(deutsch / english)
AUSTRIAN AND GERMAN BALKANS
[ In seguito ad un recentissimo accordo raggiunto con l'Austria, dal
prossimo anno la Croazia paghera' ricompense agli esuli di lingua
tedesca che abbandonarono la regione e persero le proprieta' in
seguito alla sconfitta del nazifascismo, nel maggio 1945 (vedi:
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/56086).
Si tratta del primo micidiale colpo inferto contro le cosiddette
"Leggi dell'AVNOJ" (che d'altronde il premier della Croazia
"indipendente" Sanader aveva promesso di abolire gia' nel 2003, per
compiacere i suoi protettori germanici): in base a queste leggi - che
portano il nome del Consiglio Antifascista di Liberazione Nazionale
della Jugoslavia (AVNOJ) che tra l'altro proclamo' la Repubblica
Federale nel 1943 - i collaborazionisti dell'invasore nazista furono
duramente sanzionati. Ai collaborazionisti che scappavano dalla
Jugoslavia furono confiscati molti patrimoni, a partire da quelli
acquisiti come bottino di guerra con l'invasione della Wehrmacht nel 1941.
Ma oggi, nel 60.mo della Liberazione, quegli esiti della Guerra
Popolare di Liberazione possono essere cancellati con un tratto di
penna, e persino invertiti. Gli esponenti degli "esuli di lingua
tedesca" all'estero (specialmente in Austria), dopo aver goduto dello
spettacolo sanguinoso della guerra fratricida in Jugoslavia, possono
finalmente reclamare indietro i "loro" possedimenti, proprio come
fanno certi esuli italiani di Istria e Dalmazia, o come fanno i
tedeschi dei Sudeti ai danni della Repubblica Ceca. La lobby degli
esuli di lingua tedesca sta incominciando dunque a trarre concreto
profitto dallo squartamento della Jugoslavia, come cercano di fare i
settori revanscisti istro-dalmati italiani (con i quali d'altronde
c'e' una alleanza di fatto).
Il precedente fissato adesso dalla Croazia potrebbe avere
ripercussioni gravi anche per la Serbia, sulla quale gravano le
rivendicazioni degli "svevi danubiani" (germanofoni concentrato
soprattutto in Vojvodina). Oggi tra loro divise ed ostili, le due
repubbliche non hanno la forza diplomatica necessaria a contrastare i
progetti dell'imperialismo europeo... che le ha volute divise ed
ostili proprio per poter infierire al momento opportuno. (a cura di
Italo Slavo) ]
1. Deutsch-italienische Kooperation der ,,Vertriebenen" / Pincer Movement
[ SULLA ALLEANZA REVANSCISTA-REVISIONISTA TRA "ESULI" ITALIANI ED
"ESULI" GERMANOFONI ]
2. "Volksdeutschen" und "Donauschwaben" als... Opfer
serbokommunistischer Terror?!
Links zu wichtigen Artikeln von www.german-foreign-policy.com
3. The Nazis in the Balkans: A Case Study of Totalitarian Politics
(by Dietrich Orlow - University of Pittsburgh Press (1968), 235 pp.)
Reviewed by Carl K. Savich
4. Nazi collaborators demand annulment of "AVNOJ": The Axis of
Revision / Revisionsachse (02.06.2004)
5. Ehre den Mordgehilfen / Honouring Nazi Collaborators (03.09.2004)
MORE LINKS:
### "Unabhaengiges" Kroatien : AVNOJ-Gesetze vor der Aufhebung ###
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/3377
### Vojvodina : Deutscher Einfluss = Maximale Spaltung ###
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/3291
### "Prinz Eugen" SS Division, 1941-1945 ###
by Carl Kosta Savich (2001)
On August 7, l940, Gottlob Berger, head of the SS Main Office (SS-FHA,
SS-Furuhngshauptamt) and in charge of Waffen SS recruiting, sent
Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler a memorandum outlining his plans for
the recruitment of ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) from the Balkans
into the Waffen SS. *Following the invasion and occupation of
Yugoslavia, the approximately 700, 000 ethnic Germans, Volksdeutsche,
living in Yugoslavia, were recruited by the Waffen SS..."
http://www.rastko.org.yu/rastko-bl/istorija/kcsavic/csavich-eugen_e.html
### Déja vu (21.08.2004): Entschädigungsfragen ###
BERLIN/WINDHOEK/ROM (Eigener Bericht) - Entschädigungszahlungen für
deutsche Kolonialmassaker schließt die Berliner Regierung auch
weiterhin aus. Dies bestätigt der deutsche Botschafter in Namibia.
Entschädigungsforderungen der Aggressoren des Zweiten Weltkriegs an
Opferstaaten Nazideutschlands erklärt Berlin hingegen für legitim. Wie
das Auswärtige Amt gegenüber dieser Redaktion bestätigt, verlangt nun
auch Italien von der kroatischen Regierung Entschädigungen für
Maßnahmen, die der Befreiung Jugoslawiens dienten. Nahezu sämtliche
Staaten Osteuropas sind inzwischen in Auseinandersetzungen involviert,
die die Ergebnisse des Zweiten Weltkriegs in Frage stellen.
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/45604
### Geschichte des Auswärtigen Amts (17.07.2004) ###
Rezension: Hans-Jürgen Döscher: SS und Auswärtiges Amt im Dritten
Reich/Verschworene Gesellschaft. Das Auswärtige Amt unter Adenauer
zwischen Neubeginn und Kontinuität
Als 1999 nach einer Begründung für den Überfall auf die Bundesrepublik
Jugoslawien gesucht wurde, fiel der Entourage des deutschen
Außenministers ein, die Bombardierung Belgrads könne ein zweites
,,Auschwitz" verhindern. Diese unvergessene Parallelisierung des
deutschen Massenmordes war in mehrfacher Weise zweckdienlich: Im
Inland, weil damit die Opposition gegen den Kosovo-Krieg gedämpft
werden konnte; im Ausland, weil der Minister und sein deutsches Amt
wie Alliierte in einem (freilich recht verspäteten) Kampf gegen Adolf
Hitler erschienen.
Die Erfindung einer nachholenden Widerstandsbewegung, deren Partisanen
im Auswärtigen Amt sitzen, ist seither mehrmals neu aufgelegt worden
und steht auch für weitere deutsche Kriege bereit. Nicht ohne Respekt
wiederholen Kritiker, es handele sich um einen demagogischen Trick, zu
dem allein ein deutscher Außenminister mit grünem Anstrich fähig wäre.
Aber diese Kritiker irren...
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/44739
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/44745
=== 1 ===
Zangenbewegung (13.04.2005)
Deutsch-italienische Kooperation der ,,Vertriebenen"
TRIESTE / BERLIN (Eigener Bericht) - Der deutsche ,,Bund der
Vertriebenen" (BdV) kündigt eine Kooperation mit den Organisationen
der italienischen Umgesiedelten an. Rom hat den so genannten ,,Esuli"
(,,Exilierten"), die in Folge des Zweiten Weltkriegs aus
jugoslawischem Gebiet nach Italien übersiedeln mußten, einen
nationalen Gedenktag zugesprochen, an dessen erster Begehung die
BdV-Präsidentin Erika Steinbach als Ehrengast teilnahm. Die ,,Esuli"
verhandeln mit italienischen Regierungsstellen über Entschädigungen
für ihren früheren Besitz im heutigen Slowenien und Kroatien. Da die
Forderungen in fast sämtlichen italienischen Parteien auf Sympathien
stoßen, gelten finanzielle Zusagen der römischen Behörden als nicht
ausgeschlossen. Die deutsch-italienische Kooperation der
,,Vertriebenen" setzt die Staaten des früheren Jugoslawien unter
diplomatischen Druck und stärkt revisionistische Kräfte auch auf
europäischer Ebene...
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/52462
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/52460
Pincer Movement (13.04.2005)
TRIESTE/BERLIN (Own report) - The German ,,Bund der Vertriebenen"
(BdV, ,,Association of Expellees") announced cooperation with the
organizations of resettled Italians. The Italian government in Rome
has declared a day of commemoration for the ,,Esuli" (exiles), who, as
a consequence of the Second World War, had to resettle in Italy from
Yugoslav territory. Erika Steinbach, president of the BdV was guest of
honor at the first commemoration day. The ,,Esuli" are currently in
negotiations with the Italian administration over the question of
financial compensation for their former property in what is today
Slovenia and Croatia. Their chances are good, since nearly all Italian
parties are sympathetic to their demands. The German/Italian
cooperation of the ,,expellees" is placing the states of the former
Yugoslavia under diplomatic pressure and strengthening revisionist
forces also at the European level.
With a law enacted March 30, 2004, Rome declared February 10 the
national day of commemoration for the ,,Esuli."1) That date is a
reminder to the Paris Peace Treaty, signed Feb. 10, 1947, in which
Italy engaged itself to relinquish the Istria Peninsula and parts of
Dalmatia to Yugoslavia. A population resettlement took place, directed
against the collaborators of the defeated occupation powers, similar
to what happened in the former German Eastern Territories. A sector of
the Italian speaking population of Yugoslavia, had supported the
occupation policy of the Axis powers and carried out massacres of
their Yugoslav compatriots during World War II. The resettlements were
accompanied by numerous acts of unlawfulness and revenge.
