(english / italiano)

Markale

Secondo il settimanale croato Globus, il Ministero dell'Interno ed il
controspionaggio della Croazia sarebbero in possesso di un rapporto di
12 pagine, compilato dall'ex capo dei servizi Franjo Turek il 15 Aprile
2003, in base al quale Ivica Rajic, gia' comandante della zona di
operazioni di Kiseljak per le milizie croato-bosniache ed attualmente
in carcere all'Aia per altri crimini, sarebbe stato coinvolto nella
strage al mercato di Markale a Sarajevo.
Ricordiamo che la strage fu utilizzata dai paesi della NATO come
pretesto per scatenare i bombardamenti all'uranio impoverito sul suolo
della Repubblica Serba di Bosnia, nell'agosto-settembre 1995.
Sa la notizia fosse vera, essa dovrebbe (dovrebbe) essere presa in
esame dalla stampa internazionale e dal "tribunale ad hoc" dell'Aia, e
scagionerebbe una volta per tutte i serbi di Bosnia dalla infamante
accusa di avere causato quella strage. Tuttavia, e' anche possibile che
si tratti di una "patacca" messa in circolazione allo scopo di creare
un capro espiatorio per quella strage (Rajic appunto, che e' adesso in
una posizione indifendibile), coprendo allo stesso tempo
responsabilita' ben piu' gravi ed imbarazzanti quali quelle delle
milizie di Izetbegovic e/o direttamente di settori della NATO
specializzati nelle tecniche di "guerra sporca" (cioe' psicologica e/o
contro la popolazione civile). (a cura di Italo Slavo)


http://news.serbianunity.net/bydate/2005/January_14/29.html?w=p

Bosnian Croat indictee responsible for Sarajevo market
shelling-Croatian weekly

BBC Monitoring - January 14, 2005

The Zagreb-based weekly Globus has reported that it possesses secret
reports by the Croatian Interior Ministry and the Counter-Intelligence
Agency from 2003 stating that Hague indictee Ivica Rajic, as commander
of the Kiseljak zone of operation, was responsible for the shelling of
the Sarajevo market Markale.

"The sources point to Rajic's unclear responsibility for the shelling
of the Sarajevo market Markale," says the secret report compiled on 12
pages by the former acting director of the Counter-Intelligence Agency,
Franjo Turek, on 15 April 2003 - ten days after Rajic's arrest.

Globus reported that more than 70 people suffered in the Markale
shelling and that Turek said in the secret report that Rajic was
responsible for the shelling, and not the Serbs as it has been believed
so far.

Globus has possesses key reports from the Croatian Interior Ministry
and the Counter-Intelligence Agency from 2003 about a support network
which was hiding Ivica Rajic for eight years and which the Croatian
government did not forward to Hague chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte.

Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 1145
gmt 13 Jan 05

[ La questione femminile nel XXI secolo: una analisi marxista ]

http://komunist.free.fr/arhiva/jan2005/lukic.html
Arhiva : : Januar 2005.

Žensko pitanje u 21. veku

Kao motivacija za obradu ove teme poslužilo je opšte stanje u kojem se
žene danas nalaze. Uprkos opštem napretku društva i kulture očigledno
je da prava žena zaostaju u razvoju. Iako u "civilizovanom" društvu
žene imaju ustavom zagarantovana prava i jednakost sa muškim polom, u
praksi to izostaje, pa sa pravom možemo postaviti pitanje jednakosti
među polovima.

Da bismo ustanovili uzrok obespravljivanja žena neophodno je razmotriti
istorijski razvoj uloge žene u društvu. Društvena uloga žene je
određena društvenim odnostima, a kako su društveni odnosi određeni
ekonomijom tog društva, tako možemo i istorijsku ulogu žene posmatrati
paralelno sa ekonomskim razvitkom kao ključnim i najuticajnijim
faktorom. Kako je porodica osnovna jedinica društva, a brak odraz
porodičnih odnosa, tako je i najpodesnije posmatrati ulogu žene kroz
različite oblike braka koji su karakteristični za pojedine periode
razvoja ljudskog društva.

Postojanje različitih oblika brakova u precivilizacijskom periodu
možemo izučavati na osnovu prethodnih istraživanja zajedničkih
kulturoloskih osobina i tradicija različitih naroda na istom, stupnju
razvoja i upoređivanjem pređašnje stupnje razvoja "naprednijih" naroda.
Kao osnovu koristimo Engelsove zaključke o Morganovom istraživanju među
američkim indijanskim plemenom Irokezima. Naime, uvidevši da formalni
jezički nazivi za članove porodice ne odgovaraju faktičkom stanju,
zaključujemo da jezik sporije napreduje od odnosa među članovima
porodice i samim tim ne oslikava stvarno stanje. Drugim rečima,
analizirajući nazive za članove porodice koji su zaostali kod
različitih naroda, možemo zaključiti da su oni oslikavali ranije oblike
braka i odnosa među članovima familije. Kao primer možemo uzeti srpski
jezik (iako slične primere imaju i još neki slovenski jezici kao npr.
bugarski) koji ima veoma bogat fond reči za oslikavanje različitih
porodičnih odnosa, međutim, karakteristično je da se potomci istog
kolena međusubno nazivaju braćom i sestrama, a kod Irokeza to ide i
dalje pa ne samo što se deca istog kolena nazivaju međusobno braćom i
sestrama nego svoje stričeve i strine zovu očevima i majkama. S obzirom
da ovih slučajeva ima u različitim kulturama i jezicima, možemo tvrditi
da se odnose na prethodne oblike brakova u kojima su ti odnosi bili
stvarni, a ne puki nazivi.

Time sa sigurnošću možemo pretpostaviti grupni oblik braka u kojem su
deca, braća i sestre, imali zajedničke roditelje. Ovakav oblik grupnog
braka Morgan naziva porodicom punalua. Naime, predpostavlja se da je
pređašnji oblik braka isključivao samo potomke i pretke od seksualnih
odnosa, što znači da su deca međusobno bili muževi i žene; njihovi
roditelji međusobno takođe, kao i babe i dede. Postepenim razvojem
braka isključeni su polni odnosi među braćom i sestrama, tako da su
žene imale zajedničke muževe koji nisu bili njihova braća; analogno
tome i muževi su imali zajedničke žene koje nisu bile njihove sestre.

Karakteristično za ovaj oblik braka je da se sa sigurnošću može
utvrditi jedino ko je majka, ali ne i ko je otac, pa se s toga
porodična loza računala po majčinoj strani i u kojoj je žena bila veoma
poštovana najviše zbog svog napornog rada na očuvanju domaćinstva u
kojem je vodila glavnu ulogu, ali isto tako zato što je bila jedini
priznat roditelj. Ne samo da je žena u tom društvu bila poštovana, već
je bila i slobodna.

Tu dolazimo i do prvobitne podele rada između polova u kojoj su žene
vodile brigu o zajedničkom domaćinstvu, a muškarci se brinuli o lovu, a
kasnije i stočarstvu. Kako u tom periodu nije postojalo privatno
vlasništvo, tako nisu postojale ni razlike među članovima društva, te
nije bilo ni vlasti kakve danas znamo, a samim tim ni metoda prinude –
tj. policije pa ni stajaće vojske. Cela organizacija je bila na
dobrovoljnoj osnovi, kao i obaveze.

Pad žene, tj. njenog položaja u društvu počinje sa pojavom privatne
imovine kao posledice viška u proizvodnji. Rast ličnog bogatstva
počinje sa pripitomljavanjem životinja. Pre toga, privatna svojina se
svodila na obuću, odeću i alate za rad, dok je snabdevanje hranom
moralo da se vrši na dnevnoj osnovi. Međutim, pojava stočarstva donosi
relativno stabilne zalihe i proizvodnju mesa i mleka, što je zahtevalo
neprestanu brigu o stoci. Pojava stočarstva je uslovila pojavu
zemljoradnje radi proizvodnje hrane za stoku, pa je potom zemljoradnja
prerasla u proizvodnju hrane i za ljude. Daljom podelom rada i pojavom
tkanja i obrade metala, čovek je počeo da prozivodi više od neophodnog
minimuma za samoodržanje.

Sva privatna imovina nastala ovim putem je pripadala muškarcu s obzirom
da je prema prvobitnoj podeli rada to bila njegova delatnost –
pribavljanje hrane, kasnije uzgoj stoke. Pojava privatnog vlasništva i
težnja za njegovim uvećanjem radi trgovine i ličnog bogatstva dovela je
do novih društvenih odnosa pa je samim tim uticala i na brak i ulogu
žene u društvu.

Kako matrijarhalno pravo priznaje samo majčinu liniju tako je i lično
vlasništvo preminulog pripadalo njegovim gentilnim rođacima po majci.
Tu se javlja problem jer deca preminulog ne pripadaju njegovom, već
majčinom gensu – što znači da bi stoka preminulog pripala njegovoj
braći i sestrama ili tetkama, a ne njegovoj deci. Istovremeno se
povećanjem bogatstva koncentrisanog u rukama muškarca povećavala i
njegova uloga u društvu i samim tim se javila potreba da se to
nasledstvo prenese na njegovu decu što je značilo da je matrijarhalno
pravo moralo biti zbačeno.

Patrijarhalno pravo je došlo namesto matrijarhalnog i time se moglo
garantovati ko je otac deteta koje nasleđuje celu imovinu. Time se
uloga žene degradirala i svela na rađanje potomstva mužu. Tako se
rađaju monogamni brak i prostitucija kao njegova dopuna.

Svrha monogamnog braka je da garantuje očinstvo time što će zabraniti
ženi polne odnose sa bilo kim osim sa njenim mužem, međutim, njenom
mužu se ne uskraćuje sloboda polnih odnosa i time monogamija važi samo
za ženu. U Grčkom društvu, tačnije u Atini, žene su bile tretirane
skoro kao robovi – bile su zatvorene u posebnim delovima kuća, smele su
da izlaze samo u pratnji robinja, a morale su da napuste prostorije u
slučaju muške posete mužu. Nedostatak slobodnih žena nije doveo samo do
ženske degradacije i pretvaranja u robu već je degradirao i muškarce
koji su se upuštali u homoseksualne odnose.

Buržoaski brak je nešto drugačiji, ali daleko licemerniji i ne mnogo
povoljniji po položaj žene u društvu. Buržoaski brak traži dobrovoljni
pristanak na brak i garantuje jednaka prava. Ovaj slučaj se može lepo
uporediti sa proleterom koji se zapošljava s obzirom da je neophodan
njegov pristanak na ugovor… kao da taj proleter ima izbora. Isto tako
ne možemo pričati o jednakosti u pravima kada je za taj slučaj potrebna
i ekonomska jednakost – kako proleter zavisi od svog poslodavca tako i
žena zavisi od svog muža.

Takođe, buržoaski brak još uvek ima preljubu kao dopunu, pa i prostu
prostituciju. Naime, s obzirom da je žena tražena roba jer joj često
moral uskraćuje slobodbnu ljubav, a kako siromaštvo ne jenjava tako je
i prosta prostitucija izvor zarade, kako za siromašne žene i njihove
porodice tako i za trgovce ljudima.

Čak i u 21. veku ova pojava ne da ne jenjava već uzima zamaha i ima
ekstremne oblike. Poznat je slučaj ukrajinske devojke koja je u svojoj
23. godini preminula od side, sifilisa i hepatitisa, pritom
inficirajući više od 1000 "mušterija". Dovoljno je spomenuti Moldaviju,
Češku i Rusiju pa se odmah javljaju negativne asocijacije vezane za
žene sa tog područja.

Milenijumsko ropstvo žene i njeno ekonomsko podjarmljivanje se polako
smanjuje ali još uvek ima snažnog uticaja i ekonomske koristi za
poslodavce. U Kanadi, npr. muškarci zarađuju u proseku 64% više nego
žene. Iako žene primaju manje plate za isti rad kao muškarci, njihovo
podjarmljivanje se ne završava na poslu – one moraju da nastave da rade
kod kuće kao domaćice i da obavljaju kućne poslove. Iako su žene
podjarmljene u ekonomskom i društvenom pogledu, to se dalje oslikava i
na odnose u kući gde su takođe eksploatisane od strane muža.

Današnjem društvu su puna usta demokratije, slobode i jednakosti, a u
praksi možemo videti da su se odnosi među polovima (između ostalog)
veoma malo promenili. Iako su na površini naizgled drugačiji, oni uvek
održavaju eksploataciju bez nagoveštaja da će se situacija suštinski
promeniti u korist žena. Akcenat se održava na sitnim pravima koja ne
menjaju situaciju značajno, pa čak i ta prava moraju da se izdejstvuju
silom. Takav je međunarodni Dan žena kada je izdejstvovan 8-časovni
radni dan i "ravnopravan" položaj žena u odnosu na muškarce.

Važno je napomenuti ulogu feminističkih pokreta u položaju žena. Iako
ti pokreti ističu nepovoljan položaj žena, suštinski nemaju efektivno
rešenje za poboljšanje tog položaja jer ne uspevaju da uoče prave
uzroke podjarmljenosti. Naime, uzroci su ekonomske prirode, i kao takve
ih treba posmatrati – žena kapitalista će eksploatisati i žene i
muškarce podjednako. Sa tim u vidu, feministički pokreti više idu na
ruku samom ekonomskom sistemu i time implicitno podržavaju
podjarmljenost sa jedne strane, a sa druge odvlače pažnju potencijalno
revolucionarnim pokretima koji su u mogućnosti da problem reše
suštinski, da društvo učine boljim i za žene i muškarce.

Kako smo ustanovili da ekonomski, a samim tim i politički sistem koji
mu je podrška i dopuna, predstavljaju uzrok nejednakog položaja žena, u
tom smeru treba tražiti i rešenje.

Država sama po sebi ne bi trebalo da ima bilo kakvog uvida niti veze sa
intimnim međuljudskim odnosima i da ih na bilo koji način reguliše, što
znači da bi trebalo težiti ka ukidanju monogamnog braka (za žene) kao
patrijarhalne institucije za podjarmljivanje. Međutim, takav potez nije
moguć bez ukidanja privatne svojine (nad sredstvima za proizvodnju) –
pa se i taj potez mora navesti kao krajnje rešenje.

Takođe, jedan od bitnih uslova za oslobođenje žena je moralno
oslobođenje i ukidanje sramote razvoda i sličnih moralnih ograničenja
obično sprovođenih od strane crkve. U interesu je društva kao i
pojedinca da se ljubav koja jenjava između dve osobe okonča razlazom.
Sa tim u vidu jedan od najznačajnijih aspekata oslobođenja žena je
njihova edukacija – prvo ka upoznavanju sa problemom i njihovim
pravima, a kasnije i obrazovnim radom na njihovom oslobađanju i
oraganizovanju.

Ovde možemo navesti slučaj socijalističkih država koje su ustavom
garantovale jednakost, ali ne na licemerno buržoaski način previđajući
ekonomsku nejednakost, već su i ekonomski bile u istom položaju kao i
muškarci. Iako im je to pravo bilo zagarantovano i iako su formalno
bile ravnopravne, nedostajalo im je obrazovanje koje bi ih upoznalo sa
pravima i pomoglo da ih zaštite i da se empancipuju.

Dakle opšti zaključak je da rešenje ženskog pitanja zavisi od
ekonomskih odnosa u društvu, tj. da bi se oslobođenje žena postiglo
prvo ukidanjem privatne svojine koja bi praktično ukinula eksploataciju
oba pola, pa samim tim ukinula i potrebu za postojanjem braka kao
institucije za podređivanje žene muškarcu. Takve promene nisu moguće
odjednom, već se moraju događati postepeno i isto tako, sve te promene
nemaju efekta ako se istovremeno ne vrši edukacija i ne dopusti ženama
aktivna uloga u revolucionarnim promenama društva.

