RISARCIRE GLI AGUZZINI TEDESCHI?
Abbiamo gia' fatto notare in tante occasioni come la "nuova Serbia"
di Djindjic-Kostunica sembri ispirarsi agli atti del governo
collaborazionista
di Nedic, che durante la II Guerra Mondiale guardava inerte ai crimini
commessi dall'occupante nazifascista sul proprio territorio.
Il livello di prostrazione ed accondiscendenza della Serbia attuale
potrebbe portare persino al risarcimento delle "ingiustizie" subite dai
tedeschi del Banato, che oggi presentano il conto, un po' come quelli
dei Sudeti, della Slesia, di Kalinigrad, o come gli istro-dalmati
italiani...
Subject: Balkan Crisis Report No. 338
Date: Sun, 26 May 2002 15:44:21 +0100
From: "Institute for War & Peace Reporting" <info@...>
WELCOME TO IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT,
No. 338, May 25, 2002
(...)
SERBIA: EXPELLED GERMANS DEMAND COMPENSATION
Ethnic Germans who lost property under the Yugoslav communists are
calling on the authorities to compensate them. Jan Briza reports from
Novi Sad
(...)
SERBIA: EXPELLED GERMANS DEMAND COMPENSATION
Ethnic Germans who lost property under the
Yugoslav communists are calling
on the authorities to compensate them.
By Jan Briza in Novi Sad
Germans expelled from the northern Serbian
province of Vojvodina in the
aftermath of the Second World War are
demanding the restitution of
property they lost.
The demand is causing unease, not only
among local residents, but also in
Belgrade, which hasn't the funds to deal
with compensation requests,
despite having drawn up a draft law for
dealing with the problem.
However, the government will have to
address the issue, as restitution of
property seized by the communist
authorities is one of the preconditions
of Yugoslavia joining the Council of
Europe.
The compensation request was filed by the
Presidency of the World
Association of Germans in the Danube
region on May 10 this year, in
Subotica on Vojvodina's border with
Hungary.
Germans from Vojvodina are demanding
restitution of property seized by the
so-called Anti-fascist Council for the
National Liberation of Yugoslavia,
AVNOJ, set up in 1944.
According to censuses carried out in 1921
and 1931, more than half a
million Germans lived in Yugoslavia -
340,000 of them in the northern
Serbian province. Known as Volkdeutschers,
they settled there in the 18th
century following the Turks withdrawal
from southern Hungary.
They had become the third largest ethnic
community after the Serbs and
Hungarians and a leading economic force
between the two world wars.
But after the Second World War,
retaliatory measures decimated the
population. The Danube association says
around 80,000 members of the
community lost their lives - mainly women,
children and the elderly - in
concentration camps in the region.
According to a 1991 census, just over
5000 Germans remain in Serbia.
Their confiscated property was mainly
distributed to Serbs who fled to
Vojvodina from Croatia, Bosnia and
Montenegro during the war.
The issue became taboo for many years.
Katica Andrijevic from Sremska
Mitrovica still remembers the time her
German neighbours were forced to
leave in the early Fifties.
"Franc Haltmayer, his wife Mandica and
sons Rudolf, Karl and Viktor were
our neighbours," said Ana in the
residential area of Rumska malta. "They
were good people. We all cried when they
left."
She said that, later on, Mandica and her
sons often visited Sremska
Mitrovica. Viktor even married his former
neighbour with whom he used to
play as a child.
Germans from Vojvodina, both those who had
been forced to leave and the
few who stayed behind, now await adoption
of denationalisation legislation
which will entitle them to compensation
for real estate illegally seized from them.
Head of the German National Alliance,
Rudolf Weis, and deputy head of the
World Association of Germans, Rudolf
Reiman, say they ought not to be
discriminated just because they are
Germans.
Enactment of the law is also eagerly
awaited by tens of thousands of Serbs
whose property had been confiscated after
the war.
However, this is easier said than done.
There can be no immediate solution
as owners of properties due for
restitution have to be found alternative
accommodation and the current authorities
in Belgrade are too impoverished
to compensate people for their loss.
The Serbian justice ministry's
denationalisation bill has been highly
commended by the international community,
but its enactment has been
repeatedly postponed. Government sources
say it could be held up for
another two years.
Property claimants hope that the Council
of Europe issue will speed things
up. Some Serbs have already said that they
intend to take their grievances
to the European Court in Strasbourg. One
similar lawsuit filed against the
Romanian government was enough to get it
to adopt restitution legislation within days.
Prominent Belgrade lawyer Milenko Radic
warns that German claimants must
prove that they have not already received
compensation from other sources.
"As far as I know, a large number of
Germans from Vojvodina had been
compensated in Germany," said Radic,
claiming that the German state as
well as some international humanitarian
organisations have already lent
them a helping hand.