National Consecration
With the establishment of days of commemoration, exaggerating
individual attacks in order to create a national myth of
victimization, Rome's foreign policy is aiming at the internationally
valid peace treaty and sows doubt concerning its objectivity. The
Italians, in so doing, are following the German example. The
organizations of the ,,expellees" from the German Eastern territories,
have for years been demanding that Berlin make Aug. 5, a day of
national commemoration. Like the Italians, this date is chosen in
order to form, in this case, a tangent to the Potsdam Treaty, signed
August 2, 1945. In this treaty, the Anti-Hitler Coalition agreed to
the resettlement measures, because they feared a resurgence of
subversive activities by the German speaking minorities in the states
of Eastern and Southeastern Europe.2) A ,,Charta of the German
Expellees" made public Aug. 5, 1950, is directed against enactment of
the Treaty. According to the BdV, that date should receive national
consecration.
La Nostra Gente
The central celebration to the first ,,Esuli" commemoration, to which
the BdV President, Erika Steinbach delivered a statement of
salutations, took place in Trieste with the Italian Foreign Mininster,
Gianfranco Fini in attendance. The parliament in Rome respected a
minute of silence for the ,,Exiles," and President Carlo Azeglio
Ciampi laid a wreath. As the BdV emphasizes, this major event in Italy
is supported by all Italian parties, ,,Even those, who for decades had
maintained a different opinion, have placed the commemoration of the
victims in the foreground - the human rights violation - and no longer
the political orientation of those victimized."3) The BdV is referring
here to the history campaign that has taken place in Italy over the
past few years, with the participation of the composite Italian media,
to create a consensus for the revision of the context of post-war
developments and international accords. The public television network,
RAI, broadcast a serial on the fate of the resettled. The program was
prepared just in time for the ,,national commemoration day"
captivating the attention of about 10 million Italian viewers. In the
plot the advance on Trst (Trieste) by the Yugoslav partisans and the
military measures taken against Italian collaborators in Istria were
transformed into a story of national suffering. Even serious journals,
such as the ,,Corriere della Sera" over the past few years has
repeatedly brought wide coverage articles about Yugoslav citizens of
Italian origin - ,,la nostra gente" (our people).
Acceptance
The Italian opposition parties, comprised of former communists and
social democrats, are, for the most part, going along with this
re-valuation of history4), agreeing with revisionist offenses of the
Italian heads of state and by so doing helping the ,,Esuli" to growing
acceptance among the population. Even the government's foreign policy
maneuver of negotiating with Croatia for compensation for the
,,Esuli," is accepted without noticeable disfavor by the ,,left"
opposition.
Assets
Following the most recent meeting of the Italian foreign minister with
his Croatian counterpart, Hido Biscevic to discuss the ,,assets of the
Italian Esuli", the revisionist organizations intensified through an
ultimatum their pressure on the government in Rome.5) According to the
declaration made by the ,,Federazione delle associazioni degli esuli"
the an end must be put to the fruitless negotiations. The successor
states of Yugoslavia must be made clear that they cannot escape the
restitution demands. With this, Croatia and Slovenia find themselves
caught in an pincer movement between Italian and German foreign
policies. Government offices in Berlin and Austrian ,,expellees"
associations are demanding renegotiations of their presumptuous claims.
European
The BdV made known in Berlin that it intends to cooperate with the
Italian re-settlers, ,,particularly in collaboration on the
establishment of a 'Center against Expulsion."'6) Erika Steinbach, BdV
president, also announced support for an initiative of the ,,Unione
degli Istriani" for an ,,European day of commemoration for all victims
of expulsion" project.
1) Legge 30 marzo 2004, n.92
2) see also Only Half of the Guilt
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1110668400.php]
and Disputing Yalta
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1109026801.php]
3) Italien gedenkt der Opfer von Triest, Deutscher Ostdienst 3/2005
4) Foibe: Ciampi: ,,Tragedia nella memoria di tutti"; Corriere della
Sera 09.02.2004
5) Ultimatum della Federazione al Governo; www.unioneistriani.it
19.03.2005
6) Italien gedenkt der Opfer von Triest, Deutscher Ostdienst 3/2005
Zangenbewegung (13.04.2005)
© Informationen zur Deutschen Außenpolitik
info@...
=== 2 ===
Präzedenzfall Kroatien (19.10.2005)
ZAGREB/WIEN/BERLIN (Eigener Bericht) - Kroatien wird umgesiedelten
"Volksdeutschen" ab dem kommenden Jahr Entschädigungen für wegen
NS-Kollaboration entzogenes Eigentum gewähren. Dies ist der Inhalt
eines jetzt bekannt gewordenen Abkommens zwischen Wien und Zagreb, das
die Parlamente beider Länder in Kürze unterzeichnen werden. Es kommt
denjenigen Umgesiedelten zugute, die auf heute kroatischem Territorium
enteignet wurden und sich in Österreich niedergelassen haben. Ein
gleichgerichtetes Entschädigungsgesetz, das derzeit in Belgrad zur
Begutachtung vorliegt, soll österreichischen Umgesiedelten auch den
Zugriff auf serbisches Territorium eröffnen. Von den
Verhandlungserfolgen Wiens profitiert Berlin. Bereits im Juni des
vergangenen Jahres hat die Bundesregierung angesichts der
Verhandlungen zwischen Wien und Zagreb "gegenüber der kroatischen
Regierung ihr Interesse an der Entschädigung deutscher Vertriebener
anhängig gemacht"....
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/56086
---
Neue Souveränität (08.08.2004)
Entschädigungsdebatte
BERLIN - Die deutsche Regierung erklärt Entschädigungsansprüche
deutscher Umgesiedelter gegenüber ihren Herkunftsstaaten weiterhin für
offen. Von Kroatien verlangt Berlin ausdrücklich
Entschädigungsleistungen gegenüber umgesiedelten ,,Donauschwaben". Die
Forderungen der Präsidentin des ,,Bundes der Vertriebenen" (BdV),
Erika Steinbach, nennt die Regierungspartei SPD ,,unseriös". Steinbach
plädiert seit kurzem für ein ,,nationales Entschädigungsgesetz", das
die Umgesiedelten durch symbolische Zahlungen des deutschen Staates
entschädigen und Restitutionsforderungen gegenüber anderen Staaten die
Rechtsgrundlage entziehen soll. Das Vorhaben ist geeignet, dem
polnischen Widerstand gegen die deutsche Hegemonialpolitik die Spitze
zu nehmen und die Fortdauer anderer Projekte der
"Vertriebenen"-Verbände zu sichern...
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/45292
---
Umerziehung (15.07.2004)
Angeblicher Völkermord an den Donauschwaben
MAINZ/BELGRAD/ROM (Eigener Bericht) - Das öffentlich-rechtliche
Fernsehen der Bundesrepublik plant die Ausstrahlung eines Films über
den ,,Völkermord" an ,,rund 65.000 Deutsche(n)" im früheren
Jugoslawien. Gemeint sind deutschsprachige Kollaborateure und
Sympathisanten der NS-Besatzer, denen nach 1945 der Prozess gemacht
wurde. Die als ,,Donauschwaben" bezeichneten Inhaftierten und
Flüchtlinge seien der ,,Rache" von ,,Titos Partisanen" anheimgefallen,
heißt es in einer Presseankündigung der deutschen TV-Firma über das
,,serbische Unrecht". Die Firma operiert mit Geldern des Auswärtigen
Amtes. Ausstrahlender Sender ist der Kanal 3sat. Auch das staatliche
italienische Fernsehen widmet sich den Folgen der Okkupation
Jugoslawiens. Dabei sei ,,italienischer Boden" ,,slawisiert" worden,
schreibt die offiziöse römische Presse über die Befreiung Kroatiens in
den Jahren 1943 bis 1945...
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/44716
=== 3 ===
GO TO THE ORIGINAL URL FOR MANY INTERESTING LINKS:
http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=518
---
The Nazis in the Balkans: A Case Study of Totalitarian Politics
Date: Monday, March 21 @ 04:00:00 EST
Topic: Book Reviews
The Nazis in the Balkans: A Case Study of Totalitarian Politics
by Dietrich Orlow
University of Pittsburgh Press (1968), 235 pp.
Reviewed by Carl K. Savich
In The Nazis in the Balkans: A Case Study of Totalitarian Politics,
Dietrich Orlow examined the Sudosteuropa-Gesellschaft or SOEG, the
Southeast-European Society, a Nazi organization or agency created to
exploit the Balkans during World War II.
The SOEG planned, coordinated, and executed the Third Reich's
blueprint for the New Order in Southeast Europe, or the Balkans. It
was founded in 1940 to formulate wartime policy in Southeast Europe
and the exploitation of Balkan resources. It also established
long-term economic designs for the Balkans after the war, assuming
Germany would win the war.
Neu Ordnung: The New Order and the New World Order
Aside from its importance as a historical source, this analysis has
value in that it allows a comparison of the policies in the Balkans of
New Order of Nazi Germany/Axis and the New Word Order of the
US/NATO/EU. Both have similarities and differences. But the bottom
line remains that new orders are created to allow for the exploitation
and control of a sphere of influence which benefits the exploiter and
impoverishes the exploited. The Nazi German New Order destroyed and
looted the economies of the Balkan states to enrich the citizens of
Germany. The US/EU/NATO New World Order in the Balkans, likewise,
loots and exploits the economies of the Balkans. The result in both
cases has been the economic exploitation and ruin of the Balkan
states. Moreover, Nazi Germany recruited hundreds of thousands of
Balkan citizens to fight as "volunteer" soldiers in the Nazi armies.
Similarly, the US/EU/NATO have recruited Balkan citizens to
"volunteer" as soldiers in US military occupation forces in
Afghanistan and Iraq. This book is invaluable in showing the
similarities and differences between all New Orders. Any person who
has an interest in the Balkans will find this book of immense value.
