http://www.croatia.org/crown en-us http://www.croatia.org/crown N/A letters@croatia.org Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:28:37 -0700 20 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9923/1/Armenian-bishop-Nareg-Alemezian-in-Dubrovnik-Celebrating-the-Day-of-St-Vlaho.html   A special bond between Croatia and Armenia is the cult of the saint Sv. Vlaho (St. Blaise) from Armenian Sebaste, patron of the city of Dubrovnik. Armenian bishop Nareg Alemezian on the left visited the City and participated in the annual festivity, 1038th in order! The author of the first history of Armenian people published in Europe was Croatian - Josip Marinoviæ, in 18th century. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9904/1/Miho-Demovic-Two-millenia-of--St-Pauls-shipwreck-near-the-Croatian-island-of-Mljet.html  Dr Miho Demoviæ is the editor of important collection of articles from a scientific meeting dealing with "Ignjat Ðurðeviæ and the Dubrovnik tradition of St Paul's shipwreck tradition in the waters around Croatian island of Mljet." The monograph written by top Croatian scholars has been published in Zagreb in 2009, 418 pp. It provides credible proofs that St Paul's shipwreck occured in the waters of Mljet, and not Malta. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9896/1/400-years-of-Croatians-in-Austrias-capital-Vienna.html Krowotendörfel, ie Croatian Village, was the name of a small village near Vienna which dissappeared in 1683 during the second Turkish seige of the city. In 1529 Croatian troups defended Vienna under their own national flag, see on the photo, during the first Turkish siege. An important exhibition 400 Years of Croatians in Vienna (400 Jahre Kroaten in Wien) is held  until the end of January 2010 in Amthaus Wieden, Favoritenstrasse 18, Vienna. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9888/1/Croatians-in-the-Banja-Luka-bishopric-in-Bosnia-and-Herzegovina.html Dr. Franjo Komarica, bishop of Banja Luka on the left, warmly accepted a group of visitors from Zagreb. He described the life of Croatians from that part of BiH, now scattered throughout the world, as very difficult. Those rare who returned have problems from existential to unsecured basic human rights, as witnessed by the bishop. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9879/1/Vukovar-was-the-target-of-more-than-1500000-grenades-in-1991.html In 1991 the city of Vukovar in Croatia, on the Danube river, was the target of more than 1,500,000 grenades of all kinds of sizes in just a few months, and more than 13,500 houses were devastated. A favorite target during the Serbian aggression was 50m high water tower, on the left. The city is the birthplace of professor Lavoslav Leopold Ru¾ièka, distinguished expert in chemistry, one among three Croatian Nobel Prize winners. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9864/1/White-Croats-in-Ukraine-and-their-archaeological-site-Stiljsko-near-the-city-of-Lviv.html Dr. Orest Korèinski, Ukrainian archaeologist on the left, investigates the site of Stiljsko on Carpathian mountains near Lviv in Ukraine, an important site of the White Croats from 8th to 10th centuries. We provide an article by Rev. Oleh Hirnyk, dealing with a little known early history of the Croats. The whole site, with surrounding settlements, had around 40,000 inhabitants in 9th century, more than Kiev at that time! darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9850/1/Villa-Ruzic-in-Rijeka-and-Croatian-Tales-of-Long-Ago-by-Ivana-Brlic-Mazuranic.html Villa Ru¾iæ, situated in the city of Rijeka, is a top monument of Croatian culture. Among other things it comprises numerous editions of the famous Croatian Tales of Long Ago published by Ivana Brliæ Ma¾uraniæ in 1916. The book intended for children was translated into some fourty languages, including Chinese. The Villa Ru¾iæ is superbly directed by Mr. Theodor de Canziani Jak¹iæ on the left. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9825/1/Julienne-Eden-Busic-Your-Blood-and-Mine-waiting-for-Zvonko-for-32-years.html Julienne Eden Bu¹iæ's speech at the book promotion, "Your Blood and Mine", held in an overcrowded hall of the Mimara Palace in Zagreb, May 21, 2009, in the presence of her husband Zvonko, both on the photo from 1970s. They met each other again in 2008 after 32 years of separation. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9796/1/Hrvojka-Mihanovic-Salopek-and-her-Stella-Maris-project-of-St-Marys-heritage.html  Dr. Hrvojka Mihanoviæ Salopek is the leader of an important project Stella Maris - Sea Star, devoted to centuries of St. Mary's heritage in Croatia in the broadest sense: from church architecture and sacral paintings to church music, poetry, literature and Croatian Lenten chants. Till now the project resulted in 5 excellent DVD's which describe an important part of 13 centuries of Croatian spirituality and culture in Europe. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Sat, 23 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9793/1/1130-years-since-the-first-international-recognition-of-Croatia.html The first international recognition of Croatia came on May 21, 879 from Pope John VIII, that is, 1130 years ago. During the solemn divine service in St. Peter's church in Rome in 879, Pope John VIII gave his blessing to Croatian prince Branimir and the whole Croatian people, about which he informed the prince in his letters. A detail of Croatian sacral monument from 9th century can be seen on the left, with the name of prince Branimir. katarina.tadic@zg.t-com.hr (Katarina Tadic) Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9790/1/Kronika-povratka-Zvonka-Busica-u-Hrvatsku.html Nakon 32 godine provedene u amerièkim kazamatima Zvonko Bu¹iæ vratio se u domovinu Hrvatsku. Dne 24. srpnja 2008. godine sletio je u zagrebaèku zraènu liku, gdje ga je uz suprugu Julienne doèekao i velik broj rodbine, prijatelja i po¹tovatelja iz javnog i politièkog ¾ivota Hrvatske. Bu¹iæ je kao zatvorenik s najdu¾im sta¾om deportiran iz Terre Hautea, gdje je bio jedini nemuslimanski zatvorenik. julienne-eden.busic@zg.htnet.hr (Julienne Busic) Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9787/1/Ivo-Macela-distinguished-Croatian-medical-scientist-in-Prague-and-Bratislava.html Dr. Ivo Maæela 1891-1952, born in Trpanj on Pelje¹ac peninsula, was professor at the Charles University in Prague and at the Comenium University in Bratislava. In 1945 he founded the Medical Faculty in Plzen in Czech Republic. In 1947 he was nominated unanimously candidate for the Nobel Prize by the Council of Professors at the Medical Faculty of the Charles University in Prague, for his research and important achievements in endocrinology. najka.mirkovic@du.t-com.hr (Najka Mirkoviæ) Sat, 02 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9784/1/Jack-Baric-SEARCHING-FOR-A-STORM-screenings--in-USA-Canada-and-Australia.html   In North America the film SEARCHING FOR A STORM by Jack Bariæ will be shown in San Pedro, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Toronto, Chicago, Cleveland, Montreal, and New York. In Australia it will be screened in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Gold Coast, Perth, Canberra, Brisbane, and Geelong. jackbaric@hotmail.com (Jack Baric) Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9778/1/The-Vukovar-Hospital-1991-important-monograph-about-its-tragedy.html The English edition of the monograph The Vukovar Hospital 1991 has been published in 2008 by the Vukovar Hospital and "Society of the Croatian doctors and volunteers in 1990-1991". Its Organizer council consists of Dr.  Vesna Bosanac, Dr. Juraj Njavro, and Dr. ©tefan Biro. Especially important is an article by professor Andrija Hebrang, entitled: Silence of the International humanitarian organizations about the tragedy of the Vukovar Hospital. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9765/1/Jerry-Blaskovich---Anatomy-of-Deceit.html Jerry Blaskovich is a US physician of Croatian origin. During the 1991-1995 war in Croatia, nobody had to tell Dr Blaskovich where to go, what to do, whom to help, and what to write. Although living in California, Jerry knew what his homeland needed, what tasks suited his abilities, what pressure his family was able to go through, and what his health and strength allowed him to do. joza.vrljicak@gmail.com (Joza Vrljièak) Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9753/1/Brian-Gallagher-interviewed-Croatian-American-filmmaker-Jack-Baric.html Exclusive interview with American Croatian filmmaker Jack Baric, the director of the new film, 'Searching for a Storm', published by Croatian Herald (Australia) 13 March 2009. New documentary about 'Operation Storm' which liberated the occupied parts of Croatia in 1995, and saved the city of Bihaæ in BiH from tragedy. Interviewer: Brian Gallagher, London; Jack Baric on the photo. brigall@yahoo.co.uk (Brian Gallagher) Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9746/1/Louis-Cukela-recipient-of-USA-Navy-and-Army-Medals-of-Honor-during-WWI.html Louis Cukela (Vjekoslav Lujo Èukela, 1888-1956), was awarded both the Navy and Army Medals of Honor for extraordinary heroism in France 1918 during World War I. He was the only living man to hold two such decorations for extreme bravery in a single war. Èukela was born in Split in Croatia, and emigrated to the USA in 1913. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9745/1/Jack-Baric-presents-Searching-for-a-Storm.html Is the UN complicit in the wartime tragedies of the former Yugoslavia ... and is the Croatian general Ante Gotovina indicted for war crimes to justify their failed policies? Robin Harris, London: Gotovina is a scapegoat of  the politics and judiciary. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sun, 15 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9733/1/Pliva-In-Memoriam-ili-Kuda-quotplivaquot-na-Hrvatski-brod.html Povijest Plive zapoèinje otvaranjem vrata dionièarskog dru¹tva i tvornice "Ka¹tel" u Karlovcu 1921.g. Prvi je predsjednik odbora prof. dr. Gustav Janaèek. Ovaj tekst je geneza jedne Hrvatske prièe,  da se  ne bi ponovila. Kuda "pliva" na¹ Hrvatski brod. Mo¾emo li bolje? Odgovor znamo, ali tko ima petlje odraditi to s integritetom,  po¹tenjem i znanjem? Ima nas samo se tek povezujemo. doroteja.kirhmajer@zg.t-com.hr (Doroteja Kirhmajer Vujèiæ, mr. sci.) Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9732/1/Croatian-Woman-celebrating-80-years-of-existence-in-Chicago-2009.html "Croatian Woman" was founded in 1921, in Zagreb, with a simple mission: Help Croatians who are in need and less fortunate. Already in 1929  its first branch would open in Chicago. It was the original idea of Agata Durak and her daughter Vilma Strunjak to start a woman's organization in Chicago's Croatian community. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9730/1/Croatians-in-Romania-celebrate-500-years-of-their-roots.html Croatian community in Romania is not large, but is stable with well-preserved traditions and language. It is estimated that the number of Croats in Romania number around 14,000, but likely the number is higher. They are a part of one of the oldest communities in the Croatian diaspora. They have lived there over 500 years. robert@croatia.org (Robert Malkovich) Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9693/1/Research-concerning-Croatian-Professionals-in-Illinois-and-NW-Indiana.html Dr. Ante Cuvalo (left) is preparing a book on the history of Croatians in the Chicago area and Northwest Indiana. The book will include names of outstanding Croatians from this part of the country. If you want to help with the project, e-mail him a short CV and any other information that might be useful for the project. stecak@sbcglobal.net (Marko Puljiæ) Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9692/1/Dr-Vinko-Ribariae-Hawaiian-captain-John-Dominis-originates-from-the-island-of-Rab.html Captain John Dominis is the father of John Owen, the husband of the last Hawaiian queen Liliuokalani. Prof. Dr. Vinko Ribariæ, on the photo, has issued a monograph in 2008 proving that both John Dominis and his son John Owen have their roots from the island of Rab in Croatia. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9663/1/Dr-Slaven-Letica-If-Streets-Could-Talk-Kad-bi-ulice-imale-dar-govora.html If Croatian streets and squares could talk, what a thrilling story they could tell about the meaning of all the name changes, and the dramatic, bloody, and tragic history that lies beneath. In my book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I decided to "freeze history", at least for a brief moment. I gambled on posthumous recognition for my efforts, fully aware that any such appreciation in Croatia is always fleeting, and never long-lasting. slaven1947@gmail.com (Prof.Dr. Slaven Letica) Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9658/1/Lavoslav-Ruzicka-Croatian-Nobel-Prize-winner-from-Vukovar.html Lavoslav Leopold Ru¾ièka (1887-1976) is one among three Croatian winners of the Nobel Prize. Born in the town of Vukovar, he obtained the Nobel Prize for chemistry while working et ETH, Zurich, Switzerland. In Vukovar the home of his birth has been renovated in 2007 from the 1991 destruction, now known as the Ru¾ièka House. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9657/1/Dr-Slaven-Letica-Vukovar-ili-hrvatska-knjiga-postanka-Gdje-zlo-ne-otima-NADU.html Ovo je osvrt dr. Slavena Letice na pad Vukovara kroz dva èlanka, jedan iz 1991. i drugi iz 2008. Naslovi èlanaka su "Vukovar ili hrvatska knjiga postanka" i "Vukovarski pouèak ili Odva¾nost hrvatske nade". slaven1947@gmail.com (Prof.Dr. Slaven Letica) Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9656/1/Dr-Drago-Stambuk-Speech-at-the-Holy-Mass-for-Vukovar-Victims-Tokyo-2008.html Dr. Drago ©tambuk in his speech in Tokyo at the Holy Mass for Vukovar Victims, November 16th 2008, said that "... Vukovar's treatment by the Serbian forces onslaught from August to November 1991, when up to 15,000 missiles would fall daily on this beautiful baroque town, turned its citizens into martyrs and town into a waste land. The lives of the inhabitants were conducted inside cellars..." darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9653/1/Croatian-Heroes-Kata-oljiae-legendary-Croatian-mother-died.html Kata ©oljiæ, considered as a hero of Homeland War, lost her four sons who defended Croatia in 1990s during the Battle for Vukovar. She was seeking the remains of her children for twelve years, and the last one was found in 2003. During the Second World War she lost her four brothers. Kata ©oljiæ died in 2008 in Zagreb, at the age of  87. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9651/1/St-Paul-visited-Croatian-island-of-Mljet-on-his-journey-to-Rome.html An important conference is organized in Dubrovnik where outstanding specialists will prove that St Paul went to Rome across the island of Mljet in Croatia, and not via Malta. This fact is contained in a book by Ignjat Ðurðeviæ, 18th century Croatian Baroque writer from the city of Dubrovnik. The prinicpal contributor on the conference is Dr. Miho Demoviæ, on the photo. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9649/1/Croatian-Heroes-Heroes-of-Vukovar-TV-serial-by-Eduard--Dominik-Galic-part-10.html Part 10 is the last one from the Vukovar Heroes series by Eduard and Dominik Galiæ, entitled Blago Zadro. It will be available on Friday 07.11.2008 20.10. This episode is about legendary Blago Zadro and his influence on Vukovar's defenders. dominik.galic@missart.hr (Dominik Galiæ, producer) Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9641/1/Croatian-Heroes-Heroes-of-Vukovar-TV-serial-by-Eduard--Dominik-Galic-part-8.html Part 8 of the Vukovar Heroes series by Eduard and Dominik Galiæ, entitled Slavonska and Hercegovaèka Street will be available on Friday 24.10.2008, at 20.10. You'll meet Mirko Brekalo senior, Nenad Gagiæ (on the photo), Ivan Kapular, Ivica Lukiæ, Dragan Luketiæ, Ivica Habajec. dominik.galic@missart.hr (Dominik Galiæ, producer) Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9637/1/The-CRAVAT-instead-of-a-TIE-and-NECKTIE.html On the occasion of the International Day of The Cravat on the 18th of October we invite all the English speaking individuals to call the knotted scarf around their neck by it's original name the cravat instead of tie and necktie. The earliest known cravat in history was worn by Ivan Gunduliæ from the City of Dubrovnik, a famous Croatian poet from the 17th century. Linda@croata.hr (Linda Prosenjak) Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9636/1/Croatian-Heroes-Heroes-of-Vukovar-TV-serial-by-Eduard--Dominik-Galic-part-7.html Part 7 of the Vukovar Heroes series by Eduard and Dominik Galiæ, entitled New Banijska Street will be available on Friday 17.10.2008, at 20.10. Main characters in this episode are Miroslav and Tomislav Josiæ, Vlatko Voloder, Ivica Bano¾iæ, Ivan Kapula and Dragutin ©pac (on the left). dominik.galic@missart.hr (Dominik Galiæ, producer) Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9633/1/Croatian-Heroes-Vinko-Gecan-USA.html Vinko Gecan (1862-1916) is one whose name is woven into the historical fabric of our Croatian and American people. True heroism is not something that is planned. Rather, it is something that takes place under difficult circumstances as presented by life. Heroic moments are those that for some mysterious urge within us surface out of love for others - those in danger or need. cuvalo@gmail.com (Dr. Ante Èuvalo) Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9632/1/Croatian-Heroes-Heroes-of-Vukovar-TV-serial-by-Eduard--Dominik-Galic-part-6.html We invite you to see Part 6 of the Vukovar Heroes series by Eduard and Dominik Galiæ, entitled Technical building. It will be available via Croatian Television on Friday, October 10th, 2008,  at 20.10. Main characters in this episode are Marko Filkoviæ, Ivo Kom¹iæ, Zdravko Mamiæ, and Ivica Mikula (on the left). dominik.galic@missart.hr (Dominik Galiæ, producer) Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9629/1/Croatian-Heroes-Heroes-of-Vukovar-TV-serial-by-Eduard--Dominik-Galic-part-5.html Part 5 of the Vukovar Heroes series by Eduard and Dominik Galiæ is among others about Zdenko Horvat, Croatian defender (on the left), who destroyed 10 tanks and one armored vehicle and almost alone stopped a large enemy breakthrough in Vukovar across Bobota channel in 1991. dominik.galic@missart.hr (Dominik Galiæ, producer) Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9626/1/Croatian-Heroes-Heroes-of-Vukovar-TV-serial-by-Eduard--Dominik-Galic-part-4.html Turbo platoon was sent on most delicate and dangerous tasks in Vukovar's defense. Blago Zadro formed the platoon and was their leader. The main characters are Miro Radmanoviæ, Tomo Jakovljeviæ and Nevenko Mauzer (on the left). Part  4 of the Heros of Vukovar TV serial, Turbo platoon - Friday 26.09.2008 20.10, on Croatian Television. dominik.galic@missart.hr (Dominik Galiæ, producer) Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9622/1/Croatian-Heroes-Dr-Juraj-Njavro-legendary-surgeon-at-the-Vukovar-Hospital-died.html  Dr. Juraj Njavro (1938-2008) was a legendary Croatian surgeon at the Vukovar Hospital in 1991, during one of the most dramatic events in the history of Croatia. He was known as exceptionally pleasant and tolerant person. He wrote a book about his internment after the Serbian occupation of the city of Vukovar. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9618/1/Croatian-Heroes-Heroes-of-Vukovar-TV-serial-by-Eduard--Dominik-Galic-part-3.html  Little groups of people had been organizing the defense, and soon volunteers have joined. Graduates, peasants and shoemakers became warriors. Heroes of Vukovar TV serial by Eduard & Dominik Galic proceeds with its third episode on Croatian Television: 3. Yellow Ants and Desert Rats -  Friday 19.09.2008 20.10. On the left Blago Zadro, a legendary Croatian defender. dominik.galic@missart.hr (Dominik Galiæ, producer) Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9617/1/Cradle-Of-Football-Is-Not-England-But-Dalmatia.html In the 1st ct BC, young Illyrian Delmata tribe warriors, bided their time by passing each other a ball made from leather or bull hair. Sinj-based amateur archaeologist Josip Bepo Britvic dedicated his entire life to proving and providing evidence for this theory. Taking a walk in 1947, in hometown Sinj, he saw a rooted relief on a facade, showing a young man holding...a "football". mocnaj@gmail.com (Ratimir Mocnaj) Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9616/1/Croatian-Heroes-Heroes-of-Vukovar-TV-serial-by-Eduard--Dominik-Galic-part-2.html Please, do not miss to see Episode 2 of the serial Heroes of Vukovar by Eduard and Dominik Galiæ on Croatian TV, Friday 12. 09. 2008. at 20.10.  On the photo on the left is Marko Babiæ, a legendary Croatian defender. dominik.galic@missart.hr (Dominik Galiæ, producer) Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9611/1/Croatians-in-America---photo-collection-by-Vladimir-Novak-part-3.html Mr. Vladimir Novak brings us a new series of exceptionally interesting photos related to life and work of Croatians in America, collected over several decades in the USA. As in previous two presentations,  much of this material is presented for the first time, exclusively for the readers of CROWN. On the left Marin Plestina, a famous wrestler. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9610/1/Croatian-Heroes-Heroes-of-Vukovar-TV-serial-by-Eduard--Dominik-Galic.html What about heroic 1991 resistance in Vukovar, which made Croatian state possible? What about men who destroyed those tanks and created the myth about Vukovar. Where are they? What are their names? What were they doing before the war? Who are they after all? And maybe the most important - how did they defeat the enemy so much stronger? In ten episodes. dominik.galic@missart.hr (Dominik Galiæ, producer) Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9603/1/Croatian-Heroes-Pavo-Urban-defended-Dubrovnik-with-his-camera.html Pavo Urban was a young photographer. He lost his life in 1991 during Serbian and Montenegrin shelling and bombing of the city of Dubrovnik with his photo camera in hands. His last photos are taken literally a few seconds before his tragic death. His photos reveal subtle spirituality of a young soul. Great talent. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9602/1/Croatian-Heroes-Dubrovnik-defenders-in-1991.html Dubrovnik is one of the most beautiful mediaveal cities in the world. Its flag is unique by its inscritpion LIBERTAS, that is, Freedom. We want to remind the reader on the dramatic days in 1991 when the City was mercelesly bombed and shelled during the Serbian agression on Croatia. We also present the Memorial Room of Dubrovnik Defendres. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9589/1/Stjepan-Radiae-1871-1928-The-Russian-branch-of-our-Jelacics.html Stjepan Radiæ is one of the greatest Croatian personalities of the 20th century. We present his article dealing with a branch of the Croatian noble family of Jelaèiæ in Russia and their contribution to the Russian culture. With this article we mark 80 years from his tragic destiny. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9573/1/Croatia---Russia-historical-and-cultural-relations.html We indicated some very interesting facts that connect Croatia and Russia via history, culture and sports. For example, did you know that the earliest monument built in honour of the famous writer L.N. Tolstoy was erected not in Yasnaya Polyana, but in Croatia, on the island of Brac. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9560/1/The-town-of-Lipik-in-past-and-present-described-on-YouTube.html The town of Lipik is described by a series of very interesting and important films, all of them available via YouTube. Especially important are testimonies and endevours of Mark Cook from the early 1990s. ipuscenik@yahoo.com (Ivan Pu¹æenik) Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9518/1/Croatia-Has-a-NATO-Invitation---A-Historical-Day-for-Croatia-April-2nd-2008.html The fact that an invitation was sent is also a result of a process that began with Croatia’s  hard road to independence via the Croatian War of Independence in which 15,000 people gave their lives. Besides NATO, it is expected that Croatia receives an invitation for the EU soon. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9512/1/Croatians-in-America---photo-collection-by-Vladimir-Novak-part-2.html Mr. Vladimir Novak is well known for his rich collection of photos related to life and work of Croatians in America, collected over several decades in the USA. We continue with the second part of a series of articles. Much of this material is presented for the first time, exclusively for the readers of CROWN. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9505/1/Reinhard-Grabher-Austrian-journalist-to-direct-documentary-about-Goli-Otok.html Reinhard Grabher (left), a journalist from Salzburg, Austria will direct a documentary about Goli Otok. The documentary will include interviews with former inmates, including an interview with Josip Zoretiæ, author of Goli Otok "Hell in the Adriatic." Subtitles will be in Croatian, English, and German. mzoretic@gmail.com (Marko Zoretic) Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9475/1/Australias-Prime-Minister-Kevin-Rudd-Apologizes-to-Aboriginals.html Australian Parliament progresses Reconciliation between Australia's Indigenous and non-Indigenous people by tendering a formal apology for the hurt caused by past government policies. Left Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. A historical moment for Australia and the whole world. WE LEARN FROM OTHERS ! Quantum leap in human consciousness. violicalvert@optusnet.com.au (Violi Calvert) Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9457/1/Croatian-Educational-Club-in-St-Louis-Missouri-1910.html Croatian Educational Club Zrinski - Frankopan was founded in St. Louis, Missouri, already in 1910. On the left is the photo from that time with Croatian Coat of Arms. We invite you to enjoy the Croatian langauge spoken 100 years ago. cuvalo@gmail.com (Dr. Ante Èuvalo) Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9431/1/Dr-Ante-Euvalo-Historical-Dictionary-of-Bosnia-and-Herzegovina-2007-2nd-edition.html In this update of a 1997 edition, Cuvalo (Joliet Junior Coll.), who is both an academic expert on the Balkans and a native of the region, treats his complex subject with breadth, depth, and clarity... - Nadine Cohen Baker, University of Georgia, Athens darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9426/1/Dr-Drago-tambuk-Speech-in-Hiroshima-for-the-Vukovar-victims.html The speech of the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Japan Dr. Drago ©tambuk during the Holy Mass for Vukovar's victims now available in Croatian and English. "...Vukovar is a canopy of celestial bodies, frozen in our mind, evoking earthly shortcomings, calling for a higher destiny..." darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9421/1/Croatians-in-America---photo-collection-by-Vladimir-Novak-part-1.html Mr. Vladimir Novak, on the left with Alma Franuloviæ Planèiæ in Croatian national costume, is well known for his rich collection of photos related to life and work of Croatians in America, collected over several decades in the USA. We start with a series of articles, presented for the first time exclusively for the readers of CROWN. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9394/1/Hiroshima-2007-requiem-Mass-for-the-victims-of-the-Vukovar-tragedy.html The requiem Mass was said by Hiroshima Bishop Misue Joseph Atsumi with the Croatian Ambassador to Japan, Drago ©tambuk. "Vukovar je umro da bi Hrvatska ¾ivjela. Preobrazio je suze u zvijezde, prostrijelne rane u snopove svjetlosti, mrtve u anðele. Vukovar je svod nebesnika, zaustavljenih u na¹em sjeæanju, podsjetnik na zemaljske nedostatnosti i zazivatelj vi¹e sudbine." letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9372/1/Marco-Polos-Croatian-roots-based-on-solid-research---London-Financial-Times.html The article mentions that Croatians believe Marco Polo was born in the town of Korcula on the island of the same name in Croatia. His being born there, or certainly his family coming from there, is based on solid research of the Polo Croatian family roots - by Hilda Marija Foley hmfgsf@juno.com (Hilda Marija Foley) Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9354/1/Archaeological-sites-near-Dubrovnik-with-several-important-discoveries.html Croatia is a paradise for archaeological research. Dr. Zdenko ®eravica, a renowned Croatian archaeologist from the City of Dubrovnik, unveils us some of the miraculous sites in ®upa Dubrovaèka and Konavle near the City. The research over the past years has resulted with several important discoveries. zdenko.zeravica@du.t.com.hr (Zdenko ®eravica, Ph.D.) Sun, 25 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9353/1/In-1880-local-Croatian-young-men-began-to-play-football-in-Zupanja.html In 1880 local Croatian young men began to play football in Zupanja. Since there were only nine of the Englishmen who came to Croatia several years before as experts for exploitation of oak forest, they invited local boys to join them. There is the first written record of local young men playing English football and having genuine Englishmen as tutors and team-mates. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Fri, 23 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9292/1/President-Mesiae-decorated-the-US-Admiral-Lunney-with-the-Order-of-Trefoil.html The decoration was presented to Lunney at a ceremony in the Croatian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York on Sept. 26th 2007. Admiral Lunney invested a lot of efforts, time and enthusiasm to find the family of Croat Peter Tomich, who was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941, so as to present them with the Congressional Medal of Honor. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9287/1/145-godina-od-dolaska-prve-eljeznice-u-Zagreb.html Ovogodi¹nju proslavu Dana H®-a povezali smo sa 145. obljetnicom dolaska prvoga vlaka u Zagreb, nakon ¹to je u promet bila predana pruga Zidani Most - Zagreb - Sisak, inaèe prva pruga sagraðena na podruèju onda¹nje Kraljevine Hrvatske i Slavonije. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9284/1/Henry-Suzzallo-president-of-the-University-of-Washington-from-1915-to-1926.html Henry Suzzallo (1875-1933) was president of the University of Washington from 1915 to 1926. The central library of the University of Washington is called Suzzallo Library. His parents Petar and Ana Suzzallo, Croatians originating from Dalmatia, arrived to San Francisco in 1852. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9283/1/Vukovar-is-THE-Croatian-sacred-ground-and-somebody-just-pissed-on-it.html The absurdly light or no prison terms handed out to the three most responsible for the Vukovar massacres and torture are not consistent with the crimes. It was not a lack of evidence but a devaluation of the crimes, or more accurately, the lives of the victims and all of us.  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9282/1/A-Diplomatic-quotHunting-Partyquot---part-2-and-3.html On the plane, Holbrook from the outset began to pressure that we abandon or trade Gorazde. It struck me as rather strange at that time why Holbrooke had placed the emphasis of this conversation on "us" giving up Gorazde, the first hour of a 90 minute conversation. aconvenientgenocide@mac.com (Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey) Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9275/1/Search-for-CROATAN-Lost--Colony-continues-centuries-after-group-disappeared.html Croatian or/and  Croatan lost colony? IvanDobra@aol.com (Ivan Dobra) Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9273/1/U2-in-Sarajevo-10-Years-After-September-23-1997.html Bono, The Edge, Larry and Adam were still in the dressing room underneath the rapidly filling Kosevo stadium stands. Paul McGuiness and I were standing behind the stage. aconvenientgenocide@mac.com (Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey) Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9262/1/Dr-Ante-Euvalo-Historical-Dictionary-of-Bosnia-and-Herzegovina.html At the end of August 2007, Scarecrow Press published the second and enlarged edition of Historical Dictionary of Bosnia and Herzegovina, written by dr. Ante Èuvalo, a recognized authority on the past and present of Bosnia and Herzegovina. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 15 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9260/1/Efforts-to-build-the-Church-of-Croatian-Martyrs-in-Udbina.html In September 9th, 2007 an invitation has been sent by Croatian Bishops from Udbina to continue with efforts to build the Church of Croatian Martyrs. The manifestation has been accompanied with a rich spiritual and cultural program. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Sat, 15 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9245/1/Istarski-gunjci-musicological-book-by-Vladimir-Perniae.html  Vladimir Perniæ wrote a very interesting book about a unique music phenomenon in Istria, Croatia - the tradition of GUNJCI. Istria is a paradise in many respects: music, architecture, nature, history, Glagolitic script, cuisine, olives, etc. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9237/1/Svjedoeanstva-o-zloeinima-jugoslavenskog-reima-1971-Mijo-Juriae.html  Sedam puta uhiæivan, pet puta suðen te godinu dana robija¹, Juriæ je naposljetku bio prisiljen bje¾ati u Austriju, gdje se potom, uhoðen i potvaran od sveprisutne Udbe i sumnjièen od austrijskih vlasti, dugo morao boriti da dobije politièki azil. prodecor@aon.at (Mijo Juriæ) Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9235/1/-New-England-was-first-called-New-Dalmatia-by-Adam-S-Eterovich.html  New England was first called New Dalmatia: La Dalmate Da Nouveau Monde, La Dalmazia del Nuovo Mondo, Dalmatia of the New World. New England is a part of the USA comprising Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hamshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The largest city is Boston. cvjetanovich@du.t-com.hr (Pero Cvjetanovich) Mon, 27 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9217/1/The-biggest-known-post-WWII-execution-site-in-Europe.html In 1995, Serbian troops massacred 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Tezno grave in Slovenia (near Maribor) was found in 1999 during highway construction, with the number of post-WWII victims exceeding even that of Srebrenica. brigall@yahoo.co.uk (Brian Gallagher) Fri, 17 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9188/1/Croatian-Victory-for-Croatian-History-August-5th-1995---2007.html    Ancient people. Old nation. New democracy. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sun, 05 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9186/1/Croatia-To-Celebrate-Victory-Day-Tomorrow.html   Tomorrow, Croatia celebrates Victory Day and homeland thanksgiving, and marks the 12th anniversary of the military-order operation "Oluja" (Storm), in which, after five years of Serbian occupation, the city of Knin was freed, as well as most of the occupied Croatian territory. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 04 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9181/1/Stolen-Croatian-Lipizzaner-horses-starving-in-Serbia.html   In October 1991, the largest Lipizzaner horse-farm in Croatia, situated near the town of Lipik, was bombed with napalm bombs. Out of 117 horses 27 of them were killed, and more than 80 taken away to Serbia, where they are also today. Believe it or not, the Serbs are trying to SELL stolen Croatian Lipizzaners to Croatia! From reliable sources we know that some of them have been already sold in Italy. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Fri, 03 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9161/1/Croatia-demands-10-billion-dollars-from-Serbia-just-for-military-assets-of-YU.html     letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sun, 29 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9156/1/The-perfect-wine-legacy---It-all-started-when-Peter-Vegars-great-grandfather-left-Croatia.html   It all started when Peter Vegar's great grandfather left Croatia with a grape cutting to escape the poverty and to fulfil his dream of living the perfect life in a vineyard. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9139/1/Congressman-Chris-Smith-history-of-sincere-support-for-victims--BiH.html  Congressman Chris Smith (left) has been consistent in his efforts on behalf of justice and a genuine peace and multi ethnic society in Bosnia & Herzegovina. aconvenientgenocide@mac.com (Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey) Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9138/1/The-12-year-anniversary-of-the-genocide-of-Srebrenica-July-11th-1995---2007.html is a change in both tone and commemoration. For the first 5 years, Except for the still grieving mothers and family of the mostly yet unidentified victims, no one dared even observe the anniversary. We were lectured that it was not consistent with Dayton for Bosnians and Herzegovinians to scratch an old wound best left untouched.   aconvenientgenocide@mac.com (Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey) Thu, 12 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9133/1/Women-in-Homeland-War---The-Power-of-Love-to-do-Good.html This is an extremely important collection of authentic testimonies of efforts of Croatian women to save children, wounded, as well as their own human dignity during the Homeland War in Croatia, 1991-1995.  darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9099/1/American-edition-of-Lovers--Madmen-A-True-Story-of-Passion-to-be-Released.html  Sunshine Publishing has released the American edition of Lovers & Madmen: A True Story of Passion, Politics, and Air Piracy, by native Oregonian Julienne Eden Busic. katarina@stanfordalumni.org (Katarina Milicevic) Wed, 04 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9113/1/Zindependence-day.html  Zinfandel, like most of us, is not native to the United States. It's an immigrant, too, with a somewhat murky family history that goes back ultimately to Croatia, or so researchers believe. c.mateo@verizon.net (Martin Cvjetkoviæ) Mon, 02 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9109/1/Book-Review-Goli-Otok.html This rare, first-person account of physical and mental torture in the prison on Goli Otok should be read as widely as possible, because it tells the truth about inhumane conduct in peacetime.   TEPESHK@aol.com (Katarina Tepesh) Mon, 02 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9112/1/St-Marcellinus-Church-A-history.html letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9091/1/New-Zealand-David-Cunliffe---speech-for-Croatian-National-Day.html   Thank you for inviting me to your national day celebrations tonight here in the Croatian heartland of West Auckland....There has, of course, been a strong, successful Croatian presence in New Zealand for well over a century. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9083/1/HNS-Slavi-95-Godina-Postojanja---95th-Birthday-of-Croatian-Soccer-Association.html   Prije 95 godina u Zagrebu je osnovan Hrvatski nogometni savez. HNS je tijekom godina rada izrastao u najbrojniji sportski savez u Hrvatskoj istaknuo je Zorislav Srebriæ na konferenciji za novinare. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Wed, 20 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9078/1/ETHNIC-CROATIANS-KILLED-BY-NAZI-AND-FASCIST-FORCES---Introduction.html The Croatian struggle against Nazism and Fascism is one which generally remains underappreciated in the English-speaking world. While the events in Croatia during World War II have been well-documented by experts in the field, especially within Croatia, this rich literature, dating from both Communist and post-Communist times, remains virtually unknown in the West. JKraljic@msn.com (John Kraljiæ, Esq) Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9059/1/A-major-link-exchange-with-The-Mac-Tutor-History-of-Mathematics-Archive.html The Mac Tutor History of Mathematics Archive is the leading web site dealing with the History of Mathematics. It contains also biographies of three outstanding Croatian mathematicians: Ruðer Bo¹koviæ, Marin Getaldiæ, and William Feller. In May 2007 the Mac Tutor included a link to a Croatian source dealing with Feller.  darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Thu, 07 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9032/1/40th-Anniversary-of-the-Declaration-on-the-Name-of-the-Croatian-Literary-Language.html   The principle of the national sovereignty and full equality include also the right of each of our nations [in ex-Yugoslavia] to preserve all the attributes of its national existence and to develop maximally not only its economical, but also its cultural activities. Under these attributes, the most important role has the national name of the language, which the Croatian people use, because it is the inalienable right of each nation to name its language by its own name... (Quote from the 1967 Declaration) mmatijevic@arhiv.hr (Melita Matijeviæ) Sun, 29 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9021/1/100-Years-of-Tamburitza-Music-in-Carinthia.html Tamburitza music greatly influenced Slovenians to start organizing cultural events in Carinthia. It is said tambura instruments have charm and a strong appeal.  TEPESHK@aol.com (Katarina Tepesh) Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9019/1/Colonel-Mark-Cook-and-the-Lipik-Orphanage.html  Colonel Mark Cook, outstanding British humanist, in a crucial way contributed to rebuilding of the Lipik Orphanage that was totally destroyed by Greater Serbian forces in 1991. This project included many people throughout the world, and resulted in a beutifully renovated building in 1993. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Sun, 15 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9017/1/Brigham-Young-University-is-seeking-contributions-of-digital-Croatian-historical-documents.html   EuroDocs is a portal to European primary historical documents. Please consider this a call and an invitation to join the EuroDocs family to help build primary historical documentation online for the European country or countries of your choice. You can request a password, after which you are invited to contribute as few or as many links to historical documents online as you like. deyrupma@shu.edu (Marta Mestrovic Deyrup, Ph.D.) Sat, 07 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9010/1/Damir-Matausic-sculptor-and-medal-designer.html   The medal designer creates this system gradually as a symbolic sublimation of history. The central circle of values - the national culture - has been analitically articulated by Matausic. I would say: An incredible artist.   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Thu, 29 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8988/1/Mijo-Juriae-Osamnaesto-Proljeaee.html   Na svim stranama osjeæalo se zajedni¹tvo i odluènost u borbi za samostalnost. Sloga i solidarnost postajale su dio nas. Pokrenuta je akcija prikupljanja novca za gradnju autoceste Zagreb - Split, koju smo veæ bili nazvali Autocesta kralja Tomislava. Ljudi su davali od srca, neki i preko granica svojih moguænosti. Govorilo se veæ i o èlanstvu Hrvatske u UN-u, o samostalnom nastupanju hrvatskih ¹porta¹a itd...1971. prodecor@aon.at (Mijo Juriæ) Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8985/1/Marta-Mestrovic-Deyrup-Digital-Scholarship-Access-for-a-Connected-World.html   Keynote Address: Croatian Academy of America Annual Meeting, February 24, 2007. When I was asked to speak to you about the topic of digital scholarship, I thought at once about the activities of the Croatian Academy of America in particular in regards to its publication, the Journal of Croatian Studies. The journal, which began publication in 1960. deyrupma@shu.edu (Marta Mestrovic Deyrup, Ph.D.) Mon, 12 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8982/1/Genocides-most-wanted-Countries-and-people-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-get-away-with-genocide.html     rullid@yahoo.com (Dino Rulli, Ph.D.) Mon, 12 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8975/1/Joseph-Haydn---Austrian-and-Croatian-composer.html Jospeh Haydn (1738-1803) used numerous themes from Croatian musical folklore in his enormous opus. He named one of his songs Volkslied, before it became the anthem ("Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" - God Save the Emperor Franz). So, whenever you hear the German national anthem, remember its Croatian roots. An outstanding English scholar Sir William Hadow published a monograph in London in 1897, dealing with a Croatian composer - Joseph Haydn.  darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Fri, 09 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8929/1/Croatian-Gallery-2006.html We invite you to an excursion to Croatian Gallery 2006. It shows that Croatia is not at all a small country. Did you know that a mechanical and fountain pen have been constructed in Croatia? And the name of pen was given in honour of the inventor - E. Penkala.   darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Thu, 08 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8925/1/George-quotCatfishquot-Metkovich---Outfielder-and-First-Baseman.html Got the nickname "Catfish" from his Boston teammates, after he stepped on a catfish while trying to pull the hook out of its mouth and a barbed fin went through the crepe sole of his shoe, incapacitating him during Spring training.   olujanovine@hotmail.com (Tomislav Kapular) Tue, 06 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8911/1/Croatian-Gallery-2005.html Croatian Gallery 2005 is a web collection of photos and articles representing some of the most interesting features of Croatian history, culture and science. It shows that Croatia is not at all a small country, as many say. Its contributions in many fields of human activities are outstanding.   darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Fri, 26 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8905/1/Amateur-Radio-Club-Koprivnica-Celebrates-60-Years.html    stecak@sbcglobal.net (Marko Puljiæ) Thu, 18 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8897/1/January-15th-Croatia8217s-International-Day-of-Recognition.html   The new Baska Tablet was introduced on the set of a special edition of HRT on January 15, 1992 for the day that Croatia was internationally recognized by 30 countries in Europe and the world. boris@studio-international.com (Boris Ljubièiæ, Akademski Slikar) Sun, 14 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8872/1/Admiral-Lunney-continues-with-Peter-Tomichs-story-in-The-American-Legion.html   2.5 million copies sold. Story about Croatian American hero Peter Tomich. Thank you Admiral Lunney and The American Legion. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sun, 17 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8869/1/William-Feller--outstanding-Croatian---American-mathematician.html  William Feller (Zagreb, 1906 - New York, 1970), graduated in mathematics from the University of Zagreb (1925), earned his PhD in Göttingen (1926), since 1939 living in the USA. One of the founders of Probability Theory as a scientific discipline. Many mathematical notions bear his name. Author of a one of the best math textbooks of the 20th century. Recipient of the National Medal of Science, USA. darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8823/1/Tens-of-thousands-gather-for-15th-anniversary-of-Vukovar-siege-1991---2006.html Vukovar, a city of 44,600, was captured by the Yugoslav army and Serb rebels in November 1991, at the end of a three-month siege. Buildings were razed, more than 1,000 civilians were massacred and 22,000 were expelled. On Friday a museum dedicated to the siege was opened in the basement of a hospital which came under attack almost daily.   