Another problem facing the ethnic Germans
in their bid for justice is
resistance from those now living in their
properties. There were tensions
last year in the Vojvodina towns of Vrsac
and Bela Crkva when ethnic
Germans returned to see former homes.
Weis claims members of his community have
no desire to create new
injustices by reclaiming property. "We are
aware that undoing the wrongs
of the past could harm other people, but
we have to have talks on this
matter and find a solution that is best
for all," he said.
Reiman agrees. "The return of the seized
property, that is, restitution,
must not cause new injustices," he said. "
Revenge is not our aim."
Jan Briza is an editor of Novi Sad daily
"Dnevnik" and regular IWPR
contributor.
****************** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE:
www.iwpr.net ****************
IWPR's network of leading correspondents
in the region provides in-depth
analysis on events and issues affected the
Balkans. The reports are
published on the Web in English, Serbian
and Albanian. They are also
available via e-mail. For syndication
information, contact Anthony Borden
tony@...
Balkan Crisis Report is supported by the
Department for International
Development, the European Commission, the
Swedish International
Development and Cooperation Agency, The
Netherlands Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, and other funders. IWPR also
acknowledges general support from
the Ford Foundation.
For further details on this project, other
information services and media
programmes, visit IWPR's website:
www.iwpr.net
All our reporting services are available
free of charge online and via
e-mail subscription. To subscribe or
unsubscribe, see:
https://www.global-list.com/secure/iwpr/subscribe_pop.asp
Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Borden, Managing
Editor: Yigal Chazan, Associate
Editor: Gordana Igric, Assistant Editors:
Dragana Nikolic and Mirna
Jancic, Kosovo Project Manager: Nehat
Islami. Translation: Alban Mitrushi,
Dragana Nikolic, Denisa Kostovic and
others.
The Institute for War & Peace Reporting
(IWPR) is a London-based
independent non-profit organisation
supporting regional media and
democratic change.
Lancaster House, 33 Islington High Street,
London N1 9LH, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7713 7130, Fax: +44 (0)20
7713 7140 E-mail: info@...
Web: www.iwpr.net
The opinions expressed in Balkan Crisis
Report are those of the authors
and do not necessarily represent those of
the publication or of IWPR.
Copyright (c) 2002 The Institute for War &
Peace Reporting
BALKAN CRISIS REPORT No. 338
Abbiamo gia' fatto notare in tante occasioni come la "nuova Serbia"
di Djindjic-Kostunica sembri ispirarsi agli atti del governo
collaborazionista
di Nedic, che durante la II Guerra Mondiale guardava inerte ai crimini
commessi dall'occupante nazifascista sul proprio territorio.
Il livello di prostrazione ed accondiscendenza della Serbia attuale
potrebbe portare persino al risarcimento delle "ingiustizie" subite dai
tedeschi del Banato, che oggi presentano il conto, un po' come quelli
dei Sudeti, della Slesia, di Kalinigrad, o come gli istro-dalmati
italiani...
Subject: Balkan Crisis Report No. 338
Date: Sun, 26 May 2002 15:44:21 +0100
From: "Institute for War & Peace Reporting" <info@...>
WELCOME TO IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT,
No. 338, May 25, 2002
(...)
SERBIA: EXPELLED GERMANS DEMAND COMPENSATION
Ethnic Germans who lost property under the Yugoslav communists are
calling on the authorities to compensate them. Jan Briza reports from
Novi Sad
(...)
SERBIA: EXPELLED GERMANS DEMAND COMPENSATION
Ethnic Germans who lost property under the
Yugoslav communists are calling
on the authorities to compensate them.
By Jan Briza in Novi Sad
Germans expelled from the northern Serbian
province of Vojvodina in the
aftermath of the Second World War are
demanding the restitution of
property they lost.
The demand is causing unease, not only
among local residents, but also in
Belgrade, which hasn't the funds to deal
with compensation requests,
despite having drawn up a draft law for
dealing with the problem.
However, the government will have to
address the issue, as restitution of
property seized by the communist
authorities is one of the preconditions
of Yugoslavia joining the Council of
Europe.
The compensation request was filed by the
Presidency of the World
Association of Germans in the Danube
region on May 10 this year, in
Subotica on Vojvodina's border with
Hungary.
Germans from Vojvodina are demanding
restitution of property seized by the
so-called Anti-fascist Council for the
National Liberation of Yugoslavia,
AVNOJ, set up in 1944.
According to censuses carried out in 1921
and 1931, more than half a
million Germans lived in Yugoslavia -
340,000 of them in the northern
Serbian province. Known as Volkdeutschers,
they settled there in the 18th
century following the Turks withdrawal
from southern Hungary.