Nemanja Lukić

Literatura:

1. F. Engels, "Poreklo porodice, privatne imovine i države"
http://www.marx2mao.com/M&E/OFPS84.html
2. F. Engels "Principi komunizma"
http://komunist.free.fr/dokumenta/principi.html
3. F. Engels "Razvoj socijalizma od utopije do nauke"
http://www.marx2mao.com/M&E/SUS80.html
4. Prosečne plate u Kanadi među polovima
http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/labor01a.htm
5. Marx i Engels "Komunistički manifest"
http://komunist.free.fr/dokumenta/manifest.html

 
LA PARTE DEL TORTO


"Quello di Togliatti era un partito comunista, quindi dalla parte
sbagliata della storia" 

Giuliano Amato, l'Unità, 15 gennaio 2005

"Ci sedemmo dalla parte del torto dato che tutti gli altri posti erano
gia' occupati"

Bertold Brecht, comunista, drammaturgo

[NOTE:
# We do not endorse all of the opinions expressed in this document,
nevertheless we distribute it as a useful essay on the historical
continuity of the Greater Albanian project. (CNJ)
Many interesting picture can be seen at the original URL:
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/054.shtml
# Pur non condividendo tutte le opinioni espresse in questo documento,
lo diffondiamo in quanto utile saggio sulla continuita' storica del
progetto della Grande Albania. (CNJ)
Molte immagini interessanti si possono vedere alla pagina originale:
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/054.shtml ]


Kosovo’s Nazi Past: The Untold Story

By Carl Savich


1. Introduction: Genocide in Kosovo

During World War II and the Holocaust, Kosovar Albanians killed 10,000
Kosovo Serbs and expelled 100,000. Kosovo-Metohija was made a part of a
Greater Albania by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Hitler and
Mussolini realized the Greater Albania ideology established by the 1878
League of Prizren. Albanian-settled areas of the Balkans -
Kosovo-Metohija, western Macedonia, southern Montenegro - were
incorporated in a Greater Albania. The Greater Albania Kosovar Albanian
nationalist movement murdered Kosovo Serb civilians and took over their
lands and houses. Kosovo Serb women were raped. Kosovo Serb Orthodox
priests were arrested, tortured, and murdered. Serbian Orthodox
churches and monasteries were attacked and destroyed. Serbian
monuments, cemeteries, and gravestones were desecrated and demolished.
The Greater Albania nationalist movement formed the Balli Kombetar, the
Albanian Kosovo Committee, and the Skanderbeg Nazi SS Division,
two-thirds of whose members were Kosovar Albanian Muslims. Kosovar
Albanian Muslims played a major role in the Holocaust, the murder of
European Jews. Kosovar Albanian Nazi SS troops participated in the
roundup of Kosovo Jews who were later killed at Bergen-Belsen. What
occurred in Kosovo during World War II was genocide. The mainstream
accounts of World War II have censored and covered up the Kosovar
Albanian role in the genocide against Kosovo Serbs and the role of
Kosovar Albanians in the Holocaust. The Nazi past of Kosovo remains an
untold story.


2. Fascist Italy and Kosovo

Albania was peremptorily and hurriedly recognized as an independent
nation by the Great Powers in 1912 as a reaction to the First Balkan
War to prevent Serbia from acquiring access to the Adriatic Sea and to
prevent Montenegro from annexing Albanian territory settled by
Montenegrins. Albania had never existed as a united and independent
nation before.

The London Peace Conference of July 29, 1913 established international
recognition of Kosovo as part of Serbia and also recognized the borders
of Albania as an independent state. Under the April 26, 1915 Treaty of
London, the Allied Powers sought to induce Italy under prime minister
Antonio Salandra to enter World War I on the side of the Allies by
granting Italy Albanian territory as well as German-settled territory
from Austria, the Southern Tyrol, and the Dalmatian coast. Under the
Treaty, Italy was granted “sovereignty” over the major Albanian port of
Valona, the island of Saseno, and the surrounding territory.

Italy thus had expansionist goals in Albania and the Dalmatian coast of
Yugoslavia. On October 31, 1922, King Victor Emmanuel III asked fascist
political leader Benito Mussolini to come to Rome to form a new
government after fascist leaders marched on Rome demanding that power
be given to them. Mussolini became prime minister of a coalition
government and established a fascist regime in Italy. In May, 1925, the
new fascist Italian government signed a treaty with Albania that
granted Italy the right to exploit the mineral resources in Albania,
established the Albanian National Bank under Italian control, and gave
Italian shipping companies a monopoly.

On December 13, 1924, Ahmed Beg Zogu, who was backed by Yugoslavia,
seized power in Albania by overthrowing the regime of Fan Noli. On
January 31, 1925, Zogu was elected president of Albania for a seven
year term. In 1928, Zogu established a monarchy and emerged as King Zog
I, “the King of the Albanians”.

Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime in Italy sought economic and
political control of Albania and to establish a sphere of influence in
the Adriatic Sea region throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

By 1937, Count Galeazzo Ciano, the Italian foreign minister, sought to
bring Albania under direct Italian control. Ciano orchestrated the
Italian foreign policy with regard to Albania in particular and the
Balkans in general.

Following World War I, Italy and Albania supported Albanian terrorist
activity against Yugoslavia, particularly the kachak guerrillas who
were based in Albania but operated in Kosovo and Metohija. The kachak
guerrillas engaged in a terrorist war against Yugoslavia to make Kosovo
a part of Albania. The kachak movement was thus a secessionist
conflict, a conflict to change the borders of Yugoslavia and Serbia and
Montenegro. The Serbian-Albanian conflict in Kosovo-Metohija was always
motivated by secession, about making Kosovo a part of Albania. This was
the Greater Albania nationalist ideology established by the 1878 League
of Prizren. Because Albania itself was politically, economically, and
militarily weak and powerless, however, this nationalist ideology
meant, in practical terms, not the takeover of Kosovo by Tirana by
military force, but the takeover of Kosovo by Kosovar Albanians who
would make Kosovo an Albanian land. Whether Kosova was formally or
legally united to Albania proper was moot and irrelevant. What was
foremost was to establish ethnic Albanian control of the Kosovo region.
When all the Orthodox Serbs had been killed or expelled from Kosovo and
their Orthodox churches and cemeteries destroyed, the practical
realization of a Greater Albania would result, whether legally
recognized or not. In other words, what Albanian nationalists sought
was a Kosovo taken over by ethnic Albanian Muslims who would expel the
Serbian Orthodox and other non-Albanian populations and eradicate any
non-Albanian cultural or religious monuments or symbols. It entailed
the total and complete extermination and eradication of any
non-Albanian population or culture or religion in Kosovo. The Greater
Albania nationalist ideology presupposed genocide, biological and
cultural and religious.

Kosovo was used by fascist Italy and Nazi Germany to destabilize
Yugoslavia. Ciano wrote: “We must lull the Yugoslavs. But later, our
politics must energetically deal with Kosovo. This will keep the
irredentist problem alive in the Balkans, engage the attention of the
Albanians and be a knife aimed at the back of Yugoslavia.”

Ciano was determined to occupy, annex, or acquire Albania for Italy.
Albania was always an object of fascist Italian expansion and
influence. Ciano even proposed to Yugoslav prime minister Milan
Stojadinovic to partition Albania between Italy and Yugoslavia. Prince
Paul, however, refused: “We already have so many Albanians inside our
frontiers and they cause us so much trouble, that I have no wish to
increase their number.”

On March 25, 1939, Italy issued an ultimatum to Albania demanding the
right to occupy the country. On April 7, following the rejection of the
ultimatum, Italy invaded and occupied Albania and made it an
“autonomous” possession of Italy, joined in a “personal union” with
Italy under Italian King Victor Immanuel III. The Albanian National
Assembly voted to unite Albania with Italy. King Zog and his wife Queen
Geraldine fled with the newly born Crown Prince Leka to Greece, then to
London. Queen Geraldine later said in an interview that the reason Zog
fled was because Yugoslavia would not allow Albania to establish
guerrilla bases or supply lines on Yugoslavian territory. To justify
the invasion, the Italian news accounts of the time manufactured a
propaganda story that Zog had invited Italian troops to safeguard his
regime. Zog allegedly planned to use the forces to invade Kosovo
according to these accounts. The Italian occupation forces installed
Shefket Verlaci as the new Albanian prime minister.

Mustafa Kruja replaced Verlaci as prime minister at the end of 1941. In
January, 1943, Kruja resigned. He was replaced by the Eqrem Bey
Libohova government, which lasted for three weeks. The Maliq Bushati
government, which replaced it, lasted three weeks itself. The Italian
“lieutenant-general” or governor, Francesco Jacomoni, was dismissed and
replaced as well at this time. In May, 1943, Libohova was appointed for
a second time to head the Albanian fascist government.

When Italy surrendered to the Allies on September 8, 1943, there were 7
to 8 Italian garrison divisions in Albania, consisting of 100,000
troops. Nazi Germany then occupied Albania and established a new
“national committee”. The new Albanian prime minister under German
sponsorship was Rexhep Mitrovica.

In June, 1944, Fiqri Dine replaced Mitrovica, who had resigned.

In August, 1944, following Fikri’s resignation, Ibrahim Bicaku was the
last Axis-installed prime minister of Albania, before the German
evacuation of the country.

Following the surrender of Yugoslavia on April 16, 1941 to the Axis
Powers, the bulk of Kosovo and Metohija was immediately annexed to
Albania. The western part of Macedonia, known as Illirida in the
Greater Albania nationalist lexicon, was similarly annexed to Albania,
as was territory from Montenegro. What emerged was a Greater Albania as
envisaged by the 1878 League of Prizren made possible by the military
intervention of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.


3. Greater Albania Emerges

Following the annexation of Kosovo and Metohija, known as New Albania,
by Albania, Albanian political leaders sought to integrate the Serbian
province by establishing Albanian control over the region and by
expelling or killing the Serbian Orthodox population. Albanian
political leaders advocated the genocide of the indigenous Serbian
population of Kosovo. Albanian prime minister Mustafa Kruja, in a June,
1942 speech made in Kosovo, then called the “New Albania”, stated:

The Serbian population of Kosovo should be removed as soon as
possible…All indigenous Serbs should be qualified as colonists and as
such, via the Albanian and Italian government, be sent to concentration
camps in Albania. Serbian settlers should be killed.

The pre-war Muslim Jemiet party founded a new political organization
with an irredentist orientation called the Lidhja Kombetare Shquiptare,
which sought to Albanize and Islamicize the province.

Ferat-bey Draga, a prominent Kosovo Albanian leader, stated that the
“time has come to exterminate the Serbs” and that “there will be no
Serbs under the Kosovo sun.”

Austrian diplomat Hermann Neubacher, the Third Reich’s plenipotentiary
for southeastern Europe and Balkans diplomatic troubleshooter for Nazi
Germany, noted the policy of genocide by Kosovar Albanian political
leaders: “Shqiptars were in a hurry to expel as many Serbs as possible
from the country. From those expelled local tyrants often took a gift
in gold for permission to emigrate.”

In a speech on the subject of Greater Albania before the Italian Royal
Academy on May 30, 1941, Kruja stated that “with the victory of the
axis powers and establishment of the new world order, Mussolini and
Hitler will ensure the Albanian people a national state that will cover
its broadest ethnic borders and be indissolubly linked with fascist
Italy.”

The Italian diplomat Carlo Umilta, the civilian aide to the commander
of the Italian military occupation forces, stated that the Italian
forces intervened on many occasions to prevent massacres of Kosovo
Serbs by Albanians. Umilta stated that “the Albanians are out to
exterminate the Slavs.” An Italian army report stated that the
Albanians are “hunting down Serbs” and that the “Serbian minority are
living in conditions that are truly disgraceful, constantly harassed by
the brutality of the Albanians, who are whipping up racial hatred.”

Kachak irregulars or guerrillas from Albania poured into
Kosovo-Metohija with the Italian occupation forces. The Italian fascist
authorities created a local Albanian police in Kosovo, the Vulnetari.
Albanian language schools were established, Albanian or Shqip was made
the official language, the Albanian Lek became the official currency,
the civil administration and governmental offices were staffed by
Albanians, and Albanian newspaper and radio stations were established.
Pec, Djakovica, Istok, and Orahovac were annexed to Albania at the
start of the occupation. Kosovo and Metohija, known as New Albania,
became incorporated into a Greater Albania.

Kosovo and Metohija were politically integrated into Albania, Shqiperia
or Shqipnija. Albanian political representatives from Kosovo and
Metohija met at the Albanian parliament in Tirana and were made part of
the Tirana regime. Kosovo was now Kosova/Kosove, an Albanian district
of northern Albania.
In April, 1941, the first week after the attack on Yugoslavia, Kosovo
Serbs were immediately attacked. Retreating and withdrawing Yugoslav
army units were attacked by Albanians who were not disarmed and who
seized weapons from military depots and weapons warehouses or armories.
Yugoslav troops were robbed or killed and their houses were burned and
destroyed and were left empty and deserted.

The entire Albanian population joined in the attacks against Kosovo
Serbs. According to Gavril Kovijanic, a professor in Pec, in 1941,
Albanians destroyed 65% of the Serbian houses in Pec and 95% in other
areas of Metohija. Serbian cemeteries and gravestones were desecrated
and destroyed, trees and crops were cut down, and fields were
destroyed, meant to starve out the Serbian population to force them to
flee. The Albanians looted, robbed, burned Serbian houses and property;
there were mass executions of Kosovo Serbs; Serbs were tortured,
beaten, and humiliated; and there was the torture and killing of
Serbian children and the rape of Kosovo Serb women.

Dimitrije Sekularac, a Kosovo Serb refugee from the Drenica parish,
described on July 20, 1941 how he fled from Kosovo with his wife and
children to escape the mass murders and genocide. Sekularac stated that
as the Yugoslav armed forces and civilian administrative authorities
were retreating from Kacanik in southern Kosovo, they were attacked by
Albanian deserters of the Yugoslav army who used their weapons against
the Yugoslav forces. These Albanian deserters burned houses and killed
Serbian civilians.

Kosovar Albanians began killing Serbian civilians in the villages
around Pec, where Sekularac and his family fled from. He appealed to
the German occupation forces, who occupied the region at that time, for
protection of the Serbian population but the German commander told him
that he didn’t have enough troops.

Prizren was under Italian military control at that time. The police was
entirely made up of Italian members for a year following the
occupation. Then a mixed Italian and Albanian police force was created.
Around Prizren, new Serbian settlements and houses were uprooted and
destroyed and the Serbs were expelled to Serbia and Montenegro. The
Serbian land and properties were taken over by ethnic Albanians.

Kosovo Serbs were killed in the villages around Prizren in the first
months of the war. Kosovo Serb Djordje Jovanovic, who had been the
former president of the Damjanska district, was known to have been
killed at this time.

Branislav Leskovac, 23, and Zivota Jovanovic, 24, gave eyewitness
accounts of the occupation of Prizren in the early stages of the war
and occupation. On April 17, 1941, Italian forces entered Prizren
following the surrender of the Yugoslav army. The fascist Italian
troops were greeted enthusiastically by the Albanian population because
Ciano had promised them the creation of an ethnically pure, Albanian
Kosova, incorporated into Greater Albania.

On about April 20, 1941, the first mass arrests and roundups of the
Serbian population occurred when 20-30 Serbs were arrested and taken
into custody. They had been part of the Yugoslav civil administration.
They were imprisoned in the Prizren administrative/municipal/city hall
building where they were beaten with guns and hoes. After a few days
passed, five were led out and summarily executed. Those murdered were
two brothers named Marjanovic, Andrija Fisic, Samardzija and Popovic,
and one other person named Kokolja. Kokolja and Fisic were killed with
knives and before they died their eyes were gouged out.

Kosovo Serbs were interned in prisons and concentration camps in Tirana
and other sites in Albania. In March, 1942, about 40 Serbs were
interned in Prizren.

Arrests of Serbs intensified when Albanian leaders visited Kosovo.
When the fascist prime minister of Albania, Mustafa Kruja, made an
official visit to Prizren in June, 1942, 30 Serbs were arrested.

Kol Bib Mirakaja, the secretary of the fascist party of Albania, made a
visit in July, 1942, along with Italian governor Francesco Jacomoni,
when more arrests of Serbs occurred and when they intensified.

In the summer of 1942, Serbs were rounded up and deported to internment
camps in Tirana, Albania, where one Serb prisoner is known to have died.
In November, 1942, a fourth roundup of Kosovo Serbs occurred in Prizren
when 25 Serbs were arrested and held in prison for five and a half
months, until May 31, 1943. They were beaten and abused during this
time.