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 18 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8812/1/Albert-Einsteins-protest-against-the-murder-of-Milan-Sufflay-in-Zagreb-in-1931.html 75 years since an appeal of Albert Einstein and Heinrich Mann to the League of Nations against the murder of Croatian scholar Dr Milan Sufflay in Croatian captial Zagreb in 1931 at the age of 52   darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8807/1/Tesla-Motors---Electric-Car.html    With the Tesla Roadster, you get great acceleration and the highest energy efficiency at the same time. All while requiring no special driving skills to enjoy it. This makes the Tesla Roadster six times as efficient as the best sports cars while producing one-tenth of the pollution.   c.mateo@verizon.net (Martin Cvjetkoviæ) Sun, 12 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8809/1/8220Croatia-My-Lovequot---the-truth-about-the-Homeland-War-in-Croatia.html "Croatia My Love", the film, depicts the truth about the Homeland War in Croatia. The proceeds from the sale of entry tickets to Jakov Sedlar's film, "Croatia My Love" ("Hrvatska ljubavi moja") will be paid into a 'foundation fund for the truth about the Homeland War in Croatia', located in Zagreb. antem@westnet.com.au (Jean Lunt Marinovic) Fri, 10 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8778/1/Rainbow-over-the-city-of-Zagreb--October-20th--2006--7-AM-Just-before-sunrise.html An attempt to explain the double rainbow can be found in Isaac Newton's book "The Optics", on p 147. No surprise. But the surprise is that on that page Newton cites a Croatian Jesuit, humanist and scientist Marc Antun Dominis (1560-1624). He spent six years in London, being invited by the English King James I. He lived at the Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury and was appointed to be the Windsor Dean and the King's chancellor.   darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8765/1/THE-BANJA-LUKA-DIOCESE-FROM-1881-TO-2006.html THE BANJA LUKA DIOCESE IN WORD AND PICUTRE FROM 1881 TO 2006, on the occasion of 125 years since founding the Diocese, a monumental and important book written by Franjo Maric and Anto Orlovic   darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Sat, 28 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8749/1/-A-Croatian-glagolitic-book-written-in-1395-in-Prague-Czechia-kept-in-France.html The Reims Evangelistary, or The Coronation Book, a Croatian glagolitic book written in 1395 in Prague, Czechia, kept in Reims in France since the 16th century, with which French kings were sworn in during the coronation in the Reims cathedral, among them Louis XIV  darko_zubrinic@yahoo.com (Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic) Sat, 21 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8723/1/On-This-Day-September-21-1947-Fiorello-La-Guardia-Dies.html   Fiorello La Guardia, three-time Mayor of New York City, died today in his sleep. Mr. La Guardia, through his knowledge of Yiddish, German, French, Italian and several Croatian dialects, obtained a job as interpreter at Ellis Island. He attended New York University Law School at night, and eventually was transferred to the legal department of the immigration service...   stecak@sbcglobal.net (Marko Puljiæ) Mon, 25 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8699/1/Old-Photos-of-Croatians.html    Joseph M. Settich (left) was a student of St. Joseph Catholic School in St. Louis. This school was a part of St. Joseph Croatian parish and was closed in the 1980's. Joseph became a prominent attorney in St. Louis until his death in 1971. This photo was taken circa 1931. Photos submitted by Robert Settich. stecak@sbcglobal.net (Marko Puljiæ) Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8536/1/E-Croatia-Officially-Condemns-Communist-Crimes.html Croatia Officially Condemns Communist Crimes Monday , 03 July 2006 Croatia on Friday joined the countries which have officially condemned communist crimes, with parliament adopting a declaration condemning crimes committed during the communist regime in Croatia from 1945 to 1990, and a declaration on the 1995 Operation Storm. The declaration condemning communist crimes says the fall of totalitarian communist regimes was not always followed by investigations of crimes committed by those regimes, that perpetrators were not brought to international justice, and that the consequence is a very low public awareness of those crimes. The Sabor is convinced that people's knowledge and awareness of historical events is one of the conditions to avert similar crimes in the future, reads the declaration. It underlines that the condemnation of crimes committed by totalitarian communism contained in the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly's Resolution binds the Croatian parliament to condemn every crime committed in the name of totalitarian communism against Croatian citizens and Croats at home and abroad. The Sabor maintains it should become the key national institution for the condemnation of crimes committed by Yugoslav and Croatian totalitarian communism, and that science and judicial institutions should systematically investigate the history of those crimes. The Storm declaration says the operation was a victorious and decisive one, and that this military and police action must be understood also as an international allied war operation. The purpose and true objective of Storm was the liberation of occupied Croatian territory, the declaration reads, adding that the action was prepared and carried out by honouring all regulations of international war, humanitarian and civil law as well as all international commitments. Storm was a decisive battle not only for the war in Croatia but also for the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the declaration reads. It says that the Sabor, Croatian experts, science and education institutions and the media have the obligation to transform the operation into a battle which must not and will not be forgotten. Remembering Storm is necessary for ourselves and our neighbours so that wars would not break out in this region again and so that Storm could be remembered as not only victorious and decisive, but also as "the last Croatian battle," the declaration says. Adopting the two declarations, moved by independent MP Slaven Letica, parliament wrapped up this week's sitting and will resume the 21st session on July 4. Croatian News Agency-HINA http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=34300 letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Thu, 13 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8535/1/E-Admiral-Lunney-on-TV-interviewed-about-Peter-Tomich.html Admiral Lunney's TV Interview about Peter Tomich MOH   http://www.croatianworld.net/Letters/Lunney RNN TV.wmv letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Thu, 13 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8533/1/E-Croatia-marks-150th-anniversary-of-Nikola-Teslas-birth.html Croatia marks 150th anniversary of inventor's birth   A newly erected monument of scientist Nikola Tesla stands in his native village of Smiljan. Croatia has marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, one of the pioneers of modern electrical engineering, who won fame in the United States as one of the world's greatest inventors.(AFP/Hrvoje Polan) by Zeljka Bilandzija Mon Jul 10, 12:34 PM ET SMILJAN, Croatia (AFP) - Croatia has marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, one of the pioneers of modern electrical engineering, who won fame in the United States as one of the world's greatest inventors. "I am happy that we are here today to celebrate Tesla, a Croatian Serb, a son of Croatia and a citizen of the world," Croatian President Stipe Mesic said Monday. He spoke at a ceremony held just near the house where the scientist, an ethnic Serb, was born in 1856 in the south-central village of Smiljan while Croatia was a part of the old Austro-Hungarian empire. The event was attended along with several hundred people by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, Mesic's Serbian counterpart Boris Tadic, other officials, foreign diplomats and representatives of Croatian Serbs. The officials emphasized that Tesla symbolized Croatia's and Serbia's shared past before the bloody break-up of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. They said his anniversary could be an occasion for further boosting of trust between the two countries, citing notably the scientist's statement that he was equally proud of his Serb origin and Croatian homeland. Ties between Croatia and Serbia have been gradually improving since Zagreb's 1991-1995 war of independence from the former Yugoslavia. During the war Belgrade politically and militarily backed Serb rebels who fought Zagreb forces. "I am happy that this ceremony is an opportunity to show that Croat-Serb relations are definitely entering a normal phase," Mesic emphasized. In Smiljan, the officials opened a Tesla memorial complex, including his restored childhood house. It has been turned into a museum with exhibits focusing on the early years and first inventions of the gifted child, who defied his father's wish that he follow in his footsteps and become a priest. The complex also includes a multimedia centre connected to the Niagara Falls power plant in the United States, which was designed by the inventor. Later in the day a monument to the scientist which was destroyed at the outbreak of the 1991-1995 war was to be unveiled in the nearby town of Gospic. The Croatian government late last year declared 2006 "The Year of Nikola Tesla." The US ambassador to Croatia and US President George W. Bush's envoy for the occasion, Robert Bradtke, recalled a message sent by Bush to Mesic in May to mark Tesla's anniversary. "Nikola Tesla is a proof that real greatness surpasses national borders and differences," Bradtke said in the Croatian language, quoting comments made by Bush. At the age of 28, Tesla moved to the United States where his genius blossomed as he churned out a vast of array of inventions, the most famous of which was the alternating current (AC) motor, used the world over today. A pioneer in the days when electricity was changing everyday life, Tesla was touted last year as one of the 100 greatest Americans by the Discovery Channel, the US cable television science and nature network. He patented more than 700 inventions over the years, including wireless communication, remote control and fluorescent lighting. Though he made the cover of Time magazine in 1931, Tesla, by then a naturalised American who saw himself as a citizen of the world, died alone in a New York hotel 12 years later at the age of 86. http://news.yahoo.com letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Tue, 11 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8534/1/E-ISLAND-OF-SUSAK.html ISLAND OF SUSAK     http://www.cosy.sbg.ac.at/~zzspri/travels/susak/ (in the Apsyrtides Archipelago) During our holidays in May 1998 we got a chance to make a boat trip to SUSAK Island. We boarded a medium size motor boat at CIKAT bay that took about 45 minutes to arrive at Susak's small harbor. This trip was for me a kind of old time remembrance as I made the same passage some 49 years ago. At those times Susak had still good economic basis which declined precipitously in the following 35 years. The exposed position of Susak at northern Adriatic and its vicinity to Italy caused this decline. Yugoslav Navy closed the island to foreign tourist and one needed police's permission to go over in a fisherman's boat from Mali Losinj harbor. It may be of some interest to see how the Islands' population changed during the period from 1857 to 1991 in some Adriatic islands. As a random sample I choose two most exposed islands from military point of view (Susak and Vis) and four other Adriatic islands down the coast.   Island  & municipality  1857 1910  -WW1 1921  +WW1 1931  Crisis 1948  +WW2 1991  Home War CRES 7.955 8.739 8.343 8.378 6.826 3.238 SUSAK 1.089 1.412 1.564 1.541 1.629 188 ZLARIN 1.643 1.846 1.980 1.480 896 359 HVAR 12.271 16.943 17.130 14.428 12.611 11.459 VIS 6.304 10.107 9.788 8.756 7.485 4.430 MLJET 1.330 1.915 1.934 2.050 2.086 1.237 Note: -WW1 -> World War One (1914-18); +WW1 -> After World War One Crisis - World wide economic crisis; +WW2 -> World War Two; Home War -> in 1991/2 prior to the Independence of Croatia I believe the above data give quite a significant information about the major emigration periods from six Adriatic islands. The islands changed hands between states like: Italy, Austrian-Hungarian Double Monarchy, to Kingdom of Yugoslavia and as from 1945 all to S.F.R. Yugoslavia. Southward aerial viev on Island of Susak. THE ISLAND OF SUSAK (SANSICUO or SANSACUS) The island of Susak is situated in the west of Kvarner's bay in the northern part of the Adriatic Sea with the northern latitude at 44°31' and eastern one at 14°19'. The surface of the island is 375 hectares with the highest elevation point at 98 m above sea level. Susak is a small open sea island that significantly differs from all other islands of Aspyrtides archipelago in geology, its non symmetrical shape and less indented shore. Susak is situated westward of Mali Losinj's harbor and across Channel of Unije. The islands Veli and Mali Srakan and Unije are further northwards where as island of Losinj closer i.e. some 8 miles from Mali Losinj's harbor. Susak is truly small island being 3 km long and 1.5 km wide. Its relief is not flat everywhere as there are depressions and ravines, which appeared as the result of loose sand erosion. Flat areas occupy the largest percentage of the island (253 ha or 67%), coves and depression some 107 ha or 29% while the rest the total island surface (15 ha or 4%) occupies the only settlement. It's a small wonder of nature differing by many characteristics to other Adriatic islands. The thick layers of minute sand of Aeolian origin cover deep down basic calcareous foundation of the island. One still doesn't know exactly how this sandy island developed. The first researches started Abbot Albert Fortis in 1770 and in 1903 D. Gorjanovic suggested that lower sandy layers were sediments created by the inflow of river Po. The upper layers of yellow sandy loamy material are Aeolin alluvion blown and deposited on top here. In thick layers of fine sand are concealed remnants of terrestrial snails but there aren't any remnants of sea life organisms (A. Bognar, 1979). It has also been suggested that submarine springs caused sand accumulation which surfaced with tectonic elevations. Ivan the Deacon mentioned the island's name as SANSAGUS in the Venetian chronicle for the first time in 844. Surprisingly there is a large number of old nautical charts, where the island is mentioned under the name of SUSAK. It was an important navigational western point of the archipelago on the outer sea passage from Istria to central Dalmatia. The oldest nautical chart, which mentions Susak, is "Carta Pisana" from the late 13th century. Its name is also found on 14th and 15th century charts including all the charts of Dutch and Italian cartographers of 16th century. Sgrooten's chart from 1593 contains for the first time a scheme of the settlement. Cornellius' chart from the late 17th century mentions the settlement's name with a tower as "Villa e torre di Sansego". In a more detailed chart by A. Fortis of 1771 shown is a settlement with the church , a harbor and a few coves and capes. Northward aerial view of the Old Susak - the Upper settlement - and the island's harbor. HISTORY OF THE ISLAND SUSAK The history books mention Sansego alias Susak relatively late. Early 11th century Ivan the Deacon wrote about Saracens who destroyed a Venetian fleet made them run away near the island in 844. Afterwards Susak was mentioned several times in various documents, charts and official papers of Venetian dodges like in 1208, 1229, 1280 and 1356. The island's history is painful but glorious since it has been exposed to conquest, plunder and violation of basic human rights, freedom and dignity. First known inhabitants were the Illyrians and some Greek sailors reached also this island. Romans settled down here some time before the birth of Christ. Under their domination Susak and other islands of Kvarner area, Istria and Dalmatia fall under the jurisdiction of the Province of Dalmatia. Together they became a part of the Illyrian Province. The Croats populated these islands in the early Middle Ages. After their immigration they lived together with other inhabitants under the supreme rule of the Byzantine Emperor. These islands became a part of the Croatian Kingdom during 10th and 11th centuries, which was reigned by a Hungarian king later. The Venetian Republic ruled over some islands until 1797 when they become part of the Napoleon's Illyria until 1815. The Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy annexed this region as per the Viennese congress' resolution. Susak stays under Monarchy's domination until the end of WW1 when it falls to Italy (the Treaty of Rapallo). There was a short partisan administration in 1943 until the German army occupied Susak staying there until end of WW2 in 1945. At last Susak became part of S.F.R. Yugoslavia upon Peace Treaty of Paris in 1947. POPULATION OF THE ISLAND SUSAK Susak was a summer resort for wealthier Romans who came from the land or the near-by islands. After the Saracens had defeated Venetians in the north Adriatic some took refuge on islands like Srakane and Susak. There was a Benedictine monastery on Susak since 11th century but inhabitants' number and dwellings are unknown. As from 14th century the monastery has declined and the church, as well as other churches on Unije and Ilovik turned into ruins. I've noticed some people having a different complexion compared to the other islanders during my first visit to Susak in 1949. One told us about several French armies' deserters who found refuge on the island early in 18th century. Soon after problems aggravated with the Yugoslav Navy on Susak which caused the great population exodus. The baroque altar to St.Nicholas from 17th century a cross from 12th century. 'VELI BUOH' in the parish church on Island of Susak. Now, 49 years later, Susak's small harbor provides a perfect mooring for sailing boats. Close to it a new settlement sprang out on old ground and one sees a lot of building activities still going on. In the Lower Susak one sees mostly renovated old houses and several newly built ones for tourists. There are few new commercial venues like restaurants, rent-a-houses and a new wine merchant enterprise. One has to ascend a steep stairway to get to the historical old or Upper Susak. We've visited there the recently refurbished Parish church where I've met Don Antun Turcic who presented me the first copy of his book (used for reference here). Most impressing of impressing items in the church is the cross "Veli Buoh" (Great God). Nobody knows how this cross (estimated from 12th century) came to the island but a legend says that it was washed ashore. Along a ravine grows reed and bamboo in the sandy loom of the island's higher plateau. MERINA - the graveyard on the Island of Susak. Reed and bamboo on sands of Susak island. One of Susak's ravine with reed and bamboo Walking on a slightly ascending path out of the village one comes soon to island's only graveyard "Merina" and its chapel of Mournful Lady. I was astonished finding there so many new tombs belonging to people who had emigrated and returned to their native ground as the dead only. It's interesting that there are rather few surnames engraved on white tombstones. These are family's surnames some of which still exist on the island today like: Busanic (6 families), Hroncic (1), Lister (2), Matesic (12), Mirkovic (1), Morin (9), Picinic (18), Sutora (1), Skrivanic (5) and Tarabokija (11). ECONOMY ON SUSAK A Cooperative wine cellar existed from 1936 to 1969 on the island. The late cellar's capacity was 6000 hectoliters and all necessary equipment for manufacturing wine. Before 1940 about 1400 tones of grapes were gathered a year in the period from 15th August until the end of September. The late cooperative produced about 88% of good black wine, 10% of white wine and 2% of table wines only. One produced following sorts: black wines "Suscan" and "Susac", red wine (rose) "Trojiscina", white wine "Krizol" and wines "Boldun" and "Ranac". The sweet "Prosek" is made from dried grapes and is our favorite but is getting to your knees too fast though. Therefore drink it slowly. However, there are some 15 nicely cultivated vineyards albeit 62% of island's surface are still abandoned vineyards today. NATIONAL COSTUME Susak's national costume was somehow different from the all other ones of Adriatic islands. Most interesting is women's costume consisting of several layers which artistic designs originate from various time periods and cultural environments. They are strictly made for a specific life age or certain occasion. Costume named "po susacku" (in a way of Susak) is for every day's use where as the one "po losinsku" (in a way of Losinj) is for festive occasions. Simple working attire of older female has two main characteristics: a very short black skirt "kamizot" hardly reaching knees, a vest called "bust" which tightens chest and waist so that the upper part of the body looks elongated. Bust is a sleeveless vest made of red or blue cloth and worn over a white cotton shirt tightened around the neck with a "bravaroul" made of white flaxen cambric. Black kamizot is opened at sides under which one sees several white kamizots called "suknica". Long linen underpants "mudande" can't be seen. High red socks or slippers "kalcete" are knitted wooden of thin wool weave which reach above knees. An elderly villager dressed po "susasku" and Ljiljana. Two women in festive folk costume. There are many more traditional parts of women's "po losinsku" costume to mention few: a blouse "zabajka", a little apron of artificial silk "tarvijerlica", under folded kamizot worn are many colored under skirts "sukna rakaman". Feet are in pink socks and in leather shoes "postoli" and the wedding crown is known as "vijel". The men's costume looks like from a recent period resembling the one from island Cres and is less attractive then women's one. It consists of a soft and wide black cap, ordinary shirt with white collar, black linen vest, black traditionally cut trousers held by simple belt of knitted of red or pink ribbon looking like a rope. The festive belt is wider and solid pink ribbon decorated with colorful threads. Men's and women's festive folk costume on the Island of Susak. MYTHIC FOLK STORIES Susak's inhabitants are mostly catholic and traditionally follow their religious customs and obligations but are not freed from old superstitious, which also exists on other islands in this area. Werewolves and witches are not familiar to the people by their names and substances. The noun STRIGA (tick) exists and is used as a derogatory term. The word "Mora" (nightmare) is a notion and "Mrak" (dark, darkness) is usually used instead. Mrak is an evil that waits and attacks men or women during nights strangling a person by lying on him or her. Mora differs from mrak for it only squeezes and suffocates but it doesn't suck out a person. It hits a person at crossroads so that head, arm, leg or any other part becomes swollen. There aren't any special means of defense against the darkness except physical resistance and one special element, which can be used against all kinds of evil "Fire". Old inhabitants believe that darkness exists on places like at "Obis" and at "Puntina" and nobody should go there. Those who went would get sick and die soon. Night darkness can harm clothes that a mother had left over night outside to be dried and such can harm a child. It can be fought by fire so a person who carries a torch or just smokes a cigarette is immune to the dark evil influence. Clothes, which were under the influence of darkness, should be put above a fireplace and a circle made around of burning fire. EMIGREES' DESTINY The immigrants' destinies inspired John Matesic from Susak to found "The Society of St. Mikula of Susak" in Hoboken on 18th April 1948. It got its statutory rules and had some 60 members from begin. The society's aim was to help those who fell sick, to find jobs and look after those who came to America from the homeland, to pay for funeral expenses. The members gathered on Saturdays and Sundays to talk and mingle with others and to entertain. Still on Sundays the entire community comes together in St. Anna's church for the holy Mass. The society organizes a big dance four times a year where it collects the money that will be used to help all those in need and for society's needs. The money was also used for renovating St. Nicholas parish church and Merina graveyard on the native island of Susak. There were about 200 members who celebrated Society's 25th anniversary at St. Anna's church in Hoboken. The Society moved to Fairview in New Jersey as from November 1985. Source: (1) Don Antun Turcic: SUSAK - the Island of sand, reed and vineyards; Publisher: Zupni ured Susak 1998, HR-51561 SUSAK 514; ISBN 953-96752-1-9. (2) Petar Strcic, Prof. DSc. Et Al.: CROATIAN ADRIATIC ISLANDS; Publishers: "LAURANA" & "TRSAT" Zagreb 1996. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER : On URL: http://www.cosy.sbg.ac.at/~zzspri/  published pages are originals and authorized by copyright of Zvonko Z. Springer, Salzburg 1999. Email Zvonko Springer at : zzspri@aon.at  http://www.cosy.sbg.ac.at/~zzspri/travels/susak/ letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Tue, 04 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8532/1/E-Group-Therapy-A-Nation-is-Born-by-Courtney-Angela-Brkic.html Group Therapy: A Nation is Born By Courtney Angela Brkic Not so long ago, when Croatia was part of Yugoslavia, soccer was an expression of ethnicity, of political orientation, of self. Many feel that a 1990 match between Zagreb's Dinamo and Belgrade's Red Star marked the beginning of Croatia's war for independence. At the beginning of the match, fans from both sides clashed in the stands and on the field. The Serb-dominated police beat Croatian fans while allowing Serb fans to run amok, and the events caused the already bubbling frustrations with Yugoslavia to boil over. Even the players were not immune. Upon witnessing a policeman beating a fallen Dinamo fan, midfielder Zvonimir Boban karate-kicked him, becoming a hero of the growing independence movement. The war that followed was long and brutal. More than ten thousand people were killed, and one thousand are still missing today. Not surprisingly, tourists stopped visiting the Croatian coast, and the region became associated with suffering. For a country so rich in potential, so enthusiastic about what it could achieve now that it was on its own, being classified simply as a war zone or a former Yugoslav republic was a blow. Croatia's independence was recognized in 1992, but the 1998 World Cup brought another form of recognition. Elation had already begun to sweep the country when Croatia beat powerhouse Germany in the quarterfinals. "Is it really possible?" people seemed to be asking one another, unable to contain their optimism. In Zagreb, large-screen televisions were set up on the city squares so people could watch the Croatia-Netherlands third-place match in raucous groups. It was a Saturday, and I watched in my apartment with friends, drifting out to the balcony to listen to the excited conversations and shouts coming from the cafés below. The sound of cheers filled the air when Croatia scored. It was like the city was one gigantic living room, everyone's eyes on a single television set. Traffic all but stopped, and the street below was empty. When the game finished with Croatia the winner, people flooded the streets. They filled the main square, and that night, all night, we heard happy, drunken voices singing. Coming nearly three years after the war ended, it was an emotional moment in a young country's history. On television, reporters interviewed grown men who could not stop weeping. The country had not seen such unified celebration since its declaration of independence. Now no one could deny Croatia its place on the map. (Courtney Angela Brkic is the author of Stillness: And Other Stories and The Stone Fields: An Epitaph for the Living.) Adapted from The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup, edited by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey. HarperCollins, 2006. Printed with permission. http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0606/feature1/index.html#croatia letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Tue, 13 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8531/1/E-Croatia-v-Australia-a-history-lesson-of-the-20th-centurys-longer-migration-trails.html Croatia versus Australia, in Group F, will be a history lesson World Cup teams welcome adopted sons The Sunday Times May 21, 2006 Croatia versus Australia, in Group F, will be a history lesson on one of the 20th century’s longer migration trails. World Cup teams welcome adopted sons Germany’s shock World Cup selection, David Odonkor, is one of many sons of immigrants who will play for their parents’ new nations next month. By Ian Hawkey WORLD CUP hosts Germany have played their Theo Walcott card. When coach J&uumlrgen Klinsmann revealed his 23-man squad there was more bafflement than surprise at the selection of David Odonkor, a 22-year-old Billy Whizz who reckons he might even outsprint Walcott — Odonkor runs 100m in under 11 seconds — and has been picked on potential rather than goalscoring pedigree. He has only two goals in a 73-match Bundesliga career for Borussia Dortmund, and he is a striker. Odonkor had two routes to the World Cup. Being there with Germany would, until Monday, have been considered unlikely, but last year he was contacted by the Ghanaian Football Association, which was interested in seeing if he would like to commit to the country of his father’s birth. He thanked them but decided he would stick with his birthplace, Germany. That did not rule out Ghana, because since January 2004 it has been possible under Fifa regulations for players of dual nationality with junior honours with one country to win senior caps for another. The rule only stipulates that they must make the switch before they are 21. Run through the 736 names going to Germany and political migration is reflected widely. Immigrant communities have always produced a disproportionate number of talented footballers. The relaxed Fifa ruling meant that in the days leading up to last Monday’s deadline for squad announcements, there were frantic manoeuvring by various FAs to see if they could make players their own. Tunisia made a late plea to the exciting France youth player, Hatem Ben Arfa; he turned them down. Angola had been pushing for a pair of former Portugal youth players to represent them. Alas, the cases of Pedro Emanuel and Chainho, both over 21, would not meet Fifa’s guidelines. Angola’s best footballer, Rafael Nando, was hoping to be in Odonkor’s position. Rafael was born in Angola, his parents fled the war there when he was eight, and by his teens he was making a career in Germany. He didn’t make Klinsmann’s squad, but Miroslav Klose and Lucas Podolski did. When they get together, they speak their fathers’ tongue, Polish. When the draw was made, Podolski apparently sent Klose a text message saying: “Can you believe it?” Germany will play Poland in the first round. The squads of France, Switzerland, England, Sweden and Holland are full of first- and second-generation immigrants, their countries having opened their borders in the 1970s and 1980s for political, humane or economic reasons. Holland’s Khalid Boulahrouz is one of several young Dutch-Moroccans making reputations for themselves. Sweden’s attack will be led by the son of a Bosnian, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Switzerland’s Balon Behrami has a Kosovan background, and Blerim Dzemaili is the child of Macedonian parents. Croatia versus Australia, in Group F, will be a history lesson on one of the 20th century’s longer migration trails. Croatia goalkeeper Joey Didulica grew up in Australia but chose to follow the European branch of his family tree; Mark Viduka could have done the same, and played his first football in Europe for Croatia Zagreb. But next month Viduka will play against Croatia in Stuttgart as a dinkum Aussie. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2093-2189802,00.html letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sun, 21 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6216/1/E-Bleiburg-Anthology-by-Jean-Lunt-Marinovic.html   BLEIBURG ANTHOLOGYCroatian literature in the Diaspora has influenced my writing over the years and a constant theme has been the issue of British responsibility for the Bleiburg Genocide of Croatian people after WWII. My Open Letters to television Channels 10 and 28, and articles such as ‘Hiding Bleiburg Won’t Lessen the Guilt’ are typical of much of my earlier writings. (see Appendix) In those articles I have suggested that the genocide of Croatian people was the result of collusion between the British and the Yugoslavs as part of a deal to solve a border dispute. In hindsight however it is clear that the genocide of Croatian people was not the intention of the British leadership. In the West, WWII had officially ended, but in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe the war was not over. Indeed, the Churchill-Tito border conflict over Trieste and Carinthia in 1945 was the reason for Churchill’s famous original Iron Curtain statement, and marked the beginning of the Cold War. In what is also known as the ‘Klagenfurt Conspiracy’ thousands of surrendered Croats were disarmed and repatriated from the British sector of post WWII Austria, but the great majority of those Croats who were massacred by the Yugoslavs never reached the point of surrender, so were the British totally to blame for the massacres because of their relationship with Tito? Rather, it appears in hindsight that post-WWII political decisions illustrated British naivety and the necessary evil of having to spontaneously deal with Bolshevik tactics just when they thought they had won the war against totalitarianism. The 50-50 division of Yugoslavia never transpired as intended by Churchill and Stalin at Yalta. A lot had happened since that time. Although the Soviets did not move into the Croatian territory, their Partisans allies did enter wearing the soviet-supplied red stars. In addition, at the end of WWII most of the former Serbian Chetniks had joined the Partisans, thereafter dominating the ranks of the communist Yugoslav forces. The genocide of Croatian people was ordered by a Serbian-dominated Yugoslav Communist Central Committee.Croatian people in the Diaspora believe that Yugoslav Bolsheviks instigated and carried out the massacres, so it is ironic that they have been influenced by anti-western propaganda that it was the West’s fault. But, perhaps that is not so surprising, in the absence of an official enquiry in the West. Decades after the event some western archives have been opened, and in addition, it is now known that the West itself had been infiltrated by soviet spies preceding and during the Cold War. It is indeed unfortunate for the victims of Bleiburg, even after those discoveries, that no official British enquiry has been forthcoming.As argued above, the responsibility for the genocide of Croatian people does not fit so easily into just one category, and so one needs to look further for answers. There were other historical factors which led up to the tragedy. Perpetual Italian irredentism was an inextricable part of the border issues which the Allies found themselves caught-up in during May 1945. In this context between 1941 and 1945, the Croatian leadership had made flawed political decisions. Unfortunately the Croatian leadership had given in to WWII Italian demands and this decision had an direct effect on the outcome of the war. For example, the Rome pact signed between Italy and Pavelic in 1941, was a significant cause of disunity amongst Croatian people, and as a result many Croats formed their own partisan resistance against Italian occupation. In addition, the Croatian leadership had not had the vision to change allegiance in 1943 at the time of the initial Italian capitulation. It is possible that the 50-50 Yalta agreement between Stalin and Churchill could have been facilitated if the Zagreb leadership had adopted a different foreign policy. The Croatian decision to change allegiance at the end of the war was too late to be of any interest to the Allies who had been forced instead to win the war with the help of the partisans. The political decision to retreat from all Croatian front lines, and to take the same route as the retreating Germans in May 1945, had been made at a parliamentary level in Zagreb on April 30, and carried out after a personal appeal by Archbishop Stepinac. Military advice had not been taken into consideration. This depressing episode of Croatian political history is dealt with in detail in the book, ‘Operation Slaughterhouse’. Another factor may have had a detrimental effect on Allied-Croatian negotiations at Bleiburg. In the poem “The Bleiburg Connection” (see Appendix) the verse “Croatian refugees, lost without a leader” refers to the mysterious disappearance of the Croatian leader Pavelic and his government Ministers in May 1945 Austria. Thus abandoned, the remainder of the Croatian army and civilians were left to deal with the ill-advised political command to abandon the front lines in Croatia, and to evacuate Zagreb en masse. It was revealed later that many WWII Axis leaders had been smuggled out of Europe to South America with the help of the Vatican, and this included Pavelic and many Croatian government Ministers. The top secret Allied-Tito collusion over border issues was not the only clandestine activity going on. Vatican concordats existed with Mussolini, Hitler, and Yugoslavia, but not with Croatia.A concordat between the Vatican and Yugoslavia had been the dream of Croatian pan-slavists since the 19th century. The rise to power of Tito in communist Yugoslavia was facilitated by the Allies in 1945, but Yugoslavism had its roots in the politicization of a pseudo Yugoslav culture in 19th century Zagreb. Without the political support of the feudal estates the 19th century grass-roots Croatian national movement of Starcevic had no hope of survival. In addition, an entire culture, that of the Croatian Orthodox, albeit disappeared from the world. The disappearance of Croatian/Greek Orthodox Churches was the result of an expanding Serbian Orthodox church in the latter half of the 19th century in places it had never existed before inside Croatia and Dalmatia. An artificial south-slavic culture was imposed on Croatian people by the clerical elite who ignored Croatian national aspirations. In 1850 an artificial Serbo-Croatian language had been standardized (Vienna Convention). In 1861 in the sabor Serbs within Croatia were given a constituent status. In 1867 a south-slav or Yugoslav Academy of Arts and Sciences was built in Zagreb, and a Yugoslav ‘National’ Party was created to foster Croatian and Serbian unity, in Zagreb, by Bishop Strossmayer in 1871. So strong was the impetus of pro-Russian slavic ecumenism in Croatia that the London Times wrote in 1870 that Strossmayer wanted to fuse the Catholic minority in South-East Europe with the Greek Orthodox Slavs for the sake of obtaining political unity of the South-Slav nations. The political coalition between Serbs and Croats in the Croatian sabor culminated in the creation of a Yugoslav Committee and the Corfu Declaration of July 1917. In October 1918 the state of Serbs Croats and Slovenes was declared in the Zagreb sabor, which included Serbs and Croats within Croatia, and Slovenia; this union was later joined by Serbia in November 1918 to become the Kingdom of Serbs Croats & Slovenes with its capital in Belgrade. It is clear that 19th century south-slavism, or Yugoslavism in Croatia directly led to the creation of despotic Royalist Yugoslavia and Tito’s rise to power. In the book entitled, “Hrvatski Narodni Preporod U Dalmaciji i Don Mihovil Pavlinovic”, by Benedikta Zelic-Bucan, Matica Hrvatska, Split 1992, it is clear that south slavism in particular was connected to the Croatian religious elite’s ecumenical agenda. Other books confirm this unfortunate development in Croatia, such as “Bishop J.G.Strossmayer: New Light on Vatican I”, by Ivo Sivric, Ziral, Chicago 1975. Nearly fifty years after the Bleiburg Genocide, Croatian people won their freedom. The Yugoslav totalitarian state imploded, yes, but inside Croatia ubiquitous symbols of the artificial south-slavic culture are in every city. There is constant political opposition to public expression of the Croatian national consciousness, except perhaps in sport. Monuments to Croatia’s national leaders, heroes and kings can be only found in sparsely populated villages off the beaten track, with a few exceptions. Croatian people must accept the fact that Yugoslavia was not a British invention and that south-slavism was first politicized in Croatia, and was in fact criticized in the contemporary British press. In conclusion the British may have been instrumental in Tito’s rise to power during WWII, for the purpose of defeating the Axis, but the genocide of Croatian people was never intended by the British, and the belief that the British created Yugoslavia is ridiculous.Jean Lunt MarinovicMay 2006Appendix: A Condensed anthology of Bleiburg articles by Jean Lunt Marinovic2004 Tito’s Terrorism, article.2002 Has Mesic Lost Touch With His Own People, article.2001 Lessons From Bleiburg, Open Letter2000 Is the West on Trial at the Hague, article. 1999 Preserve Maribor Genocide Evidence, article. 1987 Hiding Bleiburg Won’t Lessen the Guilt, article. 1986 To Live in Harmony: Open Letter to Channel 28 Vox Populi.1986 Exodus from Yugoslavia to Australia, brochure.1986 Not a Single Bird, After Taking Flight Stops in Mid Air, speech. 1986 UN Year of Peace, Open Letter to Australian Coordinator. 1985 Open Letter to Channel Ten in Sydney. 1985 The Ambush at Bleiburg: 40th Anniversary, poem1984 The Bleiburg Connection, poem1983 A Vision of Freedom, poem. Jean Lunt MarinovicMay 2006Copyright www.croatianviewpoint.com   Formatted for CROWN by Ivo Bach  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Thu, 18 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6214/1/E-Russia-Will-Pay-Off-USSR-Debts-to-Croatia.html  Russia Will Pay Off USSR Debts to CroatiaRussian Finance Ministry managed to decide upon USSR’s unsettled debt in clearing currency to ex-Yugoslavia--$806 million. According to Kommersant’s information, Russia and Croatia are to sign an agreement on Russia’s paying $185.7 million of the debt by commodity supply. Other part of the debt, $105 million, will be covered through Tekhnopromexport’s building a power unit for heat power plant. The rest will be paid in helicopters. Yet, the question of Russia’s debt to Serbia and Montenegro will probably be put off till 2007 due to the upcoming Montenegro’s separation from Serbia. The larger part of USSR’s debt to Yugoslavia, 1.291 billion clearing dollars (at the exchange rate of 0.625 rubles for 1 US dollar), appeared as a result of price reduction on oil imported into USSR in exchange for goods and industrial equipment. Russia's Vneshekonombank (Foreign Trade Bank) estimated the debt in June 2001. The debt was distributed between all ex-Yugoslavia republics: 38 percent to Serbia and Montenegro, 23 percent to Croatia, 16 percent to Slovenia, 7.5 percent to Macedonia, 15.5 percent to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Paying the debts off had been delayed till recently due to the prolonged talks with Bosnia.However, the process moved on in early May. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov gave approval to agreement with Croatia on covering the debt by supplying goods and services for $185.7 million. The agreement is to be settled by late May. Tekhnopromexport informed Kommersant that the larger part of the debt, $105 million, will be paid off by constructing a new 230-megawatt power unit for the heat power plant in the city of Sisak. The corresponding agreement with Croatia is to be signed soon.Tekhnopromexport has already signed contract for a large-scale project in ex-Yugoslavia on May 10. It will build two 900-megawatt power units in Novi-Sad in Serbia in cooperation with Swiss company Mentor Energy. Russia will supply helicopters to Croatia to pay off the last part of the debt. Russian Ministry of Finance was about to make agreements to cover $306 debt to Serbia and Montenegro. Yet, the process was suspended due to the referendum on Montenegro’s separation. Around a year and a half might be needed to continue the talks, should Montenegro separate from Serbia. The debt to ex-Yugoslavia is one of the last unsettled “clearingâ€? debts of former USSR. http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=673846   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Thu, 18 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6213/1/E-Founded-in-1857-CROATIAN-AMERICAN-CULTURAL-CENTER.html  CROATIAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTERHome of the Slavonic Mutual and Benevolent SocietySan Francisco (Founded 1857)A Non-Profit OrganizationPRESIDENT OF CROATIA IN SAN FRANCISCOA Reception honoring the President of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic, was held Saturday April 8, 2006 from 5PM to 8PM at theCroatian American Cultural Center in San Francisco. Over 200 members of our Society and members of the local CroatianFraternal Union attended.The Event commenced with an introduction of the President of Croatia and a short history of the oldest Croatian Society inAmerica (1857) in the Croatian language by Society Vice President Adam S. Eterovich; introductory remarks by SocietyPresident Sam Mosunic included mention of the Croatian Ambassador to America, Neven Jurica, and Croatian ConsulGeneral Ante Barbir also in attendance. President Mesic gave an excellent talk on the present status of Croatia. He waspresented with a San Francisco Cable Car and a history of Croatians in California, 1849-1999 as a gift.Tamburitza Band Novi-Stari and Dalmacijo Singers played two old Croatian melodies for the President. At the conclusion ofthe Reception Sam Mosunic and Adam Eterovich toasted the president with a good glass of California Zinfandel wine.Zinfandel originated in Dalmatia, Croatia.On November 17, 1857 in San Francisco a group of Dalmatians from Croatia organized the oldest Croatian Society in America then called the Slavonic Illyric Society. The present flag of Croatia incorporates Illyria along with Dalmatia, Slavonia,Dubrovnik and Istria. The Society, purchased a Croatian Catholic Cemetery in 1861; founded a Library in 1869; was theprime organizor of the Croatian and Slovene Catholic Church of Nativity in San Francisco in 1900. The Society built the firstcultural center in America at Sutter Creek, Amador County in 1873. Our Gold Rush pioneers had a branch of the Society inthe Amador, a branch in Sacramento in 1859, and a branch in Watsonville, California. Our membership includes sixgenerations of Californians. Our Logo or Coat of Arms incorporates the American Flag, the red, white and blue Croatian Flag,a fox and star as found in the Arms of Slavonia in Croatia. The flag of Croatia was first flown in America by our pioneers inCalifornia in 1857. Sam Mosunic     Adam S. EterovichPresident           Vice President letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Thu, 18 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6211/1/H-Ergelu-u-Djakovu-posjetila-Engleska-Kraljica.html  DRZAVNA ERGELA LIPICANACA  DJAKOVOKraljica Elizabeta II, princ Filip i princeza Margareta uDjakovuDoci u Djakovo, a, uz katedralu i druge znamenitosti biskupskoga grada, ne vidjeti Drzavnu ergelu lipicanskih konja, pravi je grijeh. Duga tradicija lipicanskog uzgoja toliko je ukorijenjena u ovaj prostor da je on sastavni, punopravni dio njegove svake turisticke, gospodarske i sportske razglednice.Vrijednost Ergele, njene vrhunske uzgojne, selekcijske i sportske rezultate u konjogojstvu 1997.godine prepoznala je i drzava koja je toj ustanovi tada postala 100 % vlasnik. Vlada RH postala je vlasnik Ergele u trenutku kada ta ustanova u ukupnom lipicanskom uzgoju RH participira sa cak 30 - tak posto Do pojave lipicanaca na nasim prostorima prevladavali su konji drugih pasmina poput arapa i noniusa. Djakovacka ergela prvi put se spominje 1506. god.  i to u vezi sa Djakovackim biskupom Mijom Kesaricem koji je imao ergelu od 90 arapskih konja, no neki podaci govore da je ergela postojala i prije njenog pisanog spominjanja. Ergelu su osnovali bosansko srijemski biskupi na posjedima dobivenim darovnicom ugarsko - hrvatskog kralja Kolomana 1239.god.Uzgojno-selekcijski rad lipicanske pasmine konja u Djakovu, a time i u Hrvatskoj, datira od 1806.g. kada su rasplodna grla ove pasmine zbog ratnih opasnosti preseljena iz Ergele Lipica u ergelu Djakovacke biskupije. Djakovacki lipicanac odraz je uvjeta i prilika koji su utjecali na njegov uzgoj. On predstavlja snazniji tip i veci okvir u odnosu na uzgoj u ergelama Lipica i Piber. Kao pasmina lipicanci su pogodni za razna sportska i turnirska natjecanja, gdje su postigli zapazene rezultate na mnogim medjunarodnim priredbama. Rad na uzgoju i formiranju Djakovackog lipicanca je pod stalnim nadzorom konjogojskih strucnjaka, koji su u uzgoju dali zapazene rezultate. Uzgojno-selekcijski rad temelji se na strogoj i sustavnoj selekciji izborom elitnih grla za daljnji uzgoj sto potvrdjuju mnoga medjunarodna priznanja.Ergela  Djakovo funkcionira danas na dvije lokacije: 1.  