It shows that the paradigm or modus operandi are very similar.
A possible flaw of the book as a historical work is that it does not
examine the activities and relations of the SOEG in the Balkans in
much detail. Orlow restricts and focuses his analysis on the SOEG
itself, offering only sketchy and incomplete analyses of its role in
the Balkan states themselves. Since there was a long and complex
history of German involvement in the Balkans, above and beyond the
SOEG, one might have expected a fuller treatment.
Revisionist versus Antirevisionist States: 1930s Europe
In the 1930s, Europe was divided into two camps: The revisionist
powers or nations, such as Bulgaria and Hungary, versus the
antirevisionist nations, such as Yugoslavia, Greece, Romania and
Czechoslovakia. The antirevisionist nations benefited from the
Versaille Treaty and the Trianon, St. Germain, and Neuilly Treaties,
while Hungary and Bulgaria lost territory following World War I. In
1922, the Little Entente was created by Yugoslavia, Romania, and
Czechoslovakia with France as a defensive pact against the revisionist
powers, which at that was targeted against/versus at Hungary. In 1934,
Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey established the Balkan Pact as a
defensive Treaty. Fascist Italy emerged in the 1930s led by Benito
Mussolini, who had an anti-France policy and sought to establish a
sphere of influence in the Balkans, particularly in Albania,
Yugoslavia, and Greece. Italy and Germany thus were economic and
political rivals in the Balkans during the 1930s.
Nazi German foreign policy, unlike that of the Weimar Republic, sought
to gain greater economic and political ties to the Balkan states. Nazi
Germany became the largest and most important trade partner for most
of the Balkan states in the 1930s. In many instances, politics
superceded economics. Nazi German foreign policy sought to establish
diplomatic and political links to the Balkan states. To achieve these
political ties, Germany did not always negotiate the most advantageous
and most profitable economic deals.
By the end of the 1930s, Germany sought a greater political and
economic role in the Balkans. To achieve this goal, an agency or
organization was established. The goal of the SOEG was to establish
German economic penetration in the Balkans. The SOEG was created in
February 8, 1940 by the Reich Ministry of Economics with headquarters
in Vienna. In The Nazis in the Balkans: A Case Study of Totalitarian
Politics, it is described as "neofeudal" by Orlow.
The SOEG was created in the context of a totalitarian society and
regime. The Weimar Republic of the 1920s was based on the Rechtsstaat
principle. Rechtsstaat is a state based on law, requiring a
bureaucracy. This was how it was during the Weimar Republic when there
was a line between the state and the citizen. On January 30, 1933, a
totalitarian, Nazi regime emerged in Germany which abolished the
distinction between the state and the citizen. Nazi Germany was also a
"racial state," based on race as the defining criterion of citizenship.
The SOEG was formed and led by Walther Funk, the Reich Minister of
Economics, Josef Burckel, the president, who was also the Reich
Commissioner for Reunification of Austria and the German Reich, and
August Heinrichsbauer, the executive secretary. Alfred Rosenberg's
Foreign Policy Office oversaw the SOEG. The object was to obtain
Grossraum, or a sphere of influence in the Balkans.The New Order in
the Balkans.
The first entity that emerged was The Black Sea Trading and Industrial
Company, which was formed in the Balkans. The Nutrition and
Agriculture Group was formed as well. A Corn Committee was established
to do research on the corn plant in the Balkans. It was headed by Sawa
Ulmansky in Zagreb. The SOEG worked jointly with DAM or the German
Academy (Deutsche Akademie). DAM was engaged in propagating German
culture and the German language abroad. It had cultural goals. It
established with SOEG: 1) the Society of Friends of the German Academy
in Vienna (Gesellschaft der Freunde der Deutschn Akademie in Wien); 2)
the Southeast Seminar (Sudost-Seminar); and, 3) the Prince Eugene
Institute, which was never formally organized.
The SOEG used the Dachgesellschaft approach, which meant that it was
organized as an umbrella and coordinating body, one which was
decentralized. The SOEG published a newsletter on Balkan economics
which contained confidential information. The SOEG published a
newssheet with confidential data, organized meetings, workshops, and
seminars on the Balkans. It addressed import-export issues, and
cultural issues. This coordination of the economic, political,
military, cultural, and scientific aspects of the New Order reflected
the gleichschaltung policy, or coordination, of the Nazi regime. All
aspects of the New Order were coordinated and synchronized and harmonized.
Volksdeutsche Auxiliaries
The ultimate goal of the SOEG was to implement the New Order in the
Balkans, where it worked together with the SS to bring this about. The
SS controlled Volksdeutsche or ethnic German life in the Balkans.
Heinrich Himmler formed four SS divisions in the Balkans and planned
to form a fifth Albanian SS division. In Yugoslavia, Himmler formed
the 7th SS Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen," consisting of
volksdeutsche from the Serbian Banat, Yugoslavia, Romania, and other
Balkan states. Himmler created 12 central offices or Hauptamter by 1944.
In 1935, the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VoMi), the Ethnic German Aid
Office, was founded, which was a Nazi party organization closely
associated with the SS responsible for coordinating all official
activities among the ethnic Germans outside of the Reich. VoMi was
headed by SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Werner Lorenz from July 4, 1942 to
November 9, 1944. There were approximately 10 million ethnic Germans
outside the Reich in the 1930s. There were 750,000 volksdeusche in
Romania, 700,000 in Yugoslavia, and 500,000 in Hungary, the
Transylvania Germans. The Reichskommisar fur die Festigung Deutschen
Volkstums (RKFDV) was also established for the strengthening of
"Germandom." The RKFDV was headed by SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Ulrich
Greifeit, which focused on the resettlement of ethnic Germans. The
Lebesborn or Well of Life Society was also created to maintain racial
purity.
Nazi Germany also sought support for its Eastern European policies by
developing the Ostforschung policy. This policy enabled the Nazis to
implement the New Order in eastern Europe by providing a scientific
rationale. The Ostforschung policy consisted of developing biological
racism theories by German and Axis scholars and scientists to buttress
the Nazi racial policies in the East.
Nazi Economic Objectives in the Balkans
The economic objective of the SOEG was the exploitation of the mineral
resources of all the Balkan states. The Committee on Economic Planning
was formed for this purpose. German joint companies were formed with
the Balkan states that gave the German firms controlling shares or
interests. The companies formed and established in the Balkans were
geared towards what German industry or business needed. Germany also
formed cartels in the Balkans. The result of this exploitation of the
Balkans was that the German standard of living increased while that of
the Balkans declined. German businessmen wanted to own stocks in
Balkan's companies and to control those companies by obtaining
controlling stock shares. What resulted was the "Germanization" of
industries in the Balkans. German economic interests wanted to be able
to invest freely in the Balkans. Like George Soros later, they wanted
an "open society" or open access to the economies of the Balkan
states. Many Balkan states resisted German attempts at economic
control and got around export quotas to Germany, such as of grain, by
misrepresenting the data.
The Germans also sought to eliminate Jewish ownership and control of
industries in the Balkans. The German policy was to create
"de-Judacized" companies or companies that were "Aryanized". The SOEG
was a private organization or agency, a status which allowed it to
infiltrate and gain easier access in the Balkan states. George Soros
and the NGOs of the 1990s would also use the "privatization" and
"non-governmental" tactics to similarly gain control.
The SOEG in Yugoslavia experienced problems because of Serbian
resistance to German military occupation. As Orlow noted on page 172,
"in occupied nations such as Yugoslavia actual German military
presence" was required to control the country. The SOEG representative
in Belgrade was Anton Kreuzbauer. The Volksdeutsche in Yugoslavia were
placed in the Waffen SS and the Banat was administered by Germans. The
Volksdeutsche Prinz Eugen 7th SS Mountain Division, made up of ethnic
Germans from the Banat, was recruited by Himmler to combat the mainly
Serbian resistance groups.
In the Balkans, chrome, manganese, lead, zinc, iron, and copper were
sought for German industry and the strategic needs of the German
military, along with bauxite, and the aluminum industry. Grain was
exported to Germany from the Balkans. Raw materials were also exported
to Germany. The SOEG published reports in 1943 on Balkans resources
that were needed by German industry and the military sector.
The SOEG policies ultimately failed in the Balkans, according to
Orlow, because the German policy and occupation was arrogant,
aggressive, and dictatorial.
Grossraum: NATO Paradigm
Orlow's analysis of the SOEG is valuable for anyone who wants to
compare the Nazi New Order in Europe with the US New World Order. Nazi
Germany sought to create Grossraum, or a sphere of influence and
control in the Balkans. The US and NATO and the EU seek their own
Grossraum in the Balkans, through various formal and informal means
including Western-controlled media and NGOs.
Conclusion: New Orders and Old Orders
Anyone who reads this book will be struck by the many similarities
between the Nazi New Order and the US/NATO/EU New World Order in the
Balkans. Far from being an abstruse and irrelevant study, this book is
invaluable in showing how spheres of influence are established and how
exploitation, domination, and control of a region occur. It is never
just about military force and occupation. The military role is only
one aspect of the story. It is surprising how similar the New Order is
to the New World Order. Both New Orders gained entrée into the Balkans
by bombing Belgrade and other Serbian cities. Both occupied Serbia or
parts of Serbia and other areas of the Balkans. Both sought the
economic exploitation of the Balkans following the military
occupation. What resulted was the military, political, economic,
social, cultural, societal control of the Balkans. The Nazis in the
Balkans: A Case Study of Totalitarian Politics shows how it was
accomplished. The book is highly relevant today and is a must-read for
anyone interested both in the history of the Balkans in World War II,
as well as the latter-day US/NATO/EU penetration into the Balkans.
