-right politics in the Republic of Croatia. Individuals and groups in Croatia that employ far-right politics are most often associated with the historical Ustaše movement, hence they have connections to Neo-Nazism and neo-fascism. That World War II political movement was an extremist organization at the time supported by the German Nazis and the Italian Fascists. The association with the Ustaše has been called "Neo-Ustashism" by Slavko Goldstein.

Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia Genocide by the Ustashe during WWII

The Genocide of the Serbs was the systematic persecution of Serbs which was committed during World War II by the fascist Ustaše regime in the Nazi German puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia between 1941 and 1945. It was carried out through executions in death camps, as well as through mass murder, ethnic cleansing, deportations, forced conversions, and war rape. This genocide was simultaneously carried out with the Holocaust in the NDH as well as the genocide of Roma, by combining Nazi racial policies with the ultimate goal of creating an ethnically pure Greater Croatia.

Ante Ciliga was a Croatian politician, writer and publisher. Ciliga was one of the founders of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ). Imprisoned in Stalin's Gulags in the 1930s, he later became an ardent nationalist and anti-Communist.

Croatia–Israel relations Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Croatia and the State of Israel

Full diplomatic relations between Croatia and Israel were established on April 9, 1997 following Croatia's independence from SFR Yugoslavia. Croatia has an embassy in Tel Aviv and honorary consulates in Ashdod, Caesarea, Jerusalem and Kfar Shmaryahu. Israel has an embassy in Zagreb. Relations between the two countries are described as friendly and highly cooperative. In recent years, Croatia and Israel intensified bilateral relations and cooperation in the field of defence and security. Croatia is one of the countries Israel occasionally turns to inside the EU to advocate on its behalf and it generally abstains or votes with Israel on key EU votes at the UN. Israeli president Reuven Rivlin described Croatia in 2019 as "Israel's strong ally in the EU, the UN and other multilateral organizations."

Jadovno concentration camp

The Jadovno concentration camp was a concentration and extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II. Commanded by Juco Rukavina, it was the first of twenty-six concentration camps in the NDH during the war. Established in a secluded area about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the town of Gospić, it held thousands of Serbs and Jews over a period of 122 days from May to August 1941. Inmates were usually killed by being pushed into deep ravines located near the camp. Estimates of the number of deaths at Jadovno range from 10,000 to 68,000, mostly Serbs. The camp was closed on 21 August 1941, and the area where it was located was later handed over to the Kingdom of Italy and became part of Italian Zones II and III. Jadovno was replaced by the greater sized Jasenovac concentration camp and its extermination facilities.

Jastrebarsko childrens camp Concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia

The Jastrebarsko children's camp held Serb children who had been brought there from various areas of the Axis puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia, during World War II. The children had been captured as a result of massacres and counter-insurgency operations conducted by the genocidal Ustaše-led government, its Axis allies and other collaborators since the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and establishment of the NDH in April 1941. The camp was located in the town of Jastrebarsko, about 37 kilometres (23 mi) southwest of the NDH capital, Zagreb, and operated from 12 July until October 1942. Camp administration was provided by nuns of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul order, with Ustaše guards.

The Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia

The Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia is a term which is primarily used in reference to the genocide of Jews, but sometimes, it is also used in reference to the genocide of Serbs and Romani (Porajmos), within the Independent State of Croatia, a fascist puppet state which existed during World War II, was led by the Ustaše regime, and ruled an occupied area of Yugoslavia which included most of the territory of modern-day Croatia, the whole of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina and the eastern part of Syrmia (Serbia). Of the 39,000 Jews who lived in the NDH in 1941, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states that more than 30,000 were killed. Of these, 6,200 were shipped to Nazi Germany and the rest of them were killed in the ISC, the vast majority were killed in Ustaše-run concentration camps, such as Jasenovac. The Ustaše were the only quisling forces in Europe who operated their own extermination camps for the purpose of killing Jews and members of other ethnic groups.

Josip Jurčević

Josip Jurčević is a Croatian historian, historical negationist and politician.

