THE SERBIAN RESISTANCE TO FASCISM

By Prof Dr Srbolijub Zivanovic MD DSc © 1998

Following is the text of a lecture given by Professor Dr. Zivanovic MD DSc at the Conference held at St Catherine's College, Oxford on 31st October 1998.

The closely argued, scientific and horrifying facts presented were supported by quotes from War Crimes Tribunals and a Video of the notorious extermination camp at Jasenovac. The total involvement of the Franciscan Order caused considerable discomfort to members of a generally stunned audience.

The full impact of the loss of British Sovereignty in a sphere not generally considered as pivotal, was painfully apparent, and the recent role played by Britain caused concern, especially to those who remember the Serbs as allies in the battle against the evils of Fascism.

The Campaign for United Kingdom Conservatism was founded by Rodney Atkinson in 1994 to unite Conservatives who opposed the policies of the then Tory Government not just on Europe and the destruction of the UK's democratic self governance, but on all the pillars of Conservatism which had so fatally undermined the individual, family, community, nation, rule of law and personal capital.

It became the task of the Campaign to identify the failures of Conservative Party policies, recommend different policies and propagate them to a wide audience throughout the country, not just to the journalistic and political classes in London.

UK Conservatism has attracted growing support, has sold over 150,000 leaflets; holds numerous discussion meetings around the country and two conferences a year at Oxford, which attract international attention and support. Speakers have included Ian Duncan-Smith MP, Bernard Connolly, Rupert Allason, Jan Myrdal, Norris McWhirter CBE, Bill Jamieson, Enoch Powell, Dr Martin Holmes, Bill Cash MP, Peter Hitchins, Dr Erik Goethe, Professor Srboljub Zivanovic, Patricia Morgan, Dr Dennis O'Keefe, Sir Richard Body MP, Professor Patrick Minford, Martin Howe QC, Mischa Gavrilovic and many others.

Professor Zivanovic

Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is an honour to be able to speak to such a select and prominent audience. But it is not going to be a pleasure for either me or for you, because I am going to tell you something about the worst imaginable terrors that happened in Croatia during the Second World War.

Early in 1941 the Croatian Nazi State and Croatian Catholic Church leaders, supported by the Pope of the time and the Vatican, formed a huge concentration camp at Jasenovac, Gradina, Stara Gradiska and other places surrounding Jasenovac.

The camp was formed for the extermination of orthodox Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and all the others who dared to be against Croatian Nazi or Ustasha Government. More than 730,000 Serbs, between 30,000 and 40,000 Jews - we don't know the exact number - and nearly all Gypsies were exterminated at that slaughter camp. We don't know how many Gypsies were killed, nobody bothered to keep a record of that, but we know that only 405 Gypsies out of 20,000 to 40,000 survived and were found in Croatia in 1945. In Bosnia and Herzegovina there were only 422 Gypsies still alive in 1945. Bosnia and Herzegovina were part of the Croatian puppet state, a protectorate of Germany and Italy.

You do not know much about Jasenovac because the communist government of Marshall Tito did not wish to even allow talk of Croatian atrocities, because it would endanger the policy of unity and brotherhood. So many Serbs were slaughtered and killed just because they were Serbs belonging to the eastern orthodox church, that Tito was afraid that Serbs would try to seek revenge. There could be a civil war and Croats would be killed. Tito was a true Croat and he was not interested in the suffering of Serbs.

But Tito had to do something about the Jasenovac camp because pressure from veteran's organisations and the population in general was great. So it was decided to erect a huge monument on the Jasenovac site in 1965. But the Monument was erected without any inscription referring to the Croatian genocide against Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. In 1964 on the insistence of veteran associations, a group of forensic anthropologists was appointed to make a preliminary investigation at Jasenovac on the left bank of the Sava River and at Gradina on the right bank, that is on the Bosnia side. The Group was given 5 working days on each site to open pits in some of the mass graves to see what could be found in the pits. To estimate the number of victims in mass graves and their ethnic origin, sex, age and so on.

Most of the well established professors and prominent research workers in Yugoslavia declined to take part in this investigation because the Communist Party, Tito Government and everybody in power were against investigating the site. There were only three young assistant lecturers who were prepared, being young, to take part in the investigation of the site. Two of them were from Slovenia, Lubljana. Dr. Anton Pogacnik and Mrs Vida Brodar. The third one was from Novi Sad University, Dr. Srboljub Zivanovic, that is me.