Bibliography
Burleigh, Michael. The Third Reich: A New History. NY: Hill and Wang,
2001.
Ibid, Germany Turns Eastwards: Germany Turns Eastward: A Study of
Ostforschung in the Third Reich. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1990.
Ibid, Ethics and Extermination: Reflections on Nazi Genocide.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Ibid, Death and Deliverance: `Euthanasia' in Germany, c.1900 to 1945.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Burleigh, Michael, and Wolfgang Wippermann. The Racial State: Germany
1933-1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Casagrande, Thomas. Die Volksdeutsche SS-Division `Prinz Eugen': Die
Banater Schwaben und die National Sozialistischen Kriegsverbrechen.
Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Campus Verlag, 2003.
Kaltenegger, Roland. The Mountain Troops of the Waffen-SS: 1941-1945.
Schiffer Publishing, 1995.
Lumans, Valdis O. Himmler's Auxiliaries: The Volksdeutsche
Mittelstelle and the German Minorities of Europe, 1933-1945. Chapel
Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
Orlow, Dietrich. The Nazis in the Balkans: A Case Study of
Totalitarian Politics. Pittsburg, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press,
1968.
Thomas, N., K. Mikulan, D. Pavelic. Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941-5.
Oxford, UK: Osprey, 1995.
Williamson, Gordon. The Waffen-SS (3) 11. to 23. Divisions. Oxford,
UK: Osprey, 2004.
Ibid, The Waffen-SS (4) 24. to 38. Divisions. Oxford, UK: Osprey, 2004.
This article comes from balkanalysis.com
http://www.balkanalysis.com
The URL for this story is:
http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=518
=== 4 ===
Revisionsachse (02.06.2004)
GAKOVO - Eine Gedenkstätte für ,,Volksdeutsche"ist im ehemaligen
Jugoslawien eingeweiht worden. ,,Vertriebenen"-Organisationen
bezeichnen die Errichtung des Denkmals in Gakovo (Nordwestserbien) als
,,ersten Schritt zur moralischen Rehabilitation der Donauschwaben".
Die deutschsprachige Minderheit hatte mehrheitlich mit dem
NS-Besatzungsregime kollaboriert und war bei Kriegsende sistiert und
des Landes verwiesen worden. Serbien und Montenegro sollen die
entsprechenden Dekrete annullieren, verlangen einflussreiche deutsche
,,Vertriebenen"-Funktionäre. Die Forderung ist Teil weit gespannter
Revisionsbestrebungen in ganz Ost- und Südosteuropa, die an den Streit
um die Pariser Friedensverträge in den 1920er und 1930er Jahren
erinnern...
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/43684
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/43684
The Axis of Revision (02.06.2004)
DJAKOVO (Serbia/Montenegro) - A memorial for ethnic Germans was opened
in the former-Yugoslavia. Expellee organizations describe the
construction of the memorial in Djakovo in Serbia's northwest as a
first step towards a moral rehabilitation of the Danube Germans. The
German-speaking minority had for the most part collaborated with the
Nazi occupation regime and, as a result, was detained and finally
expelled. According to influential German expellee functionaries,
Serbia/Montenegro should annul the respective decrees. The request is
part of a wider effort at revision in all of Southeastern Europe that
still serve as a reminder of the Paris Peace Treaties of the 1920s and
1930s.
Extermination Camps
The memorial cross, opened on 22 May, commemorate members of the
German-speaking minority, who lost their lives during and after the
Second World War. The so-called ethnic Germans had collaborated with
the Nazi Occupation of Yugoslavia and many died as soldiers of the
Third Reich. In Djakovo the liberated Yugoslavia detained numerous
Danube Germans, suspected of collaboration, under questionable
conditions from March 1945 to January 1948. Many of the prisoners died
in custody. In expellee circles, the conditions of the time have been
portrayed as echoing Ausschwitz and other places of German crimes
against humanity, to characterize Djakovo as an extermination camp and
to treat the collaborating Germans as equals with their own victims.
,,Moral Rehabilitation"
Present at the opening of the memorial in Djakovo were high-ranking
members of the expellees, the provincial leader of the Serbian
province of Vojvodina, as well as a representative of the German
embassy in Belgrade. Expellee organizations called the opening of the
memorial cross as ,,the first step towards moral rehabilitation of the
Danube Germans". They call for the annulment of the AVNOJ decrees, in
which sanctions against ethnic Germans were included. The Vojvodina
parliament in the Serbian province last February joined the request1),
while at the same time Croatia is preparing a annulment of the AVNOJ
agreements in their territory.
Berlin-Vienna-Budapest
The efforts to annul the AVNOJ agreements in the republics of the
former Yugoslavia correspond identically with the activities in the
ex-republics of the former-Czechoslovakia2). The Benes decrees should
also be retroactively removed from legislation. The requests are
uniformly conveyed by Germany, Austria and Hungary and are
complemented by Hungarian claims to Romanian territory. The group of
states, with Berlin as the vocal leader, is remiscent of the 1920s and
1930s. Then, the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Edvard Benes, under
protection from the French, completed a bilateral alliance with
Yugoslavia and Romania, called the Petit Entente, which was to hamper
a revision of the Paris Peace Treaty by the Berlin-Vienna-Budapest
axis. The Petite Entente fell apart leading up to the Munich Agreement
of 29 September 1938.
1) s. Maximum Split
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1079046001.php]
2) s. A European Purpose
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1086040800.php]
Sources:
1000 Menschen trauern im serbischen Gakovo; www.vloe.at
Gedenkkreuz für deutsche Opfer in der Vojvodina enthüllt; Deutsche
Welle Monitor Ost-/Südosteuropa 25.05.2004
© Informationen zur Deutschen Außenpolitik
info@...
=== 5 ===
Ehre den Mordgehilfen (03.09.2004)
Ehrung von NS-Verbrechern und Kollaborateuren
WARSZAWA/NOVI SAD/ZAGREB - Die in Deutschland betriebene Umwertung der
Nazi-Diktatur schreitet auch in ehemals kollaborierenden und in
ehemals von Deutschland besetzten Ländern voran. In Warschau werden
auf einer vom ,,Volksbund deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge" errichteten
Gräbstätte deutsche SS- und Wehrmachtsoldaten geehrt, darunter bis vor
kurzem auch der Henker des Warschauer Ghettos, der SS-Gruppenführer
Stroop. In der serbischen Provinz Vojvodina wird der wegen ihrer
Kollaboration umgesiedelten ,,Donauschwaben" als ,,vollkommen
unschuldiger" Opfer gedacht. In Kroatien gewinnen Versuche an
Intensität, Kriegsverbrecher der faschistischen Ustascha zu
rehabilitieren...
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/45916
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/45917
or
http://www.freenations.freeuk.com/news-2004-09-15.html
Honouring Nazi Collaborators (03.09.2004)
WARSAW/NOVI SAD/ZAGREB - 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 Ghetto 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.
Exterminator of the Ghetto
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 by the ,,Association for the care of German War
Graves"which is subsidised with millions from the German Government.
At the inauguration in 1991 Polish soldiers stood an honour guard for
the remains of 362 Wehrmacht and SS soldiers among them many who 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.
,,Atrocities committed against Germans"
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. 1)
Ready
It does apparently seem timely in the successor states of the former
Yugoslavia - destroyed principally on Germany's initiative. A
Committee of Inquiry of the parliament of the Serb province of
Vojvodina 2)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 collaborated with the German regime. 3)
Patriots
In Croatia there are more attempts to make Ustasha war criminals into
heroes. The Ustasha Movement was founded in 1929 and conducted a reign
of terror throughout Yugoslavia as collaborators with the Nazi
occupiers. 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 clerical 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.
,,Vital Part of the Spirit of Croatia"
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".
1) see also ,,Land that morally belongs to Germany"
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1091224800.php]
and Mental Eastward Expansion
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1092175200.php]
2) see also Maximum Split
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1079046001.php]
3) see also The Axis of Revision
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1086127200.php]
see also Heroes
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1093730400.php]
Sources:
Honouring Nazi Collaborators throughout Europe; www.freenations.freeuk.com
Spaete Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung. Erstmals Opfer und Taeter der Nazis
und der Kommunisten in der Vojvodina systematisch erfasst; Deutsche
Welle Monitor Ost-/Suedosteuropa 10.08.2004
Antifaschisten protestieren gegen Denkmal fuer einen Ustascha-Fuehrer;
Deutsche Welle Monitor Ost-/Suedosteuropa 10.08.2004
Ein Denkmal am Weichselufer; Neues Deutschland 24.08.2004
Heftige Proteste gegen Gedenktafel fuer Ustascha-Minister; Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung 28.08.2004
Kroatische Regierung laesst Faschisten-Denkmaeler entfernen; Der
Standard 28.08.2004
Ausgemeisselt. Deutsche Kriegsgraeberfuersorge ehrte den Henker des
Warschauer Ghettos, SS-Gruppenfuehrer Juergen Stroop, auf einer
Gedenktafel; Junge Welt 28.08.2004
Denkmal in Thorn; Die Welt 28.08.2004
Protest-Versammlung der Anhaenger des Ustascha-Fuehrers Budak in Sveti
Rok; Deutsche Welle Monitor Ost-/Suedosteuropa 31.08.2004
© Informationen zur Deutschen Außenpolitik
info@...