On April 1, 1943, 25 Kosovo Serbs were taken to the Italian prison at
Porte Romano near Draca. There were 900 Serbs in this prison camp, 600
of whom were from Gnjilane alone. The rest of the prisoners were from
Prizren, Pec, Urosevac, Pristina, and Lipljan. The prisoners stayed at
the Porto Romano prison until September 16, 1943 when the prisoners
were released following the Italian surrender. Those from Gnjilane were
transported by boat for Trieste. The boat sank, however, in the
Adriatic Sea and almost all the prisoners were killed or drowned.
Several survivors recounted this story in the middle of March, 1944
when they were in Urosevac.

When the Germans occupied Kosovo in 1943, they unleashed the Albanian
police against the Kosovo Serb population. Murders and expulsions of
Kosovo Serbs were intensified. While the Italians restrained the
Albanians, the German policy was to turn the Albanians loose on the
Serbian population to murder, rob, and loot Serbian settlements. The
German occupation forces sought to gain favor with the Albanian
population in this way.

Following the Italian surrender on September 8, 1943, Albanian interior
minister Dzafer Deva came to Kosovo and reorganized the police force
which was made up of balists, Greater Albania nationalists of the Balli
Kombetar (BK, National Union).

On December 9, 1943, in Prizren, Kosovo Serb Stevan Bacetovic, a café
owner, was taken from his house and he was murdered and his body was
thrown in a garbage dump. Serbian houses and settlements around Prizren
were torched and burned. Serbian women were raped in their houses. In
1944, the two sisters named Berzanovic were known to have been raped by
Albanian attackers.

In September, 1943, Serbian houses had been robbed and looted and Serbs
were murdered, while 800 were imprisoned.

In the Istok parish in Metohija, 102 Serbs are known to have been
murdered by Albanians, as recorded by iguman Sava. Andrija Popovic, the
Serbian Orthodox priest of the Istok parish, was murdered, as were
priests Vladeta Popovic and Nikodim Radosavljevic of the Gorioca
monastery. These are the names of the Kosovo and Metohija Serbs killed
by Albanians as recorded in the parish record: Radivoje and Staleta
Rasic, Ljupce Krstic, Dimitrije Mirkovic, Radovan Vulic, Radivoje
Patric, Milosav Curic, Milisav Cirkovic, Vojislav Lusic, Vukola and
Bogosav Antic, Vule and Nevenka Vojinovic, Vladimir Patric, Staleta
Krstic, Milosav Carevic, Stana Vulic, Nikodim and Obrad Buric, Blagoje
Bojic, Savo and Ilija Zuvic, Bogic and Stamena Zuvic, Ivko and Uros
Pumpalovic, Radosav, Bogosav, and Zivko Pumpalovic, Radivoje Betic,
Radomir, Sretko, and Stanoje Brajkovic, Milos, Petar, Djordje and
Bogosav Asanin, Milic Maksimovic, Dimitrije Zuvic, Rako Deverdzic,
Panta Pumpalovic, Milovan and Koja Asanin, Trajko and Sreto Brajkovic,
Petronije, Simeon and Tomo Terzic, Dimitrije Krstic, Milos Popovic,
Vojo Bojovic, Novica, Drasko, Voja and Vitomir Barjaktarevic, Jovan and
Andrija Zivkovic, Vule and Sretko Raicic, Staleta, Milovan, Radosav,
Petar, Krsto, Radomir, Mika, and Mata Sedlarevic, Krsto Burovic,
Milenko Krsmanovic, Dara and Pero Burasevic, Radun Bekovic, Sreto
Veljovic, Nedeljko Boric, Krsto Miljkovic, Petko Zaric, Milan Gocevic,
Milenko and Janko Ristic, Maksim Popovic, Milica Zaric, Radovan and
Buro Radicevic, Dragomir and Milos Darcevic, Cirko Djodjevic, Boka
Vojinovic, Radisav Stanojevic, Milos Minic, Miro and Mileta Pitulic,
Zdravko Nikolic, Trivo Grkovic, Vasilije and Radojko Martinovic,
Milovan and Koja Asanin, and Trajko and Sretko Brajkovic.

In the Lipljan parish, the priest Borislav Kevkic, recorded the names
of 62 Serbs who were murdered by Kosovar Albanians in the Lipljan and
Donja Gusterica region: Spasa Milicevic, was killed on the road by a
gun shot in 1941; Bogdan Cvejic, was killed in Pristina; Zafir Spasic,
was killed in his own home; Velibor Markovic, 19 years old, was killed;
Djordje Aksic and his wife Mirjana were killed the same day; Ilija
Radenovic was killed at his house with a gun; Jovan Denic and his son
Jordan were killed together with a gun; Nikola Lazic was killed on the
road; Zivo Dimic was killed in the night; Veselin Matic was killed in
1942; Serafin Milivojevic was killed near his village; Milan Lazic was
killed in the fields; 19-year-old Stojko Smiljic was killed in an
unknown place; Milorad Stojanovic, who was 18 years old, was killed in
an unknown place; Vojin Gudzic was killed near Dobrotina; Radomir
Trajkovic was killed at Slovinja; Milan Jovanovic was killed outside
the village; Ilija Rusimovic was killed between Dobrotina and Lipljan;
Alexander Stolic was killed with a gun in his house; Gligorije Perenic
was killed in the forest near the village; Stojan Miric was killed in
1942; Jevta Milkic was killed on the road; Velibor Milenkovic was
killed on the road; Trajko Simic was killed in the fields; Serafin
Cvejic was killed on his own fields; Blagoje Filic was killed in his
home with his son Milorad; Miodrag Jovic was killed in Janjeva; Andrija
Samardzic was killed in 1943; 22-year-old Luka Djokic was killed in the
fields; 22-year-old Zivko Milicevic was also killed; Filjko Tanaskovic,
a refugee, was killed in the fields; Mile Draskovic, was executed in
Staro Gracko; Nedeljko Milicevic was killed in Gracko; Ilija Markovic,
22 years old, was killed; Damnjan Drljaca was killed in Suv Dol;
Milutin Aksic, a high school student, was killed with a gun near the
railroad track; Aksa Ilic was killed in the fields; Krsta Lalic was
killed at night in 1943; Petar Kuzmanovic, a railroad guard, was killed
in 1944; Marko Markovic, a railroad guard, was also killed; Mile
Markovic, in N. Rujca; Anto Denda died after severe a beating; Jovo
Lalosevic was killed in Suv Dol; Cveta Bulajic, Bosiljka Ozegovic, and
Dusan Krtinic, all children, died from the explosion of a bomb; Blagoje
Ilic died in battle; Nikola Papic and Vlado Bokic died in Suv Dol from
a bomb explosion; Rajko Doslic, Bozidar Milkic, Stojan Vasic, Danica
Novakovic and Danilo Ilic died in 1945 in battles with balists in
Drenica; Nikola Bogunovic died from a beating in 1944; Cedomir Vucic
and Aleksandar Kostic died in Drenica after battles with balists;
Miladin Velic, wounded from a gun shot wound, died in 1945; Radomir
Stojkovic died from a beating in Glogovica in 1945.

The German occupation forces were brutal towards the Serbian population
of Kosovo, aiding and abetting the murders and expulsions carried out
by their Albanian Kosovar proxies. The Italian forces were more
sympathetic to the plight of the Serbian population.

In 1942, the Italians interned a large group of Kosovo Serbs. Facing
imminent military collapse, in the summer of 1943, the Italians began
transferring the civil administration in Kosovo to local Albanian
Muslims. When Italy surrendered on September 8, 1943, a military and
political vacuum resulted in Albania proper and Kosova. German forces
poured into Kosovo and Albania from Serbia proper to occupy the area
and to safeguard the fascist Greater Albania statelet founded by Benito
Mussolini.


4. Serbian Orthodox Priests Systematically Murdered and Orthodox
Churches Attacked in Kosovo

Albanian nationalist forces immediately attacked Serbian Orthodox
Churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and monuments in Kosovo-Metohija
because these were symbols of the Serbian historical presence in Kosovo
which were an obstacle to the creation of a Greater Albania. Serbian
Orthodox priests were targeted for torture and murder by Kosovar
Albanians.

In 1941, 14 Serbian Orthodox priests and a nun were killed in
Kosovo-Metohija. First the Serbian Orthodox priests Andrija Popovic of
the Istok parish and Nikodim Radosavljevic of the Gorioca Orthodox
monastery were murdered to terrorize the Serbian population of Kosovo
and to force them to flee and to abandon their houses and land.

In October, 1941, the Serbian Orthodox priest, Abbot Damaskin or
Damascene Boskovic, was tortured and murdered by Albanian forces. He
was the prior of the Devic monastery. Abbot Boskovic was beaten,
tortured, forced to walk over thorns and stones, and then shot to
death. To show their arrogance and disdain, his Albanian murderers then
photographed his murder, showing a heavily-armed Albanian paramilitary
or quasi-police in a white skull cap shooting Abbot Boskovic on the
ground.

The Devic monastery was then burned down and destroyed by the Kosovar
Albanian attackers.

Fr. Luka Popovic, Fr. Uros Popovic, and Slobodan Popovic were killed
while delivering the Orthodox holy liturgy service. The priest Krsta
Popovic was killed in 1944, by Albanian balists. The Serbian Orthodox
priest Aleksandar Perovic was killed in Podujeva in October, 1944 by
Albanian police. Where he is buried is unknown. Jovan Zecevic, the
iguman of the Pec patriarchate was killed by balists in Albania.

The Serbian Orthodox priest of Kosovska Mitrovica, Momcilo Nesic, was
taken by German forces and executed in Banjica in 1943. The priests
Cedomir Bacanin and Tihomir Popovic were executed in the night of
November 28, 1942 in the Kosovska Mitrovica prison. The priest German
from the Decani monastery was interned in Albania where he was
executed. A priest from Decani, Stefan Zivkovic, was killed in the
village of Zociste near Velika Hoca by an Albanian soldier on January
8, 1945.

The priest Stajko Popovic from Prizren was killed on April 17, 1943 in
Kacanik by Bulgarian forces.

In the Rashka-Prizren eparchy, the priests Uros Popvic and Lika Popovic
and the nun Pelagija were killed by Sandzak Muslims. The fates of three
or four priests of this eparchy are unknown.

The priest Slobodan Popovic from Djakovica was killed on February 8,
1942 by Communist Partisan forces. The priest Mihailo Milosevic from
Pec was executed on December 9, 1944 by Partisans. The priest Dragoljub
Kujundzic from Urosevac was executed on November 30, 1942. Other Kosovo
priests executed by the Partisans were Radule Bozovic from Pridvorica,
Tihomir Balsic from Pec, Mitar Vujisic from Vitina and Simeon Gojkovic
from Babin Most.

Kyr Serafim Jovanovic, the Bishop of Rashka and Prizren, fled from
Prizren to the Decani Monastery. He was subsequently arrested and
deported to the concentration camp in Albania proper where he was
tortured and subjected to humiliation. He died from his injuries
following this prison abuse on January 13, 1945 and was buried in
Tirana. Bishop Serafim had been born in Prizren where the Serbian
Theological Seminary or College had opened in 1871. He attended the
Prizren Orthodox Seminary and later the Moscow Spiritual Academy where
he was ordained an Orthodox monk on June 16, 1902 in the Church of St.
Alexander Nevski of Skodra. He then became a professor at the Orthodox
Seminary in Prizren. On December 23, 1920, he became a bishop of
Zletovo-Struma in Macedonia. On October 29, 1928, he was elected a
bishop of the Rashka and Prizren Diocese.

In Metohija, all Serbian Orthodox churches were destroyed to the ground
in Serbian settled villages, which in April, 1941 were burned and the
Serbian residents killed and driven out. Many churches were destroyed,
demolished, robbed, or damaged.

These Serbian Orthodox churches were burned and destroyed in the
following Serbian villages during the Greater Albania period of
1941-44: Bistrazin and Seremet in the Djakovica district, in Donja
Ratisa, Pacaj, Nec, Ponosevac, and Rastavica. In the Djakovica
district, in the village of Brnjaca near Orahovac, and in Cikatova in
Glogovac, and the St. Peter Orthodox Church from the 14th century in
the village of Korisa near Prizren.

Albanians robbed and demolished churches in Vitomirica near Pec, in
Kacanik, in Veliki Belacevac near Pristina, the church of Saint Nikola
in the village of Banja near Srbica, and the Saint Nikola church in the
village of Banjoka near Vucitrn, and churches in the villages of
Rastavica and Ratisa near Decani, in the village of Siga near Pec, in
Crkolez near Istok, in Pomazatin near Pristina, the church in Podujeva,
the church behind the village of Stimlja near Urosevac, and the
monastery of Saint Mark in Korisa near Prizren, The Gracanica monastery
and the Sokolica monastery were burglarized. The Samodreza church was
damaged and frescos and icons were destroyed, and papers torn up.

In the St. Peter and Paul church in Istok, the Albanian leadership held
100 Serbians prisoner in the 1943-44 period from Istok and the
surrounding villages for many months and would not let them leave,
forcing them to use the bathroom in the church. The Gorioca monastery
was also used as a prison in the mass arrests and roundups of Kosovo
Serbs.


5. The Pristina Internment Camp for Jewish Refugees from Serbia

In 1942, the Italian occupation forces in Pristina established an
internment camp or prison for Jewish refugees from Serbia proper.
Jewish refugee families from Belgrade and other parts of Serbia were
held in the Pristina internment camp for ten months.

The Mandil family was interned in the Pristina camp in 1942. The Mandil
family consisted of Mosa, his wife Gabriela Konfino, their son Gavra,
and their daughter Irena. The Mandil family lived in Belgrade, the
capital of Serbia and Yugoslavia at that time. Gavra had been born in
Belgrade on September 6, 1936. Two years later, his sister Irena was
born, at which time the family resettled in Novi Sad in Vojvodina in
northern Serbia, where Mosa opened a photo studio. His father-in-law,
Gavra Konfino, had earlier been the official Belgrade photographer of
King Alexander Karadjordjevic of Yugoslavia.

Following the German, Italian, Albanian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian
invasion of Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941, the Mandil family fled south
to the “Italian-controlled province of Kosovo”, which then was part of
Albania, a Greater Albania created by Adolf Hitler and Benito
Mussolini. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) incorrectly and
misleadingly referred to Kosovo as an “Italian-controlled province”
during World War II. In fact, Kosovo was incorporated into Albania
proper, thus creating a Greater Albania. The USHMM seeks to cover up or
obfuscate the fact that Kosovo-Metohija was annexed to Albania.

The Mandil family was imprisoned for ten months with other Jewish
families from Serbia in the city of Pristina, then part of Albania.
Mosa was photographed with his wife Gabriela and son Gavra in the
Pristina prison. Mosa made use of his photography experience and
photographed the Italian prison guards and staff at the Pristina
prison. In return, Mosa expected more lenient treatment. Several of the
Jewish families subsequently complained about the overcrowded
conditions in the prison. The Italian prison officials submitted the
complaints of the Jewish prisoners to the German command. The German
authorities responded, however, by executing half of the Jewish
prisoners in Pristina.

Mosa Mandil then interceded with Italian officials to save the
remaining Jewish prisoners by requesting their transfer from Kosovo to
Albania proper. The Italians then moved the Jewish prisoners from
Pristina to Kavaja in Albania proper by trucks.

Following the Italian capitulation and the German incursion into
Albania, the Mandils moved to Tirana, hoping to find safety in numbers
in the capital city. Mosa found work in the photography studio of
Neshed Ismail, an Albanian who had worked for Gavra's grandfather in
Belgrade. A sixteen-year-old Albanian apprentice, Refik Veseli, was
also employed in this studio.

The Mandil family, along with the Be Yosif family, hid in the mountain
village of Kruja from the German occupation forces from November, 1943,
until October, 1944, when the German forces withdrew from Albania.

After the war, the Mandil family returned to Serbia, residing in the
Serbian city of Novi Sad, where Mosa re-opened his photo studio. In
1946, Refik Veseli joined the Mandil family in Serbia by finishing his
professional training in Novi Sad with Mosa.

In 1948, after the founding of Israel and the emergence of the
communist regime of Josip Broz Tito in Yugoslavia, the Mandils
emigrated to Israel.

The Altarac family was another Jewish family from Serbia interned at
the Pristina prison. The Altarac family consisted of Majer and his wife
Mimi Finci and their son Jasa and Lela. Majer had been a prominent
architect in Serbia/Yugoslavia. Jasa had been born in Serbia in
Belgrade on January 1, 1934. The Altarac family was wealthy and highly
assimilated in Serbian society, but the family retained many Jewish
traditions, including the yearly celebration of Passover with Majer's
family in Sarajevo.

