Dateline 10th September 2004

"The inscription reads, in Polish and German
To the innocent Polish and German victims who died in the years 1939 to 1945"

WARSAW, POLAND: NOVI SAD, SERBIA: ZAGREB, CROATIA

The re-appraisal of the Nazi dictatorship in Germany is now proceeding in those countries which either collaborated with the Nazis or were occupied by them. In Warsaw graveyards administered by the "Association for the care of German War Graves" honour German soldiers including SS members, among them until recently (!) the exterminator of the Warsaw Ghettoes SS Gruppenfuehrer Stroop.

In the Serb province of Vojvodina the "Danube Swabians" who were expelled for their collaboration with the Nazis are now claimed to be "completely innocent". In Croatia attempts to rehabilitate the war criminals of the fascist Ustasha are taking on a new intensity.

The Polish weekly newspaper Nie reports that in a German War graveyard in North Warsaw SS war criminals have been honoured. The graveyard was administered - with millions in subsidies from the German Government - by the "Association for the care of German War Graves".

At the inauguration in 1991 Polish soldiers stood an honour guard for the remains of 362 Wehrmacht and SS soldiers among them many who (with great cruelty) had put down the 1944 Warsaw uprising. Their names were carefully engraved in massive granite blocks. Also honoured was SS Gruppenfuehrer Juergen Stroop who was executed after the war for his crimes in putting down the Warsaw Uprising. Recently the "Association for the care of German War Graves" decided they could no longer sustain such a scandal and Stroop's name was removed.

The honouring of the German SS has occurred elsewhere in Poland. Two years ago at a German military graveyard near Wroclaw the bodies of the defenders of "Fortress Breslau", both ordinary and SS soldiers were reburied with the blessing of high ranking Polish priests. In Nieszawa south of Torun a memorial gives equal prominence to German soldiers and their Polish victims. The inscription reads, in Polish and German "To the innocent Polish and German victims who died in the years 1939 to 1945". Three years ago there was a failed attempt to commemorate "the atrocities committed against Germans". It was said at the time that the climate in Poland was "not yet ready" for such commemoration!

It does apparently seem timely in the successor states of the former Yugoslavia - destroyed principally on Germany's initiative (see several articles on this website). A Committee of Inquiry of the parliament of the Serb province of Vojvodina has just published after three years work the results of its examination of the events in Vojvodina during and just after the second World War ("Historical Truth")

110,000 people of all nationalities and religious denominations perished as a result of "fascist and communist revenge" the report states. Among those counted (whether criminals or victims) were the "completely innocent Danube Swabians". The so called "Ethnic Germans" in Yugoslavia had, during the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia (which began with the massive bombing of Belgrade on 6th April 1941 in which 30,000 civilians died - ed) collaborated with the German regime.

Patriots

In Croatia there are more attempts to make Ustasha war criminals into heroes. The (clerical fascist) Ustasha Movement was founded in 1929 (the same year that the Vatican and the Fascist leader of Italy Benito Mussolini concluded the Lateran Pact and the political socio-economic activities of Catholic Action took on new life - ed) and conducted a reign of terror throughout Yugoslavia as collaborators with the Nazi occupiers. (This included one of the worst extermination camps of the Second World War at Jasenovac where at least 400,000 Serbs, Jews and gypsies were killed - ed).

In July 2000 in Slunj a memorial was erected to honour Ustasha Officer Jure Francetic who was in charge of the infamous "Black legion" which persecuted and murdered Jews and other minorities. Communist partisans took him prisoner in 1943 and shot him. In Sveti Rok recently - despite protests from the "Association of Anti-Fascist Veterans and the Anti Fascists of Croatia" another memorial stone was erected for the "Croat Patriot" Mile Budak.

Budak was executed in 1945. He had been a member of the Ustasha Government during the war as Minister for Education and Religion and for a short period as Foreign Minister. He represented the clericl fascist state of Croatia as Ambassador in Berlin. He was responsible for the Croat Race Laws which was responsible for the killing and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Sinti and Gypsies. More than 120 nationalist intellectuals in Zagreb have signed a petition demanding a review of the Yugoslav military court which codnemned Budak to death.

Following strong protests in Croatia and abroad the Croat Government has decided to remove the memorials to Budak and Francetic. They were "damaging the image and the interests of the Republci of Croatia" said a Government announcement. At the same time the Government in Zagreb seeks the cooperation of those responsible for the attempts to rehabilitate such criminals. The ruling party's Presidium calls on them to stand by the state of Croatia as a "vital part of the spirit of Croatia".

SOURCES

Späte Vergangenheitsbewältigung. Erstmals Opfer und Täter der Nazis und der Kommunisten in der Vojvodina systematisch erfasst; Deutsche Welle Monitor Ost-/Südosteuropa 10.08.2004

Antifaschisten protestieren gegen Denkmal für einen Ustascha-Führer; Deutsche Welle Monitor Ost-/Südosteuropa 10.08.2004

Ein Denkmal am Weichselufer; Neues Deutschland 24.08.2004

Heftige Proteste gegen Gedenktafel für Ustascha-Minister; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 28.08.2004

Kroatische Regierung lässt Faschisten-Denkmäler entfernen; Der Standard 28.08.2004

Ausgemeißelt. Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge ehrte den Henker des Warschauer Ghettos, SS-Gruppenführer Jürgen Stroop, auf einer Gedenktafel; Junge Welt 28.08.2004

Denkmal in Thorn; Die Welt 28.08.2004

Protest-Versammlung der Anhänger des Ustascha-Führers Budak in Sveti Rok; Deutsche Welle Monitor Ost-/Südosteuropa 31.08.2004