Before we started our investigation of the site we had the opportunity to get all relevant information and advice from the Professor of Forensic Science at the University of Zagreb and later of Novi Sad, Professor Ante Premeru. He was a Croat. Professor Premeru was captured by Nazis in 1941 and sent to Jasenovac, because he was against Nazis. As an inmate he saw all the atrocities. As a Professor of Forensic Science he recorded in his mind everything that he could see. The other inmate of scientific prominence was Professor Zora Radujkov who was captured in Zagreb in 1944 and sent first to Stara Gradiska (that was a part of Jasenovac for women and children) and then to Jasenovac camp. She witnessed the killing of numerous women and children.

We also interviewed a number of victims who managed to survive these atrocities. Before I go on with the description of our work and the results of our investigation, I must tell you something about the reasons for the Croatian genocide of the Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. Victims of other nationalities were not so numerous.

Ladies and Gentlemen, time is short, and so I am going to show you a video of the Jasenovac camp with English subtitles, this will give you a visual impression while I continue to talk.

Immediately after the formation of the so-called independent state of Croatia in 1941, Croats began carrying out unheard of crimes against the Serbian Orthodox population, Jews and Gypsy population. The attempt to create an ethnically pure Croat Catholic area called for a demonic project of genocide of unbelievable scope in view of the then national structure of 3,069,000 or 50.78% Croats, 1,874,000 orthodox Serbs or 30.56% and 717,000 or 11.86% Moslem. When I say in Croatia I mean in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina together.

So how did all this start? From time immemorial, and evidently since the 8th Century, there was a permanent fight by the Roman Catholic Bishops to get hold of the Balkan peninsular. I have no time to speak of the events of past centuries but will concentrate only on this century.

The Roman Catholic Church was a consistent supporter of the Holy Roman Catholic Austria Hungarian Empire, and fought against the formation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia with a Serbian orthodox King as the Head of State. The Catholic Church started to educate Croats to hate orthodox Serbs, and to fight for the destruction of Yugoslavia and the extermination of Orthodox Serbs. In all Catholic monasteries since before the end of the last century, groups of Priests preparing Croats for terrorist activities have been identified. When the second world war erupted the Croatian Catholic Nation was well prepared for genocide against Serbs and all the others who were not Roman Catholics.

The Catholic Order of Franciscans was the main grass-roots group of Priests who led the Croatian people to commit genocide. They were the most prominent killers, slaughterers, Commanding Officers of Jasenovac and other extermination camps. I must give you some examples of the Franciscan murderers and monasteries that were training the killers.

For instance Cantic Monastery was headquarter of Slavko Kvaternik, founder of the Croatian Nazi State. At Christmas 1940 a decision was made there to join Hitler and Mussolini in the fight against Britain and her allies. The guardian of these monasteries, Herman Castimir and Friar Benko formed the first concentration camp for the extermination for Serbs, Gypsies and Jews.

According to the Croatian Press, 'Croatian People Paper' number 110 page 13 dated 4th June 1941, the Franciscan monastery at Siroki Brijeg became the main training camp for Croatian terrorists and slaughterers who were preparing for the genocide against the Serbs under the leadership of the Franciscan Priest Dr Radoje Glavas, Cannon Ivan Mikulin was the main organiser of the extermination of Serbs in Ogulin according to 'New Croatia' number 128 dated 1st June 1943 page 6. There are thousands of such examples.

The Archbishop of Croatia during the second world war, Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, who was beatified by the present Pope John Paul II this month, supported his clergy in the genocide of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies, and even blessed the Croatian slaughterers who came to show him their hands covered with the blood of Serbian children whom they had slaughtered.

That speaks volumes for the present Catholic Church! With a Pope such as John Paul II, it seems that this Church has the Saints that it deserves!

Let us come back to Jasenovac. The first Commanding Officer at the extermination camp at Jasenovac was Franciscan. Miroslav Filipovic-Majstorovic from Catholic Monastery Petricevac near Banjaluka, was the first organiser of the slaughter of Serbs in the villages around Banuluka. On February 7th 1942 he led Croatian Ustashes to Motika village. He personally grabbed the child of Djuro Glamocin and slashed his neck saying 'Ustasha, this is the way in which I baptise these bastards in the name of God. You should just follow my example. Let this thing be on my soul, but I am going to give you my forgiveness and the forgiveness of the Church for your acts.'

More than 1500 women and children were killed in that village on that day. When he became the Commanding Officer at Jasenovac he used to kill a number of children himself every day. Father Zvonko Brekalo, Father Zvonko Lipovac, Father Culina and hundreds of other Catholic Priests did the same.