The Altarac family home in Sarajevo was destroyed during a German
bombing raid during the Passover in April, 1941. Jasa’s sister Lela and
his grandmother were both killed.

After the bombardment by the Luftwaffe, Sarajevo was occupied by German
troops and Croatian and Bosnian Muslim forces, who destroyed the
Sarajevo synagogue and began the mass murder of Bosnian and Croatian
Serbs and Jews and Roma.

The Altarac family escaped from the newly-formed Croat/Bosnian Muslim
state, the Ustasha Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska (NDH), the Independent
State of Croatia, established by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini,
which incorporated Bosnia-Hercegovina. The Altarac family fled to the
city of Sabac in Serbia, where they were sheltered by the Serbian
family of Miloje Markovic, one of Majer's foremen.

In July, 1941, the Altarac family moved back to Belgrade. Upon their
return, the family had to register with the police, and Majer was taken
for forced labor. Majer sought to obtain travel documents from Ermino
Dorio, a business partner, that would allow the Altarac family to move
to the Italian-occupied zone of Yugoslavia, the former Serbian province
of Kosovo-Metohija, then part of Albania. The Altarac family fled
without these documents when they could not be obtained in time.

The Altarac family first went to Skopje, Macedonia, then part of a
Greater Bulgaria, where they were given lodging by a Jewish family
named Amarilio. Majer was recognized in the streets of Skopje and
feared that he would be reported to the police because of his illegal
presence there. The Altarac family could no longer stay in Skopje
because of the risk of exposure and arrest.

Majer fled with his family to Pristina in “Italian-occupied Kosovo”,
then part of Greater Albania. Initially, the Altarac family lived with
a Kosovo Serbian family in Pristina, who sheltered the Altarac family.
Subsequently they settled with a Jewish family. As Serbian-speaking
Jews from Belgrade, the Kosovar Albanian Muslim population would be
hostile to the Altarac family. This explains why they were sheltered by
a Kosovo Serb family in Pristina. By contrast, non-Kosovo Albanians in
Albania proper were more sympathetic. The Kosovar Albanian nationalist
leaders sought to eradicate not only Kosovo Serbs, but Serbian culture
and the Orthodox religion and language. As speakers of Serbian and part
of Serbian society, the Altarac family could only expect hostility from
Kosovo Albanian Muslims, who perceived Kosovo Jews as part of the
Serbian society and culture. The goal of the Greater Albania
nationalist movement, the 1943 Second League of Prizren, the Balli
Kombetar (BK), the Albanian Kosovo Committee, was to create an
ethnically pure Albania Kosova/Kosove. Ethnic homogeneity was a key
objective of the Greater Albania nationalist groups in Kosova/Kosove.

The German occupation forces put increased pressure on the Italian
occupation officials in Pristina to turn over the growing numbers of
Jewish refugees from Serbia. In order to appease the German command,
the Italian forces concentrated all the non-resident Jewish families in
one location. The Jewish families were first placed in an abandoned
school, and later, transferred to Pristina’s main prison. The refugee
families were allowed to stay together in family units. They were also
separated as a group from the regular prisoners. They were allowed to
go out in the prison courtyard during the day.

The Altarac family became acquainted with the Mandil family, another
refugee family from Serbia. Mosa Mandil, who was a professional
photographer from Novi Sad, was able to obtain lenient treatment from
the Italian prison commander by taking photographs of Italian officials
and authorities. Mosa obtained permission to go to the market each day
which enabled the Jewish refugee families to receive enough food to
maintain their health.

But by the late spring of 1942, the German command demanded that the
Italian occupation forces in Pristina turn over the Jewish refugees
from Serbia in their custody. The Italian authorities turned over 51
Jewish prisoners in Pristina to German authorities. These Jewish
prisoners were subsequently killed. Jasa Altarac’s aunt Frida and
cousin Dita, who were part of this group, were killed.

On July 8, Italians occupation authorities in Pristina interned the
remainder of the Jewish prisoners in several different locations in
Albania proper. The Altarac and Mandil families were among a group of
18 prisoners from five families that was sent by truck to Kavaja. In
Kavaja, the Jewish families were required to report to the police
station every day. The five families--- the Altarac, Mandil, Azriel,
Borger, and Ruchvarger families---rented several apartments on the top
floor of a building that they referred to as the "Red House."

In September, 1943, the Altarac family moved to Tirana. This was the
period when Italy surrendered and German troops were then forced to
occupy Albania proper, Kosovo-Metohija, and western Macedonia, which
then made up Greater Albania. They hid in a small apartment in Tirana.
Jewish refugees from Serbia Sida Levi and her son Mikica, were cousins
from Belgrade who joined the Altarac family. Mimi Altarac sold garments
in order to earn money for the family.

The Altarac family hid in a country house in Kamza in February, 1944.
Mimi Altarac and their cousins fled to Tirana in August, however, when
they heard that German authorities were in the region. German officials
arrived and detained Majer and Jasa after their departure. They hid the
fact that they were Jews from the German officials. Majer and Jasa then
joined Mimi in Tirana when they were released.

The Altarac family returned to Belgrade after the withdrawal of German
forces from Tirana in the fall of 1944. They stayed in Serbia until
1948, when they immigrated to then Palestine. Jasa Altarac married
Enica Franses, a Jewish survivor from Skopje, Macedonia, in 1960.


6. Greater Albania and the 1943 Second League of Prizren

When Italy surrendered on September 8, 1943, Germany reoccupied
Kosovo-Metohija and Albania proper by deploying the XXI Mountain Corps
led by General Paul Bader and made up of the 100th Jaeger Division, the
297th Infantry Division, and the 1st Mountain Division. German policy
was to strengthen Albanian Greater Albania nationalist and extremist
groups and sought to recruit Kosovar Albanians into German occupation
forces.

The Italian occupation forces, by contrast, sought to hold in check the
Albanian extremist nationalist groups who sought to completely cleanse
Kosovo of Orthodox Serbs by deporting all Serbs and by killing them en
masse. The Germans on the other hand, turned the Albanian nationalist
groups loose. The Germans immediately understood that the way to ensure
Kosovar Albanian cooperation and support was to lend German support for
Greater Albania.

The way to recruit and enlist Kosovar Albanians in the Wehrmacht and
Waffen SS was to exploit the Albanian nationalist ideology of Greater
Albania and an ethically cleansed Kosovo, an ethnically pure Albanian
Kosova. The German occupation thus resurrected the 1878 First League of
Prizren by creating the 1943 German-sponsored Second League of Prizren.
The First League of Prizren established the Albanian nationalist
ideology of Greater Albania, the goal to unite Albania proper with all
Albanian-inhabited regions of the Balkans, which included not only
Kosovo-Metohija, but Western Macedonia or Illirida, northern Greece or
Chameria, southern Serbia, and southern Montenegro.

On September 16, 1943, Djafer Deva, a member of the Balli Kombetar (BK,
National Union), organized the Second League of Prizren “in cooperation
with the German occupation authorities”. Attacks against Kosovo Serbs
increased and intensified. Over 10,000 Kosovo Serbian families are
estimated to have been driven out of Kosovo during the German
occupation. The 1943 Second League of Prizren, the Albanian Kosovo
Committee, and the Balli Kombetar were crucial in the creation of the
21st Waffen Gebirgs Division der SS “Skanderbeg”.

On March 19, 1944, Bedri Pejani, the president of the Second League of
Prizren, wrote Heinrich Himmler a letter requesting that Himmler
organize Albanian formations in the Waffen SS. Himmler wanted to
recreate the Albanian Legion of the Austro-Hungarian Army. Himmler
wanted to revive the German-Albanian cooperation from the Habsburg
period when Austria-Hungary was a sponsor of Greater Albania. Himmler
was also buttressed by recent anthropological research by Italian
historiographers who had found that the Ghegs of northern Albania and
Kosovo-Metohija were Aryans, the herrenvolk, the master or chosen race,
who had preserved their racial purity for over two thousand years.
Himmler thus needed manpower for the Waffen SS, he wanted to revive the
Austro-Hungarian Legion, and he wanted to exploit the Aryan blood of
the Ghegs of Kosovo. Himmler planned to form two Waffen SS Divisions
made up of Kosovar Albanians. Bedri Pejani wrote to Himmler:

Excellency, the central committee of the Second Albanian League of
Prizren has authorized me to inform you that only your excellency is
united with the Second Albanian League, that you should form this army,
which will be able to safeguard the borders of Kosovo and liberate the
surrounding regions...
Bedri Pejani

Hans Heinrich Lammers, chief of the Reich Chancellery, sent Pejani’s
letter to Himmler, who wrote Lammers about the planned formation of the
two new Kosovar Albanian SS Divisions:

Most respected party friend Lammers! I received your letter of April 29
together with the letter of the president of the central committee of
the Second Albanian League of Prizren. At this time one Albanian
division is being formed. As things now stand, I plan to form a second
division, and afterwards an Albanian corps will be formed...
Heil Hitler! Yours very faithfully, H. Himmler


7. Albanian Battalion in Bosnian Muslim Handzar Nazi SS Division

There were 300 Kosovo Albanian Muslims in the Bosnian Muslim 13th
Waffen Gebirgs Divison der SS “Handzar/Handschar”, an Albanian
Battalion in Regiment 28, I/28. This Albanian Battalion in Handzar
would form the core of the later Kosovar Albanian Skanderbeg SS
Division.

Albanian Muslim squad leader Nazir Hodic was a prominent member of the
Handzar Waffen SS Division. Ajdin Mahmutovic was another Albanian
Muslim member of Handzar, who was seventeen when he joined the Handzar
SS Division. He recalled on June 14, 1996: “I was only seventeen years
old when I joined (the SS), I found the physical training to be quite
easy.”

Himmler ordered that the Bosnian Muslim troops in Handzar wear the
Ottoman Turkish fez because it was the national attire of the Bosnian
Muslims and because Bosnian Muslim Regiments of the Habsburg
Austro-Hungarian Army had worn fezzes. Mustafa Kemal Pasha Ataturk had
outlawed the Ottoman fez in the 1925 Hat Law, but Bosnian Muslims
either had not noticed or did not care. The Ottoman Turkish fez
continued to be the national attire of the Bosnian Muslims. Ataturk
outlawed the fez because it was associated with and was symbolic of the
Ottoman Empire; Ataturk sought to establish a secular republic in
Turkey. Moreover, the Ottoman fez was associated with a reactionary and
militant form of Islam that Ataturk rejected in favor of a secular
state.

Himmler, by contrast, wanted to achieve the opposite. He wanted to
revive the militant and jihadist nature of Islam and of the Ottoman
Empire. Himmler told propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels that he had
“nothing against Islam because it educates the men in this division
[Handzar] for me and promises them heaven if they fight and are killed
in action; a very practical and attractive religion for soldiers!”
Himmler wanted fanatical, blind obedience, and soldiers who would
sacrifice in the name of religious or ideological belief.

Himmler thus made the fez the conspicuous symbol of the Handzar SS
Division. Himmler allowed officers in Handzar, however, to wear the
Waffen SS mountain cap or Bergmutze as part of the walking-out uniform
or Ausgehanzug. There was a field-gray fez that was to be worn as part
of the service uniform, and a maroon or red fez for officers to be worn
as part of the walking-out or parade uniform.

On July 30, 1943, Herbert von Obwurzer, who was put in charge of the
formation of the division, ordered that the “fez or the Bergmutze could
be worn on duty.” Von Obwurzer had commanded a regiment on the eastern
Front and been a member of the SS Division “Nord”. The members of the
Bosnian Muslim Handzar Division wore the fez or the Bergmutze, both
Bosnian Muslim and German members.

The Ottoman Turkish fez was appropriate as the national attire of
Bosnian Muslims but not for the Kosovar Albanian Muslims in the Handzar
Division. The national attire of the Kosovo Albanians was a white
woolen skull cap.

Himmler sought to solve this problem by having the SS Main Office
headed by Gottlob Berger issue a specially-made Kosovar Albanian skull
cap. Himmler decided that “a different type of headgear was necessary
for the division’s Albanians” in a November 26, 1943 letter to Oswald
Pohl, the chief of the SS Economic and Administrative Main office
(WVHA).

Himmler proposed a white skull cap for Albanian Waffen SS troops that
would revive the skull cap worn by Albanian Muslims in the Albanian
Legion that had been part of the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Army. The
Waffen SS Main Office approved the issuance of a specially-made
Albanian gray skull cap or Albanerfez, Albanian fez. A field gray model
of the Albanerfez was made by the SS Main Office and distributed for
the service uniform for the Albanian troops in the Albanian battalion,
I/28, in Handzar, in early 1944.

There was some doubt whether an Albanian gray skull cap was ever
actually issued to the Albanian Waffen SS troops. Photographic
evidence, however, establishes conclusively that a gray skull cap was
produced by the Waffen SS for Albanian SS troops, which had the
Totenkopf or Death’s Head skull and bones insignia of the SS under the
Hoheitszeichen insignia of Nazi Germany, an eagle holding a Nazi
swastika. SS Brigadefuehrer and Generalmajor of the Waffen SS
Karl-Gustav Sauberzweig, the commander of the Handzar Division, was
shown in several photographs wearing a gray Albanian skull cap or
Albanerfez. The NCO of the I/28, Rudi Sommerer, was photographed alone
wearing the gray skull cap and in a photograph with Nazir Hodic, the
Albanian squad commander in I/28. Walter Schaumuller, a commander of
5./28, was photographed wearing the Albanerfez during Unternehmen
Osterei or Operation Easter Egg on April 12, 1944 south of Mitrovici.
There are also several photos of Albanian Waffen SS troops in
Skanderbeg wearing the Albanerfez. Austrian Erich Braun, the operations
officer of Handzar, and Rudi Sommerer, an NCO from I/28, acknowledged
that the SS never issued white skull caps, but specially-made gray
ones, in letters dated November 27 and September 21, 1992.

In April, 1944, the I/28 Albanian Battalion in the Handzar Division was
transferred to the newly-forming 21st Waffen Gebirgs Division der SS
“Skanderbeg” (albanische Nr. 1) in Pristina in Kosovo. The Albanerfez
or gray SS skull cap was no longer worn in the Handzar Division but
became part of the uniform of the Kosovar Albanian Skanderbeg Waffen SS
Division.

SS-Ostuf. Carl Rachor of Handzar rated the military ability of the
Albanian and Bosnian Muslim Waffen SS troops favorably. In a letter of
September 14, 1943, he wrote that “the enlisted men, particularly the
Albanians, shall become outstanding soldiers.”

Albanian troops in the Handzar Division participated in several
important battles of the division in 1944 in Bosnia. Before launching
its first offensive action, Unternehmen Save or Operation Sava, the
assault into northeastern Bosnia across the Sava River, Sauberzweig
wrote a letter to the Handzar troops: “We have now reached the Bosnian
frontier and will (soon) begin the march into the homeland… The Fuehrer
has provided you with his best weapons. Not only do you (have these) in
your hands, but above all you have an idea in your hearts---to liberate
the homeland….Before long, each of you shall be standing in the place
that you call home, as a soldier and a gentleman; standing firm as a
defender of the idea of saving the culture of Europe---the idea of
Adolf Hitler.”

Sauberzweig also ordered that as Handzar units crossed the Sava River,
each commander was to read a prepared message which emphasized that the
“liberation” of “Muslim Albania” was to be a goal, directly appealing
to the Albanian troops in the Division:

As we cross this river we commemorate the great historic task that the
leader of the new Europe, Adolf Hitler, has set for us---to liberate
the long-suffering Bosnian homeland and through this to form the bridge
for the liberation of Muslim Albania. To our Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, who
seeks the dawn of a just and free Europe---Sieg Heil!

The motto of the Division was then invoked, “Handzaru---udaraj!”
(“Handzar---Strike!”). Each member of the Division was also given a
portrait photograph of Adolf Hitler as Hitler’s “personal gift” to the
troops.

Elements of the Handzar Divison crossed the Sava River on March 15,
1944. Regiment 27 crossed the river at Bosanska Raca using assault
boats. The rest of the division crossed at the Sava Bridge at Brcko
following an intense artillery barrage. The division suffered only
light casualties.