IVANDVOR :                             - 1912. god je biskup Ivan Krapac izgradio staje za konje i stanove za ergelaske radnike. Ti su objekti izvorni oblik i vizure sacuvali do danas, a stopljeni s krajolikom i uronjeni u uhu ugodnu tisinu, uzajamnu privrzenost ovdasnjeg covjeka  i lipicanskog konja, ambijent su nad kojim mnogima zastaje dah. Isti objekti su ove godine obnovljeni: promijenjeno kroviste, obojena glavna stala, prilazni putovi nasuti kamenom, napravljeno parkiraliste.                           - tu je smjesteno maticno stado kobila i pomladak koji se ondje odgaja i othranjuje do svoje trece godine nakon cega muska zdrebad odlazi na obuku u Pastuharnu u -Djakovo.                           - lokacija Ivandvor  okruzena je sa 310 hektara livada i oranica koje radnici Ergele obradjuju vlastitom mehanizacijom i na taj nacin osiguravaju gotovo svu potrebnu hranu za konje u tijeku jedne godine (sijeno, slama zob).2. PASTUHARNA.                       - nalazi se u samom centru Djakova, koju tijekom god. posjeti samo oko 10000                           turistaiz Hrvatske i inozemstva. U uredima pastuharne nalaze se mnogi                  strucni zapisi, originalni rodovnici najvrednijih primjeraka, stotine                                    pozlacenih i srebrnih pehara koje su osvajali Djakovacki konji na brojnim                          prvenstvima , te na pocasnom mjestu crnobijelu fotografiju britanske kraljevske                                      obitelji snimljene u pastuharni koju su kraljica Elizabeta II, princ Filip i                         princeza Margareta svojerucno potpisali prilikom posjeta ergeli 1972. god. PLAN RAZVOJA DRZAVNE ERGELE LIPICANACA - DJAKOVO A) IZGRADNJA ZATVORENE DVORANE ZA KONJICKE SPORTOVE:             - lokacija DJAKOVO - PASTUHARNA.,            - period izgradnje 2005-ta godina - 2008 -e godine.,            - cijena projekta -financira vlada RH u iznosu od=2.300.000,00 EUR-a.,            - gradjevinska dozvola ishodjena.,            - projekt i troskovnicinapravljeni .,            - karakteristike dvorane:                        - velicina                                             44,65 m x 75 m                        - prostor zajahanje-parkur                  27,50 m x 64,50 m                        - tribina                                               800-1000posjetitelja                        - boksovi za konje                               18kom                        - ugostiteljskiprostor                           200 m2                                              - uredski prostor                                  250 m2                               - suvenirnica                                        20 m2                        - parkiraliste za                                    50automobila   B) UREDJENJE LOKACIJE IVANDVOR ( smjestene rasplodne kobile i omad ) Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  - izmjena krovista na glavnojstali Ivandvor u tijeku.,            - obnavljanje fasade na glavnojstali Ivandvor u tijeku.,            - uredjenje prostora oko glavne stale s parkiralistem cca 2.000 m2 -pripremljen                 za asfaltiranje            - projekt financira MinistarstvoPoljoprivrede sumarstva i Vodnog Gospodarstva                         i Ministarstvo turizma Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Objekt nakonobnove                              Objekt prije obnove Â Â Â                           C) ADAPTACIJA STARIH UREDSKIH PROSTORIJA - U MUZEJ            - vlastita sredstva            - donacijeD) KOVACNICA- PRETVORITI U MUZEJ            - vlastita sredstva            - donacije Z A K L J U C A K ERGELA DANAS:-        jedina Drzavna ergela-        financira se sa oko 65 % iz Drzavnog proracuna-        jedina je u najstarijih u Europi ( 2006 godineslavi 500 godina postojanja i200 godina uzgojakonja lipicanske pasmine)            -    bavi se uzgojem i selekcijomkonja             -    posjeduje kvalitetno strucno osoblje             -    vodi maticne knjige lipicanskih konja za cijelu Hrvatsku            -    povezuje i pomaze konjogojskeudruge            -    u sklopu Ergele funkcionira konjicki klub            -    godisnje Ergelu posjeti oko10.000 turista             -   organizira jahanje za djecu sposebnim potrebama ERGELA SUTRA: -        izgradnja zatvorene jahaonice - lokacija Djakovo-        uredjenje lokacije Ivandvor i otvaranje prema turistima-        jahaona ce omoguciti konstantan rad s konjima-        izdavanje monografije za 500 godina Ergele -        izrada brosura i ostalog propagandnog materijala-        stari ured pretvoriti u muzej-        kovacnicu pretvoriti u muzej-        sudjelovati na konjickim medjunarodnim natjecanjima-        prolazak koridora 5c kraj lokacije Ivandvor-1.000 m - Budimpesta--        Osijek -Djakovo- Sarajevo - Ploce ( Jadransko more )-        izgradnja i asfaltiranje nove prilazne ceste zalokaciju Ivandvor-        realizacijom gore navedenog realno se ocekuje povecanje turistickih posjeta zanekoliko puta            -    smanjenje financiranja od strane Drzave na 50% Kontakt:Ravnatelj Drzavne ergele lipicanaca:       Pavo Sabolski , dipl.ecc.ergela.djakovo@os.t-com.hr   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Wed, 17 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6215/1/H-BLEIBURG---HOLOKAUST-HRVATSKOG-NARODA.html  Govor odrzan u Hrvatskom Domu  u Buenos Airesu, dana 15.05.06, sjećanje na  Tragediju Bleiburg.- Govorio Gosp. Mirko Hasenay.-BLEIBURG-HOLOKAUST  HRVATSKOG  NARODALanjske godine na ovom istom mjestu, u  hrvatskom Domu - Buenos Aires, sjetili smo se hrvatskih zrtava, prigodom  sjećanja na 'Bleibursku Tragediju', dogoÄ'aj  u austrijskom gradiću 'Bleiburg' gdje se je izvrsilo biolosko istrebljenje Hrvata po nalogu  Tita i uz pomoć i blagoslov Velike Britanije.Masovni pokolji  Hrvata, koje su poÄ?inili jugoslavenski -komunisti -partizani, a podpomognuti  britanskim udjelom u zloÄ?inu, saÄ?injavaju  uÄ?inak ratnih zloÄ?ina u skladu sa svim poznatim definicijama.. Uzevsi u obzir da su oni pokolji, bez ispitivanja i predhodnog suÄ'enja, a u većini bez identifikacije zrtava zahvatili osim razoruzanih vojnika, takodjer i masu gradjanskog puÄ?anstva, onda se zaista radi o oÄ?evidnim zloÄ?inima protiv Ä?ovjeÄ?anstva. Pokolji i muÄ?enja s namjerom unistenja, posvemasnjeg ili djelomiÄ?nog jedne nacionalne ili etniÄ?ke, vjerske, rasne ili vjerske grupe' pokolj Ä?lanova grupe, ili 'teska povreda fiziÄ?kog ili mentalnog integriteta Ä?lanova grupe' saÄ?injavaju zloÄ?in meÄ'unarodnog prava u smislu konvencije Ujedinjenih Naroda, koja je kasnije izisla o zloÄ?inu genocidija, a na koju je Velika Britanija i komunistiÄ?ka Jugoslavija dala svoj podpis.Pokolj razoruzanih Ä?asnika,doÄ?asnika i vojnika saÄ?injava oÄ?evidnu povredu Zenevske konvencije od 27 srpnja 1929 godine, o postupku sa ranjenim vojnicima i ratnim zarobljenicima. Jugoslavenska komunistiÄ?ka vlada, koja se pozivlje na zakoniti kontinuitet monarhijske Jugoslavije, imala je i formalnu duznost postivati odredbe spomenute konvencije, kojoj se je prikljuÄ?ila Jugoslavija 20 svibnja 1931.- Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska, kao priznata drzava od većine zemalja ondasnje Evrope i svijeta, takoÄ'er je pristupila toj konvenciji 29 sijeÄ?nja 1943.godine, a o tome je Federalni Svicarski Savjet informirao 13 ozujka iste godine sve drzave koje su konvenciju prihvatile, naglasujući da prikljuÄ?enje Hrvatske ima neposredni uÄ?inak.Većina zarobljenih vojnika i gotovo u cijelosti Ä?asnici i doÄ?asnici, bila je pobijena bez ispitivanja i bez sudjenja, i to nakon tezkih ponizenja, muÄ?enja i pljaÄ?ke. Oni koji nisu bili masakrirani u tom Ä?asu, morali su pjesaÄ?iti preko Slovenije i Hrvatske, izlozeni svim mogućim mjerama muÄ?enja, oduzimanja svega i strasnog ponizavanja, vezani zicom i u Ä?etvoredu takozvanih 'marseva smrti'. Većina ih je izginula u tim teskim zamornim marsevima, muÄ?eni i iscrpljeni, bili su streljani na mjestu.U svom preziru temeljnih naÄ?ela Ä?ovjeÄ?nosti, jugo-komunisti su sranjivali i preoravali razna groblja. Bacali  su poklane zarobljenike i izbjeglice u bunare, rijeke, u jarke i protutankovske jame. Ima stotina tisuća nepoznatih grobova. Ova okrutnost s mrtvim protivnikom saÄ?injava najtezu povredu meÄ'unarodnih propisa, posebno onih u Zenevskoj konvenciji o ranjenicima, gdje se veli: ' Zaraćene strane paziti će da mrtvi, prije svog pokapanja ili paljenja, i ako je to moguće, treba to obaviti lijeÄ?nik, u svrhu ustanovljenja smrti i potvrditi identitet osobe i o tome obavjestiti. Osim toga, pobrinut će se, da ih se dostojno pokopa, da se njihove grobove postuje i da ih se lako moze naći.'Godine 1945 u momentu dogoÄ'aja na Bleiburg-u, je postojala jugoslavenska vlada i vojska, pod komunistiÄ?kom kontrolom, s priznanjem saveznika, kao jedna savezniÄ?ka vojska sa svojim organima i odgovarajućoj hierarhijom. Trupe koje su bile zaduzene za hrvatsku razoruzanu vojsku i za povratak izbjeglica, bile su redovite jedinice jugoslavenske vojske, kao i one koje su pratile 'marseve smrti', a koje su pljaÄ?kale, ubijale i masakrilale.Sam jugoslavenski diktator, Josip Broz - Tito, kao vrhovni zapovjednik, ' izdao je kao posebnu pohvalu jedinicama III Armije, koje su u svibnju zarobile na jugoslavensko-austrijskoj granici oko 100.000.- neprijateljskih vojnika i oficira.'Jugoslavenski komunistiÄ?ki voÄ'e nisu ni pokusali prebaciti odgovornost za povrede ratnih propisa i pravnih naÄ?ela na neodgovorne i podreÄ'ene elemente. U Jugoslaviji su Ä?inili sve da ih sakriju, ili u sluÄ?aju kad je to bilo nemoguće, pokusavali su im dati moralno i politiÄ?ko opravdanje, sto pokazuje pravi mentalitet te 'nove klase' otkrivajući njezinu pokvarenost.Isto tako, Britanci su masovno i pojedinaÄ?no, i prije i nakon Bleiburga, izruÄ?ivali hrvatske zarobljenike iz Koruske komunistiÄ?koj Jugoslaviji, sto je bilo protivno ustanovama Zenevske konvencije i meÄ'unarodnim ratnim zakonima i obiÄ?ajima, jer su oni slobodnom predajom postali britanski zarobljenici. Tako su se Britanci poistovjetili sa komunistiÄ?kim koljaÄ?ima, oni su svjesno hvatali i predavali Hrvate komunistima ,znajući da će ih oni ubitiJosip JurÄ?ević u svojoj knjizi : 'Bleiburg' slijedi izvorne dokumente i rekonstruira represivnost cjelokupnog jugoslavenskog sastava, djelovanje KomunistiÄ?ke  Partije, vojske, posebice tajne politiÄ?ke policije OZNe i KNOJ-a koji je bio njena produzena ruka; prati njihovo djelovanje i sirenje razobliÄ?ujući specifiÄ?ni boljseviÄ?ki oblik bezakonja kamufliranog zakonima kojih se, prema tajnim i usmenim naredbama partijskog i drzavnog vrha, nitko ne pridrzava. To su bile dvije svemoćne partijske organizacije, preko kojih je koncem i nakon zavrsetka rata komunistiÄ?ki partijski vrh na Ä?elu s Titom vrsio snaznu represiju i brojne zloÄ?ine, od razliÄ?itih oblika, duhovne ,javne i politiÄ?ke iskljuÄ?ivosti, do najtezih oblika fiziÄ?ke represije, koja je podrazumjevala i provoÄ'enje sustavnih likvidacija bez evidencije i bez sudskog postupka te masovno zatvaranje rezimu nepozeljnih osoba u radne i koncentracijske logore. Budući je ustav nove vlasti i drustvenog uredjenja predstavljao opći diskontinuitet s pravnom, moralnom i svjetonazorskom bastinom koja se stoljećima razvijala na ovim prostorima.Represija je bila osnovno sredstvo provoÄ'enja i oÄ?uvanja drzavnog i drustvenog  modela sto ga je stvarao jugoslavenski partijski vrh.Autor na temelju izvornih dokumenata pokazuje i dokazuje da zloÄ?ini jugokomunistiÄ?kih vlasti u Hrvatskoj potkraj Drugog svjetskog rata i odmah nakon njegovog svrsetka, nisu bili ni pojedinaÄ?ni ni samovoljni ekscesi nego sustavni, dalekosezno planirani i pripremani, te operativno zapovjeÄ'eni i bezdusno provedeni.  A na Ä?elu svakog dijela i cjeline ovog procesa nalazio se  najuzi vrh vlasti druge jugoslavenske drzave'Komentirajući knjigu 'Bleiburg' Stjepan Kozul pise u Maruliću( Br.2/2006.) 'Na brojnim predstavljanima ove knjige bila su mnostva ljudi, ali to nije od nasih medija popraćeno drugÄ?ije osim kakovom marginalnom noticom da se to dogodilo. Ni rijeÄ?i o sadrzaju knjige! Nikakva pokusaja 'profesionalnog i istrazivaÄ?kog' novinarstva o tim do juÄ?er zabranjenim temama 'I to dovoljno pokazuje tko je 'gospodar ' medijske javnosti u Hrvatskoj i tko tu javnost oblikuje po svojim politiÄ?kim opcijama!'Predsjednik Amerike George Bush osudio je u Rigi dogovor u Jalti, s kojim se je izruÄ?ila srednja i istoÄ?na Europa Sovjetskom Savezu gdje se je uveo komunistiÄ?ki totalitarni rezim. A isto tako nedavno je na 5 zasjedanju Europskog parlamenta 25 sijeÄ?nja 2006. usvojen tekst o potrebi osude zloÄ?ina totalitaristiÄ?kih komunistiÄ?kih rezima koji su vladali u srednjoj i istoÄ?noj Europi u proslome stoljeću, a koji su jos na vlasti u nekoliko zemalja svijeta, bili su, bez iznimke, oznaÄ?eni masivnim povredama ljudskih prava. Zanimljivo, da su neki predsjednici pohitili u Moskvu na proslavu 60. obljetnice pobjede saveznika, sto s pravom nisu uÄ?inili predsjednici drugih do juÄ?er komunistiÄ?kih drzava od baltiÄ?kih zemalja preko SlovaÄ?ke do MaÄ'arske, jer nisu tom pobjedom (1945) ni dobile, bas kao ni mi u Hrvatskoj, slobodu i demokraciju kao zemlje Zapada.' Zato bi bilo vrijedno,komentira Kozul, da ovu knjigu ( Bleiburg ) prouÄ?i mlaÄ'i, neopterećen narastaj u Hrvatskoj, pred kojim je budućnost i koji zeli znati istinu a ne komunistiÄ?ke falzifikate! Nije trenutak da se zlo i dalje prikriva i presućuje, iz politiÄ?kih i politikanskih razloga. Dolazi Ä?as novog narastaja i mlaÄ'ih politiÄ?ara, sto pokazuje i susjedna Slovenija, dolazi Ä?as da se i zlo komunizma u Hrvatskoj razobliÄ?i, osudi, znastveno obradi, istina predstavi javnosti i okrene nova stranica povijesti! ' Od uspostave Hrvatske Republike (1990. ), svake godine hrvatska Vlada hodoÄ?asti na mjesto Bleiburgske tragedije, dajući poÄ?ast zrtvama ubijenih od  jugokomunista. Tko su bile zrtve na Bleiburgu , marsevima smrti i tisuću jama otkrivenih u Sloveniji, Bosni i Hercegovini i Hrvatskoj? To su ljudi koji su osnovali i borili se za Nezavisnu Drzavu Hrvatsku. Uglavnom  Ä?asnici i vojnici,   civilni graÄ'ani, zene i djeca, Hrvati graÄ'ani NDH koji su se povlaÄ?ili pred komunistiÄ?kim nasiljem i ubijanjem, s namjerom da se predaju saveznicima, raÄ?unajući na Zenevsku konvenciju. Od proglasenja Republike Hrvatske sve hrvatske vlade se sjećaju neduznih zrtava i kriminalnog postupka poÄ?injenog po komunistiÄ?koj Jugoslaviji i već tim Ä?inom se klanjaju neduznim hrvatskim zrtvama. Kad je predsjednik Tudman posjetio Argentinu, i bio u razgovoru sa argentiskim predsjednikom Carlos Menemom,je izjavio: 'Doseljeni Hrvati iza drugog svjetskog rata, nisu  fasisti ni nacisti, već borci za slobodnu drzavu Hrvatsku.'Komunizam je stvorio novog Ä?ovjeka. U romanu «Homo sovieticus» sovjetski desident, Aleksandar Zinoviev, govori o tom novom Ä?ovjeku, koji je varalica, prevarant , kriminalac, ali i osoba sa nadprosjeÄ?nom negativnom inteligencijom, koja nema apsolutno nikakvih skrupula niti moralnih naÄ?ela; on je spreman, pod datim politiÄ?kim (podobnim) uvjetima, vjerovati u sva moralna naÄ?ela i sve moguće politiÄ?ke izmisljotine. Jedan dan 'homo sovieticus' se zaklinje u ' znastvene metode soc-realizma', a drugi dan on postaje vatreni  antikomunist. Jedan dan 'homo sovieticus', moze sudjelovati u komunistiÄ?kim zloÄ?inima, a drugi dan on moze oplakivati i komemorirati svoje zrtve.Zinovjev s pravom tvrdi da masakri u sovjetskom savezu nisu samo djelo Staljina, već tisuća i miljuna malih staljinka.SliÄ?nu paralelu mozemo povući sa Brozom-Titom. Niti brozovstina, niti avnojestina ne bi dugo trajali bez suradnje tisuće i tisuće malih ourovski i sizovskih titića diljem bivse okupirane, korumpirane i komunizirane Hrvatske. KomunistiÄ?ke glavesine su s pravom morale dozvoliti sitnu pljaÄ?ku i lopovluk svojim radnicima i famoznim sekretaricama, jer su jedino na taj naÄ?in mogli samo-opravdati svoju vlastitu gigantsku pljaÄ?ku i pronevjeru. U danasnjoj Hrvatskoj, nakon ponovnog izronjavanja nemani zvane 'jugonostalgija', oÄ?ito da zvijerka 'homo balcanicus', odnosno 'homo sovieticus' ima jos budućnost. U tom smislu nije dovoljno promatrati fenomen  jugo-komunizma samo sa politoloske perspektive, nego takoÄ'er i sa antropoloske, psiholoske i bioloske perspektive. Problem lezi i dalje u Ä?injenici da je komunizam (jugonostalgija), kao vrsta psihopatologije jos ziv. Jedna je stvar zaklinjati se u demokraciju i pravnu drzavu, a sasvim je druga stvar boriti se protiv negativne drustvene selekcije koju je jugokomunistiÄ?ki teror Ä?inio punih pedeset godina. Nije iskljuÄ?eno da će u slobodnoj Hrvatskoj trebati izumrijeti pet generacija prije nego sto nestane 'homo balcanicus jugoslovensis' ( Tomislav Sunić :Fragmenti Metapolitike)''Pokolj u Bleiburgu, kako  kaze prof. Kazimir Katalinić ( na radiju u emisiji Glas Hrvatske  14. 05. 2005). je izvrsen nakon svrsetka rata, na razoruzanim ljudima, koji nisu predstavljali nikakav odpor i nikakvu opasnost. Ta smrt je vojniÄ?ki bila nepotrebna i nema nikakvo opravdanje ni vojniÄ?ko ni  pravno a jos manje moralno. Radi se o oÄ?itom ratnom zloÄ?inu i to o jednom od najbrutalnijih ratnih zloÄ?ina dvadesetog stoljeća.Koje opravdanje moze imati ovaj genocid? Čemu je bilo potrebno ubiti toliko i toliko ljudi a osobito zena, staraca i djece?Postoji jedan jedini razlog a kojeg je iznio Milovan Djilas ' Hrvati su morali umrijeti da se uÄ?vrsti Jugoslavija ' Imao je pravo Akademik Dubravko JelÄ?ić kad je prije nekoliko godina, govoreći o Bleiburgu izjavio slijedeće: 'Bleiburg nije bio obraÄ?un izmedju komunista i ustasa, to nije rezultat borbe izmeÄ'u nekih antifasista i toboznjih fasista, nego je to borba i obraÄ?un izmeÄ'u imperializma srbsko-jugoslavenskog protiv Hrvata 'A isto tako je bio u pravu doktor Nedeljko Mihanović kad je prije deset godina  izjavio: ' Trebamo drzati na umu: da smo sluÄ?ajno izgubili domovinski rat, dogodila bi nam se jos veća trragedija nego sto je bio Bleiburg 1945.god.' citira prof. KatalinićNije mrtav onaj koji je poginuo, nego je mrtav samo onaj, kojega ljudi zaborave. I danas dajemo poÄ?ast onima, koji su bili zrtve, a ne onima koji su ih ubijali. Hrvatska vlast mora uvesti u skole sjećanje na Bleiburg taj hrvatski «holokaust», jer je on duboko usao u svijest hrvatskog naroda, treba istinu otvoriti, a ne raditi na kultu zaborava.Sudac dr. Milan Vuković inicijator za izgradnju  ' Memorijalnog centra stradanja hrvatskog naroda' govori: 'Od istrazivanja zla ne smije se odustati, jer je lijek istine ono pravo sredstvo koje će nam dati snagu i odpornost pred napadom novih napasti i zala. Vjerujem  da je potrebno izgraditi Memorijalni centar kako bi se ispunili uvjeti za povjesnu istinu o nasim stradanjima za slobodu i samostalnost na znastvenim i dokumentarnim temeljima. Vrijeme je, da pregledno i sustavno na jednom mjestu, svima dostupnom, odstranimo antihrvatsku promiÄ'bu o iskrivljenosti hrvatskog nacionalnog korpusa.''Povjesna istina nameće izgradnju znastvene i vizualne cjeline, koju Hrvatska jos uvjek duguje sama sebi. Duguje je svome narodu, a posebice mladomu narastaju, kojega mediji bombardiraju lazima i namjenskom tisinom o Ä?injenicama koje nisu za zaborav. Te su Ä?injenice razlogom naseg danasnjeg polozaja.Hvala lijepa!15.05.06  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Tue, 16 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6212/1/E-Why-are-we-Croatians-so-afraid-of-the-Bleiburg-truth-.html  Why are we Croatians so afraid of the Bleiburg truth ?As the 61. anniversary of the Bleiburg massacres is here. It is hard not to wonder why so many Croats seem to be going out of their way to ignore and even cover up the Bleiburg tragedy. By minimizing the actual number of victims of the biggest massacre in the Croatian, if not even the whole Balkan history. Is it perhaps the sense of shameful fact that we had done this to our selves. That the Communist Croats under the also Croat leader Josip Broz Tito have been behind the majority of the systematic murders of all the non-Communists in 1945. So it is in the interests of many to ease the gilt of such a gigantic scale of systematic slaughter of over half a million Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Slovenians, Cossacks, FolksDeutchers and all other ethnicities which attempted to surrender to the British after WW II at the Austrian border on May 14,1945. Just to ask the western powers for protection from the Communist, which were killing anybody who was not one of them, or sharing their ideologies. After all, the British did very much promote the so called western Capitalism and Democracy by that time. Therefore by all means a very anti-Communist view. It most likely was that fine like civilized British chivalry and so called British gentlemen's honor, from which this gullible Croatian trust, illusion and hope of western democracy, compassion and humane treatment of refugees came from in the first placeThough the question remains. Why is it that other Communist crimes such as the political camp island Goli Otok, or thousands imprisoned after Croatian Spring movement of 1971.are put in front the major biggest crime of them all.Of course, not to ignore the thousands of prisoners of Goli Otok, or those unfortunate imprisoned in 1971. Though it just seems that the less gruesome crimes are used for the purpose of distraction from the far more bigger and punishable crime against humanity and even genocide. Such as the Bleiburg tragedy it self.Is it perhaps the half of million murdered? Of which 300,000 alone were brutally slaughtered on the Way of the Cross death marches, during the month of May,1945. alone. Just in the woods and caves around Maribor in Slovenia only. After the years long investigations and according to excavations of skeleton remains between 1990-1999. The number of murdered right after the surrender between May 15 - 22. goes up to 180,000 and according to the mostly home guard (Domobrani) uniform remains. The majority were Croat home guardsmen and civilians. Yet, not one single Ustasa black shirt, or Cetnik uniform was found among them, as it is always stated and preached by the Partizans. Not to mention additional hundreds of thousands murdered on the forced death marches through north Croatia and Serbia all the way to Romania and Macedonia. The Bleiburg Way of the Cross was never "The punishment death march for the war criminal Nazis, Ustasas and Cetniks" as propagandized by the Communists to justify it.There is a reason why so many real Ustasas and Cetniks were alive and well in Australia, Argentina and so many just in Chicago, IL. alone. Besides, those more acquainted with the Military History. Especially with the U.S. History from the 50's regarding the Korean War. Will perhaps know, what were the Ustasa Black Legion under Rafael Boban doing in North Korea ten years later. Fighting for the Americans against the Communists. A big controversy for Tito in Yugoslavia later in the 60's when some of the U.S. POWs from North Korea were in fact Croats.Which in the confusion were then later handed to the Yugoslavian government and in fact ended up being the members of the former Ustasa Black Legion.Another proof that there were no Ustasa Party members, nor any professional guerilla military like the Black Legion, or the Royalist Cetniks killed on the Bleiburg death Marches.It very much was a deliberate and planned Stalin type mass murder of all anti-communists from the territory of then Independent State of Croatia (Mostly Croat home guardsmen, civilians, women and children) and the rest of the later Yugoslavia. Such similar operations were already used by Stalin in the 1930's pre WW II Soviet Union.There was a certain "Operation Slaughterhouse" ordered by Josip Broz Tito in December/January 1945. in then already Partizan and Russian controled Belgrade. For the purpose of clearing the then future Tito's Communist Yugoslavia of any potential political competition. Such as the anti-Fascist Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) under Vlatko Macek, or the anti-Fascist Catholic Church with Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac. For in the totalitarian system, there can only be two sides. The bad Fascist (Ustasa) side and the winning good Communist side. The only anti-Fascist movement, or institution allowed in the new Tito's rezhime could unconditionally and only be the Communist anti-Fascist movement. Any other possible option in Tito's one rule system such as the anti-Fascist Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) could not be acceptable. For as a "Croatian" and a non-Communist party it was more of a rival to Tito and his one Yugoslavia ideology, then the actual Fascist Ustasas and Ante Pavelic him self. That is why CPP's Vlatko Macek and Catholic "Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac would be accused of being "Fascist Ustasas" right after WW II and prosecuted as "Against the People". Even though, during the WW II, they were the victims of those same Fascist Ustasas.Though the plans for "Operation Slaughterhouse" were detailed by Josip Broz Tito, Milovan Djilas, Koca Popovic and etc. It was personally orchestrated and carried out by the Political Commissar, General Milan Basta who arrived at the Bleiburg castle on May 14,1945. after already made deals between Tito's Partizans and the British. Regarding the situation of Partizan presence in Carynthia,Southern Austria and Trieste. The Supreme Allied Commander for the Mediterranean, Field-Marshal Sir Harold Alexander had already arranged the mass repatriations of Croats to the Tito's Partizans, for exchange of absolute British control of Carynthia. Long before any negotiations with Croatians were to be made in the first place.While in Bleiburg castle, before the Croatian officials had arrived. Brigadier General, Patrick Scott was already making personal deals with Milan Basta about the unconditional surrender of all Croats. It was there very obvious that the detailed plan for the forced repatriation of Croatians back to Yugoslavia had been made before and without any talks to the Croatian representatives, or their opinions what so ever.Scott, together with Basta clearly and bluntly expressed to Croatian General Herencic and his interpreter Danijel Crljen. An unrealistic demand of surrender of all the hundreds of thousands of Croats in a period of only one hour. Otherwise the Partizans would start shooting at the colony of people (which they did anyways). Plus General Scott would allow all of his British Military and Tanks in the area to be at the Partizan's disposal at any time.It was then very clear, what was to be the ill faith of all those masses of uncertain people hoping for some kind of savior.In fact, the plan of such kind of a scenario had already dated back to Yalta Conference in February 1945. Where the faith of millions of unfortunate Central and Eastern Europeans had been bluntly mapped out. By the real perpetrators of the New World Order. Stalin, Churchill and F.D.Roosevelt. The infamous disastrous decision that all the nationals offering to surrender and asking for protectorate. Will unconditionally all be handed over to the governments of the countries they came from. Even if it be lethal for their health.Though, still all the Draza Mihajlovic's Cetniks were already let through by the British into the British occupied territory of Austria. Visa Vie the Cetnik Royalist connection with the Serbian King Petar in London. Rafael Boban and his parts of Black Legion Ustasas at Bleiburg on the other hand had already a plan B as an exit strategy if they would not be let through into Austria and started moving right away towards the south into Istria and to Italy via Trieste. Also known as zone A, B and C.At the end, what was left, was a mass colony of Croatian home guardsmen and hundred of thousands of civilians reaching as far as 60km from Bleiburg into Slovenia. All of them in the hands and absolute disposal of the Partizan murdering squads, which at that point had the absolute power over any law while Croats became literal practice targets for shooting at all times.All imaginable forms of frustrations to be taken out over the available unarmed Croats were now at the lawless Serbo-Communists and in the full motion. Rape, theft and murder became a non stop action of 24/7 for the many days to come. To the point that there was simply too many people to kill and not enough bullets, so the victims would then be tied by their ankles into the files of six and after the first in the row would be hit in the head with the hammer. He would pull the other five into the cave with him. Those which would not die from the fall, would mostly die from smothering by the other bodies falling over the them until the cave would be filled up. Then moving on to another murder site and another and etc.The witnesses around the killing sites in Slovenia (mostly farmers) would remember day and night, hours and hours of agonizing high pitched screams of victims right before their deaths. Those same Slovenian witnesses would later for years to come be threatened with their lives by the Communists for their forced silence about the events they witnessed.Even though the witnesses started coming out in 1990. when Communism started collapsing in Yugoslavia and the truth was being told through 1995. By 2000. Never the less, many of the witnesses were suddenly again afraid to talk about it? It has started to become more and more like that as well in Croatia regarding the Bleiburg lately.Perhaps the elements of dictatorship are coming back now in the 21.Century? A very dangerous thing is when a huge crime against humanity like this is never completely resolved and allowed to be forgotten, or at least attempted to become so.Even a dead criminal is still a criminal and his crimes still remain eternal until fully resolved and brought to justice.Half a million massacred, of which 300,000 were Croats, is huge loss of population.An almost 10% of the whole 4.5 million Croatian population. Making it the biggest genocide in Europe according to the nations population loss. Is it that such huge numbers are bringing panic to the former Croatian Communists and their children? The fear of such a gruesome truth blackening the 45 year built image of the"Good Victors". If it goes out to the world, or will the certain foreign lobbies still be making sure that such matters stay unresolved as for instance the J.F.K files.It makes sense that after WW II, the world needed a simplified version of the good and bad side. Of course, the winners write the history, so naturally all the crimes by the victorious Communists would remain under the rug and it was so for 45 years. Though, what does not make sense is that after the truth about Bleiburg finally came out in public in 1990. and after this bloody war for Croatian independence 1991-95. It seems that the biggest Communist crime against humanity in those parts is still unresolved 61 years later and being again hushed up and covered. Who would still 61 years later have an interest out of that and why?How can that be? Why is 2006. less free and open minded then 1996? Are we Croatians after 13 centuries still lost in our souls to the division among us? Still so afraid of truth, that even the grandchildren of the Partizans would rather cover up something so gruesome as the Bleiburg tragedy, then admitting it fully and freeing them selves and their subconscious from crimes that were done two generations before them by somebody else. Though why are so many of us still fighting against Bleiburg?Why are we still so afraid of it? Like the brother that kills his own brother in the fury and then covers it up for the rest of his life. Living in an agony of lies. Must the truth be only pleasant and comfortable in order for us to admit it. Haven't we evolved from that yet, or are we still stuck in the state of mind some 900 years ago in 1102. When we lost our original independence.Perhaps it is the possible subconscious fear of eternal damnation, that somehow we had something to do in contributing to this mass murder by being pro-Yugoslav, or having a certain nostalgia for that time period? Though, even if I also personally have nice memories from the 1980's Yugoslavia, such as music and films. It doesn't change the fact of what Communism really was and it's crimes still remain gruesome every which way. While the truth remains the same. We are also still the same Croats that we are.As more we run from the truth, the more it haunts us and it will haunt as even more and more. Unless the justice and absolute recognition of this very serious gigantic-scale genocide is brought out once and for all and stamped in the history as such without the possibility of tampering with the truth.It is very important that the truth also remains un politicized by the right wing Pro-Ustasas who use the Communist crime of Bleiburg, just for their political gain and as a reason to justify the Fascist Ustasas and their crimes. Not because they feel compassionate towards all those innocent victims. As they would like to claim and show. Just as the left wing Communists try to present Bleiburg as a "Fascist Propaganda". To some how justify it by making it look like the" Reprisals" of the people against the "Genocidical Fascists".Of course, both systems are very deceptive and definitely false. The victims of Bleiburg were unfortunately caught between the two very selfish political rivalries. All the people who died there had no political affiliation, other then perhaps Vlatko Macek's Croatian Peasant Party. There was no Ustasa Party members, Nazis, or Cetnik Royalists hurt there. Unless one accidentally somehow ended up with the regular more gullible honest population. A very unlikely thing though. Those who were actually guilty for any crimes, made sure not to be caught easily and already had their way out planned before.It is very important to remember that all those Croats who got slaughtered there were regular home guardsmen and civilians. The regular Croat population and honest representatives of our country. Who's only crime was being honest hard working Croats and non-affiliated to any party. A dangerous thing in those days. It is for that regular non-political population I write this article. For all those who died and suffered the consequences of being stuck in the middle of a civil war in our country between two very polar opposites of our nation. The Fascist and the Communist. While the war profiteers got away with the real guilt. Just as they did in our last and final war for independence in the 90's and every other war. The war profiteers get away, the honest innocent people end up dyeing. Because of some of my own family members who were murdered there and years of my own careful research in this huge injustice to our people. I can obviously see and very much do believe now that the actual huge numbers of victims in this genocide are being covered up and minimized lately by certain people for the sole purpose of distraction.I personally wish to give my full respect for all those 500,000 and more who were brutally murdered by the Communist death squads in those dark days from May 15,1945.on. This is for the truth, justice and recognition for all those masses of the unfortunate, that never received the proper peace they so deserve. Even today.By Ivan Pavletic  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Tue, 16 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6218/1/E-Filip-Vezdin-200-years-since-the-death-of-the-pioneer-of-European-indology.html CROATIAOverview of History, Culture, and Science main menuFilip Vezdin(1748-1806), 200 years since the death of the pioneer of European indologyBesides native Croatian he spoke Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, Hungarian, Italian, Portugese and English. As a Carmelitan missionary Vezdin was sent to India in 1776, where he learned Sanskrit and several Indian dialects. Vezdin is the author of Sidharubam seu gramatica samscrdamica, the first printed Sanskrit grammar in Europe, published in 1790 in Rome. He wrote numerous works on Indian culture, and in addition to Sanskrit also learned Malayalam, the Malabar coastal language, in which he wrote his works as well. At the request of a local ruler, King Rama Varmer of the Travancore, he wrote an English-Portugese-Malayalam grammar. The King, enthuseasted with Vezdin's fluency in Malayalam, asked him to be his teacher of English and Portugese in his palace in Padmanabpuram. Vezdin's works are kept in Rome, Vienna and Uppsala. Filip Vezdin, pioneer of European indology, Vezdin's best known work is Systema brahmanicum liturgicum, mythologicum, civile ex monumentis Indicis Musei Borgian Velitris, Rome 1791, dealing with literature, mythology and civil order of brahmanic India, customs and the way of life. His most interesting and most popular work is his travel-book Viaggio alle Indie orientali, Rome 1796. He also published two philological studies about connections between Hungarian and Laponian languages. In 1999 Vezdin's image was carved into the white marble memorial plaque in the City Museum of Trivandrum, the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. He is considered as one of pioneers of European indology. About twenty of his books were published already during his lifetime. Some of them were translated into German, French, English and Swedish. It is therefore no surprise that he was a member of the Royal Academy in Naples, and of the Academy "Dei Volsci" in Velletri and Padova.A postage stamp issued by a Cultural Association, Hofam Leithaberge, Austria in 2006, commemorating 200 years since Vezdin's death.Many thanks to Dr Luca Leoni, Velletri.In 2006 a memorial tablet dedicated to Filip Fezdin was placed in Velletri, a town near Rome, on the building of Museo Borgia (in Via della Trinita), where Vezdin had been working. The tablet mentions his Croatian descent: "Croato del Burgenland". Also, on that occasion an Italian translation of the monograph by Dr. Branko Franolic about Filip Vezdin was promoted in the City Council of Velletri ("Paolino di San Bartolomeo, pioniere dell'indologia nell'Europa di fine Settecento", translated from the English original by Dr Luca Leoni).  Memorial tablet dedicated to Filip Vezdin in Velletri, Italy, 2006Many thanks to Dr Luca Leoni, Velletri, for the photo and his translation: TO VELLETRI'S VOLSCIAN ACADEMIC PAOLINO DI SAN BARTOLOMEO BAREFOOTED CARMELITE IN THE WORLD IVAN FILIP VEZDIN BURGENLAND CROAT MISSIONARY IN INDIA PIONEER OF INDOLOGY FATHER OF INDOEUROPEAN PHILOLOGY FAITHFUL AND DEVOTED COLLABORATOR OF THE LEARNED PATRON CARDINAL STEFANO BORGIA HE MASTERED HIS STUDIES IN THE FAMOUS BORGIA MUSEUM FORMERLY PLACED HERE THE CITY OF VELLETRI PLACED THIS 1806-2006 Dr Luca Leoni (initiator of installing Vezdin's memorial tablet, and of the Filip Vezdin's Day in Velletri), Dr Viktor Tadic (Counsellor, Croatian Embassy at the Holy See), Father Paulose Ikareth and Father Stephen Watson (Carmelites like Filip Vezdin, the first from Kerala, the second from U.S.A. and responsible for Culture in their Order), Dr Bruno Cesaroni (Mayor of Velletri), Sister Janet (from Madras, India) and Sister Valeriana (from Kerala). Filip Vezdin, portrait from 1793 probably by J.H. Cabott (1754-1841),once in cardinal Stefano Borgia's library in "Palazzo Altemps", Rome,now conserved in "Propaganda Fide", Rome(many thanks to Dr Luca Leoni, Velletri)Vezdin's research gave a great impetus to investigation of culture and civilization of India in Europe. In 1999 the following text was written in the Sanskrit, Malayalam, Croatian and English languages on memorial tablet in the City Museum of Tivandrum, capital of the state of Kerale in India: Ivan Filip Vezdin, Burgenland Croat, Discalceate Carmelite, with the monastic name Paulin of St. Bartholomew, a missionary in Malabar from 1776 to 1789. The author of the first printed Sanskrit grammar and forerunner of Indian and Indo-European studies to the great honour of his homeland and the Croatian and Indian people.   Ivan Filip Vezdin, gradiscanski Hrvat, bosonogi karmelicanin, 1776. - 1789., misionarski je djelovao na Malabaru. Pisac prve tiskane sanskrtske gramatike i preteca indijskih i indoeuropskih studija na veliku cast svojoj domovini te hrvatskom i indijskom narodu. In January 2006 a memorial Mass was held by Dr Luca Leoni in honour ofFilip Vezdin in the Cathedral of Velletri (near Rome). A memorial mass was also held in Vezdin's birthplace in Austria.www.croatianhistory.net  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Wed, 22 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6217/1/E-Western-Australian-community-to-mark-150-years-of-Nikola-Tesla-birth.html NikolaTeslaborn July 9/10, 1856, Smiljan, Croatiadied Jan. 7, 1943, New York City  Hi Nenad"Western Australian community is preparing to host many celebrations to mark 150 years of Nikola Tesla birth, ranging from a special conference, museum exhibitions, a play about his life, celebration dinner, etc, all under auspices of WA Government and the local electrical utility Western Power Corporation.Regards NenadDr Nenad KOLIBASPerth Western Australiankolibas@iinet.net.au NikolaTeslaborn July 9/10, 1856, Smiljan, Croatiadied Jan. 7, 1943, New York Cityhttp://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9071814?query=tesla&ct=  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Wed, 22 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6221/1/E-A-Petty-Hitler.html  A Petty HitlerBy Wesley K. ClarkMarch 13, 2006; Page A18The Wall Street JournalSlobodan Milosevic's death in The Hague is a real tragedy for the international community. But most of all it will be a tragedy for the Serbs themselves. It will likely be another step in a series of historic Serb failures, martyrdom and isolation, all of which Milosevic himself grandly evoked to gain and maintain his power. I knew him as a nationalist leader and wartime adversary.Along with the other Americans on Richard Holbrooke's 1995 Balkan peace talks mission, I spent countless hours with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. As NATO's then supreme allied commander, Europe, I haggled with Milosevic about war criminals and the Dayton Peace Agreement implementation in 1997, delivered NATO's warnings and threat in 1998, implored his cooperation in heading off renewed conflict, and then, when all else failed, I led the NATO military campaign which forced him to end ethnic cleansing and remove his troops and police from Kosovo. In 2003, I faced him again when I testified for the prosecution in his war crimes trial at The Hague.While his death at The Hague ends his interminable trial, nothing is resolved. His death only compounds many of the difficult issues still facing the international community, Europe and Serbia itself.In his 64 years, Milosevic was an army officer, a Communist, a bureaucrat, a banker and, above all, a Yugoslav Serb who used his skills and harsh nationalist rhetoric to parlay himself into the highest office in Yugoslavia only to then alienate and attack his fellow Yugoslav citizens. In four successive conflicts which he all lost, Milosevic used war as a means of plundering and disassembling his own country. He forced millions from their homes and caused several hundred thousands of deaths. He was rational and sometimes cunning, often a brilliant tactical negotiator but ultimately a fool of a strategist, whose reckless crimes included murder and genocide, and who has cost humanity as a whole and his own Serbs dearly.