Domovina uredništvo
It was recently that Milorad Pupovac, a representative of a part of Serb minority in Croatia associated with 1990’s rebel Serbs who wreaked havoc, destruction, ethnic cleansing of Croats, rape, torture in vicious efforts to try and stop Croatia from seceding from communist Yugoslavia reiterated to the public that Belgrade (Serbia) continues to be the Capital City of Serbs in Croatia! As to fatalities resulting from recent earthquakes in Croatia Pupovac stated that among the fatalities were two Serbs and a girl from a mixed marriage even though those ethnic Serbs were Croatian citizens and their families have lived in Croatia for centuries!
This statement by Pupovac reveals all the human misery of Milorad Pupovac and the policy he represents not only as the leader of the so-called Serbian National Council (SNV) and a Member of Parliament, but also as an alleged intellectual with the position of professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. For him, therefore, this catastrophic earthquake did not kill people, but members of the Serbian ethnic community in Croatia, which he and his SNV persistently want to keep separate from the Croatian identity to which they belong as citizens of that country.
The Serbian pursuits to keep blackening Croatia in every possible sense are related to this and include their attempts to use lies to demonstrate that Serbs are “better than Croats”. These lies are largely represented in Serbia’s continued coverup of its active role in the WWII Holocaust when it exterminated some 94% of its Jews by August 1942 and its continued propaganda against Croatia, deliberately and systematically fabricating the number of Jews and Serbs killed in Croatia during WWII. Their last “weapon” is putting on their payroll the Israeli Gideon Greif who appears to hold the championship lead in this fabrication of victim numbers.
So let’s look at the history of antisemitism in Serbia and in this I refer to an article recently published in Croatia’s popular portal “Narod.hr” and written by Petar Horvatic, which I hae translated into English:
“Serbian anti-Semitism was not present only in Serbia, but began to spread among Serbs in neighbouring countries, including Croatia. Milan Obradovic, a Serbian journalist from Bjelovar who published 30 publications in Croatia, tried to publish anti-Semitic publications in Croatia in 1907, but on April 10, 1907, the city of Zagreb resolutely banned the publication of such publications.
Obradovic accused Croats of being tolerant of Jews, of being Jewish helpers, and the Catholic clergy of being bribed by Jewish Freemasonry. Obradovic also accused Jews of Croatian non-cooperation with the Greater Serbia movement and Serb parties in Croatia.
The month of August 1942 was the time when Serbia was declared the first country in Europe – judenfrei (Jew-free).
On January 26, 1807, the Council for the Future Autonomous Serbian Provinces – under the leadership of Karadjordjevic – concluded that all Muslims and Jews should be expelled from Belgrade, in the original text ‘cleansed of all Turks and Civuts’.
Civut is a derogatory term used for Jews.
Stopping the expulsion of all non-Serbs, including Jews and Muslims, from the territory of Serbia was a ‘conditio sine qua non’ of international recognition of the Principality of Serbia in 1878 at the Berlin Congress, which Serbs saw as dictated by the international community, especially by the British statesman and Jews. Benjamin Disraeli.
It is interesting that at that time, Serbian historians, almost regularly imbued with Serbian nationalism and chauvinism, fiercely criticised Croats as a people without anti-Semitism. Thus, Simo Lazic and Milan Obradovic accuse Croats of openly defending and protecting Jews, such as the right-winger Josip Frank, who defends the accused Alfred Dreyfuss in ‘Croatian Law’, who was the target of false accusations of espionage at the end of the 19th century. Let us remember that, unlike Obradovic and Lazic, the great writer Emile Zola also defended Dreyfuss.
In all this, as well as the attitude towards Jews, Serbia regularly looked up to ‘big brother’ Russia, a country that ‘patented’ pogroms (organised massacres of particular ethnic groups), mass persecutions and violence against Jews.
