Posted on 04/18/2008 3:17:37 PM PDT by Bokababe
17 April 2008 | 12:05 | Source: Tanjug ZAGREB -- Stjepan Mesic has criticized the Croatian parliament’s decision to spend more money on the commemoration for Bleiburg victims than Jasenovac victims.
“The fact is, not one Jasenovac victim was to blame for the Bleiburg victims, but a lot of Bleiburg victims were guilty for a lot of victims at Jasenovac,” said the Croatian president, stressing that the excuse that Jasenovac had received money earlier and Bleiburg had not, did not wash.
A commemoration for Second World War war crimes in Yugoslavia should be held in Jasenovac because it was the biggest death camp in the region, said Mesic, adding that Bleiburg, where the victims included many members of the former pro-Nazi quisling authorities, should nonetheless be commemorated too.
The parliament’s decision was also criticized by the Anti-Fascist Council.
Because the majority weren't Ustashe, that's why. The majority were Domobrans who weren't ideological.
You have to give the man credit for his honesty.
That, I do.
If I understand the Dobromani correctly, they were the NDH's regular army who didn't participate in the murderous excesses of the Ustashi, but they were still the primary regular army defending the NDH government that did commit those excesses.
Most of the sources that I looked at re Bleiburg said that the majority of the victims WERE Ustase, although it was hard to nail down specific numbers of those who were killed. They were all escaping Croatia because the Germans were retreating and the Yugoslav communists had won.
They were the regular army, but in 1944 the Ustashe attempted to combine the Ustashe and the Domobrani into one overall HOS.
Several Domobran generals attempted to switch Croatia over to the Allied side during the Lorkovic-Vokic Putsch that same year, but failed.
Most of the sources that I looked at re Bleiburg said that the majority of the victims WERE Ustase, although it was hard to nail down specific numbers of those who were killed. They were all escaping Croatia because the Germans were retreating and the Yugoslav communists had won.
Specifics are very, very difficult particularly because they're still digging and finding new mass graves all over Slovenia (since Tito didn't permit any digging during Yugo times). However, many of the Ustashe knew what fate awaited them if they surrendered to the Brits in Austria and made a run for it. The Domobrani by and large never thought that they'd be sent back to be butchered by the Communists because they weren't ideological like the Ustashe. Many were under the impression that the West would use them to fight against Tito's Communists, similar to how the Serbian Chetniks thought in their camps in Italy.
Seems to me that once you start lumping all those killed at Bleiburg together, you dishonor those who were honorable and you wind up honoring those who didn’t deserve it.
Hard position to be in and hard decision as to how to propely handle it.
Bump!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.