* * *As a young man Milosevic was a dutiful communist and an outstanding student who scored top marks in school. His mother was a teacher who encouraged his studies but kept him away from sports. He fell in love with Mira Markovic, a personal favorite of Tito, who lost her mother during World War II in still unresolved circumstances. Her partisan mother was captured by the Nazis who interrogated, tortured, confessed and then supposedly killed her. More likely she was released only to be killed as a collaborator by fellow partisans. Milosevic himself lost both his parents and an uncle to suicide. But though he clearly had a dark side, I never saw Milosevic as a suicide risk -- he was too committed to himself and to his ideas.During the many hours of our negotiations in the summer and autumn of 1995, we dined with him, chatted with him about history and geopolitics, and talked about everything from his experiences as a young man in America to his concerns for his family. Given his gruff, commanding manner, many joked during the Dayton peace talks that he was the real Godfather. But we quickly came to think of him more appropriately as a petty Hitler, an unlawful dictator capable of malice, murder and ethnic cleansing. Any arrangement with him had to be weighed morally: for its legitimization of Milosevic as well as its value in ending a bloody conflict.During the Dayton peace talks, all of Milosevic's "qualities" were at display: his stubborn cunning and blustering outbursts, his often grandiose dreams of Serbia as one of the seven gateways of Europe, his patent disloyalty to his fellow Serbs and transparent lies about everything from Srebrenica to his attitudes toward other nations. He smoked and drank excessively, even as he complained about his blood pressure and his health. At the Paris signature ceremony for the Dayton negotiations, Milosevic was center stage, conversing with world leaders like President Bill Clinton. But he failed to deliver on many of his promises, especially regarding indicted war criminals like former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic. By the late summer of 1997, Serb resistance to NATO-led enforcement of the peace accords was rising and we called again on Milosevic for help. But he stubbornly refused to assist us. He still held dreams of a greater Serbia and he thought he had NATO's measure.In the spring of 1998 he unleashed the next round of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, this time turning his Special Police against a prominent Albanian family in Kosovo, killing 60 of them, including women and children. For most of that year NATO struggled to find a balanced approach, alternating negotiations with intensifying threats to head off another war in former Yugoslavia. But Milosevic foolishly believed he could defy NATO warnings and launch a broad ethnic cleansing effort with impunity.It was another strategic miscalculation by Milosevic. NATO followed through in its threats, unleashing a 78-day, gradually intensifying air campaign and threatened ground intervention. Coupled with Russian diplomatic assistance and his indictment for war crimes, Milosevic was forced to pull his forces out of Kosovo. It was yet another blow to his vision of a greater Serbia. When he tried the next year to win re-election, his opponents in Belgrade were ready -- demanding an honest vote and his resignation. Soon he was delivered to The Hague.Predictably, his cause of death is being disputed by some of his Serb countrymen who blame the U.N. He will surely be lionized and glorified by the radical nationalists he so nurtured.History's longest war crimes trial will never be concluded. Milosevic's many victims and their families will be denied justice. And the Serb people themselves will have one more escape from the awful truth of the crimes under Milosevic's leadership. His death comes at a bad time. Serbia is struggling to acknowledge its past and face its future. Indicted war criminals like Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic are still at large -- most likely living under official protection. The future status of Kosovo is unresolved and Serb participation in a resolution would be helpful. Another challenge will be Montenegro's upcoming referendum on its independence. And even as Serbia looks westward for help, its future alignment is still unsettled as the Serb people struggle to recognize how badly they have been deceived and misled.Even during Milosevic's rule, many in Serbia yearned to join the EU and work with NATO. Its economic modernization would strengthen all its neighbors, including NATO members Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Its participation as a modern state would help promote political reconciliation and development throughout the Balkans. But all this means giving up the kind of hypernationalism that Milosevic trumpeted and fanned, and for many in Serbia, this has long been a mythology they have come to believe to offset the reality of deprivations, corruption and poverty.Milosevic's death will likely bury the truth beneath another layer of charges and countercharges. His trial had been a long-running national TV drama in Serbia. The impact there of the evidence so painstakingly presented was blunted by Milosevic's star status at home and his grandiloquent and often irrelevant argumentation.Now there will be no conviction and Serbia's weak leaders will have to cope with yet another obstacle in re-educating and reorienting their people. His death is as much a tragedy as his life. Both in life and in death, Milosevic has deprived millions of people of justice, hope and a better future.Mr. Clark was supreme allied commander of NATO during the 1999 Kosovo campaign and a Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in 2004.http://securingamerica.com/node/728www.muhajabah.com/global/phidoux.typepad.com/phidoux/  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Tue, 21 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6220/1/E-Britain-gave-butcher-a-green-light-to-use-force.html  The green light of failureBy Tim LuckhurstThe Times March 15, 2006  "Britain gave him 'a green light' to use force. On that point alone the butcher of Belgrade was horribly right."SINCE Slobodan Milosevic died some familiar stereotypes have been revived. Like the one that Serbs wallow uncritically in myths of national superiority and live with their backs to the world. And that Britain despairs because Serbia lacks the maturity to accept Milosevic’s guilt and to surrender his henchmen Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. Yet these stereotypes conceal Britain’s culpable complicity in Milosevic’s crimes. It is pleasing to remember this country’s role in the events that ousted Milosevic from power. British forces performed heroically in the liberation of Kosovo. They contributed ably to the Nato airpower that stopped the killing in Bosnia. But it was all too little far too late. The names Major, Hurd and Rifkind are spat with venomous fury in Bosnia. They are reviled in Belgrade too by the democratic minority, who said for years that Milosevic would buckle when force was deployed against him but were dismissed in Whitehall. When Bosnian Serb shells were creating hell in Sarajevo the Bosnian Government considered taking Britain to the International Court of Justice. British influence was being deployed to deny Bosnia its UN-mandated right to self-defence. While powerful voices in Washington demanded intervention, Douglas Hurd and Malcolm Rifkind denied Serbian guilt. To them successive wars in Croatia and Bosnia were not caused by Serbian aggression directed from Belgrade by President Milosevic. They were manifestations of the age-old Balkan instinct for violence. Ancient tribal loathings were being played out. Each faction was as bad as the others. Mr Hurd resolutely opposed international help for tortured Bosnia. Mr Rifkind fell back on the evasion that 'the furtherance of British interests ought to be the sole object of British foreign policy'. Mr Major took their advice. Between them these three are guilty of the worst dereliction of moral duty by a British government since non-intervention guaranteed Franco’s victory in the Spanish Civil War. The men and boys of Srebrenica would be alive today if Britain had supported prompt intervention. So would tens of thousands in Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia. During his trial at The Hague, Milosevic claimed Britain gave him 'a green light' to use force. On that point alone the butcher of Belgrade was horribly right.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2086138,00.html  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Tue, 21 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6219/1/E-His-death-must-not-let-us-escape-Britains-responsibility-for-aiding-his-crimes.html  His death must not let us escape Britain's responsibility for aiding his crimes Subject: Independent' feature- Britain's responsibilityThe Independent - 13 March 2006 - 1210 words - 31FeaturesMilosevic's death must not let us escape Britain's responsibility for aiding his crimes JOHANN HARIIt's hard to squeeze out even the most crocodile of tears for Slobodan Milosevic as he completes the tired character arc of tyrants throughout the ages - from zero to hero to Nero to a reviled grave. He died well-fed and well-clothed in his sleep, a luxury denied to more than 125,000 European men, women and children who died in the wars he stoked, poked and pioneered. But the doors of justice for the crimes committed in the Balkans in the 1990s should not slam shut with Milosevic's coffin, nor with the handover of those indicted Serb butchers Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic. Today, there are men who helped and facilitated Milosevic's crimes at the heart of the British establishment. Indeed, these men are universally lauded as liberals and all-round Good Chaps. They have still not answered for their actions. In the swell of patriotic self-congratulation following the death of Milosevic - we helped to oust him, didn't we? - many people will want us to forget the role played by the last Conservative government in the Balkan wars. They would like us to forget that at the height of the shelling of Sarajevo - a democratic city three hours from Heathrow - the Tories were so complicit in the killing that the bleeding Bosnian government seriously considered taking the British government to the International Court of Justice for aiding and abetting genocide. To understand how this forgotten history came to unfold, you have to return to the early 1990s. Looking out on the fighting that broke out in the Balkans from the dusty offices of Whitehall, the ruling Conservative Party were - in John Major's words - "bewildered". They saw a bunch of foreigners with unpronounceable names killing each other for reasons that seemed to stretch back to 1389, and rather than enter into the tricky business of sifting the victims from the aggressors and supporting them, they fell back on their core prejudices. One was a belief that, as Malcolm Rifkind, soon-to-be Foreign Secretary, argued, "The furtherance of British interests ought to be the sole object of British foreign policy." Human rights? What human rights? Show us gas pipelines and corporate interests and then we're talking. The other belief was a borderline-racist view that the Balkan people were maniacal savages who relished slaughter. Sir Peter Hall, ambassador to Belgrade, told John Major: "Prime Minister, the first thing you have to know about these people is that they like cutting each other's heads off." No point helping them - they're all mad. In light of these principles, the Tories conveniently concluded that what was happening was a Balkan civil war where - the blue sing-song of the times - "all sides were equally to blame". Since there were no British interests at stake and nothing much could be done to stop naturally violent people from hacking away at each other, it was best to stay out, or even to hope for a strong Serbia to "discipline" the region and damp down the turmoil. Oh, and Britain should stop anybody else from foolishly intervening, of course. This argument had a certain superficial (if repellent) logic, but it was based on a glaring error. This was not a three-way civil war between Serbs, Muslims and Croats with all sides committing crimes equally. It was a racist war waged by Slobodan Milosevic to establish from the ruins of the former Yugoslavia an ethnically pure Greater Serbia under his control, one that had been "cleansed" of its Muslim population. There were real villains and real victims, not the incomprehensible tribal hodge-podge presented by the Tories. As Kofi Annan explained in his postmortem into the war, the Serbs' "central war aim [was always] to create a geographically contiguous and ethnically pure territory". Yes, when the Bosnian Muslims and Croat separatists responded to this fascistic Serbian agenda they did not always do so scrupulously, to say the least - but it is appalling to say this puts them on a par with the original and major criminals. Confronted with this racist agenda at the heart of Europe - designed to crush the democratic, multi-ethnic republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina - it would have been terrible enough to stand by and do nothing. But the Tories, led in foreign affairs by Douglas Hurd, did something worse. They insisted on an arms embargo on the entire region to prevent weapons being sold to any side. In practice, this guaranteed that the Serbs' massive military superiority at the start of the war was maintained, and - in Annan's words again - it "effectively prevented the Republic of Bosnia and Herzgovina of its right under the Charter of the United Nations to self-defence". Milosevic said at his trial that Hurd was in effect giving him "a green light" for the killing, and in a way he was right. Thanks to British policy, the Serbs could pound away at the Bosnian Muslims - killing thousands - and the Muslims could not fight back. Some British government spokesmen even started suggesting that the Bosnian Muslims were shelling themselves to get sympathy. Whenever the governments of France, Germany and the US mooted an armed intervention - in line with the pleading of humanitarian agencies such as Oxfam - the Conservative government used its veto. People across the political spectrum - from the Republican senator Bob Dole to the Europhile Jacques Delors - identified Britain as the main obstacle to intervention. But we, the British people, should not be tarred with this appeasing brush: while Hurd obstructed international help for the besieged Bosnians, 67 per cent of the British people wanted British troops sent in to stop the slaughter. The result of Hurd and Major's refusal to listen was mass death on our doorstep, a programme of killing so huge that even now - more than a decade later - more than 7,000 Muslim boys and men are missing, according to the Red Cross. When eventually British objections were overridden and Nato air-power was used in Bosnia in 1995, the killing ended, just as the bombing of Kosovo helped to precipitate the final fall of Milosevic in 1999. It could have happened years before, and saved tens of thousands. And the stench gets worse. Almost as soon as Hurd had fallen from office, he jumped on a flight to visit Milosevic to try to persuade him to flog off Serbia's utilities to a British company paying Hurd a fat fee. Money motivated Hurd, it seems, where blood could not. Today, he and Malcolm Rifkind and John Major are thought of as kindly old liberal Tories without a trace of Balkan blood on their hands, and the acts of racist murder they facilitated are consigned to the memory-hole. Yes, be angry that Milosevic dodged justice. But there are people far closer to home who bear responsibility for his killing-spree too - and there is still time to extract justice from them, if only we had the will. Thanks to British policy, the Serbs could pound away at the Bosnian Muslims and they couldn't fight back j.hari@independent.co.uk  (c) 2006 Independent Newspapers  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Tue, 21 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6224/1/E-140-years-since-the-construction-of-torpedo-by-Ivan-Lupis-Vukic.html Ivan Lupis Vukic Inventor of torpedo the production of torpedo had started in 1866 in the Whitehead factory in Rijeka. He was born on the beautiful Peljesac peninsula near Dubrovnik.   140 years since the construction of the first torpedo in history   Submitted by Darko Zubrinic, Zagreb www.croatianhistory.net letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 25 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6223/1/E-Australian-Croatian-Genealogical-and-Historical-Society.html Australian Croatian Genealogical and Historical Society Australsko Hrvatska Rodoslovna i Povijesna UdrugaFounder & President - Amanda L Fonti - BA - History - Politics - Humanities and Social Sciences University of Ballarat Victoria Australia Established Ballarat ,Victoria,Australia - January - 1999 Specializing in Croatian Immigration to Australia e-mail:amandafonti@hotmail.comhttp://www.geocities.com/amandafonti/ letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 25 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6222/1/E-Croatians-contribute-to-the-early-history-of-Australia.html Vincent Gercovich born 1839 in Dalmatia Croatia migrated to Victoria in the 1850's and and married Winifred Bennet in Ballarat at St.Alipius church (where the Croatian community in Ballarat today celebrate Croatian mass) 13th February 1867. They had 12 children ,between 1867 -1888.He worked in the mines first and later operated the Smythesdale toll gate. Vincent Gercovich died on the 19th August 1900, and is buried in the Ballarat new cemetary. His wife was later buried along side him. Winifred Gercovich was buried on the 13th December 1928 and was 76 yers of age . DR. JOZO METER AMBASSADOR TO THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA IN AUSTRALIA 1999 UNVAILS GERCOVICH HEADSTONE MONUMENT, AT BALLARAT NEW CEMETARY. 24/04/1999.THE GERCOVICH GRAVE WAS UNMARKED PRIOR TO THE CROATIAN COMMUNITY DONATING THE NEW HEADSTONE MONUMENT WHICH STANDS IN THE CEMETARY TO THIS DAY FOR EVERYONE TO SEE. Vincent and Winifred Gercovich and Family (circa 1880's)Cemetary tours are conducted at Ballarat cemetary for tourists who visit this historic goldmining town,and the Gercovich Croatian monument is a feature of the tour.Now people from all over the world that visit Ballarat,Melbourne,and Australia, can see that Croatians played an important part in contributing to the early history of Australia. Vincent Gercovich is listed as a pioneer of Victoria Australia. letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 25 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6226/1/HE-15-svibnja-1926---Halo-halo-Ovdje-Radio-Zagreb.html   80 Years of Croatian Radio and 50 Years of Croatian Television May 15, 1926 - May 15, 1956 First electronic medium of South-East Europe. Croatia proudly leads the way "Halo, halo! Ovdje Radio Zagreb!''. Tim rijeÄ?ima izgovorenim izravno u eter 15. svibnja 1926. godine zapoÄ?inje emitiranje radija u Hrvatskoj, a na isti taj datum tri desetljeća kasnije i televizija postaje dio svakidaÅ¡njice. Kao najstariji elektronski medij na jugo-istoku Europe HRT u 2006. ponosno slavi 80 godina Hrvatskoga radija i 50 godina Hrvatske televizije.   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Mon, 13 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6225/1/E-Croatian-History---Bartol-Gyurgieuits-1506---1566.html CROATIA Overview of History, Culture, and Science   Bartol Gyurgieuits (1506 - 1566?) 500 years since the birth of the author of the first known Croatian - Latin dictionary, of the practical Italian - Arabian - Hebrew - Chaldean dictionary. The Englishman Hugh Goughe wrote "The Ofspringe of the House of Ottomane" (1570) which is a translation of Gyurgieuits' book "De origine imperii Turcorum". In Goughe's book there is a dialogue in Croatian with a parallel English translation, alongside with two prayers in Croatian (Our father and Hail Mary). Gyugyieuits is called the "first Croatian lexicographer" in the book. Coat of arms of the Noble district of Turopolje from 1737, granted by King Charles III, where Bartol Jurjevic was born   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 11 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6227/1/E-Croatian-History---William-Feller-1906-1970.html  William Feller (1906-1970) One of the greatest experts in probability theory in history. He was born and educated in Zagreb, where he started his university study of mathematics, a professor at the Universities of Kiel, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Lund, Providence, Princeton etc., a member of many scientific organizations. Many important mathematical notions bear his name: Feller's process, Feller's transition function, Feller's semigroup, Feller's property.   William Feller, 100 years since the birth of outstanding mathematicianwww.croatianhistory.net  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 28 Jan 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6228/1/E-135-years-since-the-birth-of-Slavoljub-Penkala-inventor-of-fountain-pen.html  Eduard (Slavoljub) PENKALA(1871-1922)135 years since the birth of inventor of the mechanical pen and fountainpen,which are bearing his name and now they are in everyday use. Submitted by Darko Zubrinic, Zagrebwww.croatianhistory.net  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Thu, 26 Jan 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6229/1/EH-New-Book-Who-Saved-Bosnia---Da-Nije-Bilo-Oluje.html   Naklada Stih released the above titled book by Vitomir Miles Raguz, in bilingual Croatian-English format. It is available in Zagreb and Sarajevo bookstores and via Internet worldwide.You can order the book with personal check viaSTIHBOOKS@AOL.COM . Shiping is free from Amazon.com and StihBooks. Amazon.com:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9536959283/qid=1137520686/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-8552018-7754205?s=books&v=glance&n=283155Another possibility to order the book:http://bookshop.pontes.com/index.asp?link=pop&idi=23063 Naklada Stih ANNOUNCEMENT: 12 December 2005CONTACT: Dr. Marijan Borsic, +385-91-788-3014,naklada.stih@net.hr New Book: Da nije bilo Oluje / Who Saved BosniaNaklada Stih last week released the above titled book by Vitomir Miles Raguz, in bilingual Croatian-English format. It is available in Zagreb and Sarajevo bookstores. In the US it will be available at the book presentation in the Cleveland area, on December 18th at World Café in Chesterland, at 6PM, or via mail order.Mr. Raguz, former Ambassador of Bosnia-Herzegovina  to the EU and NATO and adviser to Croatian diplomats at the UN in New York, writes often in leading English language media, such as the Wall Street Journal Europe, commenting on contemporaneous policy issues and addressing recent history of the region.Naklada Stih wanted to bring his excellent writing to the regional audiences by translating a collection of previous and new essays. The English speaking audience will appreciate the new essays, published for the first time, as well as essays that were published in Zagreb media.“At first, we thought this collection would primarily attract historians and policy peopleâ€?, said Coach Ante Kostelic, Biblioteka editor, “but the reader quickly realizes that this book will have a much wider audience, given the author’s style and the perspectives he brings forth regarding some key events of the 1990s.â€? He added: “the book may be exactly what Santa would think for that very smart nephew who is still confused about what really happened in the region in the 1990s, and that righteous colleague at the office who knows exactly what happened since she reads the internet edition of the New York Times religiously.â€?An early reader of the book, Visnja Staresina, writer and former foreign affairs editor of Vecernji List comments: “Ambassador Raguz challenges the mainstream thinking about what Washington was preparing for BiH immediately prior to operation Storm in 1995, and why and how it aided the Storm. As a participant in many behind the scenes events, he provides details that shed new light on common wisdom regarding the Croatian Army withdrew from Posavina, source of the Muslim-Croat conflict, Tudjman’s role in Herzegovina, and Croatia’s recognition and later early EU candidate status,â€? among others.Given the recent arrest of general Gotovina, the reader may be especially interested in the essay on the origin and purpose of the Storm, which contradict the charges from the Tribunal, in the essays about his role in the Storm, as well as those on reasons why the US should be involved in his defense.Croatian readers may enjoy comparing Mr. Raguz’s views, for instance, on relations between Zagreb and Washington in regard of the Storm, to those of Croatia’s former foreign minister Mate Granic in his recently published book “Vanjski poslovi: iza kulisa politike.â€?Bret Stephens, Member of the Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal notes: “The essays on the interplay between international politics and international law are among the most thought-provoking to be found anywhere; those on the shortfalls of western policy in the Balkans written over past four years are especially relevant today when the debate on the issue is picking up in advance of the 10th anniversary of the Dayton accords at year end.â€? Igor Alborghetti, Editor-in-Chief of weekly Globus, says Ambassador Raguz writes from a unique perspective. On Euro-Atlantic integration issues, he sees him as a Euro-realist, who believes that Zagreb “should focus its energies on market reforms and on finding ways to minimize the costs of those associations,â€? instead of being preoccupied with dates of membership. Book has 363 Pages.  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Tue, 17 Jan 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6230/1/H-Istina-rijetko-jest-i-moze-biti-politicki-korektna.html  Film 'Izbavljenje iz ocaja' â€" zivi dokument istine o HrvatskojPise: Domagoj MargeticU Hrvatskoj rijetko mozemo vidjeti dokumentarni film toliko potkrijepljen cinjenicama, kao sto je to slucaj sa dokumentarnim filmom americke redateljice hrvatskoga porijekla Brende Brkusic: 'Izbavljenje iz ocaja' (Freedom from Despair'), koji je prikazan u Zagrebu, u subotu 12. studenog u Kinu Europa, u sklopu festivala dokumentarnog filma o hrvatskim iseljenicima, kojega je organizirala udruga 'Hrvatska dijaspora'.'Izbavljenje iz ocaja' biografski je film u kojemu Brenda Brkusic dokumentarno prikazuje zivot svojega oca u bivsoj Jugoslaviji neposredno nakon II. Svjetskog rata, u prvim godinama komunizma i Titove diktature. Međutim, kroz sudbinu Krune Brkusica, 'Izbavljenje iz ocaja' predstavlja film o nacionalnoj sudbini Hrvata u bivsoj Jugoslaviji. Mnoge se obitelji i pojedinci mogu poistovjetiti sa sudbinom ljudi o kojima govori film redateljice Brkusic. Sjedio sam u kinu i gledao film sa nekoliko dugogodisnjih politickih zatvorenika u bivsoj Jugoslaviji, od kojih je jedan i nekoliko puta osuđivan na smrt, ali je stjecajem okolnosti prezivio, i njegova je presuda na smrt svaki put preinacena u dugogodisnju zatvorsku kaznu. Ti ljudi najbolje znaju da Brenda Brkusic nije izmislila nista u svojemu filmu, oni su svjedoci vremena, zrtve jedne neljudske i bezbozne diktature o kojoj govori i film 'Izbavljenje iz ocaja'. I doista, Brenda Brkusic u svojem filmu beskompromisno, bez straha, bez zelje i namjere da bilo kome ugađa ili se pogađa oko istine, donosi istinu o Hrvatskoj o kojoj mnogi hrvatski novinari danas sute. Brendin film zasigurno danas i nije politicki najkorektniji, ali istina rijetko jest i moze biti politicki korektna. 'Izbavljenje iz ocaja' dokument je vremena o kojemu mnogi mladi ljudi u Hrvatskoj ne znaju gotovo nista, za njih ta istina o Hrvatskoj ne postoji, tu se istinu stalno nastoji sakriti pod prasnjave tepihe politickih hipoteka proslosti. Pa ipak, mlada americka redateljica hrvatskoga porijekla obracunava se s licemjerjem danasnjice i otresa prasinu sa istine o komunistickoj diktaturi u Hrvatskoj, odnosno u bivsoj Jugoslaviji. Kroz price o sudbinama ljudi koji su bili zrtve komunistickog rezima film nas ponovno podsjeca na ono sto smo prije samo desetak godina stalno govorili, a sada pomalo konformisticki zaboravljamo: postoji samo jedna istina, postoji samo jedna istina o Hrvatskoj! Istin ne poznaje dogovore, nagodbe, istina ne poznaje zgodne i nezgodne trenutke da se o njoj govori, istina ne poznaje i ne priznaje razloge za sutnju. Ona mora biti glasna, istinu se mora govoriti. Film Brende Brkusic nas na to opominje, kao zivi dokument istine o Hrvatskoj. Dokument koji sada predstavlja zivi spomenik hrvatskim zrtvama komunizma i opomenu generacijama koje dolaze, a koje nisu zivjele i odrastale u to nesretno vrijeme kada su mnogi hrvatski ljudi trazili svoj put za 'izbavljenje iz ocaja'.'Ne postoje dobra ili losa vremena. Postoje samo dobri ili pak losi ljudi u vremenu ...', rekao je ovih dana u svojoj propovijedi na desetogodisnjicu Crkve Svete Mati Slobode u Zagrebu pomocni biskup zagrebacki Valentin Pozaic. Tada sam prede ocima imao slike iz filma 'Izbavljenje iz ocaja', slike koje jasno svjedoce te biskupove rijeci. Slike o jednom vremenu iskusenja, patnje, zrtve, slike egzodusa Hrvata iz Domovine u dijasporu, svjedocanstvo o dobrim i losim ljudima u tom vremenu koje cemo pamtiti kao desetljeca mrznje, ali i desetljeca ljubavi onih koji su patili i trpili i zrtvovali se za Domovinu. 'Izbavljenje iz ocaja' na svoj je nacin spomen na te hrvatske mucenike i zahvala na njihovoj zrtvi za Hrvatsku koju su sanjali, a nase generacije ju dosanjale.  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 26 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6231/1/E-Knin-Not-in-the-Vojna-Krajina.html  KNIN NOT IN THE VOJNA KRAJINAKnin, like Benkovac, is over 50 kilometers from the historical boundary of Vojna Krajina as the crow flies. 50 kilometres may not seem a long distance in Canada, but on 19th century European mountain tracks, where every square kilometer has 3000 years of history, distance is a relevant factorA Response to Serbian PropagandaA propaganda campaign is spreading that Knin was in the Vojna Krajina, and that by association the so-called-krajina created in the early 1990s was part of the Vojna Krajina (‘Military Frontier’). Documented treaties in history show this propaganda to be a lie, a lie which served as a pretext for starting a war of aggression costing the deaths and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Official condemnation of the lies about the so-called-krajina should bea non-negotiable condition set by Croatia during negotiations for its EU membership. Serbs in Croatia had to ‘ethnically cleanse’ one-third of Croatia of its Croats and other non-Serbs, and barricade major transportation routes in Croatia (so-called ‘log-revolution’), before the fictitious so-called-krajina within Croatia could be materialized. Contemporaneous newspaper reports, and official census data over the past two centuries verify that there is no factual basis to Serbian claims of an historical right to Croatian territory. In addition, an exaggerated Serbian presence in Croatia has been claimed by alleging that most, or all of the Orthodox in Dalmatia and Croatia have always been Serbian. But many European documents contradict this claim. Indeed there have been many famous Croatian Orthodox people in history as well as Croatian Orthodox churches, all documented. And European Statutes exist which refer to the “Vlachsâ€? in Croatia or the “Morlachsâ€? in Dalmatia, not to Serbs. Incredibly, on many internet reports and in many books the number of Serbs who allegedly left Croatia in 1995 varies from 40,000 to 600,000, depending upon the source. The fact is however that many of the Orthodox had fled the Serbian-occupied territory of Croatia long before 1995, and they were subsequently branded as traitors and cowards by the Serbian regime in Belgrade.The Serbian anti-historical claims about Croatian territory have been concocted as part of a long-term revolutionary plan to legitimize a Serbian presence there, in order to enlarge the Serbian state. Today’s Serbian minority in Croatia are the most vocal of all other minorities put together, even though their numbers throughout Croatia in the most recent 2001 census is quite small in proportion to their demands. Serbs had initially objected to being called a minority because they had politically administered Croatia and the rest of the former Yugoslavia through a totalitarian system, until its collapse along with the collapse of the Berlin Wall. But as new ‘conflict resolution’ legislation in post cold-war Europe was being discussed, the Serbs began to reformulate their demands within a ‘minority’ frameworkâ€"just as they had reformulated the Yugoslav constitution many times in order to cater to re-servicing of former Yugoslavia’s international debt. The Ominous Treaty of ParisDalmatia and its hinterland have been the object of barter in European treaties for centuries. In 1919 for example at the Treaty of Paris in Versailles the Italians obtained parts of Croatia from Istria throughout Dalmatia.I In 1995 the Dayton Accords became officially known as the Treaty of Paris, to be signed at the Elysee Palace in France. Given the tragic consequences of Versailles for Croatia, what legacy should Croats expect after the Dayton/Paris Treaty?II Since 1995, the administrators of the Dayton/Paris Treaty in Bosnia & Herzegovina have given-in to Serbian intransigence at the expense of Croatian peoples’ human rights. Fifteen years on, Serbs still do not comply with Dayton in B & H, as Croats are unable to return to their ancestral homes in peaceâ€"homes which now fall within the boundaries of the newly created ‘Republika Srpska’â€"a region formed by the ethnic cleansing and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. The reinforcement of Serbian intransigence in B & H has caused Serbian intransigence to spread into Croatia. Serbian non-compliance with the Dayton/Paris Treaty in Bosnia is heard of occasionally with reference to indicted war criminals responsible for the Srebrenica massacre, etc., but how many people know about Serbian ultranationalism in Croatia? For example, in Croatia today Serbian provocation includes changing street signs, and spreading graffiti which says ‘this is Serbia’.III One can easily conclude therefore that like the first Treaty of Paris in 1919, the 1995 Treaty of Paris has created a legacy of instability for Croatian people. Tragically Serbian fabrications are supported by foreigners who inadvertently encourage contravention of international law. As part of a very vocal pro-Serbian lobby around the world many books, websites, and international organisations have shown unquestioning support of false historical claims. On some unofficial maps of Croatia a non-existent region appears known as the so-called-krajina, an alleged historical region which exists only in the minds of Serbia and its foreign allies.IV Unfortunately the UN Hague Tribunal indictments, many NGOs, together with other official European institutions have apparently integrated the unauthenticated Serbian version of Croatian history into their documents and agendas. Croatia’s Stolen HistoryBefore analysing the so-called-krajina fabrication, it is essential to understand that this propaganda is inextricably linked to the historical theft of the history of the Morlacchi, or Vlach presence in Dalmatia and Croatia. Up until the late 19th century there had been practically no Serbian churches in Dalmatia but there had been many ‘Greek’ Orthodox churches with mostly Croatian worshippers--many of whom had become integrated with Morlacchi hinterland families. In one of many sources which allude to the true ethnicity of the original Orthodox in Croatia, Larry Wolff in “Venice and the Slavsâ€?, writes that “The heterogeneous Orthodox society of Zadar included Montenegrin officers and Sarajevo merchants … and (others) from Corfu and Crete …(The Venetians) were concerned to reduce foreign influence on Orthodox Dalmatians, including the Morlacchiâ€?.V The issue of the Morlacchi in Dalmatia is well documented and over the coming months I will analyse it in a separate article. Thus, Serbian propaganda has re-written the history of the Morlachi in Dalmatia, with falseclaims that most of them were of Serbian background. Until the feudalistic creation of the first Yugoslavia at Versailles there had never been a strong Serbian presence in Dalmatia. Only when Serbs ruled under a dictatorship and later under a totalitarian communist system did the Knin region’s ethnic balance begin to change. This ethnic balance shift also occurred due to post WWII immigration into Croatia of Serbs, or due to the conversion or compliance of non-Serbian Orthodox for the purpose of their own social mobility or communist party membership. In communist Yugoslavia the Serbian numbers in Croatia swelled again due to their staffing of military garrisons, including for example, Benkovac and Knin. Its very important to understand that it’s because Serbs did NOT have numbers in Lika in the late 20th century that they had to include Knin municipalities in their so-called ‘krajina’ territorial claims. This led to the fabrication and spreading of the lie that Knin had always been part of the Vojna Krajina. Foreign-sics of Serbian PropagandaLike Chinese whispers, the following examples show how Serbian propaganda has reached the recent English language community, which has also unfortunately spread into some tourist guides. For example, relying on Silber & Little as a source in “The Death of Yugoslaviaâ€?, on the internet the Canadian RCMP Inspector Graham Muir discussed his UN duty at “Benkovacâ€?. Tragically, Muir has been fooled by pro-Serbian propaganda: … “ (in Benkovac) 50 km west of Kninâ€? … “I quickly came to understand that Vlade and his people were Serbs living in Vojna Krajina, a region that hugged the western boundaries of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The word Krajinaâ€"pronounced Cryeena--comes from the Serbo-Croatian word Kraj, meaning end or edge. The name of the region means military frontier.â€? … that it was the Austrians who created the Krajina … and that Serbs directly were ruled by imperial Vienna.â€? VIIt is particularly unsettling for me as a Canadian to witness such misinformation from a member of the RCMP. The history of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) was the topic of my first school speech in grade 6 in Toronto. Because of my four-page speech, I experienced a youthful pride when watching the world-famous RCMP Ride. In 2003 I followed-up my family background in Ottawa with a visit to the old War Museum, the Chateau Laurier, the Canadian Archives, and a tourâ€"one of the highlights of which for me was the RCMP headquarters. Knin, like Benkovac, is over fifty kilometers from the historical boundary of Vojna Krajina as the crow flies. Fifty kilometers may not seem a long distance in Canada, but on 19th century European mountain tracks, where every square kilometer has 3000 years of history, distance is a relevant factor. Before the UN arrived in 1992, Benkovac and predominantly Croatian villages around it had been ethnically-cleansed and the villagers slaughtered there under the command of Ratko Mladic (before he took command of Serb forces in Bosnia). The Serbian war crimes of nearby Skabrnje or Brusko have been dealt with at the Hague Tribunal; but other towns surrounding Benkovac which were cleansed by Serbs before the UN arrival included Lisane-Ostrovicke, Medvida, Rodaljice, Sopot, Polaca, Korlat, and Nadin. During 1991, every town with a Croatian majority was ethnically cleansed all along major roads, from the south of Knin to Korenica in northern Lika across the border from Bihac. About the 1991 Serbian attacks in the Benkovac vicinity a British archeological team wrote: “The shelling of the city (Zadar) by the Serbian Army, or JNA, was shocking and distressing. News followed that many of the hilltop monuments investigated by the project had been taken over as military strongholds by the JNA; the damage caused to these sites by the excavation of army trenches cannot be underestimated. And the massacre by the Army of an unknown number of Croats in the hamlet of Nadin, where the project worked for three seasons, can only be the cause of the deepest regret.â€?VII Misha Glenny (of BBC) in his book,“The Fall of Yugoslaviaâ€? blurs the meaning of Vojna Krajina and Krajina, by using the terms interchangeably and in reference to Knin, and says that the minorities question should include territorial integrity.VIIIGlenny’s version of history was refuted by Ivo Banac, a Yale History Professor, who writes: “For example, the Knin area of northern Dalmatia was never part of the Hapsburg Military Frontier, or, more properly, of the Croatian-Slavonian Military Frontier, the inhabitants of the latter were predominantly Croats …(and) that the migration of Serbian patriarch Arsenije III Carnojevic to southern Hungary had virtually nothing to so with the Serb presence in Banija, Kordun, Lika and the Knin area …â€? IXSimilarly, even Tim Judah, in his book which has a pro-Serbian bias, “The Serbsâ€?, made the point that Knin and Southern Dalmatia were never part of the Habsburg Vojna Krajina.XIt appears Croatian historical boundaries and timeframes are being deliberately distorted to create a fictitious succession of Serbian power which did not exist in history. Another example of this is in US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke’s “To End a Warâ€? (1998).XI Holbrooke, the architect of Dayton, inserts two maps which shows “Krajinaâ€? in Croatia. In his monologue Holbrooke refers to Kijevo as being in Krajina. Like Inspector Muir, Holbrooke also uses Silber & Little for a reference, that Serbs had lived in ‘Krajina’ for generations. Silber & Little, (of BBC) in “The Death of Yugoslaviaâ€? discuss Krajina as the ‘Serbo-Croatian’ word for Kraj or edge or end, or means Vojna Krajina, or Military Frontier. After the meaning of the terms Krajina and Vojna Krajina are discussed interchangeably, the book then continues with, “Knin is a lonely dust-bowl of a place in the isolated barren wastelands of Croatia’s Dinaric mountains. Krajina forms the hinterland of Croatia’s prosperous Adriatic coast, with which it had traded and intermarried for centuries. Knin and Krajina generally, were economically integral parts of southern Croatia.â€? XIIIn “A Paper Houseâ€? Mark Thompson writes: “ … (Serbs) policed the vojna granica or vojna krajina (Military Frontier). A spartan tradition of pride and independence was transmitted from father to son, just as in the southern Habsburg borderlands, where Serb communities protected Knin and the Likaâ€? … (or) “… named after the vojna krajina (Military Frontier) between the north Dalmatian coast and the Bosnian border … the historic territories of the Vojna Krajina’ were proclaimed autonomous. “.XIII Just as with Silber & Little, after reading this text, Knin appears to have existed in Vojna Krajina, and of course no authentic European documents or relevant maps could be referred to. In the book “War in the Balkans 91-93â€? there is a blur between the historical meaning of Vojna Krajina and the more recently alleged ‘Krajina’ territory. Many glossy photographs and maps are explained on adjoining pages by text, “… that Croatia has strong Serbian settlements, dating back to the 16th and 17th century and descended from the farmer soldiers who were encouraged by the Habsburgs to settle down in this region and … which became known as the frontierâ€"in Serb ‘Krajina’ … “ in reference to the Zadar or Knin region.XIVThe propaganda which originated in a few pro-Serbian books has become widely spread over the internet. According to one internet site, “The so-called Military Krajina (Vojna Krajina) comprised northern Dalmatia, Lika, Kordun, Banija and Bosnian Krajina (western Bosnia).XVAnother report on the internet, “Minorities in Croatiaâ€? shows a map of the “Republic of Croatia 2000â€? marking the main regions of Croatia as Slavonia, Istria, Krajina and Dalmatia.XVIOne more example from the internet is of Heather Field of Australian Political Studies Association, discussing the “Knin Krajinaâ€? area and the minority issue in Croatia as being problematic because of its “historical tradition of not being under Croat or Zagreb control from when they had acted as the frontier military force and defence of the Austro-Hungarian empire…â€? XVIIInstead of referring to the official UNPA Sectors, the Hague indictments constantly refer to the unrecognized ‘Krajina’ region of Croatia instead of Croatia.XVIII It would seem that ‘Krajina’ has been recognized in many international circles including the Hague, even though it was not recognized by the UN. In addition even the OSCE (Org. for Security & Cooperation in Europe) talks in Europe rejected proposals to link ‘minority rights’ with territorial demands in 1991. Croatia’s Territorial Integrity If the Hague indictments do not use accepted international terms how then can one expect others to do so? The issue of territorial integrity and sovereignty should be a Croatian condition for EU entry, just as Turkey and other countries have their own set of counter-conditions. Croatia’s historical territory around Knin has been documented in treaties by the Habsburgs, the Ottomans, and the Venetians, just to name a few. For example, several stages of Venetian occupation which rivalled Ottoman incursions over the centuries around the Knin region have been well documented. For centuries Knin has always been an integral part of Croatian history, not Serbian history. Even when under the Ottoman Empire, Knin was in ‘Turkish Croatia’ (as designated by many official contemporaneous mapmakers). Later when Knin and the Dalmatian hinterland was occupied by Venice the majority of the inhabitants there were Croats with whom most of the Morlacchi became assimilated as either Orthodox or Catholics. In their official capacity Croatian government representatives must articulate in clear terms that they expect their territory and history to be respected, before Croatia enters the EU. Footnotes:I “Peacemakers: Six Months that Changed the Worldâ€?, M. Macmillan, London 2002 (p.300).II “The World’s Bankerâ€?, S. Mallaby, Sydney 2005 (p.362).III “Narodni Listâ€?, Zadar, 01 rujna 2005.IV “The Yugoslav Dramaâ€?, M. Crnobrnja, McGill-Queen’s UP, Montreal 1996 (page 16).V “Venice & the Slavs: Discovery of Dalmatia in the Age of Enlightenmentâ€?, L. Wolff, Stanford 2001 (p.148).VI “A Search for Something Betterâ€? by Inspector Graham Muir, from Legion Magazine website.VII “The Changing Face of Dalmatiaâ€?, Soc. Of Antiquaries of London, Leicester, 1996 (Preface). VIII“ The Fall of Yugoslaviaâ€?, M. Glenny, Penguin, London 1992, 1993 (p. 5-7, 101).IX “Foreign Policyâ€? Winter 93-94, I. Banac book review, reprinted on internet by the ‘bosnian institute’.X “The Serbsâ€?, T. Judah, USA, 1997 (p. 16).XI “To End a Warâ€?, R. Holbrooke, Random House NYC, 1998 (p. 25, 30, 161, 238).XII “The Death of Yugoslaviaâ€? (accompanies BBC TV series) L.Silber & A.Little, Penguin, London, 1995 (p. 100).XIII “A Paper House: The Ending of Yugoslaviaâ€?, M. Thompson, Random House, Sydney, 1992 (p. 236, 254, 260).XIV “War in the Balkans 1991-1993â€?, Debay, etc., editors, 1993 (p. 30).XV “Crisis in the Balkans: Croatiaâ€?, internet site of Centre for Peace in Balkans, Toronto.XVI “Minorities in Croatiaâ€? from internet site of ‘Minority Rights Group International’, 2003.XVII “Failure of Post-Communist Political Arrangements in Former Yugoslaviaâ€? H. Field, APSA, Australia, 2001.XVIII “Intnl. Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslaviaâ€?, on internet, Case No. IT-01-45, & IT-03-73-1. JEAN LUNT MARINOVICOCTOBER 2005www.croatianviewpoint.com    letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6232/1/E-The-Baska-Tablet-precious-stone-of-Croatian-literacy.html  THE BASKA TABLETprecious stone of Croatian literacy  The Baska tablet is probably the most famous monument of early Croatian literacy, dating from about 1100. Its size and weight are impressive: 2x1 m, 800 kg. According to Branko Fucic and Eduard Hercigonja, the language of inscription is Croatian - Chakavian with elements of liturgical Church Slavonic, and the script isCroatian Glagolitic. It was found in the church of St. Lucy (Sv. Lucija) in Jurandvor near Baska on Krk, the largest Croatian island. JOSIP JOVIC and the question of free speech, freedom of thought, and free media in Europe   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sun, 09 Oct 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6235/1/E-Britain-and-the-Bleiburg-Tragedy.html  Britain and the Bleiburg TragedyBritain and the Bleiburg Tragedy is an artist’s impression of the terrible events which took place in Croatia during the early 1990s, and the virtually unknown, but horrendously destructive, events that have occurred since the end of the Second World War centred around attempts over a long period of time to create a Greater Serbia in the area commonly known as The Balkans. Since the end of the First World War, the history of the Balkans has been dominated by the Western Allies acceptance of the Serbs claim to be the dominant force in what became known as Yugoslavia after the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This was despite the Croatian decision in 1918 to vote for a “Neutral and Peasant Republic of Croatia”. At the direction of the so-called “Paris Peace Conference” in 1919 the State of Yugoslavia, including Croatia, was handed over to the Serbs under their King, ruling from the Serbian capital Belgrade with Serbian laws. Brooks-Pincevic, the author of the book, is a resident of New Zealand. She is both English and French and was born in Sydney. She is married to Gary Pincevic, a Croatian from Dubrovnik who migrated to Australia.Passionately eloquent in exposing the lies and hypocrisy prevalent in this history, she has vividly captured, both in word and painting, the horrible events, which took place in Croatia before, during, and after the Second World War, writing particularly about the misunderstandings and blatant misrepresentations of the Croatian people during that time.Particularly poignant is her profound handling of the Bleiburg Tragedy, when thousands of Croatian civilians were handed over to the Communist leaders of Yugoslavia and massacred. A Foreword, written in 1968 by Major-General Charles A. Willoughby from the United States Army for a book “Operations Slaughterhouse”, is included in this section of the book in which he described in great detail the massacre of thousands of disarmed Croatian soldiers and civilians in May 1945, with the “mute acceptance of the British and American Governments”.Suzanne Brooks-Pincevic’s paintings vividly portray the appalling events, which have taken place in Croatia since the Second World War and the commentary accompanying the paintings give clear testimony of the efforts since 1918 of the intent to produce a Greater Serbia. One of the great tragedies of the events described in the book is the lack of support given to the people of Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the other countries in the region by the Western Nations to claim their right to freedom from their oppressors. It is hoped that the Brooks-Pincevic book will clear the way for a better understanding of events in the Balkans since the end of the 1914-18 War.Review by Mark J Posa State Officer, National Civic Council, Adelaide, Australia.