AUSTRIAN AND GERMAN BALKANS
[ In seguito ad un recentissimo accordo raggiunto con l'Austria, dal
prossimo anno la Croazia paghera' ricompense agli esuli di lingua
tedesca che abbandonarono la regione e persero le proprieta' in
seguito alla sconfitta del nazifascismo, nel maggio 1945 (vedi:
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/56086).
Si tratta del primo micidiale colpo inferto contro le cosiddette
"Leggi dell'AVNOJ" (che d'altronde il premier della Croazia
"indipendente" Sanader aveva promesso di abolire gia' nel 2003, per
compiacere i suoi protettori germanici): in base a queste leggi - che
portano il nome del Consiglio Antifascista di Liberazione Nazionale
della Jugoslavia (AVNOJ) che tra l'altro proclamo' la Repubblica
Federale nel 1943 - i collaborazionisti dell'invasore nazista furono
duramente sanzionati. Ai collaborazionisti che scappavano dalla
Jugoslavia furono confiscati molti patrimoni, a partire da quelli
acquisiti come bottino di guerra con l'invasione della Wehrmacht nel 1941.
Ma oggi, nel 60.mo della Liberazione, quegli esiti della Guerra
Popolare di Liberazione possono essere cancellati con un tratto di
penna, e persino invertiti. Gli esponenti degli "esuli di lingua
tedesca" all'estero (specialmente in Austria), dopo aver goduto dello
spettacolo sanguinoso della guerra fratricida in Jugoslavia, possono
finalmente reclamare indietro i "loro" possedimenti, proprio come
fanno certi esuli italiani di Istria e Dalmazia, o come fanno i
tedeschi dei Sudeti ai danni della Repubblica Ceca. La lobby degli
esuli di lingua tedesca sta incominciando dunque a trarre concreto
profitto dallo squartamento della Jugoslavia, come cercano di fare i
settori revanscisti istro-dalmati italiani (con i quali d'altronde
c'e' una alleanza di fatto).
Il precedente fissato adesso dalla Croazia potrebbe avere
ripercussioni gravi anche per la Serbia, sulla quale gravano le
rivendicazioni degli "svevi danubiani" (germanofoni concentrato
soprattutto in Vojvodina). Oggi tra loro divise ed ostili, le due
repubbliche non hanno la forza diplomatica necessaria a contrastare i
progetti dell'imperialismo europeo... che le ha volute divise ed
ostili proprio per poter infierire al momento opportuno. (a cura di
Italo Slavo) ]
1. Deutsch-italienische Kooperation der ,,Vertriebenen" / Pincer Movement
[ SULLA ALLEANZA REVANSCISTA-REVISIONISTA TRA "ESULI" ITALIANI ED
"ESULI" GERMANOFONI ]
2. "Volksdeutschen" und "Donauschwaben" als... Opfer
serbokommunistischer Terror?!
Links zu wichtigen Artikeln von www.german-foreign-policy.com
3. The Nazis in the Balkans: A Case Study of Totalitarian Politics
(by Dietrich Orlow - University of Pittsburgh Press (1968), 235 pp.)
Reviewed by Carl K. Savich
4. Nazi collaborators demand annulment of "AVNOJ": The Axis of
Revision / Revisionsachse (02.06.2004)
5. Ehre den Mordgehilfen / Honouring Nazi Collaborators (03.09.2004)
MORE LINKS:
### "Unabhaengiges" Kroatien : AVNOJ-Gesetze vor der Aufhebung ###
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/3377
### Vojvodina : Deutscher Einfluss = Maximale Spaltung ###
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/3291
### "Prinz Eugen" SS Division, 1941-1945 ###
by Carl Kosta Savich (2001)
On August 7, l940, Gottlob Berger, head of the SS Main Office (SS-FHA,
SS-Furuhngshauptamt) and in charge of Waffen SS recruiting, sent
Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler a memorandum outlining his plans for
the recruitment of ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) from the Balkans
into the Waffen SS. *Following the invasion and occupation of
Yugoslavia, the approximately 700, 000 ethnic Germans, Volksdeutsche,
living in Yugoslavia, were recruited by the Waffen SS..."
http://www.rastko.org.yu/rastko-bl/istorija/kcsavic/csavich-eugen_e.html
### Déja vu (21.08.2004): Entschädigungsfragen ###
BERLIN/WINDHOEK/ROM (Eigener Bericht) - Entschädigungszahlungen für
deutsche Kolonialmassaker schließt die Berliner Regierung auch
weiterhin aus. Dies bestätigt der deutsche Botschafter in Namibia.
Entschädigungsforderungen der Aggressoren des Zweiten Weltkriegs an
Opferstaaten Nazideutschlands erklärt Berlin hingegen für legitim. Wie
das Auswärtige Amt gegenüber dieser Redaktion bestätigt, verlangt nun
auch Italien von der kroatischen Regierung Entschädigungen für
Maßnahmen, die der Befreiung Jugoslawiens dienten. Nahezu sämtliche
Staaten Osteuropas sind inzwischen in Auseinandersetzungen involviert,
die die Ergebnisse des Zweiten Weltkriegs in Frage stellen.
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/45604
### Geschichte des Auswärtigen Amts (17.07.2004) ###
Rezension: Hans-Jürgen Döscher: SS und Auswärtiges Amt im Dritten
Reich/Verschworene Gesellschaft. Das Auswärtige Amt unter Adenauer
zwischen Neubeginn und Kontinuität
Als 1999 nach einer Begründung für den Überfall auf die Bundesrepublik
Jugoslawien gesucht wurde, fiel der Entourage des deutschen
Außenministers ein, die Bombardierung Belgrads könne ein zweites
,,Auschwitz" verhindern. Diese unvergessene Parallelisierung des
deutschen Massenmordes war in mehrfacher Weise zweckdienlich: Im
Inland, weil damit die Opposition gegen den Kosovo-Krieg gedämpft
werden konnte; im Ausland, weil der Minister und sein deutsches Amt
wie Alliierte in einem (freilich recht verspäteten) Kampf gegen Adolf
Hitler erschienen.
Die Erfindung einer nachholenden Widerstandsbewegung, deren Partisanen
im Auswärtigen Amt sitzen, ist seither mehrmals neu aufgelegt worden
und steht auch für weitere deutsche Kriege bereit. Nicht ohne Respekt
wiederholen Kritiker, es handele sich um einen demagogischen Trick, zu
dem allein ein deutscher Außenminister mit grünem Anstrich fähig wäre.
Aber diese Kritiker irren...
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/44739
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/44745
=== 1 ===
Zangenbewegung (13.04.2005)
Deutsch-italienische Kooperation der ,,Vertriebenen"
TRIESTE / BERLIN (Eigener Bericht) - Der deutsche ,,Bund der
Vertriebenen" (BdV) kündigt eine Kooperation mit den Organisationen
der italienischen Umgesiedelten an. Rom hat den so genannten ,,Esuli"
(,,Exilierten"), die in Folge des Zweiten Weltkriegs aus
jugoslawischem Gebiet nach Italien übersiedeln mußten, einen
nationalen Gedenktag zugesprochen, an dessen erster Begehung die
BdV-Präsidentin Erika Steinbach als Ehrengast teilnahm. Die ,,Esuli"
verhandeln mit italienischen Regierungsstellen über Entschädigungen
für ihren früheren Besitz im heutigen Slowenien und Kroatien. Da die
Forderungen in fast sämtlichen italienischen Parteien auf Sympathien
stoßen, gelten finanzielle Zusagen der römischen Behörden als nicht
ausgeschlossen. Die deutsch-italienische Kooperation der
,,Vertriebenen" setzt die Staaten des früheren Jugoslawien unter
diplomatischen Druck und stärkt revisionistische Kräfte auch auf
europäischer Ebene...
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/52462
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/52460
Pincer Movement (13.04.2005)
TRIESTE/BERLIN (Own report) - The German ,,Bund der Vertriebenen"
(BdV, ,,Association of Expellees") announced cooperation with the
organizations of resettled Italians. The Italian government in Rome
has declared a day of commemoration for the ,,Esuli" (exiles), who, as
a consequence of the Second World War, had to resettle in Italy from
Yugoslav territory. Erika Steinbach, president of the BdV was guest of
honor at the first commemoration day. The ,,Esuli" are currently in
negotiations with the Italian administration over the question of
financial compensation for their former property in what is today
Slovenia and Croatia. Their chances are good, since nearly all Italian
parties are sympathetic to their demands. The German/Italian
cooperation of the ,,expellees" is placing the states of the former
Yugoslavia under diplomatic pressure and strengthening revisionist
forces also at the European level.
With a law enacted March 30, 2004, Rome declared February 10 the
national day of commemoration for the ,,Esuli."1) That date is a
reminder to the Paris Peace Treaty, signed Feb. 10, 1947, in which
Italy engaged itself to relinquish the Istria Peninsula and parts of
Dalmatia to Yugoslavia. A population resettlement took place, directed
against the collaborators of the defeated occupation powers, similar
to what happened in the former German Eastern Territories. A sector of
the Italian speaking population of Yugoslavia, had supported the
occupation policy of the Axis powers and carried out massacres of
their Yugoslav compatriots during World War II. The resettlements were
accompanied by numerous acts of unlawfulness and revenge.