Rudi Sommerer, an NCO from the Albanian Battalion in Handzar, 6./28,
recalled the assault in a January 4, 1993 letter:

Our company crossed the Sava at dawn. We were the first unit in our
sector to cross, and made enemy contact immediately. We suffered
several dead, among them Rottenfuehrer Mrosek, a comrade of mine with
whom I had served in Finland. The Partisans immediately pulled back
into the forests.

The flat Pannonian Plain allowed for a rapid advance by Regiment 27
through Velino Selo to Brodac. Bijeljina was taken on March 16. The
regiment then consolidated its position in the city. Regiment 28 bore
the brunt of the fighting as it advanced through Pukis and Celic and
Koraj at the Majevica mountains. Sauberzweig later recorded that II/28
“at Celic stormed the Partisan defenses with (new) battalion commander
Hans Hanke at the point” and that the enemy forces withdrew after
running out of ammunition and suffering heavy casualties.

On April 12, 1944, the Handzar Division launched Unternehmen Osterei or
Operation Easter Egg in northeastern Bosnia with two pincer assaults.
Regiment 27 captured Janja and advanced through Donja Trnova and the
Ugljevik mines. The Albanian Regiment 28 on the other hand advanced
south through Mackovac and Priboj. The first battalion was ordered to
seize the local Majevica heights and “suffered considerable casualties
in the fighting.” German NCO in I/28 Rudi Sommerer recalled the role of
the Albanian Muslim troops in the battalion in this attack in letters
dated November 23, 1992 and January 4, 1993:

My Albanian squad leader, Nazir Hodic, took five of his men and stormed
a Partisan position in the hills. They overran the knoll, killing
several of the enemy without incurring any friendly losses.

This was the Albanian Battalion’s last engagement with the Handzar
Division. On April 17, 1944, Heinrich Himmler ordered the formation of
the Skanderbeg SS Division in Kosovo, then part of a German-sponsored
Greater Albania. The Albanian I/28 was detached from the Handzar
division and transported by railroad to Pristina in Kosovo where a new
battalion was created from SS personnel and officers and NCOs from
other Waffen SS formations along with Albanian recruits and conscripts
from Kosovo and Albania proper. According to Gottlob Berger, the head
of the SS Main Office, in a letter to Himmler of April 13, 1944, the
Albanian troops in Handzar “were quite sad about leaving.”


8. Kosovar Albanian Nazi SS Division Skanderbeg

Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler planned to create two Albanian Waffen
SS Divisions and two Bosnian Muslim Waffen SS Divisions. In a May 22,
1944 letter to Artur Phleps, the former commander of the 7th SS
Mountain Division “Prinz Eugen”, Himmler outlined his plans to form two
Albanian SS Divisions:

My goal is clear: The creation of two territorial corps, one in Bosnia,
the other in Albania. These two corps, with the Division “Prinz Eugen”,
as an army of five SS mountain divisions, are the goal for 1944.

Himmler ordered the formation of the Kosovar Albanian Skanderbeg Nazi
SS Division on April 17, 1944, following the approval by Adolf Hitler.
The Skanderbeg Division was made up of 6,491 ethnic Albanian troops,
two-thirds of whom were from Kosovo-Metohija, or Kosovars. The core of
the new division was the newly transferred I/28 Albanian Battalion from
the Bosnian Muslim Handzar SS Division from Bosnia-Hercegovina. To this
Albanian core were added German troops and officers and Ncos,
Reichsdeutsche from Austria and Volksdeutsche officers, NCOs, and
enlisted men who were transferred from the 7th SS Mountain Division
“Prinz Eugen”. The Skanderbeg Division consisted mostly of Albanian
Muslims of the Sunni and Bektashi sects of Islam and several hundred
Albanian Roman Catholics. The total strength of the Kosovar Skanderbeg
SS Division was 8,500-9,000 men.

The first commander of the Skanderbeg division during its recruitment
and formation stages was SS Brigadefuehrer and Generalmajor of the
Waffen SS Josef Fitzhum, the Higher SS leader in Albania. Fitzhum
supervised the formation of the new division from April to June, 1944.
The combat commander of the division was SS Standartenfuehrer August
Schmidhuber, who assumed command in June, 1944. Schmidhuber had
transferred to the Skanderbeg Division from the Prinz Eugen SS
Division, then stationed in Bosnia-Hercegovina. In August, 1944, SS
Obersturmbannfuehrer Alfred Graf assumed command of the reorganized
remnants of the division, formed into a Battle Group or Kampfgruppe
until May, 1945.

Kosovar Albanian troops in the Skanderbeg SS Division deserted when
they had to fight anti-occupation guerrilla troops. Instead, these
Kosovar Albanian SS troops concentrated their efforts on murdering
Serbian civilians, women as well as children, and driving out Kosovo
Serbs and taking over their houses and lands.

Following the 1943 Second League of Prizren and the revival of the
Greater Albania nationalist ideology by Nazi Germany, Kosovo Serbs were
again targeted for mass murder and deportation. A new wave of killings
and expulsions and seizures of Serbian land and property occurred. An
estimated 10,000 Serbian families were driven out of Kosovo by the
Kosovar Skanderbeg SS Division. In their place, Albanian settlers and
colonists from northern Albania were brought in to take over the
Serbian land. In Between Serb and Albanian: A History of Kosovo,
pro-Kosovar Albanian activist and advocate Miranda Vickers, who would
later work as an analyst for George Soros’ International Crisis Group
(ICG) and is “ICG’s Senior Albania Analyst”, a self-styled “Albanian
expert”, was compelled to acknowledge this fact:

Until the first months of 1944 there were continued waves of migration
from Kosovo of Serbs and Montenegrins, forced to flee following
intimidation… The 21st SS ‘Skanderbeg Division’ (consisting, as already
mentioned, of two battalions) formed out of Albanian volunteers in the
spring of 1944, indiscriminately killed Serbs and Montenegrins in
Kosovo. This led to the emigration of an estimated 10,000 Slav
families, most of whom went to Serbia…replaced by new colonists from
the poorer regions of northern Albania.

How many Kosovo Serbs were killed during the Greater Albania occupation
period of 1941-44? A contemporary World War II U.S. intelligence report
stated that 10,000 Kosovo Serbs were killed in the first year of the
occupation. No exact figure has been accurately determined for the
number of Kosovo Serbs killed during the Greater Albania period, the
Italian/German occupation period, 1941-1944. The number can
conservatively be deduced to be between several thousand at a minimum
to over 10,000 as a maximum.

How many Kosovo Serbs were expelled? The World War II Commissariat for
Refugees in Belgrade registered 70,000 Kosovo Serb refugees during the
Italian/German occupation of Kosovo. This figure is a reasonably
accurate minimum figure. Kosovo Serb refugees who did not register or
who fled to other regions of the former Yugoslavia, such as Bosnia,
Montenegro, and Macedonia, were not accounted for. A conservative
estimate of up to 100,000 Kosovo Serb refugees takes into account the
refugee wartime records and those refugees missed in the reports.

During the Greater Albania period in Kosovo’s history, when Adolf
Hitler and Benito Mussolini made Kosovo part of Albania, over 10,000
Kosovo Serbs were killed and 100,000 Kosovo Serbs were expelled. What
occurred in Kosovo then was a planned and systematic genocide against
the Serbian Orthodox population, a biological and a cultural genocide
sponsored by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. War crimes and crimes
against humanity were committed against the Serbian Orthodox population
of Kosovo, and against the Kosovo Jewish and Kosovo Roma populations.

But this genocide in Kosovo is nowhere to be found in mainstream
accounts of Yugoslav or Balkans history and remains an untold story.
The genocide in Kosovo is censored and deleted from historical accounts
of World War II and the Holocaust. You can look for it, but it is
nowhere to be found. “The researchers at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum in Washington, D.C. do not even know that Kosovo was part of
Albania during the Holocaust. The Museum researchers list Kosovo as a
“Serbian province” during the Holocaust. But this is incorrect and
misleading. Kosovo-Metohija was part of Albania from 1941 to 1944. The
Holocaust Museum seeks to falsify history and to exculpate Albanian
leaders during the Holocaust by seeking to spin doctor events during
World War II. It must never be forgotten that the USHMM is funded by
the US State Department and that the primary sponsor of Greater Albania
today is the US government and media and US economic interests. So
there is considerable pressure on the USHMM to falsify the history of
Kosovo and Bosnia. After all, how would it look if it was revealed that
the long-suffering Kosovar Albanians had formed a Nazi SS Division that
had played a major role in the Holocaust, in the murder of Jews, of
Kosovo Jews, and the murder of Kosovo Serbs and Roma? How do you spin
doctor the fact that the Kosovar Albanians engaged in a planned and
systematic policy of genocide and mass murder against Kosovo Serbs? You
really cannot do it. The only option is censorship and falsification
and obfuscation. And that is what the USHMM has done. History becomes
just something you manipulate and distort and censor, like everything
else.


9. Operation Draufganger and Massacres of Serbian Civilians

On July 28, 1944, the Skanderbeg SS Division and the 7th Prinz Eugen SS
Division attacked the village of Velika in the Lim valley. Skanderbeg
and Prinz Eugen were alleged to have massacred 428 Serbs of which 120
were children and burned down 300 Serbian houses. This was during a
German military operation known as Unternehmen Draufganger or Operation
Daredevil.

The Axis Order of Battle consisted of the following Nazi formations:
the Kosovar Albanian 21st SS Skanderbeg Division, the 14th SS Regiment
from the 7th SS Division “Prinz Eugen”, the Kampfgruppe Bendl, the
Kampfgruppe Stripel, parts of the Brandenburg Regiment, and the 5th SS
Police Regiment. Operation Draufganger was aimed at the 2nd Assault
Corps NOVJ (Drugi Udarnicki Korpus NOVJ) which was formed on October
11, 1943 from the 2nd Proletarian Division and the 3rd Assault Division
and was conducted in the Andrijevica area in the Lim valley area
between Montenegro and Kosovo-Metohija. The action was conducted from
July 18 to 26 to prevent the breakthrough of the Operative Group of the
Division into Serbia. The Kosovar Skanderbeg SS Division was broken or
decimated during the operation while other units suffered significant
casualties and the German plan failed.

SS Brigadefuehrer Otto Kumm commanded the Prinz Eugen SS Division
during this action. He would command the division from January 30, 1944
to January 20, 1945. He was replaced by SS Oberfuehrer Schmidhuber who
would return to command the Prinz Eugen SS Division after Skanderbeg
was reorganized as a Battle Group on January 20, 1945 to the end of the
war on May 8, 1945. Prinz Eugen and Skanderbeg were part of the 5th SS
Corps of 2nd Panzer Army, commanded by Lothar Rendulic, which was part
of Army Group F.

In an attack on the village of Velika in the Lim valley, Kosovar
Albanian troops in the Skanderbeg SS Division murdered Serbian
civilians, women, and children. Milunka Vucetic personally witnessed
the murder of the three-year-old Serbian child Tomislav Vucetic, who
was then skinned alive by Kosovar Albanian troops in the Skanderbeg SS
Division:

I approached the house of Milovan Vucetic. Around afternoon an army
from Ivanpolje came into the area. We decided to take them bread, salt,
which we had.When the army approached, I saw how in the olive grove
Tomislav, the son of Milovan Vucetic, played. Two soldiers took him, a
third ran over…one took out a knife and began to skin the child alive
from his eyes downwards. I could not watch what occurred. I began
screaming and his mother Leposava-Lepa ran over to protect him. She was
killed.

Another survivor of the massacre, Radoje Knezevic, recalled the role of
the Kosovar Skanderbeg SS Division:

I was only 11 years old when Hitler’s Division “Skanderbeg” and “Prinz
Eugen” burned down the village of Velika and killed about 428 persons.
Our family paid a heavy price that day. On that day my mother Stojanka
was killed and then her body burned. The same fate befell my two
brothers Nedeljko (5 years old) and Ratko (11 months old). My sister
Raba (18 years old) was killed as she was trying to protect her mother
and young brothers, And she too was burned.

Divna Vucetic, a survivor of the massacre, recalled:

I heard news of massacres in the surrounding villages so I became
concerned for the safety of my children, the two eldest of whom I sent
into the woods…I held in my lap my one year old son, Boza. On the
threshold my daughter Persida approach<br/><br/>(Message over 64 KB, truncated)

AL BALLO MASCHERATO DELLA CELEBRITA'


Il principe Harry d'Inghilterra indossa una divisa da nazista nel corso
di una festa in maschera... Resosi conto dello scherzo di pessimo
gusto, chiede scusa.

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=324576

Japan Today - January 13, 2005

Prince Harry wears Nazi uniform to party

LONDON — Britain's Prince Harry has apologized after
being pictured in a Nazi uniform at a fancy dress
party. The tabloid Sun's front page Wednesday showed
the Prince, with a cigarette and drink in hand,
wearing a swastika armband.
The newspaper said he had attended a fancy dress party
in the uniform of a fascist soldier. In a statement,
the Prince said: "I am very sorry if I caused any
offence or embarrassment to anyone. It was a poor
choice of costume and I apologize."

(srpskohrvatski/italiano)

"Hrisovulja" e' il nome del documento con il quale, durante il
Medioevo, i signori feudali della Serbia "davano in affidamento" al
clero ortodosso terre, paesi e popolazioni. La questione del potere
temporale e della influenza politica del clero ortodosso ritorna
d'attualita' oggi, nella Serbia governata dalle destre, vittima del
revisionismo e del decadentismo culturale (vedi la legge sulle pensioni
per i veterani cetnici o la proposta di legge per abolire la teoria di
Darwin dai programmi scolastici). Questa grave regressione, questo
allontanamento dal laicismo ed il rientro sulla scena culturale di
elementi vicini al nazismo di Nedic, di pari passo con l'avvicinamento
alla sfera d'influenza dell'Occidente, assomigliano in tutto e per
tutto a quanto gia' successo in Croazia sin dal 1990 - religione
cattolica sin dall'asilo, assegnazione alla chiesa dei beni immobili
confiscati dai comunisti, riabilitazione dei criminali ustascia e del
clero collaborazionista del nazismo, eccetera - o nella Bosnia dell'SDA
di Izetbegovic - notoriamente islamista, legato ed ispirato dal clero
musulmano in patria ed all'estero (Turchia, Iran, Arabia Saudita)...