…“I commend this book by Suzanne Brooks-Pincevic which supports my research of the last 20 years by highlighting the only last major massacre of the 2nd World War – a massacre which remains officially unacknowledged and unatoned. The dead will not rest in their graves until the truth is brought out and recognized”….Count Nikolai Tolstoy, Berkshire, England. Author of: The Minister and the Massacres, Stalin’s Secret War, Victims of Yalta…“Lovers of music, art, history and skiing are familiar with the tiny, Alpine country of Austria but most likely they have never heard of its small town of Bleiburg. This book, through the masterful brush and poetic pen of Suzanne Brooks–Pincevic, brings “Bleiburg” to life so that its readers will never forget it and will do all in their power to awaken the consciences of those who must know about it and must in truth and justice undertake such corrective measures that the Bleiburg Tragedy will never be repeated”…John Prcela, Cleveland, Ohio 44121, USA. Editor-in-Chief of: Operation Slaughterhouse, Hrvatski Holokaust…“Suzanne Brooks-Pincevic is the author of a remarkable and unique book containing reproductions of the author’s original paintings. These, along with poems, prose (historical accounts) with eyewitness statements, present a dramatic document dealing with one of the most important and tragic events in modern Croatian history…..it is a well deserved tribute to all those hundreds of thousands civilians and soldiers who lost their lives for Croatia’s independence during the past 60 years”….Dr George J Prpic, Professor Emeritus of History, John Carroll University, USASend Orders to: LEON PUBLICATIONS LTD1 Lake Road, Northcote, Auckland, New Zealand.Tel/Fax: (0064-9) 419-0504 email: leon.art@xtra.co.nzhttp://www.hrvati-amac.com/suzanne_pincevic.doc    letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 20 Aug 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6234/1/E-COUNT-IVAN-ANZFRANKOPAN-by-Mladen-Ibler.html   COUNT IVAN ANZ FRANKOPAN,  THE ROYAL STEWARD OF THE ESTATE IN SWEDEN 1426 - 1434          by Mladen Ibler Within the framework of medieval history of Europe and its own geo-strategic location, Scandinavian royalties and nobility entertained contacts with central and Western Europe. Less known however, is the relationship between Eric  of Pomerania, the King  of the three Scandinavian realms and the Croatian nobility of Frankopans. This paper attempts to provide the short description of the conditions in Croatia and Scandinavia at the beginning of XV century,  the relationship between Eric  of Pommerania and count Ivan Anz Frankopan, and the role of the Republic of Dubrovnik (Ragusa) during King Eric's travel on his way to the Holy Land 1424-5. Based on Dubrovnik, Budapest, Vatican and  Scandinavian  sources,  a special emphasis is being given to the events surrounding Ivan Anz Frankopan's visit to Sweden. In Venetian and Scandinavian sources, he is reffered to under the name of Gian Franchi and Johan Franke. Due to this reason, historians have been unaware of the real identity of King Eric's steward of the estate (fief) Stegeborg in Sweden 1426-34, count Ivan Anz Frankopan.  Key words: Frankopan, Ivan Anz;  King Eric of Pommerania;  Stegeborg;  Kalmar Union I. The Kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia has been in personal union with Kingdom of Hungary since 1102. Its main parts,  Dalmatia and Croatia were governed by a viceroy (Ban), and Slavonia, as the third part, was governed by its own viceroy. In the beginning of the fifteenth century the Kingdom was the object of fight between King Ladislas of Naples and his rival Sigismund of Luxemburg. Aware that he would not be able to hold the Hungaro-Croatian throne, King Ladislas of Naples sold  parts of Dalmatia he still possessed in1409, i.e. towns of Zadar, Novigrad and Vrana, and the island of Pag to the Venetian Republic for 100,000 ducats. After Zadar, the islands of Rab and Cres, and the town of Nin also came under the rule of Venice which thus gained a substantial foothold in Dalmatia and kept it until its fall in 1797. In response to the Venetian aspirations to expand their rule to other Dalmatian towns, the new Hungaro-Croatian King Sigismund (Rex Hungarie, Dalmacie, Croacie etc.) waged a new war against Venice (1411-13) however with no success, losing towns Skradin, Ostrovica and Sibenik. A five year truce was concluded in Trieste, according to which each side retained its conquests. When the truce expired in 1418, another war started. Sigismund was defeated in Friuli and Dalmatia. After a long siege, Venice captured Trogir and Split, and the islands of Kor_ula, Bra_ and Hvar. The only parts of the Adriatic coast left to the Croatian Kingdom (i.e. Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia) were the Frankopan town of Senj (Segna) and the island of Krk (Veglia) in the north, and Omis (Almissa) with Krajina and Poljica in the south. [1] The most powerful noble family in Dalmatia and Croatia at the time were the Counts of Krk  (Segne, Veglie et Modrusse comites) i.e. count Nikola IV, who became Ban (Viceroy) of Dalmatia and Croatia in 1426, and whose name Frankopan (de Frangepanibus) was officially accepted later. In the same year he loaned King Sigismund 28,000 ducats, obtaining almost all of Croatia as security. Next to the counts of Krk, the master of the largest estates was his friend, count Ivanis Nelipčić, whose possessions  included parts of  Dalmatia around Split and its inland.[2] The Dubrovnik Republic (Reipublica Ragusina) comprised  in the first half of the fifteenth century the City and its environs, peninsula Peljesac, island Mljet, Konavle inland with the islet of Molunat. The Republic stretched from the Bay of Boka Kotorska to city of Neum. In terms of government, Dubrovnik  was a patrician republic run by the Senate (Consilium rogatorum), with the Minor Council (Consilium minus) as the executive authority. The Mayor Council (Consilium maius) consisted of 203 patricians as members.The Republic was no military power, and it was therefore forced to pursue a very skilful and strictly neutral foreign policy in order to ensure its territorial integrity and freedom of trade. Beeing part of the Croato-Hungarian State, it paid tribute to King Sigismund. Ragusan ships plied active trade in all ports on the western coast of the Adriatic, as well as throughout the Mediterranean, in Portugal, England and Flanders. Dubrovnik was the strongest Croatian centre of business, and it was one of the most developed European states in terms of its national income and culture.[3]   II.                      The union of Scandinavian states was the result of the initiative of Margareth, Queen of Denmark and her skilful diplomatic efforts and negotiations with Norwegian and Swedish nobility; however, it could not pass without an armed intervention against King Albrecht of Mecklenburg, who did not enjoy the support of the Swedish nobles. One of the primary reasons underlying the creation of the union was of a foreign political nature: Queen Margareth was quite aware that Denmark on its own could not resolve the issue of Schleswig, which had long been part of Denmark and was  now claimed by the Counts of Holstein. Dynastic ties favoured such a union since Margareth was the daughter of of the Danish king Waldemar Atterdag, and her husband, the Norwegian king Haakon was of Swedish origin. Since their son died at an early age, and in order to secure succession, Margareth adopted the grandson of her sister Bugislawa of Pomerania, and gave him the popular Scandinavian name of Eric. Thus, on 17 June 1397, the Union of Kalmar came into being (after the town of Kalmar in southern Sweden), and Eric was crowned as the first king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. However, because of his youth, the official ruler continued to be his step-mother, who was given an unusual and - as far as Scandinavian history is concerned - unique title of 'lady of our kingdoms, master and powerful guardian of our house'. She ruled until Eric's coming of age in 1401, and practically until her death in 1412. Through negotiations and avoiding the issue of possession, Margareth succeeded in obtaining the recognition of Danish sovereignty over Schleswig by the Counts of Holstein.[4] King Eric of Pomerania faced a number of foreign and domestic policy problems caused by his imposition of customs levies on ships passing through the Sund between Denmark and Sweden, his conflict with the Hanseatic League, the appointment of Danish and German stewards in Sweden, and differences between feudal systems of Denmark and Sweden.[5] After Margareth's death the Counts of Holstein again brought up the issue of Schleswig, and Eric was forced to seek the juridical support of his cousin, King Sigismund.[6] Taking due account of the different area and geostrategic situation, the Counts of Holstein posed for the Danish king Eric a danger similar to that posed by the Venetian Republic for the Frankopans. The claims of  the Venetian Republic in Dalmatia and northern Italy on the other side, also clashed with the interests of King Sigismund. His relations with the Frankopans ought  to be regarded as a reflection of current economic interests and of the balance of power in that part of Europe in the first half of the fifteenth century.     III.                                                                     Ivan Anz VI Frankopan was the son of Nicola IV, the most powerful of the Counts of Krk and Viceroy of Croatia and Dalmatia from 1426 to 1432 (Segne, Veglie et Modrusse comitem, Regni Dalmacie et Croacie Banus). He was the eldest of nine brothers. His name Ivan is translated  as Johannes (Latin), Hans (von Zenge, German) and Gian, Zuan or Zian (Italian). His second name Anz, is  abreviation of the latin name Angelus.   In 1411, according  agreement between the parents, he became engaged to Katarina, daughter of  Ivanis Nelipčić, count of Cetina. He had adopted Ivan Anz more than a year before the engagement, because he had no male heir himself. During his war against Venetian Republic and en route to Friuli, King Sigismund issued a charter in Frankopan's town Brinje on 28 October 1412, whereby count Ivanis Nelipčić was given licence to give his daughter Katarina, fiance of Ivan Anz, as dowry all the estates of his family.[7]  There are no records of Ivan's birth date, but in that year he and his younger brother Stjepan were mentioned as adult young men.[8]  Because of the Venetian claims on their lands, the Counts of Krk were forced not only to negotiate with Venice but also to establish ties with its rivals in Italy (such as Duke of Milan, Fillipo Maria Visconti), nobles of German origin (Elisabeth, the cousin of Nikola IV, was married to Friedrich of Cilli, whose father Hermann was Ban of Slavonia), and with King Sigismund himself. There is no doubt that in addition to Croatian, Ivan Anz also spoke Latin, Italian (of Venetto-dialect) and German. He was probably educated in good manners, negotiation and the chivalric arts of the time. It may be concluded that he was brave - probably also of an adventurous spirit - and that count Nikola Frankopan trusted him as his oldest son and heir to the position of Ban of Dalmatia and Croatia.    IV.   Friedrich, the eldest son of Hermann, Count of Cilli and Viceroy of Slavonia, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Stjepan I Frankopan in 1405. Her uncle, Nikola IV Frankopan, was to pay 32,000 ducats as the dowry. As he was probably unable to produce such a sum, he pledged her and her husband Friedrich one-half of the island of Krk, and the Trsat, Bakar and Bribir, important cities  north of  Senj. Friedrich left Elisabeth in 1412 for his mistress Veronika Desinić, according popular belief, reputed belle from Zagorje in northern part of Croatia. His father, together with Frankopans tried for eight years to reconcile them, but without success.   Elisabeth and Friedrich met at last in 1422 in a castle at Krapina, but  on the first night Elisabeth died a violent death, probably slain by Friedrich by knife.[9] At that time, King Sigismund was engaged in a war against the Hussites, the Viceroy was not in Slavonia and as Friedrich's sister Barbara was the wife of King Sigismund, no one held Friedrich accountable for Elisabeth's death until 1424. Fearing revenge and a clash with other Croatian nobles, in June of the same year Friedrich fled on horseback to Buda in order to seek protection from his sister, Queen Barbara.[10]  It was precisely the conflict between Frankopans and Friedrich of Cilli over the murder of Elisabeth, that occasioned the meeting between King Erik of Pommerania and Ivan Anz Frankopan.     V.   The paths of the first King of Kalmar Union and Ivan Anz crossed in Sigismund's Buda (then Offen) in June, 1424. In that year, King Sigismund convened in Buda an assembly of European nobility to discuss, among other matters, the dispute between his cousin, King Erik and the Counts  of Holstein over possession of Schleswig.[11]   Eric's father-in-low was Henry IV of Britain, and his sister was married to the Duke of Bavaria; along with the fact that he ruled the largest state in Europe, this facts also contributed to his reputation. Therefore, having arrived in Buda in February, he joined Sigismund in order to discuss the agenda of the assembly.[12]  King Eric was  then about 42 and, according to the description of Aenes Sylvius Piccolomini, his tall figure, fair hair, athletic build and supple movements attracted general attention and particularly the glances of womenfolk.[13]  Ivan Anz Frankopan arrived in Buda at about same time, seeking satisfaction in a duel from Friedrich of Cilli for the murder of his cousin Elisabeth. Friedrich tried to avoid the duel and was hoping to take advantage of his kinship with King Sigismund. The king, on the other side, did not want to antagonize either the Frankopans or the Cillis, and did his best to avoid scandal and find                                                                                                                                                          a compromise.[14]  So, he found an ideal mediator in the Scandinavian king. After king Erik received, on 28 June, the charter of King Sigismund which resolved the controversy over Schleswig with the Dukes of Holstein to his advantage (count Hermann of Cilli, Ban of Slavonia, played important role in this decision),[15]  he could only repay the favour and use his good services in order to talk young Ivan Anz out of confrontation with Friedrich of Cilli. His persuasiveness proved successful. It is certain that while talking to Ivan, King Erik became familiar with Ivan Anz's character, linguistic versatility and knowledge of circumstances in Dalmatia and Italy, and decided to take him along as an attendant and interpreter. It is worth to remember, that Ivan Anz's father, count Nikola, experienced the pilgrimage to the Holy Land some years before. According to historian Klaić, 'king Erik may have already grown found of the valiant young man at that time, as we find him at the Danish court eight years thereafter'.[16]   VI.   In the Middle Ages the pilgrimage to the Holy Land was the highest goal of every Christian, particularly for the nobility and crowned heads. Ivan Anz's father, Count Nikola Frankopan, also visited Jerusalem in 1411.[17]  The pilgrimage, which was not without risk at the time, was often a sign of a ruler's gratitude for a particular success or gain. It was believed that Erik, after the favourable resolution of King Sigismund on Schleswig, decided to set off for the Holy Land. However, his visit to Venice en route to his destination (but not at his return!) shows that Erik, being indebted to King Sigismund, also had to carry out a political mission for the king.   The shortest route from Buda to the eastern coast of the Adriatic led across Croatia and the regions ruled by Counts of Frankopan, to their town and then important port of Senj.[18] On the advice of Sigismund, Eric certainly took that route and took Ivan Anz along as an attendant. It may be assumed that Sigismund was keen to have Ivan Anz away from Friedrich of Cilli for a time, and that brought his influence to bear on Erik to take him along, not only as an attendant on his journey to the Holy Land, but also subsequently to Sweden. The Dubrovnik Republic also played a part on that journey. Already on 19 March 1424 - during  King Erik's stay in Krakow, i.e. before Sigismunds resolution on Schleswig - the Council of Dubrovnik received King Sigismund's letter informing about Erik's intention to visit the Holy Land and recommending the king to Council's attention.[19] The Ragusans replied on 17 May and informed Sigismund about the movements of hostile ships in the Mediterranean. The similar letter was sent also on 31 August.[20] On 31 July 1424, two envoys  arrived to Venice from Senj, requesting that King Eric should be given free passage to Venice; they also requested a galley to be outfitted at the king's expense for the journey to the Holy Land, and finally, the loan af a sizable sum of 10,000 ducats. On the same day, the Venetian Senate granted the king's wishes and decided that he would be met at Senj by Francesco Minnio, capitano delle Gallere di Quarnero, accompanied by six envoys. It was also decided to place another galley at the disposal of the Count of Senj, who would escort the king to Venice. According to the records of the Venetian chronicler and historian Antonio Morosini, King Eric left in Senj 1000 horses and most of his escort.[21]  It is possible that during his stay at Senj, a member of king's escort took over the figurative pattern of the Croatian coat of arms as his  noble family's heraldic device in Sweden.[22]  Accompanied by Count Nikola Frankopan, Viceroy of Croatia and Dalmatia (recorded by Morosini as el Signor de Segna) and some thirty noblemen and knights, King Erik experienced a solemn welcome in Venice on 24 August. He stayed at the Duke of Ferara's Palace, today 'Fondacci dei Turchi',[23]  while Count Nikola stayed at the palace of Count Carlo Malatesta de Rimini.[24]. Along with the ceremonial part of the visit, the king also held political talks with the Doge, showing that his visit to Venice was intended as mediation in the conflict between Venice and Sigismund. Venice was then allied with Duke Fillippo Maria Visconti of Milan. The alliance was meant to strengthen Venice's hand in the war against king Sigismund for the possession of Dalmatia and Friuli. The Scandinavian king tried to leave the impression of  a  neutral go-between, humbly offering his bona officia, but there is not doubt that he acted on instruction of his cousin Sigismund, to whom the alliance of Venice and Milan was certainly a thorn in the flesh.  On 1 September, the Doge reported the substance of the talks to the Senate, which accepted Eric's offer with gratitude, albeit with the reservation that no decision was possible without the agreement of theit ally, Visconti. Therefore, the Senate informed Duke Visconti of Eric's offer through the Venetian ambassador in Milan. Distrusting Eric's bona officia, Visconti declined the offer, as the Venetian ambassador reported to the Senate on 8 September. Having been appraised of Visconti's position, on 14 September the Senate instructed its ambassador to express the Venetian loyalty  to the agreed alliance. During that time, King Eric was probably in Venice, which he presumably left only after hearing Visconti's response.[25] Although the description of King Eric's sojourn in Venice is rich and comprehensive, no word is mentioned about his interpretor, and among the  names of  Venetians involved in king's  travel, the name of  Gian or Zian Franchi is not mentioned. King Eric arrived to Dubrovnik on 16 September 1424, warmly welcomed by the authorities and citizens. During his  meeting with the members of the Council, king Eric secretly declared that he, under any circumstances, has no intention to pass Venice on his return from the Holy Land. The Ragusans, in the letter of 20. September, informed King Sigismund of Eric's visit and asked him which other route to recommend when he returned to Dubrovnik.[26]  There are no records of the king's stay in Jerusalem; on the way back he visited Rhodos, where he borrowed 2,000 ducats from the Knights Hospitaliers, which he later repaid, somewhat reluctantly, to their fellow brethren in Denmark.[27]  King Eric arrived again at Dubrovnik on a Venetian ship on Christmas day 1424, escorted among others, by count Ivan Anz Frankopan and his younger brother Nikola. He resided at the Palace, and the authorities daily provided 60 perperi for his meals. He was permitted to import for himself a keg of Greek romagna wine.[28] [29]   The Frankopans were offered accomodation in the mansion of Duke Sandalj[30] and the Council moved for a donation of 60 perperi in their favour [31].  The detailed records kept in The Dubrovnik Archives mention no interpreter named 'Gian Franchi' in the king's escort. In Dubrovnik the king dismissed the Venetian galley on board of which he arrived. However, lucking funds to pay it, he asked the Ragusans to loan him 2000 ducats. On 26 December the loan was granted, obviously with a guarantee and certain provisions. In the receipt the king undertook to repay the loaned in Senj, if possible, or deliver it in Buda to the Ragusan ambassador who would escort him on his journey.[32]  The foregoing suggests that the Ragusans counted on King Eric to pass through Senj and borrow the money from Count Nikola Frankopan in order to be able to repay the Ragusan loan. On the Ragusan galley, the king sailed to Omis (Almissa) on 5 January 1425 in order to visit Count Ivanis Nelipčić, Ivan Anz's father-in-law.  From Omis, he set off on horseback  to Count Nikola Frankopan in Senj, from where he continued his return to Buda. [33] [34]  According to the Venetian Morosini, the king's galley from Senj arrived in Venice in January, but without the king. It carried the ship's commander, Giovanni Giustinian de St. Apostolo and the king's interpreter messere Zian Franchi and two envoys, who expressed King Eric's apologies and regrets at having to return to his kingdom for important reasons, and beeing therefore unable  to visit Venice.[35]  The two enwoys were obviously the two Ragusan diplomats - ambassadors Ã?uro Gučetić and Dzore Palmotić.[36] It should be reminded, within the context of further considerations, that Venetian sources, which otherwise abound in details relating to the visit of Eric of Pommerania to Venice, do not mention  the king's abovementioned interpreter, Zian or Gian Franchi (in Scandinavian sources Johan Franke), which means that he was not with King Eric when he arrived in Venice in August 1424, or when he left Venice in September of the same year. The records kept in The Dubrovnik Archives mention no word about the interpreter with such a name.   The person in question was obviously the oldest son of Count Nikola,  Ivan Anz Frankopan, whom Eric had met in Buda i juni 1424, and who joined the king on his way to the Holy Land, probably in Senj or Omis, and whose name is recorded in the archives of Dubrovnik. According to historian Klaić, 'we find him at the Danish court eight years thereafter'. [37] According to the already cited Antonio Morosini, 'subsequently, the (king's) interpreter, messere Zian Franchi, properly outfitted and on horseback, left Venice to visit the king in his country.' Morosini added a malicious remark, which he would certainly have omitted had a distiguished citizen or a nobleman from the  Republic of Venice been involved: '... looking forvard to a reward, which will enable him to keep up his knightly status ' (' lo dito so turzimano miser zian franchi, de qua eser vestido horevel mente, e con cavay in lo so pixe andando per vixitarlo, sperando ave una provixion per mantegnir la so chavalaria orevel mente.').[38]   VII.     The reasons which led King Eric of Pomerania to employ foreign noblemen as bailiffs and stewards of his castles on his estates in Sweden are certainly interesting. He trusted them more than Swedish noblemen, and could expect  loyalty and greater tax-collection efficiency from them, mostly of Danish and German origin. The appointment of 'a simple interpreter and king's travel attendant' to the post of the bailiff of one of Sweden's major castles in the fifteenth century  evoked  amazement by some historians. [39]  The same applies to the origin of Gian (Zian) Franchi,  in Scandinavian historiography known as Johanes Franke. All Swedish historical works and treatises [40] relating to the identity of 'Gian Franchi' rely on information from Morosini, and the sources based on the records of Venetian seamen who, having suffered a shipwreck in 1432, stayed at the Swedish castle of Stegeborg en route from Lofoten to their homeland. Their report was published in Venice by Giovanni Batista Ramusio between 1553-59, and again by Bullo in 1881.[41]  The latest translation appeared in Norway in 1991. [42] A comparative analysis of the abovementioned sources with the sources known to Croatian historiography points to the conclusion that Gian Franchi (Johan Franke) and Ivan Anz Frankopan are one and the same person. Having delivered, together with the Ragusan envoys, the message to the Venetian Senate to the effect that King Eric could not visit Venice for reasons of state, Ivan Anz Frankopan left, 'properly outfitted and on horseback', some time in late January or early February, for the country of King Eric, the first king of the Union of Kalmar. It is not known how and when he arrived in Scandinavia. The Swedish State Archives contain copies of two documents of 1426 mentioning the presence of Johan Franke, Steward of the estate (fief) and castle of Stegeborg. One of the documents is cited by the distinguished Swedish historian Styffe [43] , who claims that Johan Franke had certified the dowry given by Bengt Konigsmarck to Mrs. Ingrid Karlsdottir Gedda on 30 May 1426. Bengt Konigsmark was the Steward of the royal castle of Kalmar, and Ingrid Karlsdottir the daughter of a high royal dignitary. Further investigations in the Archives disclosed another copy of a document on a similar subject, in which Johan Franke, together with parson Haakon, certified a deed of donation whereby a certain Ragvald Puke donated to his wife some land at Ullalva; the deed is dated 29 May 1426, i.e. one day before the first document [44].   Along with Kalmar, among the other  important Swedish castles were Stegeborg and Köpingshus.  Trusting Johan Franke (Ivan Frankopan), King Eric first appointed him Steward (hövitsman, fogdare) of the castle of Köpingshus, and then of the castle of Stegeborg, with the respective estates.[45]  Stegeborg was a well-fortified castle next to the narrowest part of the bay of Slätbakken on the eastern Swedish coast, and it guarded the approach to Söderköping and to the interior. It was first mentioned in 1310, although its foundations are of an older date. The Danish queen Margaret used to visit the castle, as did relatively often, also King Eric. Until 1427 it was managed by the Swedish noble Magnus Drake, and thereafter by Ivan An_ Frankopan, known in Swedish sources under the name Johan Franke and under the italianized version of his name, Gian Franchi. In July 1432, the Venetian Pietro Querini stayed  at Stegeborg with the remaining members of his crew, survivors of a shipwreck. On its journey from Crete to the Netherlands, their ship foundered off the Portuguese coast.   Their  boats  were  carried  by  the wind and  the Gulf  Stream  until  the surviving seamen  - including one from Sibenik and Zadar on Dalmatian coast - finally landed  on the Lofoten, crossed Norway and Sweden on foot, before they could board a ship and sail for Venice [46].  The record describes Ivan Anz Frankopan (in this case, under the name Zuan or Gian Franco) as an outstandingly hospitable and kind 'distinguished nobleman and esteemed baron in the service of King Eric'. He escorted them personally, continues the record, with a hundred horsemen to the boundary of the estate, and from there to the port of Lödöse they were escorted by his son Mapheo (Matheo?). It should be noted that the descriptions of the Querini  and of his crew differ somewhat, and that there are possibly some errors of transcription in the Norwegian translation  [47] . Indicatively, the record of Venetian seamen does not  mention with a single word the exact origin of their benefactor, with whom they were able to converse in their own language  after six months of tribulation and journeying through Scandinavia, and whom they supposed to be their countryman. Indeed, one would expect a mention of that point if a nobleman of Italian, and particularly Venetian, origin had been involved. However, the real identity of King Eric's Steward of  Stegeborg has been revealed by  the written record, originating far away from Scandinavia. Few weeks before Venetian seamen's  arrival to Stegeborg,  died Ivan Anz's father, Count Nikola Frankopan, Ban (viceroy) of Croatia and Dalmatia. Written by an uknown priest that very day,  in a breviary from the island of Krk, the Frankopans' 'parent' region,  it was noted that the Ban's son Anz, was in the service of the Danish king at that time, the summer of 1432:    'The good and noble Ban Nikola died on the twenty-sixth day of the month of June 1432. And his son Anz was by the king of Denmark ...'. The note, written by glagolytic script and in Croatian language, describes also that at the same time, Stjepan, Ivan Anz's younger brother, was by king Sigismund and that Bosnia has been  invaded by Turks [48].                                                                      VIII.   Scandinavian sources call Ivan Anz Frankopan as  Franchi or Franke, which corresponds to the belief that he was of Italian (Venetian) origin. In fact, that was an abbreviated Italian or German version of the name Frankopan, which was not yet known in Venetian Republic. Croatian sources first mention the name Frankopan in relation  to Nikola Frankopan, Ivan Anz's father, in 1426, the very year in which Ivan Anz left for Sweden[49].  Four years later, the same name (de Frangepanibus) was confirmed to Nikola by Pope Martin V in Rome during a personal audience. However, King Sigismund's court mainly ignored  the Ban's new name, referring instead to the Segne,Veglie et Modrusse comites. Sigismund recognised the title to the name given after the Roman Frangepani, and the Pope's approval, only in 1434, i.e., after Nikola's death, to his first and third-born sons, Ivan Anz and Stjepan [50]. There is another and important reason why the identity of Ivan Anz Frankopan, during his journey to th Holy Land in the capacity of King Eric's attendant, was not known, or was not supposed to be known, even to the Venetian Republic. The information  that the son of the powerful 'el Signor de Segna' (as Count Nikola Frankopan is called in Venetian archives) was present on the ship sailing in the Mediterranean en route to the Holy Land would have been very valuable to the enemy ships and pirates in these waters [51] , because such a person could bring them a substantial amount of ducats in ransom; this would have jeopardized also the safety of King Eric [52], who travelled incognito[53], disguised as the ship's scribe, for the same reason. For Ivan Anz, an additional reason for caution and discretion was the risk which he could expect, on his way to northern Europe, while crossing the estates of the Counts of Cilli. Last but not least, it should be mentioned that Croatian historian Klaić does not exclude the possibility that Frankopans descend from the ancient  family Franko of the island of Krk[54].         IX.   In Sweden, discontent with King Eric grew in the early fourteen-thirties and as of 1430 his visits to that country became less frequent. In Dalarna, the northwestern part of Sweden, the nobleman Engelbrekt Engelbrektson started an insurgency which soon spread to other parts of the country. The uprising against Eric of Pommerania reached its climax in 1434, when it was also joined by the high nobility (Bo Stensson Natt och Dag, Karl Knutsson Bonde and others) dissatisfyied with foreign stewards in royal castles [55]. The Swedish people called foreigners from the southern parts of Europe (Walloons, Italians, etc.) Waale; thus, in the well-known fifteenth-century Swedish chronicle on Engelbrekt Engelbrektson the master of the castle of Stegeborg was called Johan Waale [56]. Having captured the castles of Borganäs and VästerÃ¥s, in the summer of 1434, Engelbrekt laid sieg to the fort of Köpingshus. Unable to to defend the fort, Frankopan withdrew to Stegeborg. Two months later he also surrendered that castle [57], which he hold since 1427 [58]. Considering the situation, it was understandible for Ivan Anz to decide to leave Sweden and return home. It is not known when and how he returned back to Croatia, and whether he kept coming back to Sweden. According to an document in the Swedish State Archives, he (under the name of Johan Franke) mortgaged an estate to the monastery at Vadstena in 1435 for 233 east Gothic pfennig; this would suggest that he needed money, perhaps to repay a debt or return to Croatia. Of particular interest is the fact that he - or someone else on his behalf -  later paid off the mortgage, and that his son Matts Franke (in Croatian language Matija) sold it in 1437 to Karl Knutsson Bonde [59], commander of Engelbrekt's army and subsequently regent of Sweden. In Croatia and Dalmatia, after the death of  Ban (viceroy) Nikola Frankopan, King Sigismund, in his capacity of sovereign, designated Nikola's sons as heirs in that part of the Kingdom.  Stjepan II was Nikola's third-born son, but King Sigismund mentioned him first (inspite Ivan Anz was the eldest).  It was  partly because Ivan Anz was absent from Croatia, and partly because his younger brother Stjepan was at that time  continuously in the king's retinue in Italian and German lands. He also confirmed the title of Ban to the brothers, and Stjepan and Ivan consequently signed themselves as Regni Dalmatiae et Croatiae Banus [60]. Ivan Anz's father-in-law died in May 1434, and Ivan inherited, through his wife Katarina, cities Klis, Omis and other etates. Having concluded peace with Venetian Republic, Sigismund was no longer politically and economically interested in Frankopans. In spite of the charter by which he had renounced, in 1412, his claim to the estate of Ivan Anz's father-in-law, he requested from Ivan Anz to reliquish the inherited estates. At the same time, Ulrich, son of Friedrich of Cilli, also claimed the unpaid dowry, i.e., the estates pledged by Frankopans to his father, Ivan Anz's opponent in Buda in 1424. Ivan Anz refused to bow to the king's request and to relinguish the estates, upon which he was proclaimed a rebel and divested of the title of Ban (viceroy) in January 1436. The king ordered the Ban of Slavonia to subdue Ivan Anz by force of arms. His military campaign against Ivan Anz in the summer of the same year  was not particularly successful. However, Ivan Anz died on 20. November, of uknown cause, probably at his castle of Klis [61].                                     His acquaintance from Buda, King Eric of  Pommerania, visited Stegeborg for the last time three years later[62], and after signing  stillestÃ¥ndsfördrag[63] on 21 August 1439, definitively left Sweden.   [1] Sisić, F., Pregled povijesti hrvatskog naroda, Zagreb 1962, p. 221-222;   Sunjić, M., Dalmacija u XV                                   stoljeću, Sarajevo 1976, p. 40-66. [2] Klaić,V., Povjest Hrvata, 2, Zagreb 1901, p. 113-114. [3] Stulli, B., Povijest Dubrovačke Republike, 1989, Dubrovnik - Zagreb, p. 50-60 etc. [4] Lauring, P., A History of The Kingdom of Denmark, Copenhagen 1969, p. 106-113. [5] Scott, D.F., Sweden - the Nation's History, South Illinois Univ. Press 1988, p. 106-113. [6] letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 20 Aug 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6233/1/HE-Oba-su-pala---Heroji-Domovinskog-Rata---Our-War-Heros.html  Oba su pala oba_su_palaWarInCroatia1991.mpeg Ovo je pocetak, Vi ispunite prazna mjesta i predstavite SVE HEROJE domovinskog oslobodilackog rata 1991-1998. This is a start. You fill the blanks and present all the heroes of the Croatian Liberation War of  1991-1998 Nenad Bach  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 20 Aug 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6237/1/E-Croatia-to-Mark-10th-Anniversary-of-Storm-Operation-Friday.html Croatia to Mark 10th Anniversary of Storm Operation Friday4 August 2005 | 14:49 | FOCUS News Agency Zagreb. Croatia will mark the 10th anniversary of Storm operation Friday, as a result of which the town of Knin was liberated, Montenegrin agency MINA reported for FOCUS news agency. According to authorities in Zagreb, the liberation of the town marks the end of the Serbian occupation in the central part of Croatia. Croatian agency HINA reported that the liberation of Knin is of great significance for the country because since the summer of 1990 the town has been the center of unrest on the part of local Serbian population. At first the unrest came down to a road blockade and later aggravated to wild assaults on Croatian cities and villages, to murders and deportations of non-Serbian population supported by Yugoslav People’s Army, HINA reported. Storm military operation started on August 4 and almost one fifth of the state was liberated for only 84 hours. According to HINA, during the operation 174 Croatian soldiers die and fewer than one thousand are injured. http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?catid=129&newsid=69523&ch=0  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Fri, 05 Aug 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6236/1/E-Croatian-Air-force-Marking-10th-anniversary-of-Victory.html  Croatian Air ForceMIG-21 of the Croatian Air force painted in colors of Croatian coat of Arms flies over spectators during ceremony marking 10th anniversary of operation Storm in Knin, Croatia on Friday, Aug. 5, 2005. 10 years ago Croatian troops stormed rebel Serb forces stationed in and around Knin ending 4 years occupation of its territory and existence of self declared Republic of Krajina. (AP Photo/Filip Horvat)  Flying with flare : Croatian Air Force AN-19 planes release flares during a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the military operation 'Storm' in Knin, Croatia. (AFP/Str ) AFP - 1 hour, 27 minutes agoA Croatian holds a photo of his slain father during a ceremony marking 10th anniversary of operation Storm in Knin, Croatia on Friday, Aug. 5, 2005. Croatians on Friday celebrated the 10th anniversary of a military victory which quashed a rebellion, but still draws condemnations and haunts the country's international relations. (AP Photo/Filip Horvat)  AP - Aug 05 6:12 AM  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Fri, 05 Aug 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6238/1/E-Operation-Storm-August-4-8-1995---2005.html  www.CroatianHistory.net Operation Storm, August 4-8, 19951995 - 200510 years from the liberation of parts of Croatia,in particular of Lika and Knin, from Greater-Serbian occupation 10 years of safe connection between Zagreb, Zadar, Sibenik, Split,Dubrovnik,... 10 years from the liberation of Knin, Croatian historic town !10 years from the deblocade of the town of Bihac inBiH,preventing the tragedy greater than that of Srebrenica in 1995 source: www.CroatianHistory.net letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Thu, 04 Aug 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6239/1/E-Croatias-Untold-Story-in-Film-Freedom-from-Despair.html  Croatia's Untold Story in Film Freedom from DespairThis feature-length documentary by Brenda Brkusic tells about the war against Croatian civilians within the context of decades of Serbian-led totalitarian rule. In this film the blueprint to create an ethnically pure greater-Serbian state beyond Serbia's borders is exposed. The untold Croatian story unfolds through the autobiography of the main character Kruno Brkusic, eye witness testimony, and archival footage. Scenes of the calm blue Adriatic Sea and Kruno's gentle melodies are contrasted with the insecurity of daily life in communist Yugoslavia which climaxed in full-scale Serbian aggression. These scenes of the Serbian bombardment of Croatia still have the power to shock us as we remember when the world looked-on as if gagged and bound. On one level Freedom from Despair informs us about the Croatian struggle for human rights and independence. But for its Croatian audience the film has an emotional dimension. Through Kruno's story, from Hvar to the forced annual free labour of youth in Yugoslavia, to the streets of Washington DC, the struggle of Croatian people is revealed. We are transported into a totalitarian society where ideological brainwashing, psychological abuse, and surveillance by secret police (UDBA) against the Croatian population begins in the primary school classroom, and follows them to the far corners of the world. According to interviewees in the film, even children had been expelled from school as an ‘anti-state element' or ‘reactionary', illustrating the role of ideology in former Yugoslav society. You were taught one thing at school and another at home. The personality cult of Tito was entrenched in former Yugoslav society.Croatian political refugees identify with the film's escape scene in the forest. The dialogue between young Kruno and his friends, about a better future in America, is contrasted to the American government's refusal to stop the Serbian bombardment. The film's pace slowly builds, through interviews about the Serbian-dominated communist party, and it increases in momentum with scenes of grief and bombardment. The climax of the film is reached when we learn that the protests and human rights of tens of thousands of Croats in the streets of Washington DC have been ignored by the media. The mood of despair and hope is captured in the bittersweet music of Nenad Bach, ‘Everything is Forever'. Croatia's Untold Story Bosnia, not Croatia, is the focus of most contemporary documentaries on the violent break-up of Yugoslavia. Often the inference is that the so-called third ‘Balkan' war was equally Croatia's fault, and that the alleged premature recognition of Croatia was also to blame. The one-sided Serbian aggression against Croatia must be left out of such documentaries in order to justify the allegation of equal guilt. Because the philosophy of equal guilt is central to post-Cold War conflict resolution strategies of containment, it has profoundly saturated the media today. I will argue that Freedom from Despair, set in post WWII Yugoslavia, shows how decades of Serbian-led oppression have led to the violent break-up of Yugoslavia. I have learned to be objective in my arguments because revolution and communist political systems was my university major. If there had been any bias on the topic of Yugoslav/Balkan politics in my essays I would not have a degree today. At the time university lectures on Yugoslavia generally reflected the status quo, but freedom of speech was not discouraged in tutorials or in essays. It's possible I was one of the first to write an essay on the causes of the break-up of Yugoslavia. ‘Yugoslavia and the Serbian Revolutionary Tradition' was the title of my ‘Balkans Special Readings' essay in April 1992. In that essay I argued that the political collapse of the rotating presidency and the transformation of the Yugoslav Peoples Army into a purely Serbian Army was part of a long term plan to create a greater-Serbian state. According to the Serbian dissident Djilas, Croats had to die so that Yugoslavia could live. By 1948 we witnessed the totalitarian takeover of the Yugoslav political, and military infrastructure by the Serbian ‘staatsvolk' or ‘nation builders'. Post WWII massacres discussed in Freedom from Despair included the murder of over 700 priests and Franciscans. Massacre sites were uncovered and eye witness accounts given. This immediate post-WWII period of communist Yugoslavia is known to Croats as the time of the Bleiburg Genocide, when hundreds of thousands of Croats were massacred. Ironically many Croatian communists or Croatian partisans had not escaped execution. One professor of communist political systems in Australia, J. Miller described the fanatical Yugoslav Central Committee before 1948 as “more Bolshevik than Bolsheviks” (La Trobe University, Lecture, 3 Aug 1989). The argument that nationalism was controlled under Tito is flawed. Serbian nationalism actually expanded under Titoism at the expense of Croatian human rights, and it was Tito who created a ‘Moslem' nationality in the 1974 constitution. Serbian nationalism was part of every day life. For example in the film we learn that Serbian songs were openly sung in public places in Croatia, but singing traditional Croatian songs was not permitted. The 1971 ‘Croatian Spring', virtually unheard of in contrast to other soviet crackdowns in Hungary or Czechoslovakia, is described in Freedom From Despair. Marko Dizdar's testimony, (a former Amnesty International political prisoner of conscience) described how the Serbian-led state “ignored the historical presence of Croatian people”. The fact that 32,000 Croatian party members were purged from their positions and found themselves on trial, in gulags, and assassinated as “enemies of the state” is central to why Yugoslavia broke-up violently. Over the ensuing decades operations for a greater-Serbia were coordinated on other fronts besides politics: during the Cold War Yugoslavia also built Europe's third best-equipped army. As elsewhere in Croatia, in Dalmatia the Serbian usurpation of power, and genocide and an accompanying Croatian exodus due to economic exploitation occurred. In Freedom from Despair, we see an example of this exodus from the island of Hvar, Kruno's birthplace. Thus, after WWII the demographics in some parts of Croatia had been deliberately altered, as in Zadar County. For example there was a post WWII Serbian influx into Knin, which had been included in Zadar's post-WWII enlarged boundaries. Knin was one of many army barracks in the region and because the Yugoslav Peoples Army leadership was dominated by Serbs their numbers and influence increased. Before WWII Knin had been in the Hrvatska Banovina region which had a majority of Croats. The plan for a greater-Serbia had its head in Belgrade and its feet in Knin. But Knin had never been in Vojna Krajina in history. The invention of a so-called ‘Krajina' was never the same as the Vojna Krajina. Most Orthodox Morlachi (Vlachs) in the region had originally been integrated into Croatian society and politics, not Serbian. Zadar boundaries had never included Lika. In the case of Zadar County, post WWII western loans ended up as investment in outlying Serbian-controlled townships, enforced by Serbian communist party members and Serbian police. Between 1990 and 1992, thousands of Croats were massacred or forcibly removed from those Serbian-controlled townships. Still others outside of the self-declared Serbian Krajina had to flee because of continued shelling which came from inside the UN ‘pink zone' in Sector South. In Croatia UNPROFOR had failed in its mandate to disarm the well-armed Serbs, who had kept an advantage due to the UN Arms Embargo. Yet all we hear is the fabrication that the Croatian constitution did not respect the ‘minority' rights of Serbs in Croatia. Human rights abuse so well documented in the film Freedom from Despair was being upstaged by the issue of ‘minority rights' as Serbian bombs struck Croatian civilian targets. The post Cold War lobby for a new definition of ‘minority rights' or ‘human security' in the OSCE in 1991 was unsuccessful, but by that time the commander of Yugoslav Peoples Army in Croatia, Mladic, had been transferred from Knin to Bosnia. When similar massacres later occurred in Bosnia it was called genocide, but in Croatia it has even been described as ethnic strife! Freedom from Despair documents the experience of Kruno with the American media and government which led him to the conclusion that the pro-Serbian bias of the US State Department led to a ‘green light' for the Serbian aggression. In the accusation against Eagleburger and his financial connections with Milosevic, Brkusic is not alone, as it has also come from more than one journalist, including Robert Manne, or Roy Gutman, author of ‘Witness to Genocide'. Richard Holbrooke in his book, ‘To End a War', discussed “the greatest collective security failure of the West since the 1930s”. But his claim is absurd, that President Clinton did nothing to stop the Serbian bombing because he had been brainwashed by Rebecca West's book, ‘Black Lamb & Grey Falcon'. You can fool some of the people some of the time but are we to seriously believe that one pro-Serbian author had the American intelligence community outfoxed?Canada's General Mackenzie is the ‘fox' in Carol Off's book, ‘The Lion, The Fox, & The Eagle'. This book criticizes the role of UNPROFOR's first general. Page 200 describes a meeting between the Canadian Prime Minister, his “Sarajevo-born” (Serbian) wife Mila and General Mackenzie in 1992; and how the responsibility for all decisions had been Canada's during the first months of the horror that ensued. It is well known that for decades Canada's internationalist foreign and defence policies had become inseparable from United Nations policy, and that this had placed Canada in a prominent position to influence the outcome of events unfolding in the former Yugoslavia. Canadian peacekeeping involvement ranged from participating in Europe's OSCE debate, to acting as European Monitors, and to leading the first UNPROFOR operation. Serbia didn't only have allies in the USA or in Canada, but also in Russia and Great Britain. For example, Russia's fanatical Zironovski stood on the bones of Croatian civilians in Vukovar and declared it to be Serbia, amongst a sea of Russian-UN Blue Helmets. A former Australian Labour Party Prime Minister has recently delivered a speech about how Australian patriotism can be defined. In 2004, at the launch of the Serbian St. Sava's Orthodox College in Australia, Mr Gough Whitlam's speech began with the words, “No patriotic Australian can vilify the Serbs”. This speech, on a web page devoted to Whitlam, enlightens us with the reasons for the traditional and unquestioning support for Serbs. He extolled the virtues of the ever-close Serbian monarchical ties to the British and Greek monarchy, along with claims about the importance of the West's Serbian alliance during WWII. The Siege on CroatiaThe climax of Freedom from Despair, for me, comes with the shock that there was a media blackout of the peaceful Croatian demonstration in Washington DC. Fortunately some rare support could be found in the Australian media. ‘We Must Rescue Croatia' was the title of an article in an Australian newspaper by Robert Manne, a regular columnist and La Trobe University lecturer of communist history (Herald Sun, Melbourne). On 13 December 1991, he wrote that the Yugoslav Army's one-sided military aggression (using Navy, Air Force and Army) against Croatia is the most savage since the end of WWII. The deaths of up to 10,000 people to date are all mostly innocent Croatian civilians, according to this article. Manne continued that over 100,000 homes and 200 Catholic churches have been reduced to rubble, and that in Croatia's case, only one side is perpetrating the military operations. According to Manne, the American State Department had given Belgrade a green light, that the Europeans' response has been futile and shameful, and he criticized the Australian peace movement's “vow of silence”. ConclusionsThis documentary exposes the human rights abuse of Croatian people under the former Yugoslavia. In addition, Freedom from Despair helps us to understand how Serbia's role was central to the violent break-up of Yugoslavia. I have also argued in the same theme as the film, that the traditional allies of Serbia and the United Nations were responsible for the spread of war to Bosnia. The ineffective international response to this one-sided aggression, and the dire consequences of re-defining terrorism as ethnic cleansing or ethnic tensions have led to the death of 250,000 innocent people. A further two million innocent civilians should not have been displaced to appease Serbian aggression (half a million Croats amongst them). The Croatian victims should not be on trial today for defending their homeland and their lives. Jean Lunt Marinovic www.croatianviewpoint.com July 30, 2005  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 30 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6241/1/E-Descendants-of-Croatian-Stavemakers-Reunite-in-Alabama.html  Stavemakers gather Croatians in AlabamaCroatian immigrant John Erzen with accordion / Alice and John Pezent in their latter yearsOver 80 descendants of the Erzens, Turks, Pezents and Pongeraytors pose for a reunion photo on the porch of the Clarke County Museum in Grove Hill Saturday. Klepac descendants were the only Croatian family not represented at the event.  