National Consecration
With the establishment of days of commemoration, exaggerating
individual attacks in order to create a national myth of
victimization, Rome's foreign policy is aiming at the internationally
valid peace treaty and sows doubt concerning its objectivity. The
Italians, in so doing, are following the German example. The
organizations of the ,,expellees" from the German Eastern territories,
have for years been demanding that Berlin make Aug. 5, a day of
national commemoration. Like the Italians, this date is chosen in
order to form, in this case, a tangent to the Potsdam Treaty, signed
August 2, 1945. In this treaty, the Anti-Hitler Coalition agreed to
the resettlement measures, because they feared a resurgence of
subversive activities by the German speaking minorities in the states
of Eastern and Southeastern Europe.2) A ,,Charta of the German
Expellees" made public Aug. 5, 1950, is directed against enactment of
the Treaty. According to the BdV, that date should receive national
consecration.
La Nostra Gente
The central celebration to the first ,,Esuli" commemoration, to which
the BdV President, Erika Steinbach delivered a statement of
salutations, took place in Trieste with the Italian Foreign Mininster,
Gianfranco Fini in attendance. The parliament in Rome respected a
minute of silence for the ,,Exiles," and President Carlo Azeglio
Ciampi laid a wreath. As the BdV emphasizes, this major event in Italy
is supported by all Italian parties, ,,Even those, who for decades had
maintained a different opinion, have placed the commemoration of the
victims in the foreground - the human rights violation - and no longer
the political orientation of those victimized."3) The BdV is referring
here to the history campaign that has taken place in Italy over the
past few years, with the participation of the composite Italian media,
to create a consensus for the revision of the context of post-war
developments and international accords. The public television network,
RAI, broadcast a serial on the fate of the resettled. The program was
prepared just in time for the ,,national commemoration day"
captivating the attention of about 10 million Italian viewers. In the
plot the advance on Trst (Trieste) by the Yugoslav partisans and the
military measures taken against Italian collaborators in Istria were
transformed into a story of national suffering. Even serious journals,
such as the ,,Corriere della Sera" over the past few years has
repeatedly brought wide coverage articles about Yugoslav citizens of
Italian origin - ,,la nostra gente" (our people).
Acceptance
The Italian opposition parties, comprised of former communists and
social democrats, are, for the most part, going along with this
re-valuation of history4), agreeing with revisionist offenses of the
Italian heads of state and by so doing helping the ,,Esuli" to growing
acceptance among the population. Even the government's foreign policy
maneuver of negotiating with Croatia for compensation for the
,,Esuli," is accepted without noticeable disfavor by the ,,left"
opposition.
Assets
Following the most recent meeting of the Italian foreign minister with
his Croatian counterpart, Hido Biscevic to discuss the ,,assets of the
Italian Esuli", the revisionist organizations intensified through an
ultimatum their pressure on the government in Rome.5) According to the
declaration made by the ,,Federazione delle associazioni degli esuli"
the an end must be put to the fruitless negotiations. The successor
states of Yugoslavia must be made clear that they cannot escape the
restitution demands. With this, Croatia and Slovenia find themselves
caught in an pincer movement between Italian and German foreign
policies. Government offices in Berlin and Austrian ,,expellees"
associations are demanding renegotiations of their presumptuous claims.
European
The BdV made known in Berlin that it intends to cooperate with the
Italian re-settlers, ,,particularly in collaboration on the
establishment of a 'Center against Expulsion."'6) Erika Steinbach, BdV
president, also announced support for an initiative of the ,,Unione
degli Istriani" for an ,,European day of commemoration for all victims
of expulsion" project.
1) Legge 30 marzo 2004, n.92
2) see also Only Half of the Guilt
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1110668400.php]
and Disputing Yalta
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1109026801.php]
3) Italien gedenkt der Opfer von Triest, Deutscher Ostdienst 3/2005
4) Foibe: Ciampi: ,,Tragedia nella memoria di tutti"; Corriere della
Sera 09.02.2004
5) Ultimatum della Federazione al Governo; www.unioneistriani.it
19.03.2005
6) Italien gedenkt der Opfer von Triest, Deutscher Ostdienst 3/2005
Zangenbewegung (13.04.2005)
© Informationen zur Deutschen Außenpolitik
info@...
=== 2 ===
Präzedenzfall Kroatien (19.10.2005)
ZAGREB/WIEN/BERLIN (Eigener Bericht) - Kroatien wird umgesiedelten
"Volksdeutschen" ab dem kommenden Jahr Entschädigungen für wegen
NS-Kollaboration entzogenes Eigentum gewähren. Dies ist der Inhalt
eines jetzt bekannt gewordenen Abkommens zwischen Wien und Zagreb, das
die Parlamente beider Länder in Kürze unterzeichnen werden. Es kommt
denjenigen Umgesiedelten zugute, die auf heute kroatischem Territorium
enteignet wurden und sich in Österreich niedergelassen haben. Ein
gleichgerichtetes Entschädigungsgesetz, das derzeit in Belgrad zur
Begutachtung vorliegt, soll österreichischen Umgesiedelten auch den
Zugriff auf serbisches Territorium eröffnen. Von den
Verhandlungserfolgen Wiens profitiert Berlin. Bereits im Juni des
vergangenen Jahres hat die Bundesregierung angesichts der
Verhandlungen zwischen Wien und Zagreb "gegenüber der kroatischen
Regierung ihr Interesse an der Entschädigung deutscher Vertriebener
anhängig gemacht"....
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/56086
---
Neue Souveränität (08.08.2004)
Entschädigungsdebatte
BERLIN - Die deutsche Regierung erklärt Entschädigungsansprüche
deutscher Umgesiedelter gegenüber ihren Herkunftsstaaten weiterhin für
offen. Von Kroatien verlangt Berlin ausdrücklich
Entschädigungsleistungen gegenüber umgesiedelten ,,Donauschwaben". Die
Forderungen der Präsidentin des ,,Bundes der Vertriebenen" (BdV),
Erika Steinbach, nennt die Regierungspartei SPD ,,unseriös". Steinbach
plädiert seit kurzem für ein ,,nationales Entschädigungsgesetz", das
die Umgesiedelten durch symbolische Zahlungen des deutschen Staates
entschädigen und Restitutionsforderungen gegenüber anderen Staaten die
Rechtsgrundlage entziehen soll. Das Vorhaben ist geeignet, dem
polnischen Widerstand gegen die deutsche Hegemonialpolitik die Spitze
zu nehmen und die Fortdauer anderer Projekte der
"Vertriebenen"-Verbände zu sichern...
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/45292
---
Umerziehung (15.07.2004)
Angeblicher Völkermord an den Donauschwaben
MAINZ/BELGRAD/ROM (Eigener Bericht) - Das öffentlich-rechtliche
Fernsehen der Bundesrepublik plant die Ausstrahlung eines Films über
den ,,Völkermord" an ,,rund 65.000 Deutsche(n)" im früheren
Jugoslawien. Gemeint sind deutschsprachige Kollaborateure und
Sympathisanten der NS-Besatzer, denen nach 1945 der Prozess gemacht
wurde. Die als ,,Donauschwaben" bezeichneten Inhaftierten und
Flüchtlinge seien der ,,Rache" von ,,Titos Partisanen" anheimgefallen,
heißt es in einer Presseankündigung der deutschen TV-Firma über das
,,serbische Unrecht". Die Firma operiert mit Geldern des Auswärtigen
Amtes. Ausstrahlender Sender ist der Kanal 3sat. Auch das staatliche
italienische Fernsehen widmet sich den Folgen der Okkupation
Jugoslawiens. Dabei sei ,,italienischer Boden" ,,slawisiert" worden,
schreibt die offiziöse römische Presse über die Befreiung Kroatiens in
den Jahren 1943 bis 1945...
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/44716
=== 3 ===
GO TO THE ORIGINAL URL FOR MANY INTERESTING LINKS:
http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=518
---
The Nazis in the Balkans: A Case Study of Totalitarian Politics
Date: Monday, March 21 @ 04:00:00 EST
Topic: Book Reviews
The Nazis in the Balkans: A Case Study of Totalitarian Politics
by Dietrich Orlow
University of Pittsburgh Press (1968), 235 pp.
Reviewed by Carl K. Savich
In The Nazis in the Balkans: A Case Study of Totalitarian Politics,
Dietrich Orlow examined the Sudosteuropa-Gesellschaft or SOEG, the
Southeast-European Society, a Nazi organization or agency created to
exploit the Balkans during World War II.
The SOEG planned, coordinated, and executed the Third Reich's
blueprint for the New Order in Southeast Europe, or the Balkans. It
was founded in 1940 to formulate wartime policy in Southeast Europe
and the exploitation of Balkan resources. It also established
long-term economic designs for the Balkans after the war, assuming
Germany would win the war.
Neu Ordnung: The New Order and the New World Order
Aside from its importance as a historical source, this analysis has
value in that it allows a comparison of the policies in the Balkans of
New Order of Nazi Germany/Axis and the New Word Order of the
US/NATO/EU. Both have similarities and differences. But the bottom
line remains that new orders are created to allow for the exploitation
and control of a sphere of influence which benefits the exploiter and
impoverishes the exploited. The Nazi German New Order destroyed and
looted the economies of the Balkan states to enrich the citizens of
Germany. The US/EU/NATO New World Order in the Balkans, likewise,
loots and exploits the economies of the Balkans. The result in both
cases has been the economic exploitation and ruin of the Balkan
states. Moreover, Nazi Germany recruited hundreds of thousands of
Balkan citizens to fight as "volunteer" soldiers in the Nazi armies.
Similarly, the US/EU/NATO have recruited Balkan citizens to
"volunteer" as soldiers in US military occupation forces in
Afghanistan and Iraq. This book is invaluable in showing the
similarities and differences between all New Orders. Any person who
has an interest in the Balkans will find this book of immense value.