At the Second World War Criminal Tribunal in Zagreb recorded hearing no. 2006, Commanding Officer of Jasenovac, Father Miroslav Filipovic-Majstorovic admitted that he himself killed approximately 100 victims every day. That he knew of the mass extermination of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. That he received verbal instruction from Max Luburic, who's sister was the wife of Dinko Sakic, now on trial in Zagreb. She was the Commanding Officer of women's camp at Stara Gradiska, which was an extension of Jasenovac.

Father Filipovic described to the court how the victims were led to Gradina and forced to go down into excavated pits. Each was hit by mallet blow at the back of the head, which broke the skull. Some victims were shot and some slaughtered with knives. Young women and girls were raped and then killed. Just before the end of the war cadavers were excavated and burned to clear the traces of mass killings. That was his testimony to the Court.

During the Communist rule in Yugoslavia in early '43, The Churchill Government was asked by the Vatican State to protect Croats who had committed genocide against the Serbs and was offered in return, the co-operation of the Catholic Church in Italy during the Allied landings. Tito offered to protect the Croats. The British Government accepted the offer and started to support the Communists in Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia was given to the Soviet Union as a reward for the fight on the eastern front. Serbs were left in the hands of their enemies. Tito ordered that all traces of Jasenovac be removed in the name of brotherhood and unity. Even the families of the slaughtered Serbs had to keep quiet.

Croats also committed the crime of genocide of the Jews. More 30,000 Jewish men women and children were killed in Jasenovac in the most inhumane way. The Croatian Minister of the Interior, Dr Andrija Arttukovic, who was the master of this project, informed the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann on February 23rd 1942, that Croatia had radically resolved the Jewish Question.

The same happened to the Gypsies, but Croats did not bother to keep an account of the slaughter of Gypsies whom they treated as sub-human. Croats slaughtered and brutally killed hundreds of thousands of men, women and children only because they belonged to a specific religion or nation.

Let me give an extract from the Court transcript of the trial of the war criminal, Dr. Andrija Artukovic. 'Those arrested had their ears or noses severed, their eyes gouged out, were killed with knives or clubs, their skin sliced into strips, their bodies placed on nails. Female genital organs were used as ashtrays, the breasts were cut off women. They were thrown into furnaces or killed with poisonous injections.' That is what he said in Court!

The most brutal form of Croatian crime was the mass murder of children. Croatian War Criminal Father Dr. Viktor Gutic publicly stated 'All the Serb vermin of 15 years of age and over, we will kill. While the children will be placed in Catholic Monasteries and we will make good Catholics of them.'

Father Dionisije Juricev, in his clerical robes, openly proclaimed 'No one except Catholics will be allowed to live in Croatia, and those who refuse to be converted will be dealt with, (by which he meant sent to Jasenovac). It is no sin today even to kill a small child who hinders Croatian moment.'

What has happened during the last eight years in Yugoslavia? The Vatican and it's allies in the United States and Germany decided to destroy Yugoslavia. The American so-called "retired" Officers with the help of NATO organised the partition of Yugoslavia into unnatural States which cannot survive without external interference.

Serbs have been expelled from their country of Krajina, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and American troops bombarded the Serbian Army with nuclear weapons. More than 1,000,000 Serbs managed to escape to Serbia. Croats continue to commit genocide against Serbs. Croats moved into Serbian houses and so do not want any refugee to return. Serbian Orthodox Churches were burned down, Bishops and Priests expelled and the Vatican policy goes on.

The British Government failed to pursue their own Foreign Policy and gave in to the Americans and Germans. You can see it even today when Tony Blair and his puppet, Cook, blindly repeat Clinton's lies about Kosovo. Even our retired, old and senile Lady Margaret Thatcher, whom I used to admire very much some time ago, recently went to the Croatian Capital to proclaim that the Serbs were guilty of everything - and for that she received an Order from the new pro-Nazi Croatian State, which committed another genocide against Serbs recently.

The prospect is that Great Britain will have to follow commandments from Bonn, Berlin and Washington in future. Unfortunately Great Britain has lost it's independent foreign policy.

The friend of Mrs Thatcher, the Croatian President Dr. Franjo Tudjman proclaimed that he is very lucky that his wife is neither Serb or a Jew. He also said in his book, 'Wastelands of Historical Reality' published in 1989 'that Genocide is historically justified.' So Margaret Thatcher agrees with that, because she agrees with him. He is trying to minimise the number of victims in Jasenovac, the Croatian Government is still continuing the Catholic policy of the solution of the schismatic orthodox problem in the Holy Croatian Catholic State to this day.