Charles Pezent, left, listens as John Erzen shares memories with the group of his father and the other stavemakers who immigrated to south Alabama. These old-timers would probably smile at their off-spring striking a pose similar to this photograph from early in the 20th centuryStavemaker descendants demonstrated their ancestors’ skills for other family members during the reunion.  Story and photos by Jim Cox Older men just one generation removed from Eastern Europe, their sons and grandsons, nephews and cousins took broad axes, hammers, mallets and drawing knives in hand Saturday to demonstrate the skills that brought their fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers to America. What started out to be a simple demonstration of stavemaking techniques, quickly turned into a “Stavemakers’ Reunionâ€? of descendants of the Croatian families of Pezents, Erzens, Turks and Pongeraytors. The Klepacs were also stavemakers who lived in the county but they were not represented Saturday. The Clarke County Museum had received a grant to document stavemaking history. Children of the original immigrants have been interviewed and a demonstration was set up at the museum so that some descendants could be filmed doing the work of their ancestors. But other descendants, many who had never seen the work done, wanted to come too and over 80 turned out for a day of fun and reminiscing. Charles Pezent, left, listens as John Erzen shares memories with the group of his father and the other stavemakers who immigrated to south Alabama. Croatian stavemakers from the “old countryâ€? came to the United States around the turn of the 20th century in search of white oak timber used to make staves for barrel-making. The hardwood trees in Europe had been depleted but America’s southern forests were filled with huge specimens and they lured the Europeans here. Croatian immigrant John Erzen with accordion. As many as 30 or 40 of these Europeans were in Clarke County making staves in the early 1900s. There were others throughout the south at the same time. A stave crew consisted of four men, each with his own set of hand tools. Trees were cut and the blocks hewn into standard lengths. They were stacked to dry and then carried, mostly by wagon but sometimes by Model T Ford trucks, to river landings and railroad stations for shipment to Mobile and New Orleans where they were loaded on ships and taken to Europe to be made into barrels that were used for storing and aging Spanish and French wines, Scotch whiskey and palm oil in Italy and Lebanon. Alice and John Pezent in their latter years. Stavemaking was busiest from about 1900 until around 1930. World War I slowed the business a bit. Many of the young, unmarried men stayed in Clarke County and married local women. They blended their European ways with the American South to make a unique heritage. Immigrant John Erzen, who lived near Grove Hill, was known far and wide all his life for his accordion playing. His son, John, joked Saturday. “Daddy played that thing all his life and my mother was a Harrison (a local family known for their musical ability), but I can’t hardly play the radio!â€? Over 80 descendants of the Erzens, Turks, Pezents and Pongeraytors pose for a reunion photo on the porch of the Clarke County Museum in Grove Hill Saturday. Klepac descendants were the only Croatian family not represented at the event.Many of the descendants have reconnected with their European cousins. Charles Pezent has been to his father’s boyhood hometown and slept in the house and in the bed that his father was born in. Erica Pezent, who graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in business in May, has just returned from an European trip and said it was fascinating to visit with distant cousins and to see the countryside and villages where her forefathers lived. Saturday, descendants shared memories, marveled at the hard work and skills it took to produce staves and enjoyed a bountiful southern meal. Editor’s note: Information for this piece was taken from an article written by Charles Pezent for “Historical Sketches of Clarke County, Alabamaâ€? in 1977. http://www.clarkecountydemocrat.com/news/2005/0721/Community/040.html   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Thu, 21 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6240/1/E-Japan---Croatia-Jewels.html  JAPAN - CROATIA, JEWELSIt seems that a well known tune U boj, u boj from theopera Nikola Subic Zrinski by Ivan Zajc is taught inJapanese schools. Information by Mr. Nenad Bach, New York. Professor Vladimir Devidé,japanologist from Zagreb, considers this veryprobable: he remembered a very young boy walking on aTokyo street Komaba, wearing a huge rucksack filledwith books, and whistling the familiar melody - "U boj, uboj"! (personal information, 2004). A web page "U boj, u boj" has been prepared forJapanese readers, with historical account, where you can listen to the tune performed by Japanese choiresinging in Croatian! (Provided by Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club).http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/uboj.html =====================================Lovro von Matacic, one of the greatest conductors ofthe 20th century (1899-1985), started his career in 1919 as conductorof orchestras in Osijek, Novi Sad, Ljubljana,Belgrade, Riga, and in Zagreb in 1932. From 1942-1945 he was conductor of the Vienna Opera. After1945 he was imprisoned by the Yugoslav communist regime, andtogether with Croatian poet Tin Ujevic and painter Kristian Krekovicsentenced to confiscation of all movable and immovable property. In 1950's hebecame organizer of Festivals in Dubrovnik and Split. In 1956 Matacicmoved to Germany to conduct East Berlin Opera and the famous DresdenStaatskapelle, then conducted at Bayreuth in 1959, and from 1961 to 1966was Gereralmuikdirektor in Frakfurt. He was also guestconductor in Vienna Opera, Milan Scala, in Chicago, Naples, Palermo, Rome,London, Cleveland, Tokio, Prague, etc., and was elected the honorarydirector of the Japanese Orchestra in Tokio. From 1970 to 1980 he wasconductor and artistic director of the Zagreb PhilharmonicOrchestra, and almost simultanesously from 1973 to1979 had the same role in the Monte Carlo Orchestra.http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/et12.html#mata =====================================Miroslav Miletic, viola player, founded the Pro Artestring quartet in Zagreb, which in 1970's was among 10 best stringquartets in the world. Among his numerous students was Hiroshi Hirano,violist from Japan (Tokyo). As a composer he promotedCroatian folklore and church music (in particular from the island of Hvar). He considers theCroatian folklore music the most beautiful and the richest in the world.In 1975, accompanied by the Leningrad philharmony, heplayed his Viola concert. Maestro Miletic collaborated also with K. Stockhausenon electronic music. He has his works published atSchott, Berben, Meckverlag, Pizzicatto etc, and an LPissued in the USA.http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/et12.html#miletic =====================================Croatian violoncellist Monika Leskovar (1981) iswinner of the prestigeous Tchaikovsky competition inJapan for 1995 (a student of maestro Valter Despalj),the third prize at the 1997 Rostropovic competition in Paris, the second prize at the 1998Eurovision contest for young instrumentalists, winnerof the 1999 Roberto Caruana competition in Milano, Italy, the second prize at the famous ARDcompetition in 2001.http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/et12.html#monika =====================================Nenad Bach's work and his life story have beenfeatured on all the major US TV networks (CBS, ABC, NBC), on CNN, on SkyChannel, and on TV channels in Russia, France,Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Spain, Japan, and many other countries.http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/et12.html#nenad =====================================It is interesting and little known that in Japan thereexist two recordings of Vlaho Paljetak's well knownsong Marijana - in the Japanese language! I had opportunity to listen them on tworecords issued in Japan, when I visited Mr. Mario Kinel in his appartment in Zagreb (Mr. Kinel was a well known pop-music composer andtranslator; he even translated Vu plavem trnaci into Italian and German).Of course, out of Japanese verses I understood only -Marijana. Marijana is also very popular in Czechia. It was included in both Croatianoriginal and Czech translation into the book "Svetove Evergreeny"(World's Evergreens), published in Prague in 2000(Petr Jansky - MUSIC CHEB).IT WOULD BE OF INTEREST TO LISTEN TO "MARIJANA" INJAPANESE ON THE WEB...http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/akordi.html#fal =====================================Among Croatian Latinists and writers in Croatian acentral place is occupied by Marko Marulic, who is the"father of Croatian literature" (born in Split, 1450-1524). He was the most famousspiritual writer of his time in Europe, and also the first who defined andused the notion of `psychology', which is today incurrent use. His book De institutione bene vivendi (six volumes, 64chapters), published in Venice in 1506, had fifteeneditions until 1686 and was translated from Latin intoItalian, German (five editions between 1583 and 1614, all inKöln, in parts already in 1568), French (7 editions, the first in 1585), Japanese (in parts, 1585) Portuguese and Czech, altogether 40 editions. It is well known that St.Francis Xaver had taken only two books on his long pilgrimage to the East(India, Japan and China): the Bible and De institutione. Furthermore, in his testament St. Francis Xaver asked that Marulic'sbook be burried with him. Therefore we may conclude that Marulic was a spiritual father of St. Francis Xaver. St. Francis Xaver's personal sample of Marulic's bookwas kept in Madrid in a collection of valuables until1937, when it had dissapeared. St. Ignazio Loyolaincluded De Insitutione into the list of basicreferences for the formation of Jesuits. Marulic left us many beautiful verses and the epicpoem Judita written in the Croatian language, forwhich he sais expressly to be written in the Croatian verses (versi harvatski). Some of hisoriginal verses are held in Glasgow (GB). His Judithwas translated into English, Hungarian, French,Italian, and some parts into Spanish. Marulictranslated from Latin into Croatian the famous "De imitatione Christi"by Thoma de Kempis. The original Marulic's manuscript of "De institutionebene vivendi" has been stolen from the CroatianNational Library in Zagreb around 1980. Any information about this would be appreciated. According to investigations of a French specialistCharles Béné, Marulic's texts have been usedextensively by Thomas More and Henry VIII. It is known that Marulic's "Evangelistarium" that wasread by Henry VIII bears many comments by the King. Itis considered that two of the king's three literaryworks were written under the influence of MarkoMarulic. Marulic's poem "Carmen de Doctrina Domini Nostri JesuChristi pendentis in cruce" was translated intoEnglish as "A Dialogue betwext a Christian and Christ hanging on the Crosse" by Philip Howard,Earl of Arundel (1557-1595). According to C. Verdiani, Marulic is also the authorof the Florence Codex, which contains a biography ofSt Jerome written in the Croatian language. There hewrote "St Jerome is our Dalmatian, a glory, honour and fame,and brilliant crown of the Croatian language". In Croatian: Jerolim je nass Dalmatin, on je dika,posstenje i slava i svitla kruna hrvatskoga jezika. Itis worth mentioning that preserved manuscripts of Marko Marulic show that he also usedthe cursive glagolitic script. Marko Marulic sent a dramatic letter to the PopeHadrian VI, describing an extremely tragic position ofthe Croats threatened by the onslaughts of the Ottoman Empire and asking for help. His books were known not only in the whole of Europe,but also in Japan (in the 16th century) and SouthAmerica. For example, parts of De institutione bene vivendi were translated into Japanese already in 1585. When St. Francis Xaver arrived to Kogoshima in Japanin 1549, he also brought Marulic's "De insitutionebene vivendi". According to bishop Hamao from Yokohama, president of Japanese Bishop's Conference and of Asian Caritas, the formation of earliest JapaneseChristians had been very probably based on the spirituality of Marulic.See here (in Croatian). It is interesting that in Berlin a monument of MarkoMarulic was set up in 2000. In the Library ofCongress, Washington, a symposium was held devoted tohis work.IT WOULD BE OF GREAT INTEREST TO HAVE A PHOTO OF THEFRONT PAGE OF MARULIC'S BOOK PUBLISHED IN JAPAN IN1585.http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/lat.html#maru =====================================Anthony Maglica, holder of hundreds of patents andtrademarks, founded Mag Instrument, Inc, in LosAngeles in 1955, and designed Mag-Lite flashlight,which is now an American product icon, among 100 topproducts that "America makes best". The Maglite products havebeen honored by the Japan Institute of Design and theMuseum for Applied Art in Germany. Mag Instrument donated thousands of flashlights to aid inthe rescue efforts at the World Trade Center andPentagon in 2001. Born in New York, and as a child raised in Croatia, Tony Maglica has plenty ofother interests which include also Zlarin, Croatia,where he grew up.http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/et22.html#maglica =====================================The SUVAG center for voice transmission forreeducation of speach disorders and deafness has beenfounded in Zagreb in 1961 by Academician Petar Guberina (1913-2005). The name of SUVAG iscoined from Systeme Universel Verbotonal d'Audition Guberina.His books were translated into many languages,including Arabic and Japanese. In France, he was awarded the Legion of Honour: Knighthood in 1968, the Officer’s Cross in 1989, whichhe was awarded in main quadrangle of the Sorbonne in Paris.http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/et22.html#gub =====================================Danilo Blanusa (1903-1987), Croatian mathematician,professor at the University of Zagreb, was born in Osijek. Hediscovered a mistake in relations for absolute heat Qand temperature T in relativistic phenomenological thermodynamics, published by Max Planck in Annalen der Physik in 1908.This result that he published in Glasnik mat.-fiz iastr., 2/1947 in his article "Sur les paradoxes de la notion d'énergie",was rediscovered 13 years later by Heinrich Ott, andpublished in "Zeitschrift für Physik" in 1963. It is already time to correct wrong attributionof this discovery to Heinrich Ott in the scientificliterature, since Blanusa's priority is indisputable. Blanusa's most important work is related to isometricimmersions of two-dimensional Lobacevski plane intosix-dimensional Euclidean space and generalizations.This result is included in authoritative Japanese mathematical encyclopediaSugaku jiten published by Iwanami shoten, Tokyo, 1962,p. 612. His work about imbeddings of hyperbolic spaces into Euclidean spaces has been citedin 1956 by John Nash (well known mathematician, Nobelprize for economy; Blanusa is cited in his paper "The imbedding problem for Riemannianmanifolds", Annals of Mathematics, Vol 63, No. 1, 1956, pp. 20-63).http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/et22.html#blanusa =====================================The Baroque art in the Croatian north is described bya famous Japanese photographer [Keiichi Tahara]:Quand un ami française m'a conseillé d'aller voir leséglises baroques en Croatie...je n'ai pratiquementrien trouvé sur ce sujet. Cela m'a paru étrange, etj'ai cédé à la tentation... Keiichi Tahara: Les Anges de Croatie, éd. Assouline,Paris, 1995 (Baroque art of the Croatian north),translated into Croatian under the title Pamcenjeandjela, Nakladni zavod Globus, Zagreb, 1996, http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/art.html#rang =====================================Ivan Rabuzin (1919) - designed a curtain decoratingthe stage of one of the best Kyoto theaters (Japan),as well as the Takarazuka theatre in Tokyo (10.5 x 24m, 1980), and several other museums in Japan: SategayaArt Museum in Tokyo, Saitama Museum of Modern Art inUrawa, Isetan. He also had exhibitions at Daimaru andShinsabashi in Osaka. Since 1976 his designs are usedby "Rosenthal", renowned producer of procelain ware.He is also a member of the Croatian Parliament(Sabor). It is interesting that Rabuzin's father was aminer, while his mother was blind. His art was exhibited throughout the world: Zagreb,Paris, Antibes, Zurich, Milano, USA (Louisiana,Smithsonian Institution, Carnegie Insitute Museum ofArt, Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Milwaukee MuseumArt Center, Chicago Public Library, C.W. Post ArtGalery/Long Island University, Pittsburgh), Oslo,Munich, Dusseldorf, Amsterdam, Verona, Brescia,Florence, Tokyo, Osaka, Geneva, Cologne, London, etc.Several films have been made about Rabuzin's work,including one in Japan (Moritani Shiro, Kyoto). Amonognumerous monographs devoted to his work we mentiononly the following one: Masayoshi Honme, Ivan Rabuzin/ Taiji Harada, 1990, published by Kodanasha, Japan. http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/art.html#lack =====================================If we measure the quality (and popularity) of haikupoetry by a number of international prizes, thenCroatia can be ranked very high: immediately afterJapan and the USA (1993, 1995). This is due tocontinuous efforts and enthusiasm of Vladimir Devidé,a well known Croatian mathematician and japanologist.He obtained a prestigeous Japanese ``Order of SacredTreasure'' - Konsantõ Zuihoshõ. Here is his haikurelated to the aggression on Croatia written in 1991: A small pool of blood -Chilled in air raid: little girland her huge doll In the burned-out villagea wounded stray dogsniffing charred bones The unique beauty of Croatian landscape is offerend bythe magnificant mountain of Velebit, and the famousPrimosten vineyards, where folk builders used drystonewalls to protect every handful of soil from beingwashed away from the arid rocky terrain. Thus anamazing rocky lace of Primosten has been obtain overthe centuries, whose large sized photo can be seeninside the building of United Nations in New York. Itis not surprising that Velebit's Endemic Garden andVineyard from Primosten have won the gold medal atJapan Flora 2000 international exhibition of gardenarrangmenents. The exhibition in 2000 was held onAwaji islands near Kyoto, with participation of 60countries. http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/art.html#haiku =====================================Charles Billich is outstanding Croatian painter bornin 1934 in the town of Lovran in Istria, and since1956 working in Australia. He has permanent exhibitionof his works at Hakane Museum in Tokyo since 1997, andwas designated the official artist of the AustralianOlypic team for Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. Ilike his Canberra cantata. In 1998 Charles Billichcompleted his series of Bleiburg paintings. He waselected the official painter of Australian and the USAnational teams at Olympic Games in Greece, 2004. In2004 he was elected the Official Artiest of the 2008Bejing Olympiad. Laurate of the Milan & Spoleto Award,Italy, in 1989. His most famous galeries are BillichGallery in Sydney (100 George Street), Australia, andFortezza Gallery in the lovely town of Lovran,Croatia. In 2004 he had the exhibition of some ofimportant Croatian contributions to science, held inthe building of United Nations in New York (portraitsof Faust Vrancic, David Schwartz, Lupis Vukic,Slavoljub Penkala, Josip Vucetic, Nikola Tesla, MarinGetaldic, Rudjer Boskovic, Marco Polo, AndrijaMohorovicic, Spiridion Brusina, Lavoslav Ruzicka, alsoCroatian cravate, and an oil representing one of trulypainful Croatian themes from the period 1945-1948immediately after the WW2: Bleiburg). He wascommisioned to paint East Timor's officialindependence painting. He presented a pinting to popeJohn Paul II.Charles Billich Collections (incomplete): The Vatican Collection The Parliament of Japan The Royal Collection of Thailand The City of Rijeka, Croatia The Town of Lovran, Croatia The City of Orebic (Franciscan Monastery: The Way ofthe Cross), Croatia Embassy of Croatia, Canberra, Australia City of Düsseldorf The City of Osaka, Japan The City of Sydney, Australia State Theater, Sydney, Australia The City of Melbourne, Australia United States Sports Academy New York State Govt. Port Authority Hall of Congress, Washington D.C., USA Internatinal Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland QinShiHuang BingMa Yong Museum, X'ian, China ...http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/art.html#bilich =====================================The name of Croatian sportsman Mirko Filipovic Crocopis well known in Japan.http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/sport.html#mirko =====================================This for sure is not everything that can be said aboutJapanese-Croatian cultural relations.However, already this is indeed impressive.Let us mention that there exist Japanese-Croatiancultural societies both in Japan and Croatia.Collected for the readers of CROWN, under theinitiative of Nenad Bach, byDarko Zubrinic, Zagrebwww.croatianhistory.net  Op-edAll of this above you can find onwww.croatianhistory.net/etf/japan.html Bravo Darko, your work is fantastic, inspiring and of national value.Supportwww.croatianhistory.net , a future encyclopedia.NB  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Thu, 21 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6242/1/E-Montenegro-ready-to-pay-Croatia-war-reparations.html  Montenegro ready to pay Croatia war reparations www.chinaview.cn 2005-07-19 02:05:38 BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro, July 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Montenegrin Finance Minister Igor Luksic said on Tuesday that Montenegro was ready to pay reparations to Croatia for war damages inflicted in 1991, said reports reaching here from Podgorica. "Montenegro has money in the budget reserves and can face paying reparations to Croatia if it should be agreed that it happens this year," Luksic was quoted by the official Tanjug news agency as saying. Both Montenegro and Croatia were republics of the former Yugoslav federation, which was disintegrated in 1991 into four countries resulting in wars between republics. Earlier in July, visiting Croatian President Stjepan Mesic saidin Podgorica that Montenegro would pay reparations for damage caused to Konavli, Croatia, in the wartime 1991, which would amount to some 100 million euros. "An agreement has been reached on the issue of reparations for Konavli and I think that it is now only a matter of time when (theagreement) will be realized," Mesic said. However, the agreement has met with resistance from Montenegrinopposition parties, which cited the tight budget. Besides, two Serb parties in Podgorica demanded Croatia pay compensation to Serb refugees from Croatia's Krajina. Luksic dismissed a possibility of a budget blockade if an agreement is reached with Croatia that Montenegro pays war reparations by the end of the year. He said that the Montenegrin and Croatian leaderships would soon reach a political deal and sign an agreement on war reparations. Enditem http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-07/19/content_3241386.htm  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6243/1/E-Justice-At-Last.html  Justice At Last?Embassy, July 13th, 2005COLUMNBy Gwynne DyerSrebrenica: Justice At Last?Sometimes diplomats can be very stupid. Right through late June and early July, British diplomats in the Balkans pushed the notion that the July 11 commemoration of the massacre of almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Serbian and Bosnian Serb troops at Srebrenica 10 years ago was an ideal opportunity for everybody there, including Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian Muslim leaders, to issue a joint declaration of "reconciliation and apology." To their surprise, the victims didn't think this was such a good idea. What happened at Srebrenica on July 11, 1995 was an act of genocide, carried out with meticulous attention to detail by Serbian and Bosnian Serb troops after the Dutch military force that was supposed to defend the UN-declared "safe area" delivered almost the entire Muslim population of the town into their hands without a fight. Neither Muslims nor Croatians had any reason to apologise for the horrors at Srebrenica. It is the Serbs and the Dutch who need to apologise -- but most Serbs are still in deep denial. In recent weeks, both the Serbian parliament in Belgrade and the Serbian caucus in the Bosnian parliament have refused to adopt or voted down proposed declarations that would have denounced the Srebrenica massacre. Somebody even planted two very powerful bombs near the memorial centre in Srebrenica, although they were discovered and disarmed in time. The reformist Serbian president, Boris Tadic, insisted on showing up for the ceremony, but his presence was condemned equally by Muslim survivors and by his own fellow Serbs. Forgiveness and reconciliation must happen one day, but it cannot even get onto the agenda while the chief organisers of the Srebrenica genocide, former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief General Ratko Mladic, are still free and still seen as heroes by many other Serbs. Both men have technically been on the run since NATO forces imposed a ceasefire and a kind of UN trusteeship on Bosnia in 1995, but they moved freely around Serbia until their patron, Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, was overthrown and delivered into the hands of the UN in 2001. Even now, they are hidden and protected by many willing Serbs. Although they were both indicted for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague 10 years ago, they have thumbed their noses at international law for a decade because NATO troops either couldn't find them, or didn't try to break through their rings of bodyguards and arrest them because the casualties would be too high. Now, however, the tectonic plates are finally beginning to shift in the geographical space that used to be Yugoslavia -- now splintered into Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, F.Y.R. Macedonia and Kosovo -- because the European Union has finally started to use its leverage. It's more carrot than stick: the real inducement for these countries to turn themselves into law-abiding democracies is that they have been led to believe that they might then qualify for EU membership, with all the prosperity and security that that would imply. But law-abiding democracies hand over indicted war criminals to international courts when requested to do so, so suddenly the mass murderers who carried out atrocious acts of "ethnic cleansing" become a liability for the governments that had hitherto been protecting them as war heroes. In 1998, five years after the war crimes tribunal was created the detention centre in The Hague only held five inmates. Now there are 62 detainees, including a former president, a former prime minister, a former defence minister and a former interior minister. Eighteen more are out on bail pending trial, and 56 others have already been convicted and moved to other prisons to serve their sentences. "This is without doubt the most active and productive period in the life of the tribunal thus far," Judge Theodor Meron, president of the tribunal, wrote to the UN Security Council last month. Twenty men, some of them very senior officials, have surrendered to the tribunal in the past six months, cutting the list of those still wanted to only 10. The missing 10 still include the biggest fish -- Karadzic and Mladic. The EU's refusal to continue with Croatia's entrance negotiations has transformed Zagreb's willingness to cooperate with the tribunal. Its refusal even to open talks with Serbia-Montenegro until Belgrade stopped stalling has had a similar result: In April General Nebojsa Pavkovic, former head of the Serbian army, surrendered himself in The Hague. There is suspicion that his and other recent wave of "surrenders" was eased by large cash payments by the Serbian government to the families of the indicted men, but the point is that it is actually happening at last. There is even hope that Karadzic and Mladic may soon be delivered to the tribunal. On July 7 Karadzic's son Aleksandar (Sasa) was suddenly arrested by NATO troops in the Bosnian Serb town of Pale, his father's former capital, and taken away for questioning. Nothing will bring the victims of the genocide back to life, but the hunt is closing in on the killers. http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2005/july/13/dyer/   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 16 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6244/1/E-Srebrenica-by-Courtney-Angela-Brkic-in-The-New-York-Times.html  SrebrenicaDear All,The New York Times today printed my editorial on Srebrenica. You can follow the link to see it, and I'm also pasting it at the bottom of this message.With best wishes to everyone,Courtney Angela'At the end of the Second World War, Allied troops forced German citizens to walk through Nazi death camps. They were confronted by crimes committed in their name, in order to ensure that those crimes could not be denied or minimized later. The people of Serbia and Montenegro, by contrast, have never been forced to acknowledge the crimes committed in their name.'Op-Ed ContributorThe Wages of DenialBy COURTNEY ANGELA BRKICPublished: July 11, 2005WashingtonTEN years ago this week, Serbian forces slaughtered more than 7,000 Muslim men in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica. Despite the efforts of a dedicated few in Serbia, and despite the war crimes prosecutions at The Hague, Serbia is no closer today than it was a decade ago to reckoning with its war guilt.For years Belgrade has denied involvement by its citizens in Srebrenica and other massacres of the 1990s. The recent broadcast of a graphic video that showed Serbian paramilitary police executing six young men from Srebrenica should have made it very hard to sustain that revisionism. Amazing as it seems, however, the video was not enough to shatter what Serbian human rights activist Sonja Biserko has described as the country's "state of collective denial."Fewer than half of Serbs polled last spring believed the Srebrenica massacre took place. And while much has been made of the video's effects on a shocked Serbian public, it remains to be seen where that public will stand once the furor recedes. The Radical Party, which won 27 percent of the popular vote in the last national elections, making it the largest party in Parliament, has already criticized what it sees as the anti-Serb hysteria that "wishes at all costs to put the burden of all crimes on Serbia." Graffiti has appeared in several cities praising the "liberation" of Srebrenica. Rumors circulate that the video was doctored, or that the men committing the crimes were acting independently.Instead of coming to terms with its past, Serbia has circumvented the issue with the narrative skills befitting a psychopath. For example, a debate on Srebrenica at the Belgrade Law Faculty earlier this year was initially titled "10 Years After the Liberation of Srebrenica." In response to the video, Serbia's president, Boris Tadic, said, "Serbia is deeply shocked" that "the killers had walked freely among us." But Mr. Tadic's government surely knows that the killers in the video are but a small fraction of the number who continue to walk the streets of Serbia and Montenegro as free men.A fairy tale has passed for public memory until now in Serbia and Montenegro and it is conspicuous in its omission of Serb atrocities in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, which left hundreds of thousands dead. The Serbian version of that history denies the fact that President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia and those like him enjoyed overwhelming popular support in Serbia during the war, despite the evictions, rapes and unchecked slaughter by Yugoslav troops and irregulars. It suggests that Belgrade today has nothing to do with Belgrade as it was 10 years ago. It aims at an absurd relativism, placing Serbian atrocities within the context of crimes committed by other ethnicities (in fact, the C.I.A. has reported that Serbs were responsible for 90 percent of all atrocities committed in Bosnia). Mr. Tadic was quoted as saying, "Crimes are always individual." All of this is fiction.At the end of the Second World War, Allied troops forced German citizens to walk through Nazi death camps. They were confronted by crimes committed in their name, in order to ensure that those crimes could not be denied or minimized later. The people of Serbia and Montenegro, by contrast, have never been forced to acknowledge the crimes committed in their name.There are those who refuse to whitewash Serbia's recent past. The Helsinki Human Rights Committee in Serbia and the independent broadcaster Radio B92 are admirable examples. People like Natasa Kandic, chairwoman of the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade, have spent years fighting for the truth, often at great personal risk. Extremists threatened to lynch Ms. Kandic at the law school debate on Srebrenica, and one of them spat in her face.Eight of Serbia's human rights groups have drafted a declaration on Srebrenica that would obligate the country's government to confess to the massacre and to "expose and punish any ideological justification of crime." But the daily newspaper Blic reported that the majority of parties in Serbia's Parliament refused not only to endorse the declaration but also to debate it.Serbia must relinquish the fairy tale that its own wartime suffering was equivalent to the devastation it visited on others. Adopting an honest declaration on Srebrenica would have been an important first step, and the Serbian Parliament should have taken it. For as long as Serbia's people deny complicity in war crimes, they undercut any hope for justice and cheat their country out of any decent future. The Western aid money that has poured into Serbia may help rebuild the country's infrastructure, but it will do nothing to cut out the cancer that riddles the country's heart.Western governments are anxious for reconciliation in the Balkans, which would ensure future stability in the region. They are pushing hard for the arrests of people like Radovan Karadzic, the architect of the genocide, and Ratko Mladic, who carried it out, and they lauded the speed with which the Serbian government detained those suspected of being the killers shown on the video. But those arrests will not be nearly enough.Such men were not exceptions, nor were they acting independently, and Serbia must acknowledge this truth, rather than denying or minimizing it. That means surrendering all war crimes suspects to The Hague and paying reparations to the victims of war. The West should ask for no less than this when it considers Serbian requests for aid.Courtney Angela Brkic is the author of "Stillness: And Other Stories" and "The Stone Fields," an account of her work excavating mass graves outside Srebrenica.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/opinion/11Brkic.html   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Mon, 11 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6246/1/E-White-House-and-Sibenik-Croatia-have-things-in-common.html  'White House and our Gimnazija that are made of that same brilliantly white stone from island Brac in Dalmatia my faraway homeland Croatia.' Hi all,The author is a female civil engineer; lives in New Zealand. Regards,Branko PadjenBACKGROUND STORYQuite often, I see in the newspapers photos of the White House in Washington DC. It is a symbol of power and freedom to everyone, a sort of a guarantee, a promise of a better life for all the people. But most of all, I am fascinated by the whiteness of the stone it is made of.What is interesting is that my old grammar school in my hometown of Sibenik is made of exactly the same stone as the White House.But to me, our old grammar school "Gimnazija" is much more than just an old school. My father went to "Gimnazija". When I turned six, I started my first proper school classes in that old building. When I was eighteen, my grammar school graduation was held in that very building - to me, the most beautiful in the whole wide world - my "Gimnazija".Years went by, my life continued far away from my homeland. One day I saw on TV terrible photos of Manhattan. Destruction of innocent human lives, their work, hopes and dreams. I remembered then, how my daughter as a determined and feisty little girl used to watch every day on TV shows, serials and movies about America, New York, Manhattan. It was her dream then to go and live there on Manhattan when she grows up. She "decided" to have her own jewelry shop, "mostly diamonds of course" as she liked to say. It cheered me a great deal to hear my little girl talking about her "great life plans".-As a -teenager she too went to Gimnazija and then she learned that this building was made of that same stone as the White House in the country of her dreams where she were one day "to have her jewelry shop". September 11th hit hard, I was most deeply hurt because of all those innocent people and also that feeling that somebody had just swept away all those beautiful dreams about new greater life that my little girl had. That day I felt an even stronger bond between the powerful White House and our Gimnazija that are made of that same brilliantly white stone from island Brac in Dalmatia my faraway homeland Croatia.Copyright.© 2002 All rights reserved http://www.thelinkcompany.com/travel%20background%20story.htm   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sun, 10 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6245/1/E-Montenegro-Willing-To-Pay-War-Damages-To-Croatia.html  Montenegro Willing To Pay War Damages To Croatia PODGORICA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP)--Montenegro is willing to pay an unidentified sum of money to Croatia for damages inflicted during the 1991 war, Montenegro's President Filip Vujanovic said Friday. Vujanovic spoke after meeting Croatia's Stipe Mesic in the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica, at the end of Mesic's three-day visit to Serbia-Montenegro, the country that has replaced ex-Yugoslavia. The visit was part of efforts to patch up ties after a series of conflicts that followed the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Croatia declared independence from the Yugoslav federation in 1991, triggering a rebellion by its minority Serbs. The Yugoslav army bombed Croatia's ancient coastal city of Dubrovnik while its troops and volunteers, including those from Montenegro, moved in and looted the property in the Konavle region, near Dubrovnik. Mesic and Vujanovic did not specify how much Montenegro would pay Croatia in war damages. There was also no immediate reaction from Serbia - the main player in the conflict - with which Montenegro remains tied in a loose union. But Vujanovic's statement reflect a readiness by Montenegrin leaders to acknowledge the role of the Montenegro citizens in the conflict. Mesic said the agreement was mutual and that "it is only a question of time" until Montenegro's payment materialized. "They (Montenegro) cannot return the cattle that were taken from Konavle, or equipment from the (Dubrovnik) airport, but there should be financial compensation," Mesic added. "The inflicted damage is evident, and Montenegro intends to repay it," Vujanovic said. The payment is not related to lawsuits brought by Croatia and Bosnia before the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands, against Serbia-Montenegro. The suit could lead to a ruling that would include compensation for war damages. Earlier on his visit, Mesic also met with Serbian officials in Belgrade and visited the U.N.