It shows that the paradigm or modus operandi are very similar.
A possible flaw of the book as a historical work is that it does not
examine the activities and relations of the SOEG in the Balkans in
much detail. Orlow restricts and focuses his analysis on the SOEG
itself, offering only sketchy and incomplete analyses of its role in
the Balkan states themselves. Since there was a long and complex
history of German involvement in the Balkans, above and beyond the
SOEG, one might have expected a fuller treatment.
Revisionist versus Antirevisionist States: 1930s Europe
In the 1930s, Europe was divided into two camps: The revisionist
powers or nations, such as Bulgaria and Hungary, versus the
antirevisionist nations, such as Yugoslavia, Greece, Romania and
Czechoslovakia. The antirevisionist nations benefited from the
Versaille Treaty and the Trianon, St. Germain, and Neuilly Treaties,
while Hungary and Bulgaria lost territory following World War I. In
1922, the Little Entente was created by Yugoslavia, Romania, and
Czechoslovakia with France as a defensive pact against the revisionist
powers, which at that was targeted against/versus at Hungary. In 1934,
Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey established the Balkan Pact as a
defensive Treaty. Fascist Italy emerged in the 1930s led by Benito
Mussolini, who had an anti-France policy and sought to establish a
sphere of influence in the Balkans, particularly in Albania,
Yugoslavia, and Greece. Italy and Germany thus were economic and
political rivals in the Balkans during the 1930s.
Nazi German foreign policy, unlike that of the Weimar Republic, sought
to gain greater economic and political ties to the Balkan states. Nazi
Germany became the largest and most important trade partner for most
of the Balkan states in the 1930s. In many instances, politics
superceded economics. Nazi German foreign policy sought to establish
diplomatic and political links to the Balkan states. To achieve these
political ties, Germany did not always negotiate the most advantageous
and most profitable economic deals.
By the end of the 1930s, Germany sought a greater political and
economic role in the Balkans. To achieve this goal, an agency or
organization was established. The goal of the SOEG was to establish
German economic penetration in the Balkans. The SOEG was created in
February 8, 1940 by the Reich Ministry of Economics with headquarters
in Vienna. In The Nazis in the Balkans: A Case Study of Totalitarian
Politics, it is described as "neofeudal" by Orlow.
The SOEG was created in the context of a totalitarian society and
regime. The Weimar Republic of the 1920s was based on the Rechtsstaat
principle. Rechtsstaat is a state based on law, requiring a
bureaucracy. This was how it was during the Weimar Republic when there
was a line between the state and the citizen. On January 30, 1933, a
totalitarian, Nazi regime emerged in Germany which abolished the
distinction between the state and the citizen. Nazi Germany was also a
"racial state," based on race as the defining criterion of citizenship.
The SOEG was formed and led by Walther Funk, the Reich Minister of
Economics, Josef Burckel, the president, who was also the Reich
Commissioner for Reunification of Austria and the German Reich, and
August Heinrichsbauer, the executive secretary. Alfred Rosenberg's
Foreign Policy Office oversaw the SOEG. The object was to obtain
Grossraum, or a sphere of influence in the Balkans.The New Order in
the Balkans.
The first entity that emerged was The Black Sea Trading and Industrial
Company, which was formed in the Balkans. The Nutrition and
Agriculture Group was formed as well. A Corn Committee was established
to do research on the corn plant in the Balkans. It was headed by Sawa
Ulmansky in Zagreb. The SOEG worked jointly with DAM or the German
Academy (Deutsche Akademie). DAM was engaged in propagating German
culture and the German language abroad. It had cultural goals. It
established with SOEG: 1) the Society of Friends of the German Academy
in Vienna (Gesellschaft der Freunde der Deutschn Akademie in Wien); 2)
the Southeast Seminar (Sudost-Seminar); and, 3) the Prince Eugene
Institute, which was never formally organized.
The SOEG used the Dachgesellschaft approach, which meant that it was
organized as an umbrella and coordinating body, one which was
decentralized. The SOEG published a newsletter on Balkan economics
which contained confidential information. The SOEG published a
newssheet with confidential data, organized meetings, workshops, and
seminars on the Balkans. It addressed import-export issues, and
cultural issues. This coordination of the economic, political,
military, cultural, and scientific aspects of the New Order reflected
the gleichschaltung policy, or coordination, of the Nazi regime. All
aspects of the New Order were coordinated and synchronized and harmonized.
Volksdeutsche Auxiliaries
The ultimate goal of the SOEG was to implement the New Order in the
Balkans, where it worked together with the SS to bring this about. The
SS controlled Volksdeutsche or ethnic German life in the Balkans.
Heinrich Himmler formed four SS divisions in the Balkans and planned
to form a fifth Albanian SS division. In Yugoslavia, Himmler formed
the 7th SS Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen," consisting of
volksdeutsche from the Serbian Banat, Yugoslavia, Romania, and other
Balkan states. Himmler created 12 central offices or Hauptamter by 1944.
In 1935, the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VoMi), the Ethnic German Aid
Office, was founded, which was a Nazi party organization closely
associated with the SS responsible for coordinating all official
activities among the ethnic Germans outside of the Reich. VoMi was
headed by SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Werner Lorenz from July 4, 1942 to
November 9, 1944. There were approximately 10 million ethnic Germans
outside the Reich in the 1930s. There were 750,000 volksdeusche in
Romania, 700,000 in Yugoslavia, and 500,000 in Hungary, the
Transylvania Germans. The Reichskommisar fur die Festigung Deutschen
Volkstums (RKFDV) was also established for the strengthening of
"Germandom." The RKFDV was headed by SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Ulrich
Greifeit, which focused on the resettlement of ethnic Germans. The
Lebesborn or Well of Life Society was also created to maintain racial
purity.
Nazi Germany also sought support for its Eastern European policies by
developing the Ostforschung policy. This policy enabled the Nazis to
implement the New Order in eastern Europe by providing a scientific
rationale. The Ostforschung policy consisted of developing biological
racism theories by German and Axis scholars and scientists to buttress
the Nazi racial policies in the East.
Nazi Economic Objectives in the Balkans
The economic objective of the SOEG was the exploitation of the mineral
resources of all the Balkan states. The Committee on Economic Planning
was formed for this purpose. German joint companies were formed with
the Balkan states that gave the German firms controlling shares or
interests. The companies formed and established in the Balkans were
geared towards what German industry or business needed. Germany also
formed cartels in the Balkans. The result of this exploitation of the
Balkans was that the German standard of living increased while that of
the Balkans declined. German businessmen wanted to own stocks in
Balkan's companies and to control those companies by obtaining
controlling stock shares. What resulted was the "Germanization" of
industries in the Balkans. German economic interests wanted to be able
to invest freely in the Balkans. Like George Soros later, they wanted
an "open society" or open access to the economies of the Balkan
states. Many Balkan states resisted German attempts at economic
control and got around export quotas to Germany, such as of grain, by
misrepresenting the data.
The Germans also sought to eliminate Jewish ownership and control of
industries in the Balkans. The German policy was to create
"de-Judacized" companies or companies that were "Aryanized". The SOEG
was a private organization or agency, a status which allowed it to
infiltrate and gain easier access in the Balkan states. George Soros
and the NGOs of the 1990s would also use the "privatization" and
"non-governmental" tactics to similarly gain control.
The SOEG in Yugoslavia experienced problems because of Serbian
resistance to German military occupation. As Orlow noted on page 172,
"in occupied nations such as Yugoslavia actual German military
presence" was required to control the country. The SOEG representative
in Belgrade was Anton Kreuzbauer. The Volksdeutsche in Yugoslavia were
placed in the Waffen SS and the Banat was administered by Germans. The
Volksdeutsche Prinz Eugen 7th SS Mountain Division, made up of ethnic
Germans from the Banat, was recruited by Himmler to combat the mainly
Serbian resistance groups.
In the Balkans, chrome, manganese, lead, zinc, iron, and copper were
sought for German industry and the strategic needs of the German
military, along with bauxite, and the aluminum industry. Grain was
exported to Germany from the Balkans. Raw materials were also exported
to Germany. The SOEG published reports in 1943 on Balkans resources
that were needed by German industry and the military sector.
The SOEG policies ultimately failed in the Balkans, according to
Orlow, because the German policy and occupation was arrogant,
aggressive, and dictatorial.
Grossraum: NATO Paradigm
Orlow's analysis of the SOEG is valuable for anyone who wants to
compare the Nazi New Order in Europe with the US New World Order. Nazi
Germany sought to create Grossraum, or a sphere of influence and
control in the Balkans. The US and NATO and the EU seek their own
Grossraum in the Balkans, through various formal and informal means
including Western-controlled media and NGOs.
Conclusion: New Orders and Old Orders
Anyone who reads this book will be struck by the many similarities
between the Nazi New Order and the US/NATO/EU New World Order in the
Balkans. Far from being an abstruse and irrelevant study, this book is
invaluable in showing how spheres of influence are established and how
exploitation, domination, and control of a region occur. It is never
just about military force and occupation. The military role is only
one aspect of the story. It is surprising how similar the New Order is
to the New World Order. Both New Orders gained entrée into the Balkans
by bombing Belgrade and other Serbian cities. Both occupied Serbia or
parts of Serbia and other areas of the Balkans. Both sought the
economic exploitation of the Balkans following the military
occupation. What resulted was the military, political, economic,
social, cultural, societal control of the Balkans. The Nazis in the
Balkans: A Case Study of Totalitarian Politics shows how it was
accomplished. The book is highly relevant today and is a must-read for
anyone interested both in the history of the Balkans in World War II,
as well as the latter-day US/NATO/EU penetration into the Balkans.
