http://croradio.net/gotovina/viewtopic.php?t=1857

Fascist SERVIA - A Threat To Peace
Barry S. Marjanovich
Wed, 18 Dec 1996 20:53:26 -0700


Servians Hide Their Nazi Past

The Calgary Sun, Feb. 22, 1993:

Wartime Whitewash
by Paul Jackson

Sitting in the Ban Cafe in Zagreb, Jakov Sedlar looked at me and said, "I
simply had to get a female voice for the narration. No man could ever
tell the story with the quiet sympathy demanded."

Sedlar, artistic director of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, was
telling me about his 20-minute documentary THE UNTOLD HOLOCAUST, and how
he persuaded Sally Kellerman - known internationally for her portrayal of
Major "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the movie version of M*A*S*H - to talk about
death rather than joy.

THE UNTOLD HOLOCAUST tells the story of Serbia's wartime genocide against
its Jewish population between 1941 and 1945. I'd been pointed in its
direction by Zlatan Gleb, of the Zagreb Jewish Community Centre.

A group of Chetniks pose with German soldiers in an unidentified village in Serbia. Photo:Arhiv Srbije,Beograd,Yugoslavia.

The footage in THE UNTOLD HOLOCAUST is graphic, and so well documented
it's hard to understand how this ugly secret could be hidden for so long.
Kellerman provides the reason, "The answer is the oldest one of all," she
says, "the victors write the history."

When Josip Tito's Serb-dominated Communists took over power at the end of
the war it was convenient for them to cast Croatia as the fascist state
and whitewash Serbia of its own Nazi past.

Not only Croatian patriots such as Sedlar are now speaking out. Dr.
Philip J. Cohen, a prominent Maryland doctor and historian, recently
complained to ABC News about its one-sided coverage.

"As a Jew," he wrote, "I detest Ustasha and I detest its memory. However
to brand the Croatian people with the Ustasha label is an unjustified
oversimplification."

Cohen says while Croatia's infamous concentration camp at Jasenovac is
often cited in the media, Serbia's equally infamous death camps at
Jabuka, Sajmiste and Jajinci have until now been conveniently forgotten.

It's time, insists Cohen, to recognize that Serbia, today so intent on
the genocide of the Muslim population of Bosnia-Herzegovina, participated
"zealously" in the European holocaust of the Jews.

For himself, Zlatan Gelb told me that under the democratically elected
government, Croatia's Jewish population is today "protected like a bear
in winter."

An Italian officer in company with Mihailovic's Chetniks
Photo:Arhiv Srbije,Beograd,Yugoslavia.

Wartime Croatia, then governed by the pro-Nazi administration has been
condemned for decades for its treatment of the Jews. Yet, said Gleb,
Serbia's treatment of its Jewish population was even worse. But, until
Sedlar came along, Serbia had managed to conveniently whitewash its own
anti-Semitic past.

Sedlar is a remarkable man. Urbane and articulate, he's driven not just
by artistic endeavour, but by a search for truth.

"I fully admit Croatia's record during the Second World War was not one
of merit, but while accepting this, I also believe that fault on all
sides needs to be exposed in the name of justice and history."

With the coming to Croatia of democracy and freedom from Serb-dominated
Communist Yugoslavia, Sedlar was able to produce his harrowing
documentary about the untold holocaust - the destruction of the Jewish
community in wartime Serbia under the Nazi-collaborationist government of
Serbian General Milan Nedic.

Kellerman's captivating voice eerily dominates the film - her tone can
best be described as that of a gentle sadness. It's a haunting film, for
sure.

The movie carefully details Serbia's anti-Semitic campaign: Jews were not
allowed to own a radio or even use a telephone. They couldn't visit the
theatre or cinema. That was just the beginning. As the war progressed,
Serbian police rounded up Jews for delivery to Nazi extermination camps.
For every captured Jew, Serbian police received a cash bounty. Belgrade
was actually the first city in Europe to be declared JUDENFREI - free of
Jews. Nedic's government passed a law declaring all Jewish property was
now the property of Serbs.

Serbian postage stamps of 1941.
Belgrade was the first city in
Europe to be declared Judenfrei;
Free of the jews. The Serbian insignia,
still used today, appears in the
upper corner of each stamp.

A photo for a friendhsip remeberance
Serb Chetniks with German nazi officers (Winter 1942)
Photo:Arhiv Srbije,Beograd,Yugoslavia.