-run province of Kosovo, which formally is part of Serbia-Montenegro but has been a U.N. protectorate since 1999. July 08, 2005   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sun, 10 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6247/1/E-Remembering-Srebrenica.html  Remembering Srebrenica Friday, July 08, 2005Source: UN High Commissioner for RefugeesSREBRENICA, Bosnia and Herzegovina, July 8 (UNHCR) â€" The view from Jasmin Muminovic's home across the Drina River is one of the most spectacularly beautiful panoramas in the Balkans. But the 33-year-old former soldier sees only nightmares.Jasmin was severely wounded while serving as a soldier in the national army in the very early days of a series of wars which ripped apart the old Yugoslav Republic in the 1990s and created a series of new countries.Invalided from the front in the newly declared independent state of Croatia to his native village, he discovered that his own homeland in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina had also plunged into war. Within days, he and nearly 50 fellow Muslims, or Bosniaks, were rounded up by their old neighbours and new enemies, ethnic Bosnian Serb troops.The majority of the Bosniak male prisoners were summarily executed. Jasmin was spared by a fluke of war at the last moment when his captors spotted his old Yugoslav army pack and freed him in a moment of mercy.Further tragedy befell the Muminovic family, however, when Jasmin's brother was killed as the fighting continued. Jasmin eventually ended up defending an obscure village tucked snugly into the hills of eastern Bosnia which would soon become a worldwide symbol of the depravity of the conflict, the emergence of a chilling tactic of war which became known as 'ethnic cleansing,' and the failure of the international community to protect an innocent civilian population despite solemn promises to do just that.Ultimately, the impending catastrophe also hastened the intervention of U.S. and NATO forces, an end to the fighting and the start of attempts to patch the region together again.GenocideSrebrenica entered the world's conscience during its darkest moment. On July 11, 1995, Serb units which had besieged the region for months â€" an area the U.N. had declared a protected zone â€" overran the town. Jasmin and thousands of other men escaped through the surrounding forests and hills. After seven days of running a gauntlet of ambushes, feints, hand-to-hand fighting, eating only unripe fruits and leaves along the escape trail, Jasmin reached safety and, as he described it recently, "I escaped from hell to heaven in a few short seconds." Many of his colleagues were cut down in the fighting or were captured and executed.In Srebrencia, women and children and the men who stayed behind fled in panic as the Serbs advanced, down the only road out of town to the headquarters of a battalion of Dutch soldiers who were there obstensibly to protect them. As the outnumbered U.N. blue berets watched haplessly, men and young boys were ruthlessly separated from the females, marched away and subsequently massacred over a five-day period.Nearly 8,000 civilians were slaughtered in the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II. The International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague last year judged the action as genocide.On Monday, July 11, the town and a chastened international community commemorate the 10th anniversary of the massacre. Some 1,326 victims exhumed from more than 60 mass graves and whose remains were identified by DNA testing have already been buried at a memorial site a few miles down the valley from Srebrenica at a place called Potocari, directly opposite the brooding and abandoned headquarters of the Dutch troops in a former battery factory.A further 610 victims are being buried during the remembrance service on Monday, expected to attract as many as 30,000 people, including surviving wives, daughters and children of the dead men, regional and international diplomats and statesmen.Jasmin will not attend, left instead to brood with his own nightmares at his home, gazing across the Drina into neighbouring Serbia."I dream of dead bodies," he said. "I dream of dead friends, of endless war, of blood, of being hunted down."A tragic symbolSrebrenica is not only a symbol of the Balkans recent blood past, but also a gauge of how much progress, or lack of progress in the eyes of some analysts, has been made since the guns fell silent and the Dayton Peace Accord was initialled 10 years ago this coming November.Physically, the town, a narrow strip of buildings running along a valley floor and surrounded by blood-soaked hills, still has the appearance of a battered ghost town. More than 6,000 buildings were destroyed in the municipality, and many remain gutted.Security has improved, but remains fragile. Only days before the official commemoration, a large amount of explosives and detonators were discovered near to the burial site.Before the war, 37,000 people lived in Srebrenica, 73 percent of them Bosniaks and 23 percent ethnic Serbs. Today, 6,000 Serbs and 4,000 Muslims live there, reflecting both the precipitous drop in the overall population and a major change in its ethnic makeup.Survivors have been painfully slow to return."In 2001 we couldn't help any civilians because there were virtually no returnees to Srebenica to help," according to Udo Janz, the representative of the U.N. refugee agency in Bosnia. "We could count them on one hand."Since then, the pace of return, both to Srebrenica and across Bosnia and Herzegovina, has picked up. Despite setbacks and an uncertain future, Janz insists that "what has happened in Bosnia and Srebrenica is, in many ways, a modest miracle."Following a war in which at least 200,000 persons were killed, 2.2 million made homeless and an entire population deeply traumatized, "more than 1 million people in Bosnia have gone home in the last 10 years, even to a place where genocide took place," he said.Paddy Ashdown, the High Representative of the international community, also used the word 'miracle' to describe an admittedly delicate situation: "The miracle in Bosnia is how much has been done in 10 years," he said. "A sixteenth of the population was killed, more than in France after World War II, half the population made homeless, 90 percent of the buildings destroyed. We have lost touch with how long it takes; healing is always measured in decades."Jasmin Muminovic agrees that reconciliation will take a very, very long time."Not in my lifetime," he said. "Maybe in the lifetime of my grandchildren who will be able to forget what happened."A major roleUNHCR has been involved in the Balkan crisis from its very earliest days. Along with other humanitarian agencies, it was helping as many as 3.5 million people throughout the entire region at the height of the crisis.To feed its citizens, UNHCR launched a 3½-year airlift into the besieged Bosnian capital of Sarajevo which eventually became the longest-running humanitarian air bridge in history.After the Dayton Peace Accord was initialled on November 21, 1995, the refugee agency began to assist the huge population of civilians who had been uprooted in their own countries or who had fled as refugees to neighbouring states to go home.In September last year, the agency officially announced that more than 1 million uprooted persons had returned to Bosnia, including nearly half a million to regions where they were in a minority and thus both more vulnerable and in need of more assistance and protection.Several hundred thousand other displaced persons permanently settled overseas and dropped off the monitoring screens of agencies such as UNHCR.Across Bosnia, around half of the estimated 500,000 homes damaged or destroyed during the fighting have been repaired, according to Janz, as an estimated $5 billion in international aid flooded into the country.The U.N. refugee agency itself spent an estimated $500 million since Dayton came into effect on housing reconstruction, de-mining programmes, essential infrastructure repair, establishing a legal aid network, the provision of basic humanitarian assistance, and other quick support projects.The number of troops from the United States, Europe and other countries sent to enforce security dropped from a high of 69,000 to a current level of around 7,000 as the overall situation improved.But the situation remains fragile. Nearly 300,000 civilians are still waiting to go home, though Bosnia and neighbouring Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro earlier this year agreed to try to get everyone back to their towns and villages by the end of 2006.UNHCR has been reducing its own presence and programmes for the last several years and will continue to do so.The massive inflow of international aid is steadily declining and the economy is barely limping along. The national unemployment rate is around 40 percent and up to 50 percent of the population live at or below the poverty line."A couple of years ago the overriding issue was security, security, security," Udo Janz said. "Today it is the economy, stupid."The new buzz word in Bosnia is 'sustainability' â€" whether the gains achieved in the last few years can be maintained in such an unfavorable economic climate or whether the country could begin to backslide.If overall security has improved immeasurably, some 10,000 suspected war criminals remain at large and true closure may never be achieved until at least many of them are called to answer for their crimes.At the Srebrenica memorial, a marble obelisk spells out both a hope and a warning to future generations:May grievance become hopeMay revenge become justiceMay mothers' tears become prayersThat SrebrenicaNever happens againTo no one and nowhereAt the foot of the plinth, a large bunch of red roses lie wilted in the warm summer sunshine.By Ray Wilkinsonin Srebrenicaposted by KosovaReport @ 11:48 AM 1 comments 1 Comments:At 8:27 PM, Anonymous said... I remember Srebrenica, I remember Bosnia, and I remember how Europe stood by. No words for this.http://kosovareport.blogspot.com/2005/07/remembering-srebrenica.html  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Fri, 08 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6248/1/E-Record-compensation-to-Norwegian-hostage.html  Record compensation to Norwegian UN veteran6. Juni 2005Several thousand former Norwewgian UN soldiers may now demand compensation for occupational injury, after UN vetweran Paul Smines was awarded compensation in the NOK millions for his traumatic experiences in action.He was among other things held hostage by Serbian soldiers in Croatia, and was first offered a NOK 200,000 compensation.- An insult, Smines said, and took the case to court. In the end a compromise was reached.According to NRK, the veteran received a sum in the NOK millions, which according to the agreement will be kept confidencial. Smines is still troubled by his experiences in the UN service.- During the last 18 months seven of those I formerly served with (in the UN forces) have taken their own lives because they could not stand it any more, he says to NRK.This could open for compensation to more veterans, NRK states.Smines' lawyer, Jon Olav Holvik, says he had had contacts from a large number of UN and NATO veterans who want to claim compensation for occupational injury from the state.(NRK)http://www.norwaypost.no/content.asp?folder_id=1&cluster_id=27867   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Mon, 06 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6249/1/E-The-people-who-saved-US-pilots-did-so-under-tremendous-personal-risk.html  The people who saved aviators did so under tremendous personal riskI would like to share with you the following excerpt from the book "Partizanske veze - Kopno - Otok Krk - Srednjodalmatinski otoci od 1941 do 1945" ["Partisan Ties: Mainland - Krk Island - Mid-Dalmatian Islands From 1941 to 1945], Rijeka: Adamic, 1999. The booklet contains the proceedings of a round table on the topic held on Krk on June 25, 1997.It should be noted that Krk was under Axis occupation - first annexed by Italy in 1941, it came under German military administration in late 1943. This was not Partisan controlled territory so that the actions taken to save Allied pilots was done in a traditional, "underground" manner.One of the individuals mentioned in the following excerpt is Ivo Albaneze from Omisalj, Krk. To give one an idea of the complexity of the war in Croatia, Ivo was a Partisan. His brother, Anton "Toto" Albaneze, is my uncle and was in the Domobrans. Anton survived the Bleiburg death march. Their 3rd brother (who's name I don't recall off hand) fought in both the Domobrans and Partisans and was killed as a Partisan in Bosnia. The following was stated by Ivan Nino Maricic:"If we weren't so good, then today we would not have here with us, after 55 years, the son of a saved American pilot who came to see the place where his father was saved and where he could thank this people. I was a participant in the effort by chance, as was Ivo Albaneze, when this group of seven or eight fell [to earth] here and we transported them out of here. I remember the one without legs, who fell in Gabonjina [on Krk], that Dr. Variola amputed his leg, that he laid down on some blue mattress, that I gave him tea, that we took him to Olib [Island] where a ship, an amphibious craft, came for him and took him further on. A similar situation occurred at Hlama where one soldier fell from a bombardier [the author calls it a "lajting (layting?) bomardier] and the women from Baska draga took him in. He was taken to Baska via the late Ivo Derecinovic,as well as the home of Ivo Volaric, and he was accompanied by Ivo Dorcic, Nino Tic, Dusan Dekanic and Bonefacic who took him to Rab and from Rab he succeeded in getting to Olib. It was because of [helping him] that the Sersic family - Ivan and Marija - ended up in Dachau." [pp. 79-80] [see however below concerning the Sersic family]Franjo Orlic gives some further details, noting that the person who was coming to Krk and specifically to Kornic [near Punat] was David Clied, the son of Henry. According to Orlic, Henry was the commander of a "Flying Fortress" which crashed near Krk. [p. 77].For Brian Gallagher's benefit in the UK, I note that Maksim Blazic, another participant at the roundtable, noted that in Fall 1944 Eugen Domijan from Dramalj (near Crikvenica) led three English paratroopers "to the little port of Vodna from where they were taken to Vis Island via Krk." [p. 24]Marijan Lindaric remembered the following: "In the western area of Krk English and American pilots came to the ground who were saved and taken care of and whose safe return to their bases was organized by our people. It must be stated that this was a difficult task as many of them were injured. Saving eight aviators from the sea, whose craft fell in the water between Krk and Cres, was an especially dangerous task as it took place during the day. The injured were taken to the Dobrinj area [on Krk] by hand. Ivan Zec, Ivan Jurasic, Nikola Marulic, Kuzam Franolic, Josip Lindaric, Petar Kosic and many others participated in these actions." [p. 39]I note that Maricic's story concerning the Sersic family on Rab may have resulted from some confusion on his part. According to Orfeo Ticac's article in Zbornik drugog pomorskog obalnog sektora Mornarice NOVJ, Rijeka, 1975, Ticac discusses the Sersic family's role in protecting American intelligence officers. These three men were sent to Rab sometime in early 1944. He was on Vis and he accompanied three American intelligence officers ("of Yugoslav descent," according to Ticac) to Rab. There they established a radio relay station with their headquarters in Italy. However, in March 1944 the Germans occupied the island and the work of the station came to an end. The Americans were hidden in the Sersic home and ultimately taken to safety. However, a German raid on the house uncovered certain material which the Americans were not able to take with them. Ivan and Franka Sersic were arrested and taken to Dachau where they survived. [pp. 62-63].The people who saved these aviators did so under tremendous personal risk. Unlike the Chetniks, they did not collaborate with the Nazis while saving pilots. I am sure we can find hundreds of examples of like actions taken by ordinary Croats during the War.John Kraljic  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Fri, 20 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6250/1/H-BLEIBURG-JE-MJESTO-PLANSKIH-EGZEKUCIJA.html   BLEIBURG JE MJESTO PLANSKIH EGZEKUCIJABLEIBURG, 14. svibnja 2005. (Hina) - Predsjednik Hrvatskog sabora Vladimir Seks rekao je u subotu u Bleiburgu, na sredisnjoj komemoraciji u povodu 60. godisnjice bleiburske tragedije, da je to mjesto planski smisljenih egzekucija tisuca ljudi.Nasa je obveza nositi sjecanja na neduzne zrtve krvavoga hrvatskog proljeca 1945. godine, rekao je Seks, dodajuci kako treba utvrditi istinu o svim ratnim stradalnicima.Predsjednik Sabora, pod cijim se pokroviteljstvom obiljezava spomen-dan na bleiburske zrtve i zrtve Kriznoga puta, takoder je istaknuo kako se nece dopustiti kriminalizacija akcija Bljeska i Oluje, sto su mnogobrojni nazocni popratili uzvicima: "Ante, Ante!"Vrhbosanski nadbiskup, kardinal Vinko Puljic pozvao je na komemoraciji da se prestane manipulirati zrtvama.U propovijedi na misi u spomen na sve zrtve kardinal Vinko Puljic je porucio: "Prestanite s dvostrukim mjerilima u postivanju zrtve!" Istaknuo je kako zrtvama "ne zelimo stvarati ni mitologiju ni ideologiju", te je pozvao Hrvate da, bez obzira na granice, imaju srca jedni za druge.Kao hrvatski narod, moramo postivati svoje svetinje, istaknuo je, dodajuci da svaki narod ima pravo na svoj jezik, povijest i kulturu.Predsjednik Mesihata Islamske zajednice u Hrvatskoj Sevko Omerbasic pozvao je nazocne na prastanje, a Aziz efendija Halili molio se za zrtve islamske vjere.Predstavnik parlamenta Skupstine BiH Vinko Zoric tom je prigodom rekao kako "krvava istina iz nase povijesti treba biti ugradena u temelje nase drzave".Prije pocetka svete mise kardinal Vinko Puljic blagoslovio je novi spomenik bleiburskim zrtvama na mjestu tragedije.Idejno rjesenje spomenika dao je hrvatski kipar Stipe Sikirica.(Hina)Sveta misa zadusnica i komemorativna akademija odrzana je sinoc u Hrvatskom Katolickom Centru Duha Svetoga u Springvaleu, Victorija, Australija, u nazocnosti gotovo 300 Hrvatice i Hrvata koji su zajedno odali pocast zrtvama Bleiburske tragedije prigodom 60. obljetnice te iste tragedije. Opsirnije izvjesce u tijeku. - ur. M.B.    letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 14 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6251/1/E-Storm-is-a-brilliant-historical-military-and-police-operation.html   Storm is a brilliant historical military and police operation that we can be proud of, the operation which liberated central parts of the occupied Croatia, "And nobody will qualify Storm otherwise," Sanader said. CROATIA: Sanader- ICTY Prosecution Is Crossing the Line 2005-05-11 15:00:34 Ivo Sanader Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on Tuesday called on the Croatian public not to be alarmed at the proposal of the ICTY Prosecution to amend the indictment against General Mladen Markac and Ivan Cermak and added that "the more absurd the indictment is the easier will it be to contest it". The accusations are truly absurd, the PM said. We should not be alarmed at it, the more absurd the indictment is the easier will it be to contest it, said Sanader who is convinced that the final outcome in the assessment of Operation Storm would be absolutely positive. "I am a little concerned with the nervousness of the Prosecution which, lacking evidence, is crossing the line which has not been crossed before, namely it qualified Storm Operation, which has undoubtedly been a legitimate Croatian operation, as a criminal enterprise," the PM said. Storm is a brilliant historical military and police operation that we can be proud of, the operation which liberated central parts of the occupied Croatia, Sanader said. "And nobody will qualify Storm otherwise," he said. The prime minister said that such indictments and qualifications of Storm were contrary to the 1994 Declaration of the UN General Assembly which clearly states that those were the occupied parts of Croatia. In accordance with that if a sovereign country is occupied it has the right to liberate its territory, Sanader said. In connection with the proposal to expand the indictment against Markac and Cermak, Sanader reiterated that Croatia would fully cooperated with the UN war crimes tribunal adding that cooperation with the ICTY was Croatia's obligation under the Constitutional law and the country's international obligation. Source: Hina News Agency http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=55385&LangID=1   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Wed, 11 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6257/1/E-Croatian-Antifascist-Movement-in-Istria.html  Croatian Antifascist Movement in IstriaHow the Yugoslav Communists Suppressed the Croatian Antifascist Movement in IstriaSent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 3:38 PMSubject: Re: Miller & IstriaI wanted to respond to Rudi Arapovic's comments to give one an idea of what I meant by pointing out the positive.Unfortunately, WWII history in Croatia has been and to a great extent continues to be ideologized and remains an issue of political contention till today. The Communists basically take and took all credit for the anti-Nazi and anti-Fascist struggle in Croatia.An excellent example is what occurred in Istria in Sept 1943 when Italy capitulated. The Communist Party of Croatia (KPH) had sent some representatives to Istria in an attempt to build support for the Partisan movement. However, in mid-1943 there were only 25 KPH members in all of Istria and there were no organized Partisan units whatsoever. There were also several dozen sympathizers. Ethnic Italian communists at the time did not support the Partisans or the KPH - they viewed the movement as overly nationalist and believed that communists should be working on a revolution in the cities rather than in the countryside.Despite the literal handful of KPH members in Istria, within several days of Italy's capitulation, the Croatian people in Istria, in a mass uprising that I do not believe can be compared to anything else in Europe, took over the entire peninsula - only Pula, Trieste and the eastern portion of Rijeka remained outside of their control.The KPH members themselves recognized at the time in contemporary documents that this uprising caught them by complete surprise and got away from their control. Using a Leninist phrase, they admitted that they found themselves in the "tail" of the movement.On Sept 13 members of the District National Liberation Committee for Istria issued the so-called Pazin Declaration (Pazinska odluka) where they declared the union of Istria with its homeland, Croatia (YU was not mentioned at all). People such as Berto Crnja and Dusan Diminic write in their memoirs of the nationalist euphoria which enveloped Istria at the time. They note that Croatian flags (not YU flags) were found everywhere. Diminic writes that he and a collegue went to visit one prominent priest (Zvonko Brumnic) who was so delighted that he invited them into his home where he played Lijepa nasa on his piano. Diminic or Crnja (can't remember which off hand) note that people in Pazin wrote graffiti on locomotives which said Zivili Nasi Domobrani, the writers noting that this showed that the people in Istria remained more or less unaware of the political differences which divided Croats in Croatia proper.Later in September a meeting of Communists and prominent non-Communist Croats from Istria met in Pazin and constituted themselves as the Provincial National Liberation Committee of Istria. Significantly, four Croatian priests were among the delegates - one of them was Josip Pavlisic, who currently is the retired Archbishop of Rijeka! At the meeting a number of resolutions were adopted including repealing all Italian fascist laws, calling for the removal from Istria of Italians sent to colonize Istria after 1918 and calling for the re-introduction of Croatian (not "Serbo-Croatian") in all churches in Istria.The three weeks of freedom and euphoria came to an end in early October when Germans launched an offensive in Istria. The newly constituted Partisan units in Istria were destroyed and an estimated 5,000 people were killed in Istria by the Germans in the next several months alone. German repressive activities continued throughout the rest of the war - in May 1944, for ex., the Germans executed over 250 people in the village of Lipa (near the border with Slovenia at Rupa). Another massacre occurred in Tinjan in western Istria where about 80 people were executed in one day. Hundreds of Croat Istrians were taken to concentration camps in Germany as well as the so-called Risseria camp in Trieste (the only one in Italy that had a crematoria). I encourage anyone driving thru the interior of Istria to take a couple of moments to look at the local "Partisan" monuments - most of the people listed were killed in 1943 or '44. More importantly, in light of the small number of KPH members in Istria at the time, there is little doubt that those listed were non-Communist civilians.During the last 2 years of the war the KPH gained its bearings in Istria and began to impose its ideological views. The support that probably all Croats in Istria gave to the anti-fascist movement began to dissipate in the face of Communist stupidity. An example of this was the relations between the KPH and Croatian priests in Istria which took a 180 degree turn as the KPH began to attack a number of prominent priests (such as Bozo Milanovic). The ultimate end of the war saw the now Yugoslav Army enter Istria in late April 1945.My point in this story is that what occurred in Istria in Sept 1943 (and indeed what probably occurred in Split at the same time) was not a Communist led uprising but a popular revolt against a regime which engaged in the open ethnic elimination of Croats and all things Croatian (e.g., the Italians removed the Ninski statue when they came to Split in '43; the well-known ban on the use of Croatian names and language in Istria since the mid-1920s, etc.). That the Communists were able to take over the leadership of the revolt is due to the fact that there were no other organized political parties or organizations in Istria as a result of the fascist regime's policies (the NDH attempted to send emissaries to Istria but their attempts were thwarted by the Germans who put Istria and the Kvarner under their direct control). They could only be opposed by the Church and as noted above the initial alliance forged with local priests came to a quick end. We should not allow the Communists to claim this truly remarkable story as something of their own doing - it wasn't. It was the doing of those Croatian patriots who remained in Istria throughout Italian rule and surreptitiously kept alive among the local people the desire to join their motherland and to destroy fascism at the same time.John Kraljic  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Mon, 09 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6256/1/E-Healing-with-words-A-survivor-of-war-shares-her-experiences.html  Healing with words: A survivor of war shares her experiencesMezetovic regrets that she didn’t take the threat of war seriously enough until it came to her front door. “When war broke out inCroatia,” she recalled, “I watched the news on TV as if it were far way. It’s as if war broke out in New Hampshire, it was that close. It didn’t occur to me that it could happen to us. I wish I had done something.” By Alexis Lathem | Special to Vermont Guardian Posted April 8, 2005Survivors of unspeakable atrocities are often conflicted about discussing their experiences. But Aftaba Mezetovic, a 35-year-old Bosnian refugee living in Burlington, is more than willing to talk about her wartime life. In fact, talking about it has become a mission. The first time we met, the torrent of words was unexpected. I had come to talk about her book of poems, Refugee: The Ugliest Word. We met in her small, cramped office at the Community Health Center in Burlington, where she works as a medical interpreter. Within minutes, I was transported to a war zone, where women are raped and thrown away onto piles of corpses. I wondered what is it like to carry that burden inside you. “You can’t imagine what we went through,” she said repeatedly. And yet she talked, proving in the process that you do imagine it.“People need to know what war is,” she said, “because this must never ever happen again.” With this as a goal, Mezetovic has been telling her story on college campuses and at other venues. Hearing from a flesh-and-blood person who lived through such terror makes it real, she believes.“This didn’t happen a hundred years ago,” she noted. “It’s not something out of a history book. It happened to me. And it could happen to you.”Mezetovic regrets that she didn’t take the threat of war seriously enough until it came to her front door. “When war broke out in Croatia,” she recalled, “I watched the news on TV as if it were far way. It’s as if war broke out in New Hampshire, it was that close. It didn’t occur to me that it could happen to us. I wish I had done something.” She tells her story so that others won’t later have the same regrets. And that story is both heart wrenching and, yes, unimaginable. Her three brothers were all killed; her father died of grief after having to identify the body of his youngest and last surviving son. She credits her grandmother with saving her life in the concentration camp: “She used to crawl out on her hands and knees to see what the soldiers were doing. She shaved our heads. She told us to rock back and forth so we’d be ugly, because the women were being raped and thrown away — thrown into piles of burning cars.”Laurie Brands Gagne, a St. Michaels College professor who invited Mezetovic to address her Peace and Justice class last year, said Mezetovic made a big impression on the students. “They found her talk fascinating,” Gagne recalled. “She has a way of making you feel what she has experienced. Some of her stories left the students in tears.” At the end of the year, the class chose Mezetovic as the speaker who most influenced them. Mezetovic herself feels that students have been highly receptive to her message. “They listen so attentively, they aren’t breathing,” she said. She feels close to college students because she was their age when she lived through the events she recounts. “I had my 23rd birthday in a concentration camp. It should have been the best time of my life — I had just gotten married; I just gave birth to my first child.” Later, Mezetovic found her way to a refugee camp where she became camp manager — her first job after graduating college. There, she gave birth to a son, just one month before her visa came through to enter the United States. She arrived with her husband and two children in New York City on Halloween, 1995. (No one explained why people were dressed so strangely.) The family then moved to Burlington, where Mezetovic studied English at St. Michael’s College and Community College of Vermont. She became U.S. citizen in 2001.Mezetovic now works 13 hours a day — at CCH and as an English language Learning instructor at Winooski Elementary School. She also gives cultural sensitivity training for medical students and health workers. Her salaries support not only her own family, but also her mother, the orphaned children of her brothers, and those of a sister who was disabled by the war. She sends the earnings from her second job to an orphanage for children who lost their families in the war. Her book Refugee is also a fundraiser for the orphanage. Now that she receives so many requests to speak at colleges, she almost has a fourth job. And this may be the most satisfying work of all. Only a year ago, when we first talked, she spoke bitterly about people not wanting to hear about her experiences.“9/11 was one day. I lived it for four years. But no one wanted to hear about it,” she said. When she applied for a small grant to publish her book of poems, she was turned down. But that has changed. “The word got out, I guess, that I can be effective as a speaker, that I’m an important resource,” she said. She also is no longer angry that she had to self-publish her book. “I’m glad I did it,” she said. Every day, she gets a phone call or e-mail from someone thanking her. “My biggest success is when I hear that people got my message,” she said.But she may be holding a finger in the dyke. It’s hard for her to understand the “cheering,” as she puts it, for the war in Iraq. “People don’t understand — war is killing. There are no winners. No heroes. War is rivers of dead bodies. I hated the decision to go to war. I can’t express how upset and angry it makes me. There has to be another way — anything but war.”“I was a human shield,” she added. “Thousands of people were shot all around me — but their lives weren’t valued. They didn’t count.”Mezetovic isn’t willing to judge the worth of the U.S. mission in Iraq, but whatever the goal, she believes that war is not the way.On the other hand, her gratitude and respect for U.S. troops has not diminished. “I can’t tell you what the flag means to me — the flag I saw on the sleeves of the troops who came to help us.” She suspects that many of them are unhappy about being sent to Iraq, and suggested that military recruits be sent to a real war zone before they commit to service, similar to the way business students get experience in a real workplace. They should “see what it’s all about. It’s a different thing than on paper. Reality changes people’s minds.”Reality also has away of haunting people and leaving lifelong wounds. Mezetovic has found her own way of living with her wounds — by writing and talking about her experience. The poems collected in Refugee: The Ugliest Word were written in the middle of the night, when she would wake up with a scream swelling in her throat. At these moments, she would run into her basement to cry out loud, hoping her children couldn’t hear her. “The rage just boils up,” she said. “It’s enough just to stay sane.”The striking thing about these poems is that they don’t call attention to her own suffering, but instead have a universal quality. Many of them empathetically adopt the voice of another.“Butterflies” assumes the voice of a father who has lost three sons, and then died himself “of an exploded heart” after having to identify a body: “On a full moon evening of 1993, / I was saying goodbye / To my youngest butterfly Who lost his leg / To an exploded grenade / And the next day / He passed away / ...On a rainy Monday of 1994 / I was saying goodbye / To my middle butterfly / Whose head was shot / By a bullet flying in the air …”It is obviously the voice of Mezetovic’s father, but the poem doesn’t tell us. Neither does the poem say Bosnia. This could be a father in the Sudan, the Congo, Afghanistan, or Iraq. The place is never named, but we are given the date, probably because she wants us to know that this didn’t happen in some distant past. In another poem, “We are Children,” the poet takes the point of view of a child: “Our school is burned / And teachers are gone / Our playground is tilled / By exploded grenades / As well as our kickball field …” The landscape isn’t unique to the Balkans, and the poem reminds us that the first victims of modern warfare are too often children.This same ability to transcend partisan or ethnic hatred — to speak to an essential humanity — is what makes Mezetovic’s message so compelling and universal. She empathizes with all refugees, and all children whose parents have been lost and whose schools have been destroyed. About the refugees she works with, many of whom come from the Sudan or Rwanda or Bosnia, Mezetovic says, “We have all worn the same shoes.” Stripped of their historical particulars, the poems swell with the loneliness of the refugee — who will always be set apart from the rest of humankind. “I always wonder / Is there anyone?” one poem begins. At times, she seems to be describing modern archetypes of evil and disorder. Her account of being taken from her home in the middle of the night by soldiers, the men separated from the women and marched off to a concentration camp, provides a kind of mythic inversion of the biblical story of Noah, in which the earth’s creatures are given refuge, male and female, from a world overrun by evil: “Being awakened / In the middle of the night, / Holding tightly, / Hand in hand, / Marching forward, / But didn’t know where. / To death or a life? / Nobody could tell. / After separation, / Female from male.”Is she still writing poetry? Yes, answered Mezetovic. “I’m trying to find peace,” he explained. “My experience in the camps is in my veins. It’s a part of me. I will never stop doing this. I will never stop talking about it.”Refugee: the Ugliest Word is available at the Peace and Justice Store in Burlington, or write to amezotovic@chcb.org .http://www.vermontguardian.com/culture/0904/Aftaba.shtml   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Mon, 09 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6255/1/E-History-of-Mothers-Day-Celebration.html  History of Mother's Day Celebration By Katarina TepeshOn the second Sunday in May, many families and churches make a special point of honoring mothers, hoping that Mother's Day would increase respect for parents and strengthen family bonds.Historians claim that the holiday of Mother's Day emerged from the ancient festival dedicated to mother goddess.In Rome, too, a mother Goddess was worshipped as early as 250 BC. Historians say that there are reasons to believe that the Mother Church was substituted for Mother Goddess by the early church. Some say the ceremonies honoring Roman Goddesses were adopted by the early church to venerate the Mother of Christ, Mother Mary. In the sixteenth century, people brought gifts to their mothers on Mothering Sunday, as it was called then. Typical gifts were cakes and little mementos.The Origin of Mother's Day in the United StatesThe first mention of the idea of Mother's Day can be traced to Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), who suggested it in 1872. Howe, who wrote the famous words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, saw Mother's Day as being dedicated to peace. She organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston, Massachusetts every year.An American writer, lecturer, and reformer, Ms. Howe was one of the most famous women of her time. She was born in New York City into a prominent family and married American social reformer Samuel Gridley Howe in 1843. They moved to Boston, where she wrote poems and plays and helped her husband edit The Commonwealth, an antislavery paper. In 1861, during the Civil War, Howe visited military camps near Washington, D.C. There she was inspired to write "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" to be sung to the tune of the popular American song "John Brown's Body."Civil War soldiers liked to create their own marching songs by singing humorous lyrics to familiar tunes. Early in the war, Union soldiers began to sing the words "John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave." In 1861, Julia Ward Howe heard an obscene version of the "John Brown" song at a Union army camp. She decided to write more appropriate lyrics and composed "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." By Julia Ward HoweMine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the LordHe is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,He has loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword His truth is marching on. Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on. It was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862 and soon appeared in all the Union army hymnbooks.After the war, Howe became increasingly interested in the women's movement. In 1868, she helped organize the New England Women's Club and served for many years as its president. Howe also became the first president of the New England Women Suffrage Association. Howe’s writings include A Trip to Cuba (1860), Sex and Education (1874), Modern Society (1881), Margaret Fuller (1883), and Reminiscences (1899). In 1908, she became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.In 1877, it was the actions of an Albion, Michigan, Pioneer woman, Juliet Calhoun Blakeley, which continued setting Mother's Day in motion as a sign of respect honoring motherhood. But it is Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia who is credited with bringing about the official observance of Mother's Day. Her campaign to establish such a holiday began as a remembrance of her mother, who died in 1905 and who had, in the late 19th century, tried to establish "Mother's Friendship Days" as a way to heal the scars of the Civil War. For the first official Mother's Day service in 1908, Anna Jarvis sent 500 white carnations to the church to be given to the participating mothers. During the next several years, she sent more than 10,000 carnations there. Carnations –- red for the living and white for the deceased -– became symbols of the purity, strength and endurance of motherhood.In her campaign to have Mother's Day recognized as a national holiday, Jarvis called on clergymen, business leaders and politicians for help. In 1914, the U.S. House and Senate approved a resolution proclaiming the second Sunday of May as Mother's Day. President Woodrow Wilson endorsed it and issued the first Mother's Day proclamation, stating that the observance serves as a "public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country." (This is more of a political statement than an explanation of the holiday, but it made it official!)But Jarvis' accomplishment soon turned bitter for her. Enraged by the commercialization of the holiday, she filed a lawsuit to stop a 1923 Mother's Day festival and was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a war mothers' convention where women sold white carnations - Jarvis' symbol for mothers - to raise money. "This is not what I intended," Jarvis said. "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit."When she died in 1948 in a sanatorium in Pennsylvania at age 84, Jarvis had become a woman of great ironies. Never a mother herself, her maternal fortune dissipated by her efforts to stop the commercialization of the holiday she had founded, Jarvis told a reporter shortly before her death that she was sorry she had ever started Mother's Day. She spoke these words in a nursing home where every Mother's Day her room had been filled with cards from all over the world. On the day of the funeral, the bell on Andrews Church in Grafton tolled 84 times in her honor.****  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Mon, 09 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6254/1/E-Is-Image-Everything-American-Stereotypes-of-Croatia.html  Is Image Everything? American Stereotypes ofCroatia and Croatians.Text for a Talk Delivered in Chicago on April 26, 2005.James J. SadkovichLet me address two questions this evening:1. Why does Croatia have such a bad image in the United States?2. Why do Americans mourn the disappearance of Yugoslavia?Mourning the Loss of OzTo understand the second question takes us some way to understanding the first, so let me begin with it. If you have seen Evita, you may recall the refrain, “Don’t cry for me Argentina, the truth is I never left you, all through my wild days, my mad existence, I kept my promise; don't keep your distance.â€?But few of us would sing a similar refrain for Yugoslavia. All of its leaders have now left, and few of its former citizens mourn its passing. Yet there is a certain nostalgia for Tito’s state, the former leader of the non-aligned nations, among intellectuals in both Yugoslavia and the United States, just as there is a lingering nostalgia among some Argentineans for Juan Perón. The sense of loss is palpable, similar to the disorientation that some subjects of the Dual Monarchy experienced after 1918 when Austria-Hungary also collapsed under the pressures of war. But it is unlikely that Yugoslavia can be reconstituted even as a loose regional confederation.The nostalgia reflects support for the former Yugoslavia, whose passing was resisted by the international community as a whole and in particular by the United States. Through June 1991, American statesmen and diplomats did all they could to hold the Yugoslav state together, and during the rest of that year the American government refused to admit that Yugoslavia was falling apart, even after the Yugoslav Army and Serbian paramilitary forces had attacked Slovenia, carved up Croatia, and laid waste to the village of Ravno in Bosnia, where the Bosnian HDZ was founded. When the journalist Flora Lewis expressed her hope that Yugoslavia might yet be resurrected in some form, she was not alone.1 A golden era had passed, never to be reclaimed. All that remained were the nasty little successor states, greedy heirs to a noble ideal.Paradigms Tend to Endure: Assigning BlameSomebody must take the blame for this tragedy, but when American policy-makers, diplomats, and journalists finally admitted that Yugoslavia had collapsed, they did not point the finger only at Milosevic and the JNA; they joined Warren Zimmermann and Serbian spokesmen in blaming “Croatian insensitivityâ€? to Serbian fears of a fascist, “Ustasaâ€? revival as the root cause of the conflict. This explanation had already been much ballyhooed by the Serbian media and echoed by American journalists and pundits from the spring of 1990. So it was well established, whatever its actual explanatory value, and American academics adopted it as well. Indeed, many helped to promote it. Most Americans, both scholars and the general public, knew woefully little about Yugoslavia, but they knew what they considered to be fair. At the time, a colleague dismissed the whole business by expressing his thanks that Americans were not “like you people.â€? Since I was born in Milwaukee, it took a minute to get his meaning. What he was expressing was the concept of moral equivalency, projecting his own fears onto what Maria Todorova has defined as the Balkan “other.â€?2 He was also expressing a very crude version of the two dominant paradigms for grasping the wars that accompanied Yugoslavia’s dissolutionâ€"ancient hatreds and moral equivalency, both of which erased the distinction between victim and victimizer, aggressor and defender.Another colleague recently told me that I was too harsh to blame Milosevic and the Serbs for the collapse of Yugoslavia and the wars that followed. “Don’t you think,â€? he said, “that is too much guilt for a single people to bear?â€? My answer was that I followed Michael Walzer, who argues that whoever starts a war, is primarily responsible for all that follows.3 Serbian leaders needed to bear as much guilt as they had earned. It was not a welcome reply, and not only because he felt badly for the Serbian people. He had earlier asked me whether I really believed that Croatia was a democracy, given its treatment of its Serbian citizens. Like many in this country, he had imbibed and digested a one-sided view of Croatia, and precisely because he was not a specialist who kept up with events, he had no difficulty viewing Croatia as essentially fascist, despite the fact that the State Department and Freedom House rank Croatia as a democratic country, a bit behind Slovenia and the Czech Republic, but well ahead of Serbia and Bosnia.4 But reality was largely irrelevant because his paradigm, constructed over a decade ago, was still sufficient to categorize and explain everything that had happened and continues to happen in Croatia.5Who Points the Finger?Of course, he has had some help in this regard. Let me take as an example a book by James Gow, a well-respected British academic who has worked long and closely with the Prosecutor’s Office of the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia). Gow analyzes the “Serbian projectâ€? and “its adversaries,â€? but in the process he implies Serbians had a “legitimateâ€? right to demand that they live in a single state, he argues that Serbian leaders did not wage a war of aggression, and he insists that because the actions of Serbian forces were based on military necessity, only military experts have the right to judge Serbian commanders. Gow devotes much of his section on Bosnia to Croatia’s alleged aggression against its Muslims, and he argues that Croats wanted Serbs to attack their towns in 1991 so they could enhance their “strategy of victimhoodâ€? and gain even more world sympathy. He also believes that the Serbian people should be praised for getting rid of Milosevic, who was solely to blame for all that went wrong. In effect, Gow treats Serbia as the protagonist in a Greek tragedy and the Croats as a nasty clutch of furies harassing both Serbs and Muslims, or in the words of an American diplomat, as so many “junkyard dogs.