Thus, in 1881, the Russian Minister Konstantin Pobedonostsev proposed to Tsar Alexander III. that ‘a third of the Jews emigrate from Russia, a third convert to Orthodoxy, and a third allowed to die.’ It was a statement and a ‘magic formula’ that later the false and perfidious diplomacy of Serbia attributed to some people from the time of World War II, as if referring to Serbs. In the original, that statement unfortunately referred to the Jews. That statement was later conveyed with pleasure by the Serb Milan Obradović to this region, when he wrote that ‘there will be no Civuts in Russia in 25 year’s time’.
It is very interesting that the Serbian linguist Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic, in the 1853 edition of ‘Serbian Folk Tales’, also inserted many short stories and folk tales soaked in prejudice against and hatred towards Jews. (see Tomislav Vukovic, Review of Serbian Anti-Semitism, p. 9).
The older records from the time of the First Serbian Uprising 1806/07, clearly show the intention to expel all Jews and Turks from Belgrade. Some ease of the position of the Jews in Serbia came ten years later under Prince Milos Obrenovic, where the Jews lived in the part of Belgrade that had the derogatory title “Čifutana” (Civutane) because of the Jews.
When Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic returned to power in the middle of the 19th century, Jews were again forbidden to settle in Serbia, outside Belgrade. On the contrary, because of the decree, the Jews had to move out of Sabac, Smederevo and Pozarevac.
During the second reign of Milos Obrenovic from 1856 to 1860, the level of tolerance towards Jews in Serbia rose again. This was abolished by his son Mihajlo in 1861, which is why Jews complained to international institutions in Serbia.
It was not until 1878 that the Jewish people in Serbia became equal, by the decisions of the Berlin Congress, which Serbia reluctantly recognised. The decisions of the Berlin Congress show that the treatment of Jews in Serbia led to an overrun of their numbers (see Tomislav Vukovic, Review of Serbian Anti-Semitism, p. 13).
Many years after the Berlin Congress in Serbia, these decisions of point 35 of the Berlin Congress in favour of the equality of Jews saw widespread outrage in Serbia, which clearly speaks of the very pronounced anti-Semitism in Serbia.
One of the prominent Serbs of the time who sowed hatred towards Jews was Vasa Pelagic, a Serbian national teacher of socialist orientation. His anti-Semitic work ‘The Religious Teaching of the Talmud or a Mirror of Chivut Honesty’ is well known.
Somewhat later, a booklet ‘Let’s not give Serbia to the Civuts!’ Was printed in Serbia, where Serbs are being made to fear the Jews and calls for fight against and hatred towards Jews.
Anti-Semitism spread from Serbia through Serbian politicians and historians to Serbian politicians in Croatia. Hatred of Jews was instilled by a well-known Serbian politician in Croatia, Pavle Jovanovic, who was a prominent member of the Serbian Democratic Party, which represented Serbs in Croatia. Simo Lazic stood out with his anti-Semitic texts, while he edited ‘Srbobran’ (Serbshield) and ‘Vrač Pogađač’ (Prediction Wizard) in Croatia in Zagreb, as one of the main ideologues of the Serbian Independent Party, which represented Serbs in Croatia.
‘The Serbian press in Croatia in the second half of the 19th century was permanently anti-Jewish. The Serbian Independent Party constantly attacks Ante Starcevic’s Party of Rights for sympathizing with Jews… The Independents accused the Jews of directing Croatian (and right-wing) politics to the detriment of the Serbian people and Serbia’ (see Tomislav Vuković, Review of Serbian Anti-Semitism, p. 25).
It is interesting that the initiator of anti-Semitism in Croatia was the Serb Milan Obradovic from Bjelovar (see Tomislav Vuković, “Review of Serbian Anti-Semitism”, p. 27). He wrote 30 pamphlets and booklets that exuded marked hatred of Jews, demanding brutal state measures against them.
Read the horrors written by Serbian Obradovic about the Jews in Croatia: ‘It is almost impossible to talk about the victory of Croatian anti-Semitism, and you know why, because the majority of the Croatian people are so attached to the Chivuts that they must not shout against them, let alone any Croats raising his voice against the Jews. Just consider Zagreb! Shouldn’t every honest Croat blush because the Civuts have created Jerusalem out of Zagreb, and all of Zagreb stinks of their Palestinian stench.’(see Tomislav Vukovic, Review of Serbian Anti-Semitism, p. 31).