Dal sito komunist.free.fr

Hrisovulja

La Serbia e la società serba in effetti già da un lungo periodo
mostrano un numero rilevante di segni di una malattia maligna, che si
manifesta per via di fenomeni retrogradi. Il fenomeno dominante è il
NAZIONALISMO ed il CLERONAZIONALISMO, con elementi di fascismo che
traspaiono sovente. La chiesa è presente nella scena sociale. I
preti... fino al livello del parroco di qualche villaggio, partecipano
a tutte le manifestazioni importanti. Essi determinano quando la
popolazione dovrebbe digiunare, e quando no, oppure se siano
permesse manifestazioni di altro tipo e di quale tipo
esse possano essere... Significa che è in atto ... una UNIONE tra
CHIESA e lo STATO. [...]
Significa che è più importante per una persona l'essere Serba e
ortodossa.... La suddetta tesi presenta un approccio
mitologico, secondo cui i Serbi sarebbero uno dei popoli più antichi
del mondo, con doti celesti e metafisiche, indistruttibili ed eterni,
un esempio per tutti gli altri, sempre e ovunque.
La suddetta idea, adottata dai suoi seguaci, ottiene un peso specifico
enorme con la costruzione di un'ulteriore idea della drammaticita' del
momento attuale, importante per la sopravvivenza della Serbia e
della Serbitudine, per cui sarebbe in corso una congiura
internazionale contro la nazione intera serba e contro l'ortodossia.
L'obiettivo di tale congiura e' la distruzione di suddetta
religione e nazione, e i motori di tale azione sarebbero gli Ebrei,
cioè i giudeo-banchieri.
I fatti esposti, dimostrano ... che c'e' un legame tra il
nazionalismo e il cleronazionalismo, che produce teorie del
complotto ed’antisemitismo, cioè il FASCISMO.
La personificazione di tali idee sono quei personaggi provenienti
dai ranghi delle forze sconfitte tanto tempo fa, le quali ora si
riaffermano spandendo la loro influenza. La persona più estrema
di tutte, secondo la mia personale valutazione, è un certo
RATIBOR-RAJKO ÐURÐEVIC', ex- membro delle forze di Nedic [capo dei
Serbi che collaborarono con l'occupante nazista, ndAM] e dei cetnici
[milizie monarchiche che combatterono sia i nazisti che i comunisti,
per poi dividersi appoggiando talvolta i primi, talvolta i secondi;
loro leader fu Draza Mihajlovic. ndAM], un ideologo che tramite la sua
casa editrice IHTUS HRIŠCANSKA KNJIGA (IHTUS-LIBRO CRISTIANO) ...
avvelena pericolosamente e potentemente la coscienza delle giovani
generazioni, a lungo termine.
La domanda che si pone ... è: QUAL' E' L'OPINIONE DELLO STATO E DELLE
SUE ISTITUZIONI NEI CONFRONTI DI TALI E SIMILI FENOMENI "LETTERARI"?
Lo Stato, come ai tempi della Serbia medioevale dei Nemanjici, ha
ceduto alla chiesa, quale suo alleato più vicino dal punto di vista
della classe, la popolazione in "affidamento" - HRISOVULJA è il nome
di quella carta-regalia con la quale il governatore della Serbia
feudale donava le terre alla chiesa, con tutti i villaggi e gli
abitanti. Lo Stato odierno in sostanza, effettua una mossa
identica. Ha affidato il popolo, tramite la "fideiussione
spirituale", alla chiesa, per la cura e lo sfruttamento spirituale,
mentre lo Stato continua a sfruttare il popolo per via lavorativa.
Il patrimonio statale, cioè sociale, che tutti i lavoratori hanno
creato per 50 anni, ora viene svenduto per un compenso misero
ai capitalisti nazionali e stranieri, il cui capitale ha origini
molto oscure. Dopodiche', questi capitalisti licenziano i lavoratori,
oppure li tengono ai loro posti, sfruttando al massimo il loro
lavoro, dando in cambio i stipendi minimi. [...] La realtà
sociale nella "democrazia" è molto, molto oscura e pesante per la
maggioranza della gente, cui appare davanti il miraggio di una
"prospettiva di futuro brillante nelle integrazioni euro-atlantiche".
Però, tra di loro e questo obiettivo, il popolo ha la chiesa - la
istituzione più antica e più esperta per questo tipo di lavoro di
mantenimento e surriscaldamento ideologico. In questo modo risulta che
lo Stato serbo e la chiesa sono unite nello stesso compito, quello di
inebriare il popolo, in modo che l'effetto dei contenuti della
realtà non agisca su di loro.
Infine si pone la domanda: fino a quando durerà e quando cessera'
l'effetto di tale "affidamento"? Durera' fino alla piena e
completa manifestazione di tutti i "benedetti" frutti
della transizione-neocolonizzazione, cioè fin dopo la
introduzione del capitalismo liberale, quando la maggioranza
delle persone iniziera' ad osservare e comprendere la realtà con
gli occhi ben aperti. Queste circostanze possono turbare
pesantemente, e credo anche in via definitiva, nel caso in cui
si manifestasse una costellazione particolare per eliminare
quell'alleanza tra lo Stato e chiesa che ora è in atto. In quel momento
si mostrera' il vero volto dell'ideologia nazionalista e della
mitologia - come una bolla di sapone che dietro di se lascia le
conseguenze peggiori: l'odio, le guerre, la morte - l'incendio e
le ceneri... La realtà vera delle relazioni socioeconomiche diventera'
l'oggetto principale della coscienza della gente. Però, la base, il
carattere e i prodotti di tali relazioni socioeconomiche
inevitabilmente implicheranno la necessità della rivalutazione di
molti valori, e verrano riaffermati e nuovamente oggettivizzati i
postulati basilari della società socialista, il che rappresenta de
facto un invito rivolto alle forze di avanguardia di iniziare e
compiere il cambiamento radicale e totale delle condizioni reali di
vita.

Sanja Djordjevic

(a cura di AM. Traduzione del testo: DK)

---

http://komunist.free.fr/arhiva/dec2004/hrisovulja.html

Arhiva : : Decembar 2004.

Hrisovulja

Kada, gde, kako? Da li vreme teče unapred? Ne, kao da postaje sve
drugačije. Prostor i vreme, te kategorije egzistencijalnosti kao da
pokazuju mutantni karakter svojih bazičnih osobina.

Ljudsko društvo kao i prirodu determinišu od vajkada pomenute
egzistencijalnosti. Temporalnost upravo daje dinamiku razvoju društva.

Istorijske činjenice nedvosmisleno ukazuju kako jedna društvena forma,
jedan oblik društveveno-ekonomskog sistema smenjuje drugi. Upravo u
takvom sledu ogleda se normalan tok razvoja čoveka kao socijalnog bića.
Svakako ova dijalektička zakonitost je zdravog karaktera samo kada biva
determinisana progresijom kao suštinskom odrednicom. Progresija se
konkretno ispoljava u smislu da zaostali - retrogradni sistem smenjuje
napredniji i razvijeniji društveni i ekonomski poredak.

Srbija i srpsko društvo ovde i sada, zapravo već duže vreme pokazuju
veći broj snažnih i opasnih znakova maligne bolesti koji se manifestuju
kroz najretrogradnije fenomene. Dominantan fenomen takve vrste je
svakako NACIONALIZAM i KLERONACIONALIZAM sa često izraženim elementima
FAŠIZMA. Crkva je na javnoj društvenoj sceni. Sveštenici, od
predstavnika najuže crkvene hijerarhije, pa do paroha u kakvom selu
učestvuju u svim bitnijim zbivanjima. Oni određuju kada će narod
postiti, kada ne. Određuju i da li se u vreme posta sme održavati neka
javna manifestacija i kakvog karaktera sme biti. Apsolutno svaka
državna svečanost upriličena povodom značajnih kulturno-istorijskih
događaja je mesto na kome je uvek i nezaobilazno prisutna, uz državnu i
crkvena elita. Znači bez dvoumljenja CRKVENO-DRŽAVNI SAVEZ. Srbijo,
dobrodošla u 14-ti vek!! Žal za Srbijom "svetorodne loze Nemanjića".
Znači najbitnije je za čoveka da je Srbin i Pravoslavac. No, ovo je
samo manifestna pojava dugogodišnje teze lansirane u klerikalnim i
njima bliskim laičkim krugovima. Pomenuta teza eksponira mitski stav o
Srbima kao starom i jednom od najstarijih naroda na svetu, sa
metafizičkom nebeskom dimenzijom, dimenzijom neuništivosti i večnosti,
za ugled svima drugima, svagda i uvek.

No gore pomenuti stav dobija kod svojih pristalica veliku specifičnu
težinu, jer je izgrađen na ideji drmatičnosti trenutka opstanka Srbije
i srpstva. Ova dramatičnost eksponira ideju da protiv svekolikog
srpskog naciona i vere pravoslavne postoji svetska zavera. Cilj ove
zavere je uništenje pomenute vere i nacije, a kao nosioci ovog podhvata
imenovani su JEVREJI, tj judeo-bankari. Ova teorija ima i svoju
dogmatsko-metafizičku stranu, jer svoje ideje obavija tumačenjem
određenih apokaliptičnih hrišćansko-dogmatskih spisa u koje ne bi smeo
posumnjati ni jedan ortodoksni vernik.

Iznesene činjenice nedvosmisleno ukazuju na pomenutu spregu između
nacionalizma i kleronacionalizma koji produkuje teorije zavere i
antisemitizam, tj. FAŠIZAM.

Nosioci ovih ideja su personalizovani u likovima davno poraženih
retrogradnih snaga koje se sada ekspanzivno afirmišu. Najekstremnija
ličnost po subjektivnoj proceni iz te plejade je izvesni RATIBOR-RAJKO
ĐURĐEVIĆ bivši nedićevsko-četnički omladinac i ideolog koji putem svoje
izdavačke kuće IHTUS-HRIŠĆANSKA KNJIGA, zapravo literature koju
plasira, opasno i snažno truje svest naročito mladih generacija na duži
rok. Ovi podaci su precizno navedeni, primarno i da bi se empirijski
mogli proveriti.

Pitanje svih pitanja na temelju iznesenog je: KAKAV JE STAV DRŽAVE I
NJENIH INSTITUCIJA PREMA OVAKVIM I SLIČNIM "LITERARNIM" FENOMENIMA?

Država se po ovakvim pitanjima uglavnom ne oglašava. Ona je
"tolerantna" i "demokratska". Izraziti i ovakve stavove, izvesno je, da
je po shvatanju današnjih vlastodržaca "in", jer se i na takav način
najbolje distancira od "antisrpskog komunizma, koji je Srbiju razarao
50 godina". No, svako ko iole može i ume elementarno logički da
razmišlja odmah će zapaziti ne samo ordinarnu laž i izmišljotinu
"demokrata", već će u svemu tome prepoznati jednu zamaskiranu pozadinu,
čije razotkrivanje pokazuje istinsku suštinu stvari.

Naime, država je kao u srednjevekovnoj Srbiji Nemanjića, crkvi, svom
najbližem klasnom savezniku, podarila "tapijom" narod. HRISOVULJA je
zapravo naziv darovne povelje kojom je vladar feudalne Srbije darivao
crkvu zemljišnim posedima, sa svim selima i stanovnicima koji su u
njima živeli. Ovi seljani su bili obavezni da argatuju za svog
gospodara. Današnja država čini suštinski istovetan potez. Crkvi je
"duhovnom tapijom", na duhovnu obradu - eksloataciju podarila narod,
dok ga ona eksploatiše radno, i na veliki broj drugih,
najbeskrupuloznijih načina. Većina građana živi u ekonomskom
siromaštvu. Državnu, zapravo društvenu imovinu koju su svi zaposleni
stvarali 50 godina država rasprodaje za mizernu novčanu nadoknadu
domaćim i belosvetskim kapitalistima čiji je kapital često veoma
sumnjivog porekla. Potom ti kapitalisti, ili otpuštaju radnike kao
radni, tj. tehnološki višak, ili ih zadržavaju na radnom mestu
maksimalno eksploatišući njihovu radnu snagu i isplaćuju im najčešće
minimalne zarade. Kada je pak na bolovanju radniku se uglavnom zarada
uopšte i ne isplaćuje. Sa druge strane da i ne govorimo o tzv. radu "na
crno", gde radnici ne ostvaruju ni elementarna prava na socijalno i
zdravstveno osiguranje. Pri razmatranju ovih tema, realnog života
neophodno je pomenuti i penzionere koji su odradivši pošteno svoj radni
vek, većinom na rubu egzistencije, jer primaju minimalne penzije sa
zakašnjenjem od po nekoliko meseci. I tako redom, i tako dalje.
Stvarnost života u "demokratiji" je vrlo, vrlo turobna i teška za
većinu ljudi sa "perspektivom sjajne budućnosti u Evro-Atlantskim
integracijama". No do ostvarenja ovog cilja narod ima pominjanu
nacionalnu ideologiju i mitologiju koju održava i podgreva jedna od
najstarijih i najznalačkijih ustanova za ovakav vid posla - srpska
crkva. Tako su srpska država i crkva na istom zadatku opijanja naroda,
da životna realnost ne bi delovala u svom punom
sadržinsko-kvantitativnom smislu.

Na kraju treba postviti pitanje koliko će trajati i kada će prestati da
deluje ovaj efekat darovne povelje? Kada se svi "blagodatni" plodovi
tranzicije-neokolonizacije, tj. uvođenja liberalnog kapitalizma budu
manifestovali još snažnije i potpunije, neminovno većina ljudi će
početi da posmatra i sagledava stvarnost otvorenih očiju. Ove okolnosti
mogu snažno uzdrmati, a verujem možda i potpuno, u izvesnoj
konstelaciji i eliminisati aktuelni državno-crkveni savez. Tada će se i
sva nacionalna, tj. nacionalistička ideologija i mitologija pokazati u
svom pravom, suštinskom smislu kao mehur od sapunice, koji je za sobom,
na žalost ostavio najstrašnije posledice: mržnju, ratove, smrt - požar
i pepeo. Kao što sam na izvestan način maločas naznačila prava realnost
ekonomskih i socijalnih odnosa postaće dominantan predmet interesovanja
ljudi. No, sam osnov, karakter i produkti ovih odnosa neminovno će
inplicirati artikulaciju potrebe da se mnoge vrednosti prevrednuju, da
se REAFIRMIŠU I PONOVO OPREDMETE OSNOVNI POSTULATI SOCIJALISTIČKOG
DRUŠTVA, a što je de facto poziv na AKCIJU PROGRESIVNIM I AVANGARDNIM
SNAGAMA DA OTPOČNU I IZVRŠE TEMELJITU I POTPUNU IZMENU STVARNIH USLOVA
ŽIVOTA.

Sanja Đorđević

[ Sul malcontento dei cittadini della ex DDR ]

Source: Rick Rozoff / ANTINATO @...

Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 04:56:48 -0800 (PST)
From: Rick Rozoff
Subject: Eastern Germany: 'Velvet Revolution' Fifteen Years Later

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1456005,00.html

Deutsche Welle - January 12, 2005

East Germans Disappointed by Reunification

Ralf Lehnert

East Germany in 1989 was in the midst of a peaceful
revolution. Its citizens aged from 35 to 50 were also
in the midst of their adult lives back then. But for
the majority, hopes of a better future have been
dashed.

Mixed feelings and disappointment - that sums up the
general view of East Germans aged 50 and up, according
to a new report by the charitable organization,
Volkssolidarität.

The "Social Report 50plus 2005" found that while most
East Germans say they are satisfied with their lives,
when asked specifically about their expectations for
reunification, 69 percent said things were worse than
expected 15 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Job worries

Jobs are the biggest source of worry, said Prof.
Gunnar Winkler, head of Volkssolidarität.

"Our organization is again having to fight suggestions
to keep people working beyond the age of 65 -
suggestions which only aim to cut pension payments,"
Winkler said.

"And such demands can only have an impact if there
were jobs for every senior citizen who wanted to
continue working."

According to Winkler, Germany's eastern states lack
almost a million jobs for the 50-65 age group alone.
Only 41 percent of people in this group currently have
jobs, almost a third have already retired, while
almost another third are either unemployed or in job
training schemes. Many are earning below average
salaries, and are having to get by on small pensions.
They hardly fit the stereotype of the well-to-do
German pensioner, said Winkler.

"Our organization is also having to combat this notion
that everyone age 50 and up is part of the so-called
'Inheritance Generation' benefiting from large sums of
money," he said.

"That's not the case in the eastern states, and it
only applies to a fraction of the western states. The
historical developments in eastern Germany didn't
allow, and didn't require anyone to save up large
amounts of cash."

Lack of savings

Under the East German socialist system, the state was
meant to provide for its citizens from cradle to
grave, making private financial resources obsolete.
Today, 15 percent of East Germans aged 50 to 65 are
affected by poverty. And the number of those whose
income lies just above the poverty line is much
greater.

Although the poverty risk of this group is much lower
than that for children or single mothers, East Germans
on the verge of retirement don't have much ground for
optimism - 42 percent responded that they were either
"dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied" with their
future prospects.

[Sono 12mila i bambini serbi della Bosnia che hanno trovato rifugio in
Grecia negli ultimi anni...]


http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_ell_862654_13/01/
2005_51706


The story of a child forced to flee his homeland

His country, Yugoslavia, was being fragmented by wars and Lazar, then
9, found solace in the heart of a Greek family


[PHOTO: Lazar flanked by Iordanis and Dimitris Mallis at the boys’ home
in Kalamaria, Thessaloniki, on the first peaceful and safe Christmas of
his life.]

By Iota Myrtsioti - Kathimerini

In December 1995, dozens of children from war-torn Yugoslavia arrived
at Thessaloniki railway station to meet Greek families that were ready
to offer them love, family warmth and security as part of the «children
of war» project organized by the Central Union of Municipalities
(KEDKE).

Among the new arrivals was Lazar Mentarovic, a 9-year-old Serb from
Bosnia who, like the other children, carried a change of clothes in his
luggage and his own drama - the horror of war - which he had
experienced in his village, Mocronoge, near the town of Dirvar.

Waiting for him on the platform was a family from Kalamaria. He didn't
know a word of Greek and spoke no other languages but his mother
tongue; his hosts didn't know a word of Serbian. Yet a strong bond grew
between the terrified child and the family of Evdoxia Malli, a bond
that has endured.