Dr. Mile Budak described this policy in the following way: 'One third of Serbs are to be killed, one third expelled and one third converted to Catholicism'. What the Ustasha could not complete during the second world war was completed during the recent dismemberment of Yugoslavia. Genocide against Serbs was completed in Croatia and Bosnia with a NATO force bombardments, killing of civilians, children, old and sick. The British Air Force participated in this genocide under the orders of American Generals.

The genocide against Jews was completed by February 23rd 1942 when Croatian Minister and war criminal Dr. Andrija Artukovic, who managed to survive till old age in the USA, informed Adolf Eichmann that Croatia had radically resolved the Jewish Question.

Franjo Tudjman the present Head of Croatia, a few days ago, informed the present Pope that Croatia had also resolved the Serbian Orthodox problem, with the help of the European Union and NATO.

The Orthodox Church lost three Bishops during the Second World War, they were severely tortured, nails were hammered into their feet and finger and toe nails were pulled out, and so on… The rest managed to escape to Serbia. 220 Clergymen were murdered. In present Croatia Serbian Clergymen were deported together with the Bishops, and not allowed to come back.

The present fight in Kosovo is just another war against Serbs. It is well known that the majority of Serbian monasteries and historical places are in Kosovo. Mudja Hadin and Croatian mercenaries are fighting against Serbs in Kosovo as members of the so called 'Kosovo Liberation Army'. Serbs are being expelled from the heart of their traditional homeland by the American Arch-liar, Clinton, and CNN and the propaganda machine are against Serbs.

The British Labour Government is giving Clinton it's wholehearted support. Catholic magnum crimen is going on against Serbs with full force. The Serbs are blamed for defending their own country. If Kosovo is lost to the Serbs, no nation in the European Union or the USA will ever be safe.

Those who support terrorists will have to pay with their own lives.

The Veteran's Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina established a team of forensic anthropologists by their letter no. 102 signed by it's President Dusan Misiraca on 15th September 1964. And the Veteran's Association of Croatia established the same team of anthropologists by it's letter no. 0101744 signed by it's President Jaksa Singer on the 19th September 1964. The members of the investigating team were Mrs. Vida Brodar, Research Fellow of the Institute of Anthropology of the University of Lubljana, Slovenia. Mr Anton Pogacnik, assistant lecturer in Anthropology at the Institute of Anthropology of the University of Lubljana, Slovenia and Dr. Srboljb Zivanovic, Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, London and assistant lecturer at the University of Novi Sad, Autonohous Province of Vdjvodina.

The aims and duties of the team were to excavate a number of delineated pits on some of the mass graves in the fields of Jasenovac and Gradina concentration camps to get an idea of the contents of the mass graves. To inspect human remains from the pits and to establish sex, age, racial affinities and cause of death. To estimate the number of victims. The report of the Anthropologists was published in 'Catena Mundi, (vol. 1 page 789 and on) for Gradina site and (page 778 onwards) for Jasenovac site' in 1992, because it was hidden in the archives until that time.

The internationally accepted methods and instruments described by Rudolph Martin (Lehrbuch der Anthropologie, Gustav Fisher, Jena, 1928) were used during the investigation.

In preliminary research a further report and instructions by the Professor of Forensic Medicine, University of Zagreb, Croatia, and the University of Novi Sad, Professor Ante Premeru, himself a victim and inmate of the concentration camp at Jasenovac from '41 to '45, who managed to survive. He personally witnessed atrocities and criminal activities, mass executions, torture, slaughter deprivation of food and water and so on, and was forced to personally dig out cadavers from mass graves to burn them so that the number of victims would not be able to be established after the war. He was a member of the State Commission for establishing War Crimes.

We also had a report on trial drilling to establish the location of mass graves by the Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Lubljana, Slovenia, Professor Alojz Sercelj. The drilling was done on the Gradina side only.

We had a verbal report from Professor Zora Radujkov University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Medicine, who was captured in Zagreb on 18th April 1944 and sent to Jasenovac where as an inmate she worked as a medical practitioner. She witnessed criminal activities and atrocities, mass murders of children imprisoned at Jasenovac and suffering of innocent people during the time that Nada Sakic was Commander of the Camp. She managed to survive and is still living in Novi Sad.