Jakov Sedlar is a Croatian film director and producer. A former cultural attaché during the 1990s in the Franjo Tudjman government, his documentaries promote Croatian nationalist views through propaganda. His 2016 documentary Jasenovac – The Truth sparked controversy and condemnation for downplaying and denying the crimes committed at the Jasenovac concentration camp by the Ustaše during World War II, instead focusing on crimes supposedly committed against Croats by communist partisans at the camp following the war, while using alleged misinformation and forgeries to present its case, in addition to naming former and current Croatian officials, intellectuals, historians and journalists it dubs as "Yugoslav nationalists concealing the truth".

<i>Jasenovac – istina</i> 2016 Croatian film directed by Jakov Sedlar

Jasenovac – istina is a 2016 revisionist documentary film by the Croatian filmmaker Jakov Sedlar. The film contends that the extent of the Holocaust in Croatia and the World War II-era genocide of the country's Serb population was exaggerated through post-war communist propaganda. It focuses primarily on Jasenovac, a concentration camp run by Croatia's wartime fascist Ustaše government where an estimated 100,000 are believed to have perished, and suggests that the actual death toll never exceeded 18,000. The film also argues that Jasenovac continued being used as a concentration camp by Yugoslavia's communist authorities well after World War II, and that more inmates perished when it was run by the communists than when it was run by the Ustaše.

Mijo Babić

Marijan Mijo Babić (1903–1941), nicknamed Giovanni, was a deputy of the Croatian fascist dictator Ante Pavelić, and the first commander of all concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia. He was head of the Third Bureau of the Ustasha Surveillance Service, and was also a member of the Main Ustaše Headquarters, one of the two main deputies of Pavelić.

Antun Najžer, also known by the hypocorism Ante Najzer, was a Croatian physician and member of the fascist Ustaše movement who served as the commander of the Sisak children's concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia during World War II. He was dubbed the "Croatian Mengele" by survivors due to conducting medical experiments on his victims. For these crimes, in September 1946 he was sentenced to execution by a firing squad.

Ljubica Štefan, was a Croatian historian. She was awarded honorific title Righteous Among the Nations.

Stjepan Razum is a Croatian church historian and Roman Catholic priest. He is the director of the Archdiocesan Archives in Zagreb and a member of the Commission for the Croat martyrology of the Episcopal Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Episcopal Conference of Croatia; mainly researching on the Catholic priests and nuns killed and persecuted by Yugoslav communists.