Mentarovic's story is one of many that unfolded during the civil war in
Yugoslavia, when Greek families offered to help children, soothing some
of the pain and distress they had suffered as a result of the carnage.

Malli has written the story of her family's relationship with what she
calls their «adopted child,» she told Kathimerini, and plans to publish
it soon. «They were such intense moments that they came out
effortlessly on paper,» she said.

«The first day was awful. I had on my hands a child who wept
continually. I didn't know how to reassure him. I didn't know what he
was thinking - he didn't speak. I didn't know if he was afraid of us. I
tried to calm him down by speaking to him gently and I hoped he would
understand that from the warmth of my voice. I put him to sleep with my
other children. But in the morning, he wouldn't come out of the room.
When I went into the room, two tearful eyes peeked over the blanket and
looked at me in despair. I hugged him and talked to him non-stop. He
withdrew into himself and kept reading a little book which, as I found
out much later, contained wishes from his relatives who had written
about the trip to Greece. That ordeal of distancing lasted for three
days, until the children found a means of communication by playing with
a deck of cards. That's how he began to learn his first words of Greek.»

From then on, they lived together normally. Lazar's Greek improved in
the classes that were being given for the visiting children, and the
families overcame the difficulties of the unusual relationships by
talking with psychologists in specially set up groups.

At first, whenever Lazar heard an airplane, he would run and hide.
Gradually, however, the problems were overcome and Lazar started to
integrate into the family. He would call family members «grandfather,»
«grandmother,» «uncle» and «aunt» but never «mother.»

Time passed pleasantly into the summer, with excursions to different
parts of Greece. «We became close, we exchanged confidences and formed
tender relationships,» said Malli. «Besides, he's a very good person.
He didn't come here to have a good time and then disappear. His family
reciprocated everything when we we visited them in Novisad.»

«The landscape had lost its color,» Lazar told them when he showed them
the village from which he had fled with relatives, leaving his mother
for five-and-a-half years.

He went by cart to Novisad, where his aunt lived. His father and two
older brothers were still fighting in the war. His mother stayed in the
village with her elderly parents and father-in-law's brother. When they
heard that the Croats were entering the village, she decided to leave.
She put the three old people on the cart and set out with them and her
livestock (150 sheep) for Novisad. On the way, one of the elderly
people died and they returned home to bury him. By night, in torrential
rain, they dug the grave, hurriedly buried the body, then fled once
more. The journey took 70 days. By the time they reached Novisad, all
the animals had died. «We brought back what counts,» she told her
relatives: «Human lives.»

Lazar's older brother was missing for two years until the Red Cross
located him. His other brother was found in a camp and he too returned
to Novisad after the war. When the whole family - grandparents,
brothers, children and grandchildren - were gathered together again at
the aunt's house, they heard about Lazar's stay in Greece from his
school.

«I didn't know where the country was,» he told his «adopted mother»
later. «And I thought they spoke Serb there too.»

Since then, Lazar has visited every Christmas and summer except in
1999, during the bombardment. The family went back to the village after
some basic repairs were made to their ruined house with United Nations
aid.

«In 2002, we went to see them again in the village. They received us
with love; we felt very close. As we were leaving, Lazar's mother
looked me in the eye and said: 'I gave birth to Lazar; you brought him
up. You're his second mother.'»

Lazar is now in the final year of senior high school. He turns 18 in
July. Ahead of him is military service, study, a career. «I feel a
sense of responsibility for that child and I worry. I dream about him,
being a mother to support him, a friend to stand by him.»

---

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_ell_100005_13/01/
2005_51705

‘They offered us whatever they had’

By the time Lazar returned to his homeland, he had learned quite a lot
of Greek. “On those last days,” recalled Malli, “I couldn’t accept that
he wouldn’t be with us anymore. I hid my tears so as not to spoil the
joy of his return. His departure was the most difficult moment: I’ll
always remember seeing his fingers outside the train window, becoming
dots, until I couldn’t see them anymore.”

After the initial separation, things changed. “We talked constantly on
the telephone. We cried. He wanted to come back but he thought of his
parents. Three months later, in October, we couldn’t bear it and we
went to Novisad to see him. There was a great crowd — relatives,
neighbors, friends — the whole village was there and they offered us
everything, whatever they had (milk, cheese, embroidery), in general
thanks for what we had given one of their people.”

---

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_ell_100007_13/01/
2005_51704

Greeks took in 12,000 Serb children

STAVROS TZIMAS

More than 12,000 children from war-ravaged Yugoslavia came to Greece in
1992-1995, when slaughter was raging in Bosnia-Herzegovina. They were
all Serbs, even though Muslim and Croat children were suffering as much
or worse from the horrors of war.

Ordinary Greeks who offered hospitality to those children should not be
criticized for bias. The Greek line then was Greece-Serbia-Orthodoxy,
and it governed humanitarian initiatives. This does not diminish the
help given to those children by Greek families and agencies such as
KEDKE, the Church of Greece and Solidarity Caravan.

The combat has ceased in the former Yugoslavia, but the drama of
orphaned children goes on. Many of them live in institutions, in poor
conditions and without hope of anything better. Others roam the streets
of Belgrade, Serajevo and Zagreb, begging or picking pockets to eke out
a living.

Some luckier ones, like Lazar Mentarovic, survive thanks to the
humanity of families in Greece, which continue to offer them moral and
financial support in their country.

Da: Iniziativa PARTIGIANI! Roma 7/5/2005
Data: Ven 14 Gen 2005 10:57:47 Europe/Rome
Oggetto: Attacco contro la Resistenza


A PROPOSITO DEL FILMATO IL CUORE NEL POZZO IN PROGRAMMAZIONE RAI NEL
FEBBRAIO 2005.

Invitiamo tutti quelli che ricevono questa mail a girarla alla loro
lista ed a scrivere una protesta alla commissione per il controllo
sulla RAI, magari girando il testo stesso, variando però l’oggetto, in
modo che non cancellino subito il file, ma siano obbligati ad aprirlo.

 
In un’intervista al giornale La Stampa del 18 aprile 2002 l’attuale
ministro alle telecomunicazioni Gasparri (di A.N.) alla domanda “Ora
gli sceneggiati "vanno" molto: ha qualche altra idea?” rispose
«Credo sarebbe interessante realizzarne uno sulla tragedia delle foibe».

 E alla successiva: “E perché proprio uno sceneggiato e non un
programma storico?”
«Se facciamo un documentario, magari con la riesumazione delle ossa,
provochiamo soltanto ripulsa. Penso che sarebbe più efficace una
fiction che raccontasse la storia di una di quelle povere famiglie.
Sono grandi tragedie. Come quella dell’Olocausto o di Anna Frank.»

Da queste due domande, e dalle due risposte, si può capire quale fosse,
da subito, l’interesse del ministro e della sua parte, e quanto
disinteressati siano stati gli autori, registi e sceneggiatori che si
sono impegnati a realizzare l’opera così “commissionata”. Nessun
ordine, sia ben chiaro, solo una dichiarazione di interesse. E tutti
pronti, come un sol uomo, a dire signorsì, dando prova di una solida ed
autorevole indipendenza.

Vediamo come questa tragedia simile, per Gasparri, a quelle
dell’Olocausto e di Anna Frank è stata realizzata.

Innanzitutto è stato scelto un regista, Alberto Negrin, che ha già
girato sceneggiati su storie di persecuzioni naziste contro gli ebrei
(lo sceneggiato “Perlasca”); poi uno degli attori principali (che si
dichiara su posizioni di sinistra) è Leo Gullotta, che ha però accolto
la vulgata fascista del 17-20 mila infoibati.

Questa in breve la trama della fiction in programmazione a febbraio: in
Istria una giovane italiana viene violentata da un perfido sloveno,
Novak, che poi diventerà partigiano (bisogna dire che in Istria gli
sloveni sono una minoranza rispetto ai croati, e non abitano la zona
nella quale è stata ambientata la vicenda). Nel 1944 Novak inizia a
perseguitare la donna, alla quale ha infoibato i familiari, compreso il
marito, e per riprendersi il figlio (che sembra sia frutto della
violenza) arriva al punto di organizzare l’incendio dell’orfanotrofio
dove il piccolo è ricoverato, per uccidere lui e altri bambini,
massacrando altri buoni slavi che li difendono, uccidendo il parroco
che lotta per la loro salvezza,dandosi ad ogni sorta di bassezza,
vandalismo e saccheggio. Alla fine di tutto questo, ciò che rimane in
mente è che i partigiani sloveni erano feroci e cattivi, mentre gli
italiani erano solo vittime innocenti.

Ma cosa è accaduto veramente in Istria in quel periodo?

Per evitare di essere accusati di parzialità comunista o partigiana
daremo la parola a Nerina Feresini, un’insegnante di Pisino che ha
assistito nella sua città ai fatti dopo l’8 settembre del ’43, e nel
1947 è venuta, “esule”, in Italia. A Trieste è stata attiva nei circoli
istriani di destra (lo si capirà dalle sue stesse parole).

In risposta alle nostre domande, pubblichiamo quindi alcun stralci
tratti dalla pubblicazione di Nerina Feresini intitolata “Quel
terribile settembre”, edita nel 1993 dalla Famiglia pisinota di Trieste.

PARTIGIANI NEMICI DEGLI ITALIANI SOL PERCHÉ ITALIANI?

« La sera del 12 (settembre 1943, ndr) caddero le prime vittime. Verso
le 21 il lugubre silenzio che incombeva sulla cittadina fu rotto da una
nutrita sparatoria, da scoppi di bombe a mano accompagnati da urla
selvagge e dallo stridio di un treno costretto a fermarsi nei pressi
del Calvario. Per telefono era giunta la notizia dell’arrivo del
convoglio alla stazione di Pisino. Il capostazione Antonio Olmeda aveva
dato via libera. Ma i “drusi” (così i nazionalisti italiani
soprannominano i partigiani jugoslavi, ndr) non erano dello stesso
parere. Dopo una breve sosta il convoglio riprese la corsa a gran
velocità, ma alla stazione fu bloccato e assalito dai ribelli. Il
capostazione, accusato di intesa col nemico, fu accoltellato nel suo
ufficio. Seguirono la stessa sorte due ferrovieri, Giovanni Benassi e
Benedetto Masini e un partigiano. Sul treno c’erano circa 400 marinai
della scuola CREM: fatti prigionieri dai tedeschi dopo l’occupazione di
Pola, sotto la scorta di otto soldati venivano tradotti in Germania.
Furono costretti a scendere. Si sparpagliarono nella cittadina,
trovando conforto e ospitalità presso varie famiglie, finché, due
giorni dopo, ebbero l’ordine di allontanarsi a piedi. I loro
accompagnatori tedeschi si diedero alla fuga, che ebbe breve durata,
perché furono raggiunti e trucidati »

Ciò che noi capiamo è che i partigiani (croati), rischiando la propria
vita, liberarono 400 militari italiani che venivano deportati in
Germania, facendoli accogliere dagli abitanti, per poi favorirne la
fuga verso casa a piedi (le ferrovie erano controllate dai tedeschi).
Gli uccisi erano gli “accompagnatori” tedeschi e i ferrovieri che, col
loro operato, avrebbero invece favorito la deportazione degli italiani.

Di tutto ciò, ovviamente, non si parlerà nella fiction.

CHI DEVASTÒ LA CITTÀ DI PISINO?

« Il 27 (settembre ‘43, ndr) si verificò il primo bombardamento aereo
tedesco e colse di sorpresa la popolazione sfollata che era appena
rientrata dalla campagna (…) i tedeschi sganciarono 21 bombe che
colpirono diversi edifici ».

« Il giorno 2 ottobre Pisino fu colpita da un secondo bombardamento,
questa volta più massiccio. La formazione era composta da otto
apparecchi, che sganciarono 60 bombe un po’ dappertutto »

« Quel giorno andarono distrutti il Teatro e colpito in più parti il
Ginnasio – Liceo G. R. Carli, di cui crollarono le scale e l’ala
rivolta verso piazza Garibaldi, dove esplosero sette bombe ».

« Gli edifici disastrati non si contavano e numerosi crateri erano
stati aperti nelle strade ».

COME I TEDESCHI RIPORTANO L’ORDINE?

« Era la mattina del 4. La colonna (della divisione SS Prinz Eugen,
ndr) ebbe l’ordine di fare piazza pulita. Come si avvicinavano alla
periferia di Pisino, i soldati uccidevano quanti incontravano per la
strada o nelle case. Nessuna abitazione fu rispettata. Tutte ebbero dei
morti »

« Triste fu la sorte dei pisinoti rifugiati a villa Merzari. Era una
trentina di persone (…) furono condotti (dai tedeschi, ndr) dietro al
negozio dove una bomba aveva formato un cratere. E quella fu la loro
tomba »

« Per due giorni la truppa ebbe licenza di razziare. In città
continuarono le sparatorie. (…) La tiepida sera di ottobre fu
illuminata dal falò di 37 case incendiate col lanciafiamme, tra le
quali la scuola elementare di via D’Annunzio, di cui non rimase che lo
scheletro. (…) Così furono saccheggiati tutti gli appartamenti, fu
portata via la biancheria, i corredi delle spose, l’argenteria e il
vasellame. I mobili furono aperti con le baionette, insudiciati i
materassi, i generi alimentari, spaccati i grammofoni e le radio. Non
c’era casa che non portasse il segno della spaventosa razzia »

E dopo questa descrizione, così cruda ed efficace, cosa succede?

« Alcuni pisinoti che erano riusciti a salvarsi (…) decisero di
rimanere e scelsero coraggiosamente l’unica via allora praticabile in
difesa della popolazione, affiancandosi ai tedeschi. Un gesto
volontario di altruismo che alcuni pagarono con la vita, altri
riparando in Patria, con le persecuzioni comuniste. L’ordine fu dunque
ripristinato e i cittadini poterono ritornare nelle loro case, quelle
ancora abitabili »

Infine, ancora una piccola citazione dal testo di Nerina Feresini.

Nel suo scritto, che in parte prosegue sino al ’45, troviamo gli orfani
dell’ospizio Mosconi, probabilmente quelli cui si riferisce la fiction,
perché nell’interno dell’Istria gli orfanotrofi non dovevano certo
essere numerosi. Ma la professoressa non fa cenno ad alcuna
persecuzione operata dai partigiani nei confronti dei bambini, né a
maltrattamenti subiti dai religiosi: narra solo dello spavento
provocato dall’arrivo dei tedeschi.

Speriamo ora che sia chiaro a tutti chi fu il devastatore dell’Istria,
e chi collaborò con esso. Siamo certi che di tutto questo massacro,
narrato da una testimone presente ai fatti, la fiction girata per la
giornata della memoria dell’esodo non farà alcuna menzione, perché è
così che oggi si vuole riscrivere la storia, criminalizzando una parte
politica (ed etnica), attribuendole crimini che non ha commesso, ma
sono stati invece commessi da altri… dei quali si vuole invece
cancellare la colpa.

 
Comitato contro le falsificazioni storiche (Trieste)
per contatti: nuovaalabarda @ yahoo.it



=== * ===

P A R T I G I A N I !

Roma, 7-8 maggio 2005:
Una iniziativa internazionale ed internazionalista
nel 60.esimo anniversario della Liberazione dal nazifascismo

https://www.cnj.it/PARTIGIANI/index.htm

Da: ICDSM Italia
Data: Ven 14 Gen 2005 11:17:45 Europe/Rome
A: icdsm-italia @yahoogroups.com
Cc: aa-info @yahoogroups.com
Oggetto: [icdsm-italia] 26 February: International Conference at The
Hague


Di seguito il primo annuncio ufficiale della conferenza internazionale
che si terra' il prossimo 26 FEBBRAIO ALL'AIA, presso l'Hotel Bel Air,
a pochi passi dal "tribunale ad hoc".

Ad essa e' prevista la partecipazione di Ramsey Clark (ex procuratore
generale degli USA, noto pacifista, presidente dell'ICDSM), Thipaine
Dickson (avvocatessa canadese, consulente della difesa di Milosevic),
Velko Valkanov (professore bulgaro, co-presidente dell'ICDSM), Branko
Rakic (avvocato serbo di Milosevic), Alexandar Mezhyaev (esperto russo
di diritto internazionale) e dell'italiano Aldo Bernardini (docente
all'Univ. di Teramo).