We had the verbal report of Nedelko Kukic who managed to escape from Jasenovac three times and was three times recaptured, but is still alive. He witnessed mass executions during which victims were either killed by mallet or their throats were slashed by a knife.

The verbal report of Dragan Cukalec confirmed that he had witnessed the same sort of activity, he managed to survive too.

What happened to the material evidence? The remains of cadavers were reburied at the site after the anthropological investigation. All objects found in the pits were also reburied after examination and recording, with the following exceptions. A number of skulls with injuries that were the cause of death were kept for the Jasenovac museum. A number of objects found in the pits were given to Jasenovac museum to be exhibited. Gold coins, crosses, Star of David jewellery, wedding rings, gold tooth crowns, and all other valuables were weighted and given to various associations. The remains of a number of brains found in the skulls were sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Lubluna, for further tests.

Excavations on the Gradina site were begun on the 22nd June 1964 and were completed on 27th June 1964. Excavations on the Jasenovac site began on 22nd September 1964 and were completed on 27th September 1964.

The results of the Anthropological Investigation was published in 'Catena Mundi, vol. 1' in 1992. After examining pits sized 6m by 2m and 3m by 4m, selected at random in the mass graves, it was found that the average number of skeletons was 27 per 2sq m - that is the size of a normal, single grave.

200 such mass graves were identified at that time. The method of extermination at the two sites were slightly different, at Gradina victims were brought directly from their homes and slaughtered with knives or by breaking their skulls with mallets at the edge of the mass grave, and then thrown into it along with all their possessions. These included jewellery, gold coins, money, babies dummies, shoes, milk bottles, pots and pans, invalid's crutches and so on.

They were predominantly the village population from Bosnia as could be seen from the remains of clothing and their possessions which were typical of Serbian Orthodox origin as could be seen from crosses and jewellery. At Jasenovac victims had been robbed of their possessions and only the remains of shoes, some clothing and some spoons could be found. Some had been killed by bullets but most had been slaughtered like those in Gradina. The average number of skeletons in the mass graves that we saw was estimated to be approximately 800. It as impossible to estimate how many bodies had been taken out of the mass graves and cremated mainly from the second half of 1943 to the end of the war when Dinko Sakic was Commanding Officer at the camp and tried to cover up the atrocities and crimes.

It was also impossible to estimate how many had been killed and thrown into the Sava River. I personally observed, for many weeks, cadavers from Jasenovac floating in their hundreds down the Danube River, every day. These cadavers were brought to the Danube by the River Sava. At that time I was living with my family on the banks of the Danube, as a nine year old, in the city of Smederevo.

The full report of our findings was never written, because the excavations that had begun were supposed to have continued when the weather was better in the spring of 1965. The two reports in the form of the diary of excavations were submitted to the veteran organisations of Bosnia Herzegovina and Croatia. The State authorities prevented the publication of these reports or any other information on the work of the team. All was kept a secret until the break up of the former Yugoslavia when it was very difficult to trace the reports and publish them.

The Yugoslav authorities had not been happy with the excavations at the Croatian extermination camp for Serbs, Jews and Gypsies at Jasenovac and surrounding places, because there was a fear of civil unrest if the results became known.

Croats killed more than 730,000 Serbs, between 30,000 and 40,000 Jews and nearly all the Gypsies living in Croatia.

My interview given to the Press in 1964 was not allowed to be published, and I was told by the authorities to keep quiet and stop talking about our work at Jasenovac/Gradina. Knowing that I would have great problems I emigrated from Yugoslavia and went to Africa and eventually came to England in 1968. I became a naturalised British citizen in 1974.

All the time the team of anthropologists was under pressure to keep the number of victims as low as possible. But it was impossible under any calculations to reduce the number of victims killed by the Croats below 700,000. The team of anthropologists suggested that excavations should be done systematically over all the ground, which is approximately 12.5 km long and 4.5 km wide, to establish the correct and full picture of the suffering of victims and extermination of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies under the so-called independent Croatian State under German occupation of Yugoslavia.

Such excavations could be organised even now, because skeletal remains and all the other objects are still buried just two or three feet below the surface of the ground. In present day Croatia, the President Franjo Tudjman who claims to be an historian, wants to minimise the number of people killed in Jasenovac, (he says there were between 20,000 and 30,000) and the number of other Croatian intellectuals try to do the same thing. However none of them have gone to Jasenovac and Gradina and tried to count the victims, which is the only way to see whether our team was correct or not.

If an international forensic team were to undertake the work, I am sure that they would find the same things that we found in 1965.

Thank you.