Bibliography
Burleigh, Michael. The Third Reich: A New History. NY: Hill and Wang,
2001.
Ibid, Germany Turns Eastwards: Germany Turns Eastward: A Study of
Ostforschung in the Third Reich. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1990.
Ibid, Ethics and Extermination: Reflections on Nazi Genocide.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Ibid, Death and Deliverance: `Euthanasia' in Germany, c.1900 to 1945.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Burleigh, Michael, and Wolfgang Wippermann. The Racial State: Germany
1933-1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Casagrande, Thomas. Die Volksdeutsche SS-Division `Prinz Eugen': Die
Banater Schwaben und die National Sozialistischen Kriegsverbrechen.
Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Campus Verlag, 2003.
Kaltenegger, Roland. The Mountain Troops of the Waffen-SS: 1941-1945.
Schiffer Publishing, 1995.
Lumans, Valdis O. Himmler's Auxiliaries: The Volksdeutsche
Mittelstelle and the German Minorities of Europe, 1933-1945. Chapel
Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
Orlow, Dietrich. The Nazis in the Balkans: A Case Study of
Totalitarian Politics. Pittsburg, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press,
1968.
Thomas, N., K. Mikulan, D. Pavelic. Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941-5.
Oxford, UK: Osprey, 1995.
Williamson, Gordon. The Waffen-SS (3) 11. to 23. Divisions. Oxford,
UK: Osprey, 2004.
Ibid, The Waffen-SS (4) 24. to 38. Divisions. Oxford, UK: Osprey, 2004.
This article comes from balkanalysis.com
http://www.balkanalysis.com
The URL for this story is:
http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=518
=== 4 ===
Revisionsachse (02.06.2004)
GAKOVO - Eine Gedenkstätte für ,,Volksdeutsche"ist im ehemaligen
Jugoslawien eingeweiht worden. ,,Vertriebenen"-Organisationen
bezeichnen die Errichtung des Denkmals in Gakovo (Nordwestserbien) als
,,ersten Schritt zur moralischen Rehabilitation der Donauschwaben".
Die deutschsprachige Minderheit hatte mehrheitlich mit dem
NS-Besatzungsregime kollaboriert und war bei Kriegsende sistiert und
des Landes verwiesen worden. Serbien und Montenegro sollen die
entsprechenden Dekrete annullieren, verlangen einflussreiche deutsche
,,Vertriebenen"-Funktionäre. Die Forderung ist Teil weit gespannter
Revisionsbestrebungen in ganz Ost- und Südosteuropa, die an den Streit
um die Pariser Friedensverträge in den 1920er und 1930er Jahren
erinnern...
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/43684
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/43684
The Axis of Revision (02.06.2004)
DJAKOVO (Serbia/Montenegro) - A memorial for ethnic Germans was opened
in the former-Yugoslavia. Expellee organizations describe the
construction of the memorial in Djakovo in Serbia's northwest as a
first step towards a moral rehabilitation of the Danube Germans. The
German-speaking minority had for the most part collaborated with the
Nazi occupation regime and, as a result, was detained and finally
expelled. According to influential German expellee functionaries,
Serbia/Montenegro should annul the respective decrees. The request is
part of a wider effort at revision in all of Southeastern Europe that
still serve as a reminder of the Paris Peace Treaties of the 1920s and
1930s.
Extermination Camps
The memorial cross, opened on 22 May, commemorate members of the
German-speaking minority, who lost their lives during and after the
Second World War. The so-called ethnic Germans had collaborated with
the Nazi Occupation of Yugoslavia and many died as soldiers of the
Third Reich. In Djakovo the liberated Yugoslavia detained numerous
Danube Germans, suspected of collaboration, under questionable
conditions from March 1945 to January 1948. Many of the prisoners died
in custody. In expellee circles, the conditions of the time have been
portrayed as echoing Ausschwitz and other places of German crimes
against humanity, to characterize Djakovo as an extermination camp and
to treat the collaborating Germans as equals with their own victims.
,,Moral Rehabilitation"
Present at the opening of the memorial in Djakovo were high-ranking
members of the expellees, the provincial leader of the Serbian
province of Vojvodina, as well as a representative of the German
embassy in Belgrade. Expellee organizations called the opening of the
memorial cross as ,,the first step towards moral rehabilitation of the
Danube Germans". They call for the annulment of the AVNOJ decrees, in
which sanctions against ethnic Germans were included. The Vojvodina
parliament in the Serbian province last February joined the request1),
while at the same time Croatia is preparing a annulment of the AVNOJ
agreements in their territory.
Berlin-Vienna-Budapest
The efforts to annul the AVNOJ agreements in the republics of the
former Yugoslavia correspond identically with the activities in the
ex-republics of the former-Czechoslovakia2). The Benes decrees should
also be retroactively removed from legislation. The requests are
uniformly conveyed by Germany, Austria and Hungary and are
complemented by Hungarian claims to Romanian territory. The group of
states, with Berlin as the vocal leader, is remiscent of the 1920s and
1930s. Then, the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Edvard Benes, under
protection from the French, completed a bilateral alliance with
Yugoslavia and Romania, called the Petit Entente, which was to hamper
a revision of the Paris Peace Treaty by the Berlin-Vienna-Budapest
axis. The Petite Entente fell apart leading up to the Munich Agreement
of 29 September 1938.
1) s. Maximum Split
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1079046001.php]
2) s. A European Purpose
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1086040800.php]
Sources:
1000 Menschen trauern im serbischen Gakovo; www.vloe.at
Gedenkkreuz für deutsche Opfer in der Vojvodina enthüllt; Deutsche
Welle Monitor Ost-/Südosteuropa 25.05.2004
© Informationen zur Deutschen Außenpolitik
info@...
=== 5 ===
Ehre den Mordgehilfen (03.09.2004)
Ehrung von NS-Verbrechern und Kollaborateuren
WARSZAWA/NOVI SAD/ZAGREB - Die in Deutschland betriebene Umwertung der
Nazi-Diktatur schreitet auch in ehemals kollaborierenden und in
ehemals von Deutschland besetzten Ländern voran. In Warschau werden
auf einer vom ,,Volksbund deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge" errichteten
Gräbstätte deutsche SS- und Wehrmachtsoldaten geehrt, darunter bis vor
kurzem auch der Henker des Warschauer Ghettos, der SS-Gruppenführer
Stroop. In der serbischen Provinz Vojvodina wird der wegen ihrer
Kollaboration umgesiedelten ,,Donauschwaben" als ,,vollkommen
unschuldiger" Opfer gedacht. In Kroatien gewinnen Versuche an
Intensität, Kriegsverbrecher der faschistischen Ustascha zu
rehabilitieren...
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/45916
---
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/45917
or
http://www.freenations.freeuk.com/news-2004-09-15.html
Honouring Nazi Collaborators (03.09.2004)
WARSAW/NOVI SAD/ZAGREB - 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 Ghetto 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.
Exterminator of the Ghetto
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 by the ,,Association for the care of German War
Graves"which is subsidised with millions from the German Government.
At the inauguration in 1991 Polish soldiers stood an honour guard for
the remains of 362 Wehrmacht and SS soldiers among them many who 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.
,,Atrocities committed against Germans"
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. 1)
Ready
It does apparently seem timely in the successor states of the former
Yugoslavia - destroyed principally on Germany's initiative. A
Committee of Inquiry of the parliament of the Serb province of
Vojvodina 2)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 collaborated with the German regime. 3)
Patriots
In Croatia there are more attempts to make Ustasha war criminals into
heroes. The Ustasha Movement was founded in 1929 and conducted a reign
of terror throughout Yugoslavia as collaborators with the Nazi
occupiers. 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 clerical 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.
,,Vital Part of the Spirit of Croatia"
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".
1) see also ,,Land that morally belongs to Germany"
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1091224800.php]
and Mental Eastward Expansion
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1092175200.php]
2) see also Maximum Split
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1079046001.php]
3) see also The Axis of Revision
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1086127200.php]
see also Heroes
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/goto.php?path=./news/article/1093730400.php]
Sources:
Honouring Nazi Collaborators throughout Europe; www.freenations.freeuk.com
Spaete Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung. Erstmals Opfer und Taeter der Nazis
und der Kommunisten in der Vojvodina systematisch erfasst; Deutsche
Welle Monitor Ost-/Suedosteuropa 10.08.2004
Antifaschisten protestieren gegen Denkmal fuer einen Ustascha-Fuehrer;
Deutsche Welle Monitor Ost-/Suedosteuropa 10.08.2004
Ein Denkmal am Weichselufer; Neues Deutschland 24.08.2004
Heftige Proteste gegen Gedenktafel fuer Ustascha-Minister; Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung 28.08.2004
Kroatische Regierung laesst Faschisten-Denkmaeler entfernen; Der
Standard 28.08.2004
Ausgemeisselt. Deutsche Kriegsgraeberfuersorge ehrte den Henker des
Warschauer Ghettos, SS-Gruppenfuehrer Juergen Stroop, auf einer
Gedenktafel; Junge Welt 28.08.2004
Denkmal in Thorn; Die Welt 28.08.2004
Protest-Versammlung der Anhaenger des Ustascha-Fuehrers Budak in Sveti
Rok; Deutsche Welle Monitor Ost-/Suedosteuropa 31.08.2004
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