Per l'organizzazione di questa conferenza lo sforzo economico e' ai
limiti delle possibilita' dell'ICDSM. Un biglietto d'ingresso di 10
euro e' stato previsto per garantire la copertura dei costi. Tutti i
nostri sostenitori sono comunque calorosamente invitati a contribuire
con urgenza.


**************************************************************
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE TO DEFEND SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC
ICDSM Sofia-New York-Moscow www.icdsm.org
**************************************************************
13 January 2004 Final circulation tomorrow
**************************************************************

First Announcement

I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e

MILOSEVIC PROCESS
- the legal aspects -

The Hague, 26 February 2005

The Hague Proceedings against Slobodan Milosevic: Emerging Issues in
International Law

The idea of international law - in particular international criminal
law - is undeniably appealing to jurists and non-lawyers alike, as
generations have sought to establish a permanent criminal jurisdiction
to prosecute war crimes in the wake of the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials.
Beyond the prosecution of the crimes that are committed in war,
however, the Nuremberg precedent clearly articulates that the supreme
international crime is the instigation of a war of aggression. Indeed,
the Nuremberg Tribunal held that:

"War is essentially an evil thing. Its consequences are not confined to
the belligerent states alone, but affect the whole world. To initiate a
war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is
the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in
that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

The ICTY, a Security Council institution, does not have the
jurisdiction to prosecute the "supreme international crime". Some argue
that it in fact legitimizes aggression, which can be exemplified by the
serving of an indictment against President Slobodan Milosevic at the
height of the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, contrary to
international law. As the defence phase of the proceedings continue to
delve into the destruction of
Yugoslavia by Western interests, legal questions emerge which will be
discussed in this conference:

-The right to self-representation in international and comparative law;
-Joint criminal enterprise, tailor-made to convict and a tool of
de-nazification
-What is "relevant" testimony in a political prosecution?
-War crimes prosecutions by the Security Council: justifying
aggression, eliminating national sovereignty
-Self-determination and self-defense of Yugoslavia under international
law
-"Equality of arms": what is left after The Hague?
-Armed conflict under international law and in the Milosevic case
-Effect of media coverage and lobbying on the right to a fair trial
-Misuse of genocide charges and trivialization of Nuremberg precedent
and Holocaust
-Denying the right to defend oneself - stepping on the fundamentals of
law
-The right to a fair trial in international and comparative law: has it
been respected in the Milosevic case?
-How can the Hague be judged, and who will judge it?

After the presentation of the invited contributions, the conference
will end with a panel discussion.

The list of invited contributors include:

- Ramsey Clark, former US Attorney General (USA)
- Professor Velko Valkanov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Human Rights
Committee (Bulgaria)
- Professor Aldo Bernardini, international law, Teramo University
(Italy)
- Dr Branko Rakic, international law, Belgrade University, legal
associate to President Milosevic (Serbia)
- Tiphaine Dickson, international criminal lawyer, legal spokesperson
of the ICDSM (Quebec)
- Dr Alexandar Mezhyaev, international law, Kazan (Russia)

The Conference will take place in the Bel Air hotel, close to the ICTY.
Conference admission is 10 EUR.

Organized by the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic
(ICDSM) and
Vereinigung für Internationale Solidarität e.V. (Association for the
International Solidarity)


*************************************************************
*************************************************************

URGENT FUNDRAISING APPEAL

******************************

After the Hague Tribunal declared war against human rights and
International Law by banning President Milosevic's right to
self-defense, our activities for his liberation and for the restoration
of his freedom and for the national sovereignty of the Serbian people
need to be reorganized and intensified.

We need professional, legal work now more than ever. Thus, the creation
of conditions for that work is the imperative at this moment.

*******************************************

The petition of 100 lawyers and law professors from 18 countries, and
other related activities of the ICDSM Legal Committee, produced a
public effect incomparable to any other previous action by the ICDSM.

President Milosevic has the truth and law on his side. In order to use
that advantage to achieve his freedom, we must fight this totally
discredited tribunal and its patrons through professionally conducted
actions which would involve the Bar Associations, the European Court,
the UN organs in charge and the media.

Our practice has shown that ad hoc voluntary work is not enough to deal
properly with these tasks. The funds secured in Serbia are still enough
only to cover the expenses of the stay and work of President
Milosevic's legal associates at The Hague (one at the time). The funds
secured by the German
section of the ICDSM (still the only one with regular contributions)
are enough only to cover minimal additional work at The Hague connected
with contacts and preparations of foreign witnesses. Everything else is
lacking.

***********************************************************

3000-5000 EUR per month is our imminent need.

Our history and our people oblige us to go on with this necessary
action.
But without these funds it will not be possible.

Please organize urgently the fundraising activity
and send the donations to the following ICDSM accounts:

Peter Betscher
Stadt- und Kreissparkasse Darmstadt, Germany
IBAN: DE 21 5085 0150 0102 1441 63
SWIFT-BIC: HELADEF1DAS

or

Vereinigung für Internationale Solidarität (VIS)
4000 Basel, Switzerland
PC 40-493646-5

************************************************************

All of your donations will be used for legal and other necessary
accompanying activities, on instruction or with the consent of
President Milosevic. To obtain additional information on the use of
your donations or to obtain additional advice on the most efficient way
to submit your donations or to make bank transfers, please do not
hesitate to contact us:

Peter Betscher (ICDSM Treasurer) E-mail: peter_betscher @ freenet.de
Phone: +49 172 7566 014

Vladimir Krsljanin (ICDSM Secretary) E-mail: slobodavk @ yubc.net
Phone: +381 63 8862 301

The ICDSM and Sloboda need to address governments, international human
rights and legal organizations, and to launch legal proceedings. The
ICDSM plans a legal conference at The Hague. Sloboda has just sent to
the
patriotic factions in the Serbian Parliament an initiative to adopt a
parliamentary Resolution against the human rights violations by the
Hague Tribunal and to form an international team of experts to make an
extensive report on these violations which would be submitted to the UN.

***************************************************************

For truth and human rights against aggression!
Freedom for Slobodan Milosevic!
Freedom and equality for people!

On behalf of Sloboda and ICDSM,

Vladimir Krsljanin,
Foreign Relations Assistant to President Milosevic

*************************************************************

To join or help this struggle, visit:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/ (Sloboda/Freedom association)
http://www.icdsm.org/ (the international committee to defend Slobodan
Milosevic)
http://www.free-slobo.de/ (German section of ICDSM)
http://www.icdsm-us.org/ (US section of ICDSM)
http://www.icdsmireland.org/ (ICDSM Ireland)
http://www.pasti.org/milodif.htm (ICDSM Italy)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)



==========================

ICDSM - Sezione Italiana
c/o GAMADI, Via L. Da Vinci 27
00043 Ciampino (Roma)
tel/fax +39-06-4828957
email: icdsm-italia @ libero.it

*** CONTRIBUISCI E FAI CONTRIBUIRE:
Conto Corrente Postale numero 86557006
intestato ad Adolfo Amoroso, ROMA
causale: DIFESA MILOSEVIC ***

IL NOSTRO SITO INTERNET:
http://www.pasti.org/linkmilo.htm

IL TESTO IN LINGUA ITALIANA DELLA AUTODIFESA DI MILOSEVIC, IN CORSO
DI REVISIONE E CORREZIONE, E' TEMPORANEAMENTE OSPITATO ALLA PAGINA:
https://www.cnj.it/documentazione/autodifesa04.htm

LE TRASCRIZIONI "UFFICIALI" DEL "PROCESSO" SI TROVANO AI SITI:
http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/transe54.htm (IN ENGLISH)
http://www.un.org/icty/transf54/transf54.htm (EN FRANCAIS)

==========================

Notizia vera e oggettivamente riferita, ma suscettibile di creare
impressioni distorte e accendere gratuitamente una paranoia antitedesca,
classica in coloro che amano (sionisti, esponenti incolti della Resistenza)
confondere i nazisti con il popolo tedesco (che ha scarificato un milione di
vittime alla resistenza antinazista), cosa che ci guarderemmo bene dal fare
con fascisti=italiani, che ci intimano di non fare con Sharon=ebrei pena il
rogo, e che non si dovrebbe neppure sostenere su Bush= statunitensi. Per la
precisione, la questione passaporti in Polonia si riferisce alla fortissima
minoranza tedesca assorbita dalla Polonia in seguito alla sconfitta della
Germania nella seconda Guerra Mondiale (Slesia e altre regioni). Tedeschi di
lingua, cultura, identità che potrebbero voler spostarsi nella Repubblica
Federale (Non ci sono milioni di italiani d'Argentina con passaporti
italiani?). Si tratta, come si ricorderà, del baratto per cui all'URSS
vennero date vaste aree storicamente polacche e la Polonia fu risarcita con
vaste aree storicamente tedesche (Slesia, Prussia Orientale, Prussia fino
all'Oder, senza neppure parlare di Danzica e Koenigsberg (Kant)). Il fatto
che un idiota dica che è mezzogiorno alle 12, non significa necessariamente
che dica cazzate. Così la lista dei "Volksdeutsche" compilata dal regime
nazista è vecchia di un secolo e elenca correttamente le minoranze tedesche
(una trentina di milioni di persone) in URSS, Ungheria, Polonia, Romania,
Moldavia, Italia (!!!), Scandinavia, Francia, ecc. E' un incontrovertibile
dato statistico. Altra cosa è farne una motivazione imperialistica. Comunque
rinfocolare primitive fobie antitedesche, magari sotto l'etichetta
dell'antifascismo, è fuorviante e ingiustificato.
Grazie.
Fulvio.

Nota: vorrei ricordare a tutti gli iscritti che "I documenti distribuiti non
rispecchiano necessariamente le posizioni ufficiali o condivise da tutto il
CNJ, ma vengono fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al solo
scopo di segnalazione e commento".
Grazie.
Pino Catapano

Un interessante articolo del New York Times, ripreso dall'International
Herald Tribune, sul ruolo della Corte Penale Internazionale e del Diritto
Internazionale, alla luce della decisione della CPI di non poter avere
giurisdizione sul caso delle rivendicazioni della federazione
serbo-montenegrina contro i paesi della NATO.

http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/01/12/opinion/edposner.html

The international court in decline
Eric A. Posner The New York Times
Thursday, January 13, 2005


Global justice I

CHICAGO In its final decision of 2004, the International Court of Justice in
The Hague decided that it had no jurisdiction to determine whether Serbia
and Montenegro had a valid legal claim against NATO countries that
participated in the intervention in Kosovo in 1999.

While few outside Belgrade probably paid much attention, the decision was
symbolically very important: It showed just how incapable the court is of
resolving disputes, and what little hope the new International Criminal
Court has of doing much better.

There is no doubt that in strictly legal terms, NATO's intervention violated
international standards. What was unclear was whether the court had
jurisdiction to act against it. In this, the court was in an unenviable
position: If it had held against the NATO states, they would surely have
ignored the judgment. By holding in favor of these states, the court showed
its irrelevance.

The decision was a fitting end to a dismal year for the court, which is the
United Nations' judicial organ. Earlier in the year, Israel rejected an
advisory opinion that held that its security wall in the West Bank is
illegal. The United States reacted lethargically to its third loss in a row
on the question of whether it is in violation of the Vienna Convention on
Consular Relations because police often fail to inform foreign citizens they
have arrested of their consular rights. Along with the Serbia case, these
two decisions were the court's only major actions in 2004.

And the year was not anomalous. Throughout its 60-year history, the court
has averaged only a few cases a year, and has rendered a decision in fewer
than 100 all told. By contrast, the World Trade Organization's settlement
system, in place for less than a decade, has already heard several hundred
cases, and the European Court of Justice, which hears disputes between
European Union members, has heard thousands of cases in its half-century
existence.



Most disturbing for supporters of the court of justice is that it has been
doing worse as it has aged. It hears cases at about the same rate today as
it did 50 years ago, even though the number of countries in the world has
tripled during that time. This means that the annual number of cases per
nation has declined by two-thirds even as global interaction has soared.
Increasingly, major states avoid the court. In the last 30 years, the
countries with the 10 largest economies have brought only two contentious
cases to The Hague.

Many major nations - China, Japan and Russia - have never been party to an
International Court of Justice case. Others, including France, Britain and
the United States, have lost whatever enthusiasm for the court that they
once had. In the court's first 20 years, these three states brought more
than a dozen cases; in the last 20 years, they have brought only one.

A principal reason for the decline of the court is that many countries have
restricted its jurisdiction over them. The main way that the court obtains
power is by having states submit to "compulsory jurisdiction" - that is,
file declarations in which they consent to be sued by any other state that
has filed a similar declaration. The founders of the court of justice hoped
that eventually all nations would submit to compulsory jurisdiction.

But since the court's early years, the fraction of the world's nations
subject to compulsory jurisdiction has declined from two-thirds to
one-third. And many countries that technically remain subject to compulsory
jurisdiction have used various tricks to ensure that it can be used against
them only in the narrowest circumstances.

For example, India excludes matters within its "domestic jurisdiction" and
concerning its territorial boundaries. Further, the biggest powers have
mostly opted out: At one time all permanent members of the Security Council
other than the Soviet Union consented to compulsory jurisdiction, but China,
France and the United States withdrew in the 1970s and 1980s, leaving only
Britain.

The other main avenue for the court of justice to obtain jurisdiction is on
a treaty-by-treaty basis. During its first two decades, nearly 200 treaties
were forged in which the signers conferred jurisdiction of disputes to the
court. Over the last 20 years, only about a dozen new treaties included
International Court of Justice oversight.

Why have countries abandoned the court? The most plausible answer is that
they do not trust the judges to rule impartially, but expect them to vote
the interests of the states of which they are citizens.

Statistics bear out this conjecture.

When their home countries are parties to litigation, judges vote in favor of
them about 90 percent of the time. When their states are not parties, judges
tend to vote for states that are more like their home states. Judges from
wealthy states tend to vote in favor of wealthy states, and judges from poor
states tend to vote in favor of poor states.

In addition, judges from democracies appear to favor democracies; judges
from authoritarian states appear to favor authoritarian states.

This is not to say that the judges pay no attention to the law. But there is
no question that politics matter.

History bears out this argument. From the beginning of the cold war, the
Soviet Union and its satellites refused to subject themselves to the
jurisdiction of a court they felt was dominated by representatives of
hostile countries. However, with decolonization, the composition of the
International Court of Justice changed, and many more judges came from newly
independent states that were unhappy with the Western-dominated
international legal system.

The watershed moment came when the court found the United States had
violated international law by mining Nicaraguan harbors in 1984.

America, which had long been the court's champion, rejected the judgment and
withdrew from compulsory jurisdiction.

Today, many of those with faith in international adjudication have switched
their allegiance from the International Court of Justice and the fledgling
International Criminal Court, which was established by treaty in 1998 and
has yet to begin operating.

But the criminal court has all the defects of its older sibling. Its
independent prosecutor and judges have every incentive to take account of
the political interests of the states of which they are nationals. With its
broad mandate to enforce ambiguous laws in a world that is overflowing with
war criminals, the criminal court's prosecutor and judges have enormous
discretion to pick defendants for maximum political effect.

The countries with the most to lose from politicized enforcement of
international law have refused to submit to the International Criminal
Court's jurisdiction, but they still must fear that their citizens, if
indicted, will be arrested while traveling.

In a sped-up version of the court of justice's history, the United States
has already expended considerable diplomatic effort to persuade parties to
the criminal court not to hand over any Americans who are indicted. Thus
even before it has had its first case, the International Criminal Court is
losing its ability to exercise its jurisdiction.

It needn't have been this way. America could have been a supporter of the
criminal court, if only the court's founders had agreed to make prosecutions
turn on Security Council authorization, which would have given the major
powers vetoes over prosecutions.

Without such assurances of immunity, America will be reluctant to turn over
war criminals to the court because doing so would legitimate an institution
that Washington sees as hostile to its interests.

At one time people hoped that the criminal court would render unnecessary
the cumbersome, ad hoc war-crimes tribunals like the one that has been
trying Slobodan Milosevic. This hope has been shattered.

It is hard to imagine a renegotiation of the International Criminal Court's
treaty in the near future, but if the body fails to accomplish anything of
value over the next several years, perhaps the issue of major power immunity
will be revisited.

Successful international organizations either adapt to great power politics
or they wither on the vine; it is a choice that the supporters of global
justice will soon face.