That is what one of the leading journalists and ideologues of Serbian politics in Croatia from the beginning of the 20th century writes.
Milan Obradovic wrote inflamatory anti-Semitic texts and self-published booklets of that kind, but in Croatia he had no collaborators or like-minded people, which is why he often resented the Croats he spoke of as allowing Jews to ‘get under their skin and drink their blood’, saying that in Croatia and Zagreb ‘all capital, shops and the biggest trades are in their hands’. In his booklets you can also find correspondence with theologians of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Srijemski Karlovci, where he found understanding, since at that time anti-Semitism was very developed in Serbia. And not only because of the influence of the Russians, but also because the Jews were considered ‘traditional Serbian enemies’ who were ‘on the side of the Turks and later Austria-Hungary’, and ‘against Serbia and its interests.’
Anti-Semitism was also present among Serbs in Vojvodina (then in Austro-Hungary), and the well-known Serbian politician and writer Svetozar Miletic stood out in the political newspaper “Zastava”. In one place, he even ‘well-meaningly’ advises Croats that ‘a bit of anti-Semitism would not go astray there.’
The prominent anti-Semite Jasa Tomic also acted there in his newspaper ‘Srpsko kolo’. Jasa Tomic was a role model in hatred towards Jewish Serbian fascists led by Dimitrije Ljotic even before World War II.
Even the Serbian Orthodox Church before the First World War was not deprived of anti-Semitism, which was especially reflected in the newspaper of the priestly association.
‘Vesnik srpske crkve’ (Herald of Serbian Church).
During the 19th century, after the liberation of Serbia from the Turks and the formal recognition of civil rights to Jews, anti-Semitism constantly appeared and imprinted itself in the consciousness of the Serbian people in the first half of the 20th century, as evidenced by numerous pamphlets, books, magazines and newspapers. Here are just a few examples: The religious law teaching of the Talmud or a mirror of the Chivut honesty by Vaso Pelagic (1879), On the Jewish question in Serbia by Nikola Jovanovic – an American (1879), How an evil morality influx by Chivut is created in the human society by Simo Stanojevic (1880) , Let’s not give Serbia to Civuts by a group of Serbian patriots (1882), The Jewish Question by Jasa Tomic (1884).
All this time, political and other newspapers with anti-Semitic articles were published: Balkan, Zastava, Srpstvo, and even church newspapers of the Serbian Orthodox Church brought out anti-Semitic articles. E.G. in Hrišćamki vesnik and Glasnik, Službeni list Srpske pravoslavne crkve.
‘Slavery, that is: truths are deadly. That’s why they shout, and whisper lies. To everyone and anyone. The occupier is lying, traitors are lying, freedom fighters are also lying. We lie to deceive ourselves, to comfort another; we lie out of pity, we lie so that we are not afraid, to encourage, to hide our own and others’ misery. We lie out of love and humanity, we lie out of honesty. We lie for freedom. A lie is a form of our patriotism and a confirmation of our innate intelligence. We lie creatively, imaginatively, inventively. For this lie under occupation, even an ordinary idiot has more imagination than many novelists. A lie is a necessity: biological, psychological, national, political. Belgrade in these days is an apocalypse of lies.’ (Dobrica Ćosić, Deobe (Divisions), published 1977, p. 135).
‘It is a pity that in the Serbs, through six hundred years of slavery under the Turks, some known properties of slaves have developed to incredible proportions. In their national ethics, on the ranking of virtues, after courage comes a lie. Captain F., our expert on their history, admits that he does not know any other people who in national and political struggles were able to use the means of deceiving, cheating and lying to their opponents and enemies as successfully as the Serbs did. They are real artists in lying. It is a complex system, a very complicated technique, incomprehensible to our American and British concepts. When the history of the Second World War in Europe is written, the moral basis and psychological technique in the fight against the enemies of the Serbian guerrilla movement, that is, the Chetnik detachment, must be given a special chapter. Large armies must know about this Serbian experience.’ (Dobrica Ćosić, Deobe (Devisions), published 1977, p. 168).”