References

  1. ↑ "Jasenovac". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2007. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  2. 1 2 McCormick 2008.
  3. ↑ Odak & Benčić 2016, p. 67.
  4. ↑ Bürgschwentner, Egger & Barth-Scalmani 2014, p. 455.
  5. 1 2 3 Huttenbach 2016, p. 224.
  6. 1 2 Kasapović 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 Pavasović Trošt 2018.
  8. 1 2 Klasić 2016.
  9. 1 2 Yeomans, Rory (6 June 2018). "How to Combat Croatian Revisionists' Culture of Lies". Balkan Insight. BIRN.
  10. ↑ Sundhaussen, Holm. "Rezension 55: Jurčévić, Josip: Die Entstehung des Mythos Jasenovac. Probleme bei der Forschungsarbeit zu den Opfern des II. Weltkrieges auf dem Gebiet von Kroatien". Osteuropa-Institut.
  11. 1 2 Milekic, Sven (24 January 2017). "Croatia Ex-President Shown Downplaying WWII Crimes". Balkan Insight. BIRN.
  12. 1 2 Opačić, Tamara (24 November 2017). "Selective Amnesia: Croatia's Holocaust Deniers". Balkan Insight. BIRN.
  13. 1 2 Vladisavljevic, Anja (7 January 2019). "Book Event Questioning WWII Crimes Planned for Zagreb Church". Balkan Insight. BIRN.
  14. ↑ "Simon Wiesenthal Centre urges Croatia to ban Jasenovac revisionist works". hr.n1info.com. N1 Zagreb. 9 January 2019.
  15. ↑ "Jewish rights group urges Croatia to ban pro-Nazi book". Associated Press. 9 January 2019.
  16. ↑ Rosensaft, Menachem (27 August 2018). "Croatia Must Not Whitewash the Horrors of Jasenovac". Balkan Insight. BIRN.
  17. ↑ Milekic, Sven (21 April 2017). "Dishonour for Zagreb Over 'Alternative Facts' About Holocaust". BalkanInsight. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  18. ↑ "Jakov Sedlar bi zbog filma 'Jasenovac – istina' mogao u zatvor" (in Croatian). Telegram. 18 April 2016.
  19. ↑ Drago Hedl (10 November 2005). "Croatia's Willingness To Tolerate Fascist Legacy Worries Many". BCR Issue 73. IWPR . Retrieved 30 November 2010.
  20. ↑ Sindbaek 2012, p. 178-179.
  21. ↑ Sadkovich 2010.
  22. ↑ Ciment & Hill 2012, p. 492.
  23. ↑ Horvitz & Catherwood 2014, pp. 432-433.
  24. ↑ Parenti 2002, pp. 44-45.
  25. ↑ "Franjo Tudjman". The Guardian. 13 December 1999. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  26. ↑ Tuđman, Franjo (1996). Velike ideje i mali narodi (in Croatian). Zagreb: Nakladni zavod Matice hrvatske. pp. 314–315., cited in Havel, Boris (2015). "O izučavanju holokausta u Hrvatskoj i hrvatskoj državotvornosti". Nova Prisutnost. 13 (1): 105. Retrieved 16 November 2017. Povijesna je činjenica da je ustaški režim NDH, u provedbi svojih planova o smanjenju ‘neprijateljskog srpsko-pravoslavnog pučanstva u hrvatskim zemljama’ izvršio velik genocidni zločin nad Srbima, a razmjerno još veći nad Romima i Židovima, u provedbi nacističke rasne politike.
  27. ↑ (in Croatian) Vijesti.net: "stari govor Stipe Mesića: Pobijedili smo 10. travnja!", index.hr; accessed 4 March 2014.
  28. ↑ "STIPE MESIĆ O SVOJIM IZJAVAMA O NDH I USTAŠTVU U AUSTRALIJI 'Dopustio sam da me upregnu u kola jednostrane interpretacije povijesti'". Jutarnji Vjesti. 13 February 2016.
  29. ↑ "Croatian Auschwitz must not be forgotten". B92. 17 April 2011. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  30. ↑ Hockenos, Paul (6 May 2016). "Croatia's Far Right Weaponizes the Past". ForeignPolicy.com.
  31. ↑ Simicevic, Hrvoje (12 February 2016). "What were the Ustasa for Minister Hasanbegovic?". BalkanInsight.com.
  32. ↑ "Hasanbegovic: Ustasha crimes biggest moral lapse in history of Croatian people". EBL News. 11 February 2016.
  33. ↑ "Dokle će se u Jasenovac u tri kolone?". N1. 23 April 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  34. ↑ "Jasenovac Camp Victims Commemorated Separately Again". balkaninsight.com. 12 April 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  35. ↑ "Jewish and Serbian minorities boycott official "Croatian Auschwitz" commemoration". neweurope.eu. 28 March 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  36. ↑ "Former top Croat officials join boycott of Jasenovac event". B92. 12 April 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  37. ↑ "Dokle će se u Jasenovac u tri kolone?". N1. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  38. ↑ Sampson, Tim (1 October 2013). "How pro-fascist ideologues are rewriting Croatia's history". dailydot.com.
  39. ↑ "Desničari preuzeli uređivanje hrvatske Wikipedije" [Right-wing editors took over the Croatian Wikipedia]. Jutarnji list (in Croatian). 10 September 2013.
  40. ↑ Milekic, Sven (26 March 2018). "How Croatian Wikipedia Made a Concentration Camp Disappear". BalkanInsight.com. Retrieved 27 November 2019.

Sources

Books

Journals


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.