They had become the third largest ethnic
community after the Serbs and
Hungarians and a leading economic force
between the two world wars.
But after the Second World War,
retaliatory measures decimated the
population. The Danube association says
around 80,000 members of the
community lost their lives - mainly women,
children and the elderly - in
concentration camps in the region.
According to a 1991 census, just over
5000 Germans remain in Serbia.
Their confiscated property was mainly
distributed to Serbs who fled to
Vojvodina from Croatia, Bosnia and
Montenegro during the war.
The issue became taboo for many years.
Katica Andrijevic from Sremska
Mitrovica still remembers the time her
German neighbours were forced to
leave in the early Fifties.
"Franc Haltmayer, his wife Mandica and
sons Rudolf, Karl and Viktor were
our neighbours," said Ana in the
residential area of Rumska malta. "They
were good people. We all cried when they
left."
She said that, later on, Mandica and her
sons often visited Sremska
Mitrovica. Viktor even married his former
neighbour with whom he used to
play as a child.
Germans from Vojvodina, both those who had
been forced to leave and the
few who stayed behind, now await adoption
of denationalisation legislation
which will entitle them to compensation
for real estate illegally seized from them.
Head of the German National Alliance,
Rudolf Weis, and deputy head of the
World Association of Germans, Rudolf
Reiman, say they ought not to be
discriminated just because they are
Germans.
Enactment of the law is also eagerly
awaited by tens of thousands of Serbs
whose property had been confiscated after
the war.
However, this is easier said than done.
There can be no immediate solution
as owners of properties due for
restitution have to be found alternative
accommodation and the current authorities
in Belgrade are too impoverished
to compensate people for their loss.
The Serbian justice ministry's
denationalisation bill has been highly
commended by the international community,
but its enactment has been
repeatedly postponed. Government sources
say it could be held up for
another two years.
Property claimants hope that the Council
of Europe issue will speed things
up. Some Serbs have already said that they
intend to take their grievances
to the European Court in Strasbourg. One
similar lawsuit filed against the
Romanian government was enough to get it
to adopt restitution legislation within days.
Prominent Belgrade lawyer Milenko Radic
warns that German claimants must
prove that they have not already received
compensation from other sources.
"As far as I know, a large number of
Germans from Vojvodina had been
compensated in Germany," said Radic,
claiming that the German state as
well as some international humanitarian
organisations have already lent
them a helping hand.
Another problem facing the ethnic Germans
in their bid for justice is
resistance from those now living in their
properties. There were tensions
last year in the Vojvodina towns of Vrsac
and Bela Crkva when ethnic
Germans returned to see former homes.
Weis claims members of his community have
no desire to create new
injustices by reclaiming property. "We are
aware that undoing the wrongs
of the past could harm other people, but
we have to have talks on this
matter and find a solution that is best
for all," he said.
Reiman agrees. "The return of the seized
property, that is, restitution,
must not cause new injustices," he said. "
Revenge is not our aim."
Jan Briza is an editor of Novi Sad daily
"Dnevnik" and regular IWPR
contributor.
****************** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE:
www.iwpr.net ****************
IWPR's network of leading correspondents
in the region provides in-depth
analysis on events and issues affected the
Balkans. The reports are
published on the Web in English, Serbian
and Albanian. They are also
available via e-mail. For syndication
information, contact Anthony Borden
tony@...
Balkan Crisis Report is supported by the
Department for International
Development, the European Commission, the
Swedish International
Development and Cooperation Agency, The
Netherlands Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, and other funders. IWPR also
acknowledges general support from
the Ford Foundation.
For further details on this project, other
information services and media
programmes, visit IWPR's website:
www.iwpr.net
All our reporting services are available
free of charge online and via
e-mail subscription. To subscribe or
unsubscribe, see:
https://www.global-list.com/secure/iwpr/subscribe_pop.asp
Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Borden, Managing
Editor: Yigal Chazan, Associate
Editor: Gordana Igric, Assistant Editors:
Dragana Nikolic and Mirna
Jancic, Kosovo Project Manager: Nehat
Islami. Translation: Alban Mitrushi,
Dragana Nikolic, Denisa Kostovic and
others.
The Institute for War & Peace Reporting
(IWPR) is a London-based
independent non-profit organisation
supporting regional media and
democratic change.
Lancaster House, 33 Islington High Street,
London N1 9LH, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7713 7130, Fax: +44 (0)20
7713 7140 E-mail: info@...
Web: www.iwpr.net
The opinions expressed in Balkan Crisis
Report are those of the authors
and do not necessarily represent those of
the publication or of IWPR.
Copyright (c) 2002 The Institute for War &
Peace Reporting
BALKAN CRISIS REPORT No. 338