â€?6 Even though Slobodan Milosevic and Vuk Draskovic threatened war against Croatia in 1991, Gow sees Tudjman as equally “warlikeâ€? because he promised to defend his country against attack. His views would not matter if he was a Serbian propagandist; but Gow is one of the best known scholars on the Yugoslav wars and his book on the Serbian project is required reading for those interested in the conflicts. It is also a subtle attack on Tudjman’s government and the Croatian army. Indeed, Gow begins his analysis of Milosevic’s “projectâ€? to create a Greater Serbia by separating it from the “Serbian question,â€? which he considers legitimate. He also strives to save the reputation of the Serbian military by insisting that Croatian forces were both irrelevant and vicious in 1995; while NATO air power subdued the Serbs, Croatian soldiers slit the throats of old people.Finally, Gow provides some wonderful examples of how to use prose to obscure, rather than clarify. Vukovar, he writes, was only the “focal point of a conflict in which local social-ethnic tensions had led to an upsurge of mutual hostility, a situation exacerbated by the insertion of paramilitary forces.â€? If I understand him correctly, abstract, impersonal forces destroyed Vukovar, not the JNA, which, as he explains, had only 40,000 troops and conscripts, none of whom were trained for street fighting, making it difficult for them to overcome the 1,500 Croats in the city. Instead, they shelled it for three months, killing many of its inhabitants and destroying most of its buildings, even though, if Gow is correct, the JNA was aiming at the buildings, not the civilians. The First Law: Information in Circulation Tends to Stay in Circulation.Full Circleâ€"Ante Pavelic started the war; Tudjman rekindled itAnd if the use of impersonal language begs the question of who started the wars, Gow provides what has become the classic, monocausal answerâ€"only Serbs were slaughtered during World War II and in 1991 only Serbs remembered that slaughter and feared its recurrence. So the election of the HDZ in 1990 was the real cause of Yugoslavia’s collapse and the wars that followed.7 Put in simple terms, we could say this is the “Franjo-made-me-do-itâ€? defense.Do I think Gow is ill-intentioned? No. A Serbian propagandist? No. He has worked with the sources he has, and like all of us, he tends to echo them. The alternative would be to construct history out of our imaginations. My guess is that, like most of us, he has tended to discuss Yugoslavia with those who hold similar points of view. If so, then his views have been reinforced, not criticized. But the real problem is neither Gow nor those who share his point of view; the real problem is that those who support Serbia and Yugoslavia have done a much better job of getting their story out. And once something is in circulation, it stays in circulation. This “lawâ€? of permanent circulation is how atrocity propaganda tends to behave and why, like bad scholarship, it is so difficult to correct.8 It is repeated so often, it becomes ubiquitous; it is conventional wisdom.The tendency of information to stay in circulation in some form also explains the cliche that “any publicity is good publicity.â€? For example, if you key in Amazon.com, you will still find Nova ustaska drzava? Od Ante Starcevica do Pavelica i Tudjmana, by Petar Dzadzic, published by Politika in 1991. If you search JSTOR and Amazon.com you will also find writers who lament the death of Yugoslavia at the hands of Croatian nationalists, among them Bogdan Denitch, Robert Hayden, Alex Dragnich, and Bette Denich.9 This is also the case in both public and academic libraries, whose shelves hold volumes by Misha Glenny, Gale Stokes, Robert Hayden, Bogdan Denitch, and a host of others who reinforce Serbian interpretations of Yugoslav history directly or indirectly through their support of Yugoslavia and their suspicion of Croatia. But let me return to the question of what is available to English readers later.Why Cry for Yugoslavia and Not Argentina?First, I should answer the question of why so many people wax so nostalgic over a former multinational communist state. People do not get teary-eyed over the demise of the USSR or Czechoslovakia or Austria-Hungary or the Ottoman, British, French, Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese empires. Why Yugoslavia? The answer is complex and deserves a more extensive discussion than I can manage here, but let me suggest a few reasons that Yugoslavia is lamented.1. Yugoslavia appeared to be a viable alternative to the polar extremes of the Cold War; it was neither a hard-line, command-economy communist state nor a laissez-faire, to hell-with-the-poor capitalist state. Self-management, like the Yugoslav League of Communists, seemed to put a human face on communism, and Tito, hand-in-hand with Nehru, offered hope to a despairing world that expected nuclear holocaust on a daily basis. At the same time, as Ivo Banac notes, American academics echoed the party line regarding both the virtues of self-management and the positive aspects of Tito’s regime, especially after Rankovic was removed in 1966 and the SFRJ adopted a truly “federalistâ€? constitution in 1974.102. Yugoslavia also seemed to be a viable model for debalkanizing the Balkans. Unlike Bulgaria, which persecuted its Turkish citizens under Zhivkov, or Romania, where Hungarians formed a disaffected minority prior to 1989, or Greece, with its hard-line colonels and its rather rigid Orthodox outlook on nationality, or Albania, with its pillboxes and poverty, Yugoslavia offered bratstvo i jedinstvo, and if Donia and Fine are to be believed, Tito’s regime turned even Bosnia-Herzegovina into a multi-cultural paradise where tolerance and brotherhood flourished.3. Finally, Yugoslavia was around for a long time and it was associated with the liberation of oppressed peoples after both world wars. During its existence, it served a variety of functions, from strategic and ideological buffer between East and West to damper on the potentially troublesome national identities of its diverse peoples, to scholarly model for a successful socialist state.In short, to paraphrase Voltaire, Yugoslavia was a necessary fiction. Had it not existed, we would have had to create it.Croatians Destroyed the Great Hope of the WorldSo the first, partial answer to the question of why Croats have such a bad press in this country is that they destroyed Yugoslavia, the great hope of the world, the shining example to other backward, Balkan peoples, the socialist alternative to capitalism, and only truly successful supranational state. And that was a capital offense, punishable by war and ethnic cleansing.Of course, you may argue that Slobodan Milosevic really destroyed Yugoslavia, or that Milan Kucan pushed Franjo Tudjman to embrace independence when all he really wanted was sovereignty within a loose South Slav confederation (at least that is what he said he wanted from sometime in the late 1960s through August 1991). But that is not how people in the United States, and the West in general, see things. For them, Tudjman was the great destroyer, and as Croatia’s president, he was also a symbol for Croatia, and Croatians are guilty of Yugoslavia’s demise by association, and by the fact that they elected him. Fair or not, that is how people here see things.Or Was It Just a Contrived Country?If you read the American media or test its scholarly waters, you will find few to agree with Ivo Banac who wrote in 1991 that, “Only an untrained or complacent observer could see something permanent in such a contrived country.â€?11 But you would find many people like Dennison Rusinow (a much more influential figure than Banac in DC’s policy circle and among American academics), who in 1991 wrote an article for Foreign Affairs in which he urged the United States to give Yugoslav unity “unconditional supportâ€? because not to do so risked war and would have been unfair to Yugoslavia’s Serbs, 24 percent of whom lived outside of Serbia and to its Croats, 22 percent of whom lived outside Croatia (not counting the emigrants abroad, whom only Tudjman tended to count).12Rusinow’s argument is interesting and helped to establish the equation of moral equivalency that can be seen in most of the writing on Yugoslavia’s breakup, with Tudjman, Croatia, and Croatians defined as equivalents to Milosevic, Serbia, and Serbians. As Warren Zimmermann put it, Tudjman and Milosevic were the “Tweedledum and Tweedledee of destructive nationalism.â€?13 To some extent, this equation has deep historical roots, but to some extent it is recent. For example, Nikola Pasic, was depicted as the wily Serbian politician, Stjepan Radic as the erratic Croatian demagogue; Serbs were portrayed as state-building and the core people of the Yugoslav state, but Croats as obstructionist and separatist, seeking to destroy Yugoslavia.14 However, the image varied, depending on the extent of the crisis in Yugoslavia. So in 1982, as events in Kosovo began to threaten a full-blown crisis, Gale Stokes, a very influential scholar from Rice University, essentially agreed with all the points that Tudjman raised in his work on nationalism. However, he cautioned against resolving Yugoslavia’s “national problemâ€? by breaking up the federation because the cost of creating and maintaining it had been so great.15 Dissolution was simply unthinkable. Yugoslavia existed and, by God, we were going to make it work. As Stephen Larrabee cautioned in an essay published in International Security in 1990, the “only viable solution in the long runâ€? was “a loose confederation.â€?16The Second Law: Monocausal Explanations Tend to Trump Complex Analysis(Croatian) Nationalism Invites Chaos, Suffering, and Income GapsAnd all of these analysts were right, of course. Breaking up Yugoslavia caused great suffering. Worse, nationalism, and Croatian nationalism in particular, first broke up Yugoslavia, then failed to benefit the “massesâ€? who fought and died (and killed) to create the successor states. According to Bruno Dallago and Milica Uvalic, Tudjman’s government not only deprived Croatia’s Serbs of their national status and their “rights,â€? it used “nationalistâ€? privatization to expropriate state property and redistribute it to a nationalist elite, or rather Tudjman’s cronies. As a result the wage gap in Croatia rose from 1 to 10 during the 1980s to 1 to 67 by 1993. Of course, as they note in passing, pretty much the same thing happened in Serbia.17Indeed, pretty much the same thing happened everywhere that capitalism replaced socialism in Eastern Europe and the former USSR. What is surprising is that people were surprised that it did so, although it is less surprising that they blamed the new inequities on nationalism, not capitalism. As Nancy Birdsall noted in a Foreign Policy essay, “life is unfairâ€? pretty much everywhere now, with globalization pushing the pace at which the income gap widens between rich and poor within countries throughout the world.18 The gap is no longer between East and West or between North and South, so much as it is between the top 20 percent and all the rest.19 Once you leave the worker’s paradise and enter the marketplace, it’s a hard, cold world out there.In fact, Croatia actually did a bit better than Romania or Poland in giving its poorest citizens a larger slice of the economic pie, even under Tudjman. But if the bottom 20 percent were getting 8.8 percent of the national income in 2002, the top 20 percent got a whopping 38 percentâ€"and that did seem unfair.20 As it turned out, civil society without social justice was not exactly a boon for most citizens of the former Yugoslavia. Indeed, if Croatia continues to westernize and Caroline Persell is correct, Croatians have an even more inequitable future in store, given that in 1989, the top 1 percent of U.S. households controlled 39 percent of the household wealth and the top 20 percent kept 99 percent of the added wealth during the1980s, and that wage gaps here run on the order of one to a thousand.21 But those who commented on Croatia did not blame the shift to capitalism or the global economy; they blamed Tudjman and the corruption of the HDZ.That there was corruption is undeniable; the question is how much was corruption in a criminal sense, and how much the usual cronyism, networking, nepotism, and corner-cutting found in every society, capitalist or socialist. Much of what was labeled corruption appears to have been something else, more mundane if not more benign.22 The tendency to attribute all misfortune to a single source provides yet another partial answer to why Croatia’s image is so bad. Tudjman and Croatian nationalism as embodied in the HDZ and the Republic of Croatia could be made to take the blame for absolutely anything, even privatization, which the United States and the free world pressed on hapless Eastern European peoples. So it was possible to blame Tudjman, the HDZ, and the Croatians who had voted for them, for increasingly inequitable income gaps, unemployment, nepotism, shady business deals, and other evils that are inherent in capitalist economic systems and that are part and parcel of the flawed nature of human beings. The human condition has always had its tragic side, but Tudman and Croatians are no more responsible for this than other individuals and nationalities.The Third Law: Models Tend to Trump RealityCroatia as an Imaginary ConstructBut then, Croatia did not really exist. It was a nationalist construct according to those scholars who unwittingly echoed Vuk Karadzic and a century of Serbian nationalists. For example, Nick Ceh and Jeff Harder deploy the fashionable jargon of anthropology and literary criticism to argue that Croatians first “constructedâ€? a state, then justified it by “elevatingâ€? a “regional dialectâ€? to the status of a language and distancing themselves from their Serbian cousins by constructing the Serb as “the Balkan other.â€?23 If their view was idiosyncratic, it could be easily dismissed, but it is shared by Robert Greenberg, whose book on warring dialects bears an Oxford imprint. The belief that Croatian is a recent, artificial construct ignores both history and the discipline of sociolinguistics, but it fits nicely with Serbian claims that Serbo-Croatian is a single language, and it reinforces the accusation by Bette Denich that Tudjman imposed Ante Pavelic’s vocabulary on contemporary Croatia.24Democratic Serbia, Fascist CroatiaThis indentification of leader and people did not happen, please note, in Serbia. The U.S. media has covered Serbia in a very different manner than it has Croatia. While it took a while to switch from admiring Milosevic and Mladic as forceful leaders, it consistently depicted the Serbian people as basically democratic.25 Croats, on the other hand, were tainted by “their Nazi-stained past.â€?26This is a crucial distinctionâ€"democratic Serbia and fascist Croatia. While many scholars, pundits, journalists, and politicians claim to oppose Tudjman and Croatia because they oppose nationalism, in reality they did not oppose “Yugoslavâ€? nationalism; nor do they condemn Serbian nationalism, merely its excesses. Serbian nationalism is seen as a defensive reaction to the threat posed by Croatian nationalism, which they oppose in all its variations.Why the difference? In large part, because people simply do not know much about Croatia and Croatians, and what they do know is generally negative. Let me just hit the low points.• Josip Jelacic and Croatian troops were to blame for the suppression of the revolutions of 1848 in Budapest, Prague, Italy, and Vienna.27• Croats were loyal subjects of Austria-Hungary and fought the Entente in the Great War and persecuted Serbs in the occupied territories, especially in Bosnia-Herzegovina.• Croats did their best to obstruct the smooth functioning of the first Yugoslavia between 1918 and 1939, forcing King Alexander to impose a dictatorship in order to preserve Yugoslavia.• Croats insisted on annexing large areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1939 so they could create a Banovina, the same Banovina Tudjman wanted to resurrect in 1991, with no regard for the sensibilities of Bosnia’s Muslims.• Ante Pavelic and the Ustasa led a quisling Independent State of Croatia between 1941 and 1945 that sought to eradicate its Serbian population by converting a third, expelling a third, and killing a third. The Ustasa also sought to kill off all Jews and Gypsies in Croatia.• Tito and the Partisans, most of whom were Serbian, overthrew Pavelic’s state and saved many Serbs, but only after up to a million had been brutally murdered at Jasenovac. Hundreds of thousands were murdered elsewhere by Croatian forces who fought the Partisans and took refuge in Austria, Argentina, and Los Angeles after 1945.•Unlike the Prague Spring, which was led by democratic reformers, the Croatian Spring was the work, in Joseph Rothschild’s words, of “emphatically centrifugal, ethnonationalistic, explicitly anti-Serb, and implicitly anti-Yugoslav crypto-separatist nonparty forces.â€?28• Franjo Tudjman was a leader of the Croatian Spring and a dangerous Croatian nationalist who hoped to create a Great Croatia, denied Croatia’s Serbs their basic human rights and persecuted them mercilessly, and created an authoritarian state in which ethnic cleansing was common. Tudjman was also guilty of leading, in Carlo del Ponte’s words, “a criminal conspiracyâ€? against Bosnia’s Muslim citizens.29This is pretty heady stuff. Where does it all come from? I only ask because most of it is either patently false or grossly exaggerated. At most, there is a kernel of truth in each of these characterizations.The Media Marketplace: Amazon.comOne place is the media marketplace.If you punch up “Croatiaâ€? on Amazon.com, you will get 719 hits. But this is somewhat misleading, because these are not books about history or politics or society or culture. No, 23 of the first 30 are guidebooks, and 2 are business manuals. In the first 100 titles, there are only four surveys of Croatian historyâ€"by Ivo Goldstein, Marcus Tanner, Zoran Pavlovic, and Ivo Omrcanin. You will also find the collection of essays dealing with the war in Croatia edited by Branka Magas and Ivo ®anic, a excellent work, but an anomaly.At number 43, you will find Edmond Paris, Genocide in Satellite Croatia, a vicious attack on Croatia and the Catholic Church; at number 53, The People, Press, and Politics of Croatia (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2001) by Stjepan Malovic and Gary W. Selnow, who mount an unrelenting attack on Franjo Tudjman and his government; at number 60, Balkan Express by Slavenka Drakulic, whom Ivo Banac described as “a bourgeois lady writer with a computer looking for dog food,â€? all the while displaying “a studied ignorance of history.â€?30Aside from Omrcanin and Magas and ®anic, there is a distinct paucity of Croatians and Croatian Americans. Snezana Trfunovska writes on minorities (no. 41).There is also a paucity of information about Croatia, and if you are looking for something on World War II, you are stuck with Paris, hardly a happy outcome for Croatia’s image! If you want the ten best and ten worst books, you will be referred to Ivo Goldstein, Alex Dragnich, and Michael Parenti, two of whom are viscerally anti-Croatian.31Nor is there more information about Franjo Tudjman (11 hits), although 3 of the 11 hits are works by the former president (Horrors of War, Nationalism, and Genocide and Yugoslavia), but they appear at numbers 9 through 11; number 2 is an article by Gordana Uzelak, who portrays Tudjman as an authoritarian personality. She believes that he sought to “justifyâ€? the NDH and explain “historical events . . . in a way that justifies present events,â€? and that he “sees the Croatian nationâ€? as “Ein Reich, Ein volk [sic], Ein Fuehrer,â€? her words, not his.32Nor do Ante Starcevic and Stjepan Radic, both critical figures in Croatian history, do better. Each gets 7 hits, but of these only one is in English, Mark Biondich’s not altogether flattering political biography of Radic.33Ante Pavelic gets 9 hits, not a good sign, because Milan Nedic, in many ways his Serbian counterpart, gets only 2! Of Pavelic’s hits, all but three are his own writings and, of course, in Croatian; of the three works about him, one is distinctly negative, and really about Tudjman, Dzadzic’s Nova ustaska drzava? There was one hit for Dimitrije Ljotic, Light of truth: Selected philosophical, moral, and political ideas of Dimitrije Ljotic (Lazarica Press, 1986).Milosevic, I should note in passing, results in 247 hits on Amazon.com, including biographies by Adam Lebor (Milosevic, A Biography, New Haven, Conn.: Yale, 2004), Dusko Doder and Louise Branson (Milosevic, Portrait of a Tyrant, New York, Free Press, 1999), Lenard Cohen (Serpent in the Bosom. The Rise and Fall of Slobodan Milosevic, Boulder, Westview, 2002), and Louis Sell (Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia, Durhan, N.C.: Duke, 2002)â€"all major presses and works that are familiar to policy makers in D.C. But before you rejoice because Milosevic is so roundly condemned, consider that he is blamed for all the wrongs of the 1990sâ€"now that he is gone, Serbia is again democratic, despite the fact that ©eselj’s party took roughly a third of the vote recently. But Croatia remains in the grips of the HDZ.The Scholarly and Foreign Policy Marketplace: JSTORAs you may have noticed, three of the four titles I noted on Milosevic were published by major university presses, and Amazon.com is indeed used by both serious scholars and the curious general reader. JSTOR, on the other hand, is primarily a scholarly resource, used to search for articles in “seriousâ€? journal, including Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy. So it is a rough indicator of what scholars and policy makers had read prior to 2000, given that it has both journal articles and reviews of books and is a few years behind in its entries.A quick search for Jasenovac got 22 hits, with Better Denich’s “Dismembering Yugoslavia: Nationalist Ideologies and the Symbolic Revival of Genocide,â€? American Ethnologist 21 (May 1994) 2: 367â€"90 topping the list. Now Denich’s work is subtle, but it is as pro-Serbian and anti-Croatian as you can get, and she reached a sizeable and influential audience through American Ethnologist.34Also on the list of 22 is a piece by Cvijeto Job, a retired Yugoslav diplomat and columnist for Vreme, “Yugoslavia’s Ethnic Furies,â€? Foreign Policy 92 (Autumn 1993), 52â€"74, in which he reports that Goren Ivanisevic, while trying out a machine gun in Australia, quipped that it was a pity no Serbs were on the shooting range. According to Job, “Croat intellectualsâ€? refused to “face upâ€? to the genocide committed by the NDH and like “anti-Semitic revisionistsâ€? everywhere, they are “reactionary.â€? Job is among those who think Croats should apologize for Jelacic’s suppression of the revolutionary movements of 1848. But then, as Job notes, Croats suffer from having “a chauvinistic culture.â€? Please not this was published in Foreign Policy, the poor cousin of Foreign Affairs, but a very influential policy journal. This is the only piece listed by Job on JSTOR; he is not a scholar nor a frequent contributor to scholarly or policy journals, so this piece was written appears to have been written for the express purpose of presenting a “Yugoslavâ€? point of view that is exquisitely anti-Croatian.The sheer quantity of references to Serbia on JSTOR is impressiveâ€"5,946 hits, as opposed to 1,737 for Croatia. Again, Milosevic, with 248/533 hits, dominates Tudjman, with 4/11, and even the Chetnik/s with 95/174 do better than the Ustasa, with 36. If you scroll the talks sponsored by the SE Europe division at the Wood Wilson Center over the past six years, you will find few deal with Croatia, but a great many deal with Yugoslavia and Serbia and Kosova. This is not all bad, because many of the speakers are highly critical of Serbia. But, again, Serbia takes center stage, people discuss it, Serbs are the protagonists; Croatia is in the wings, and Croatians simply extras in the Balkan passion play. Even Gow lumped them together with the “adversariesâ€? of the Serbian project.You will also find Robert Hayden, a University of Pittsburgh professor, on JSTOR. Hayden has the distinction of having published three articles in Slavic Review in four years. To most of you, this may not seem like a big deal, but getting even one article in the organ of the AAASS is difficult, much less three, and all of them within a four-year period. If you know how long it takes to get an article accepted, this is quite impressive.35 Hayden also contributed, like Denich, to the American Ethnologist.36 Hayden and his wife are very sophisticated; they employ the latest theoretical weapons in the scholarly arsenal, especially the concept of “constructingâ€? the “otherâ€? elaborated by Edward Said and Maria Todorova, and echoed by Ceh and Harder (above), but they do not seem to do so to explain; they appear to do so to condemn nationalism in general and Croatian nationalism in particular as retrograde and vicious. The Fourth Law: Quantity Tends to Count More Than Coherent Argument(Sites of Powerâ€"Articles vs. Letters)Again, it is difficult to gauge the extent of the damage done by these articles, but it would be foolish to underestimate the influence they have on members of the academic community, both professors and students. And it is important to understand that quantity and repetition, not rational argument, count in academic and public policy publications, just as they do in the popular media. It is also important to realize that even when someone does manage to challenge an author, he is usually relegated to the “lettersâ€? section and then sliced and diced by the author who has been challenged. This, indeed, is exactly what Slavic Review allowed Hayden to do to Anto Knezevic in 1993.37 It would be an illusion to imagine that there is real debate within academe; there are only competing camps who do or do not control major journals and access to major presses. Journals tend to validate the paradigm of a particular, usually dominant, camp; the letters section is the site where authors and editors assert their power over readers who dissent.38The Balkan “Otherâ€? and SloveniaThe concept of “otherâ€? as formulated by Todorova and Said belong to the genre of literary theories; they are not political theories and certainly not historical methodologies. Indeed, the whole concept of a Balkanist discourse in which the West constructs the “otherâ€? is a profoundly ahistorical approach to analysis that assumes perception always trumps reality. As Patrick Patterson notes, Maria Todorova effectively views “marking outâ€? as a “guiltyâ€? act and refuses to accept a people’s own image of itself if it involves seeing others as different. Although Todorova excluded the Slovenes, but not the Croats, from the Balkans, Patterson argues that the Slovenes used the Balkanist discourse to distance themselves from the former Yugoslavia and position themselves as Central Europeans, a ploy attempted by Tudjman with much less success. Yet the Slovene scholar, Dmitrij Rupel, not only dismisses the Balkans as “a corrupt and primitive society,â€? he believes that Croatia shares the intellectual, artistic, political, and social affinities of the Habsburg empire with Slovenes, Czechs, Slovaks, and Hungarians. But political realities are not linguistic conventions, and Patterson is correct to remind us that most Slovene criticism focused on the concept of Slovenstvo, the question of Slovene autonomy, and the inseparability of the political and the ethno-national.39 In short, political realitiesâ€"how a people and its leaders view themselves, the congruence of state and nation/politics and national identity, the ability to govern oneselfâ€"exist and must be considered, not condemned.This is what Tudjman and the HDZ attempted, but they failed, in large part because their image was considerably worse than the reality of their government, particularly in the 1990â€"91 period. In this regard, it is worth noting Sarah Kent’s comment that as late as 1997, “specialistsâ€? were still arguing over the facts, not just the interpretations.40 They still do so, but a concerted campaign by Serbian spokesmen, members of the former regime, and journalists and academics whose contacts tended to be among these two groups created and then reinforced an extremely negative image of both Tudjman and his party. At times the propaganda and distortion were blatant, e.g., Robert Kaplan’s articles for The New Republic; at others, cloaked in academic or legalist arguments, e.g., the effort to identify the contemporary Croatian state with the NDH or arguments that self-determination was a right of Croatia’s Serbs denied by Tudjman’s government and the premature recognition of Croatia in 1992.41You can divide scholars into schools, or perhaps camps, and Hayden belongs in the pro-Yugoslav, pro-Serbian, anti-Croatian camp. He praises Susan Woodward’s book as of “superb qualityâ€? and praises Misha Glenny. However, he finds Robert Kaplan a bit lowbrowâ€"too much the journalist. In their review of books on the wars in Yugoslavia,42 John Lampe, Gale Stokes, Julie Mostov, and the late Dennison Rusinow put only four books on their “short list of required reading on the Yugoslav crisisâ€?â€"Bennett,43 Cohen,44 Woodward,45 and Silber and Little.46 The ICTY also likes Silber and Little, as well as Donia and Fine. Personally, I consider two of these works useful (Bennett and Silber and Little) and three as misleading (Cohen, Woodward, and Donia and Fine). I would tend to recommend Sabrina Ramet, Branka Magas, and Lukic and Lynch on Yugoslavia’s breakup; Magas and ®anic on the war in Croatia; and Norman Cigar on the Bosnian conflict.47 There are a number of good works in print; they are just outnumbered by those that are less good.Sources & Cribs for Amateurs, Insiders, and ProfessionalsWhy does any of this matter? Because when a journalist or a policy-maker or a D.C. staffer of a high-school student or an undergrad under pressure to write something on the Balkans or a professor who is not an expert on Southeastern Europe but needs a quick crib for a lectureâ€"when any of these people goes looking for information, they will find a wealth of material on Milosevic, some critical, some sympathetic, but almost nothing usable on Tudjman except Uzelak’s very negative portrait of Croatia’s first president.And be assured, most people do not bother with time-consuming research. They take what is handy and make do with it. Businessmen, academics, and others who are “insidersâ€? do not much bother with research outside their special interests, and many government insiders and journalists do little to no research at all. As Ivo Banac noted in his review of Misha Glenny’s enormously popular work on the wars in Yugoslavia, the “written wordâ€? was missing. Glenny had not read anything. “As a consummate insider,â€? Banac noted, “he does not read; he converses.â€?48One could say the same of Robert Kaplan, who did incredible harm to Croatia’s image with his book, Balkan Ghosts, and his articles in the New Republic. What is stunning about Kaplan’s articles, which blasted Tudjman as an anti-Semite, is that he had not read any of Tudjman’s works; instead, he had read a selection of translated excerpts apparently prepared somewhere in Serbia. This is disturbing enough. Even more disturbing was his defenseâ€"he had, he noted, effectively met professional standards, since his colleagues had also read the same ten-page excerpt.This is the problem, then; these folks talk to one another and to a select group of academics and scholars (not always the same thing, given think tanks, government programs, consulting firms, et al.). But they do not read. Or if they do, like Reagan and Bush, they prefer film strips or bite-sized excerpts. I will not even pretend to offer a solution to this problem, which has to do with larger cultural issues, but it is, I think, clear that the more information about Croatia that is available, the better. Otherwise, ten-page summaries prepared in Serbia and Edmond Paris and Robert Kaplan will continue to determine what is now called the “dominant narrative.â€?The Fifth Law: The Dead Weight of Convention Tends to Stifle DiversityBelgrade SyndromeBut where are the Croatian historians and scholars who must write these works? Where are the translators? Where are the mass of Croats who are interested in buying these things?Why do Serbs dominate?There are a number of answers to these questions, none of them satisfactory.1. Because South Slav studies was a backwater and Belgrade was the Mecca for those who wanted to study Yugoslavia. It is sobering to recall that prior to 1989, nobody cared much about Yugoslav studies, even if they cared about Yugoslavia.49 More, the only jobs in Yugoslav studies tended to be in the social sciences or literature, and then for those who toed the party line, not for Croat nationalistsâ€"although Serbian nationalists posing as Yugoslavs were always welcome. If you ran afoul of one of the Yugoslav gatekeepers, you simply did not get a decent job, if you got a job.2. Among the gatekeepers were Barbara and Charles Jelavich at Indiana; Michael Boro Petrovich at Wisconsin; and Alex Dragnich at Rutgers. The University of Washington had Peter Sugar and Sabrina Ramet; Stanford had Wayne Vucinich.50 Carole Rogel taught at Ohio State. Marijan and Eleanor Despalatovic were at Connecticut College and Ivo Banac at Yale, but neither created a core of Croatian-American scholars. Much more effective were Gale Stokes (Rice) and John Lampe (Maryland), who shepherded young scholars along at the Woodrow Wilson Center, as did the late Dennison Rusinow at Carnegie Mellon. Slavic Studies were dominated by Russian history and literature, and Yugoslav studies were a poor sister, focused on such topics as self-management and the creation and maintenance of the Yugoslav state.If I were to list “Croatianâ€? scholars in the U.S., I could almost do so on one hand. Most have taught at smaller, less prestigious institutions and they have published in smaller, less prestigious journals. What I am suggesting is not a conspiracy, just the dead weight of convention, which privileged Russian and Yugoslav studies, and to the extent Serbs were seen as the “coreâ€? people of the Yugoslav state, Serbian interpretations of history, sociology, culture, linguistics, literature, and anthropology.3. Also critical is what I call the Belgrade syndrome. Because Belgrade was the federal capital, it was also the repository of most of Yugoslavia’s archives and the place where journalists, diplomats, and businessmen congregated. Zagreb, like Skopje and Sarajevo, was a backwater. It had a smaller airport, less expensive restaurants, and fewer nightclubs than Belgrade. Where would you rather have beenâ€"assuming you were not a covert Croat nationalist?The point is that where you do your research, where you work (e.g., the American embassy or the Yugoslav headquarters of a multinational), and where you hang out tend to determine who you meet, what you learn, and how you see the world. Spending time in Belgrade, learning cirilica, talking with Serbian scholars and journalists and ordinary, salt-of-the-earth Serbs was bound to have its effect. This is clear from Zimmermann’s memoirsâ€"he admired Serbs because he knew almost no Croats. Serbs drove his car, cooked his meals, and told him about how Croats had killed their relatives during World War II.4. Then there is Serbian solidarity and the almost total lack of Croatian solidarity. This is subtle, hard to pin down, but obvious. If you go on-line, you will find that Serbs hang together in chat rooms, they form packs, they come after you. If you live in Milwaukee or Chicago, I am sure you have noticed that Serbs tend to be better organized. Croats, generally, are not. Croats are also decidedly apolitical, if not apathetic. The CFU is deliberately apolitical, largely the result of its history, but its neutrality was an enormous drawback for Croats in this country. Catholic churches also tend to be apolitical, and as Catholics, Croats have tended to intermarry and leave their national neighborhoods. Serbians, like Armenian and Greeks, tend to stay closer to home, even when they move to the suburbs.I am tempted to ask, “Where are the chairs in Croatian history?â€? But that is not the point; there are no chairs in Serbian history. It would be nice to have a few endowed chairs in Croatian history, because that would guarantee that scholarly attention is paid to the country. But perhaps for now we should be simply asking, “Where are the scholars who have studied in Croatia and formed friendships there and learned at least to consider the Croatian point of view?â€?Where are the scholarships and grants for people to study in Croatia? I will not even bother to ask if there are any Croatian organizations in the U.S. with a full-time research staff. If there are, they are a well-kept secret. Is there too little money for these things or do Croats, as I suspect, integrate more quickly into American society, thanks in part to the fact that, unlike Serbs, they can intermarry easily with other Catholics and so do not hold their nationality as closely?By now, it should be clear why I think Croatia’s image has suffered.â€"Croats have not managed to overcome almost 150 years of neglect in publishing their “national narrativeâ€? in English. Worse, when they have published in English, they have tended to a bit shrill; I myself suffer from this complex. It is the inevitable syndrom of somebody whose point of view is politely, but firmly, ignored by those in power. Finally, much of what is published is policy driven, and the result is that it is inevitably flawed because the people who do these studies talk to or work for insiders who repeat the conventional wisdom, or they relay on public opinion polls, which are ephemeral snapshots of a fleeting popular mood. They are all ahistorical, when they are not downright anti-historical.But Croatian historians in Croatia are just getting around to undoing decades of Yugoslav historiography, so it is not surprising that American scholars have only begun to do so.51I offer no solutions other than a slow, patient, publication of solid works of history and politics and sociology on Croatia and its role in Yugoslavia and Austria-Hungary and the Balkans. In time, that is what will change Croatia’s image by providing the basic materials in English that will shape the opinions of students, scholars, journalists, pundits, policy-makers, politicians, and that ubiquitous, if hard to find, general reader. Having said all this, I am not sure that Croatia’s image is any longer that important. Freedom House now rates Croatia as fully democratic, if still not up to Slovenia’s standards, and Croatia will undoubtedly find its way into the EU over the next decade, even with its Nazi-stained past. Once that happens, it will have the right to a Le Pen or a Haider, and no one will bat an eyelash, so long as the trams run on time and Siemens can go about its business with good corporate laws on the books.1 Flora Lewis, “Reassembling Yugoslavia,â€? Foreign Policy 98 (September 1995): 132â€"44.2 Maria Todorova, “The Balkans: From Discovery to Invention,â€? Slavic Review 53 (Summer 1994) 2: 453â€"82.3 Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations (New York:â€? Basic Books, 1977).4 Both State Department and Freedom House reports can be access on line at http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/hrp_reports_mainhp.htmlan and http://www.freedomhouse.org/research. Also see Adrian Karatnycky, et al., eds., Nations in Transit. Civil Society, Democracy and Markets in East Central Europe and the Nearby Independent States (Freedom House, 1999) Freedom House evaluations of the countries from the Czech Republic and Slovakia through Albania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria suggest that the tendency has been toward polities with established systems of political liberties and increasingly healthy civil societies. Indeed, the pace of democratization seems to have accelerated over the past six years. In 1998, only one of ten states in this area had a combined rating under twoâ€"the Czech Republic. Macedonia, Romania, and Slovakia were over 3.0 and Bulgaria just under. Even that exemplar of South Slavic success, Slovenia, was only at a 2.0, still better than Croatia’s rating of 4.25 or Albania’s 4.5. Serbia/Montenegro (Yugoslavia) and Bosnia-Herzegovina lagged even further behind with ratings of 5.0. But in 2003, Slovenia rated a 1 in both Political Rights and Civil Liberties. The Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Slovakia were even with Hungary, earning a 1 for Political Rights and a 2 for Civil Liberties. Croatia and Romania earned a 2 in both categories, Albania and Macedonia a three, and Serbia/Montenegro a 3 in one and a 2 in the other. Only Bosnia-Herzegovina lagged, with two 4s. Slovenia ranked in the top 34 democracies, and Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary in the next tier of 28, with Romania and Croatia (like Israel) in the third group of 11. Of 121 electoral democracies, six countries in the region were in the top half, and eight in the upper two thirds. If not perfect, the result was impressive, given that the region had been host to one-party states fifteen years earlier, that only four existed within their 1989 borders (Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania), that two of the countries (Croatia and Bosnia) had suffered the worst conflicts in Europe since 1945. 5 “Paradigmâ€? has become a buzz word, used often and inaccurately. I use it here in the sense of a belief system which accommodates only certain information and either rejects or edits all other information to fit within the parameters of the system. For paradigms and their uses, see Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), passim.6 Richard Holbrooke, To End a War (New York: Modern Library, 1999), pp. 24, 73, 162. 7 James Gow, The Serbian Project and Its Adversaries: A Strategy of War Crimes (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2003), pp. 8â€"11, 43â€"6, 49, 55â€"8, 158, 163â€"5, 171, 192, 196â€"7, 226, 235â€"6, 239â€"41, 303â€"304, 308â€"309. "In retrospect, that which appeared to be spiteful and senseless had a clear purpose: to drive out an unwanted and potentially hostile population, that is, to cleanse the territory." By driving out the population, according to Gow, the JNA precluded "political disruption, terrorism, or guerrilla tactics." 8 James Morgan Read, Atrocity Propaganda, 1914-1919 (New Haven CT: Yale UP, 1941), discusses the circularity of propaganda.9 Bogdan Denitch, “Learning from the Death of Yugoslavia: Nationalism and Democracy,â€? Social Text, 34 (1993): 3â€"16; Robert M. Hayden, “Imagined Communities and Real Victims: Self-Determination and Ethnic Cleansing in Yugoslavia,â€? American Ethnologist 23 (November 1996) 4: 783â€"801; Bette Denich, “Dismembering Yugoslavia: Nationalist Ideologies and the Symbolic Revival of Genocide,â€? American Ethnologist 21 (May 1994) 2: 367â€"90.10 Ivo Banac, “Misreading the Balkans,â€? Foreign Policy, 93 (Winter 1993),; also see his “Yugoslavia,â€? American Historical Review (97 (October 1992) 4: pp. 1085â€"1103, and “The Weight of False History,â€? in Francis R. Jones and Ivan Lovrenovic, eds., Reconstruction and Deconstruction (Sarajevo: Forum Bosnae, 2002).11 Ivo Banac, “Misreading the Balkans,â€? Foreign Policy, 93 (Winter 1993), p. 173.12 Dennison Rusinow, “Yugoslavia: Balkan Breakup?â€? Foreign Affairs 83 (Summer 1991): 145, 158. 13 Warren Zimmermann, Origins of a Catastrophe. Yugoslavia and its Destroyers. America’s Last Ambassador Tells What Happened and Why (New York: Random House, 1996), pp. 40, 153.14 For example, Lazar Markovic, “La questione croate,â€? Le monde slave (1937), pp. 87â€"119, or the chapter on Yugoslavia in Joseph Rothschild, East Central Europe between the Two World Wars (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1977). For the best discussion of the root causes of Yugoslavia’s problems, see Ivo Banac, The National Question in Yugoslavia. Origins, History, Politics (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1984), as well as his discussion of the proximate causes of Yugoslavia’s demise, Ivo Banac, Raspad Jugoslavije: Eseji o nacionalizmu i nacionalnim sukobima (Zagreb: Durieux, 2001), which should be read with Sabrina Ramet’s excellent work, e.g., Balkan Babel. The Disintegration of Yugoslavia from the Death of Tito to the Fall of Milosevic (Boulder: Westview Press, 2002).15 Gale, Stokes, Review, American Historical Review, 87 (June 1982) 3: 773â€"4, writes, “There is much that is salutary in this, particularly in Tudjman’s insistence that nationalism is a great humanistic principle.â€? Tudjman, Stokes noted, was “correctâ€? to see the solution of the national problem as necessary for the stability of Yugoslavia, and he agree that Croats should not be made to feel guilty for World War II and that estimates of the victims at Jasenovac were inflated. Stokes did note that Tudjman was a “nationalistâ€? whose interpretation of historyâ€?favors Croatia,â€? and he later chided Tudjman for failing to “apologizeâ€? and “atoneâ€? for Ustasa actions. Like Rusinow and Woodward, Stokes made a distinction between a healthy, democratic Serb nationalism, and a fascist, chauvinistic, Croatian nationalism. See Gale Stokes, The Walls Came Tumbling Down. The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe (New York: Oxford UP, 1993), pp. 212-213, 218, 227.16 F. Stephen Larrabee, “Long Memories and Short Fuses: Change and Instability in the Balkans,â€? International Security, 15 (Winter 1990) 3: 58â€"91.17 Bruno Dallago and Milica Uvalic, “The Distributive Consequences of Nationalism: The Case of the Former Yugoslavia,â€? Europe-Asia Studies, 50 (January 1998) 1: 71â€"90.18 Nancy Birdsall, “Life is Unfair: Inequality in the World,â€? Foreign Policy, pp. 76â€"93. 19 Colin Crouch, Post-Democracy (London: Polity, 2005).20 World Bank, World Development Index, 2002.21 Caroline Hodges Persell, “The Interdependence of Social Justice and Civil Society,â€? Sociological Forum 12 (1997) 2: 149â€"72, for the need to link the two concepts.22 Vojimir Franicevic and Evan Kraft, “Croatia’s Economy after Stabilisation,â€? Europe-Asia Studies 39 (1997) 4: 669â€"91, suggest a reality with more nuances.23 Nick Ceh and Jeff Harder, “Imagining the Croatian Nation,â€? East European Quarterly (January 2005), pp. 409â€"416, base their analysis of Croatian “constructionsâ€? on 25 hours of interviews. It is typical of this type of approach that the authors never examine the reality of the “constructs.â€? Ceh and Harder seem to be unaware that by arguing for language as the primary marker of nationality, they are effectively repeatedly the arguments of Vuk Karadzic, the father of modern Serbian nationalism.24 Robert David Greenberg, Language and Identity in the Balkans: Serbo-Croatian and Its Disintegration (New York: Oxford, 2004). During his presentation at the Wilson Center and he and Woodward ridiculing such constructs as zracnaluka, as well as Denich claiming redarstvo was an Ustasa word.25 How pervasive the anti-hero-worship became can be seen in Time’s decision to put Mladic on its cover in 1995. For this and the U.S. media, see James J. Sadkovich, The U.S. Media and Yugoslavia, 1991-1995 (Westport CT: Greenwood, 1998), passim.26 The phrase is from a recent e-mail exchange by two scholars.27 Nation, Progressive, New York Review of Books, were all influential and provided fora for Hitchens, Glenny, Drakulic, and others critical of both nationalism and Croatia. CITE28 Joseph Rothschild, Return to Diversity. A Political History of East Central Europe since World War II (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 186.29 ICTY, Indictment of Jadranko Prlic, et al., Paragraph 36.30 Banac, “Misreading.â€?31 Alex N. Dragnich, Serbs and Croats: The Struggle in Yugoslavia; Michael Parenti, To Kill a Nation: The Attack on Yugoslavia (2005).32 Gordana Uzelak, “Franjo Tudjman’s Nationalist Ideology,â€? East European Quarterly (Winter 1997) 31(4).33 Mark Biondich, Stjepan Radic, the Croatian Peasant Party, and the Politics of Mass Mobilization (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000)34 Denich, “Dismembering Yugoslavia,â€? p. 380, 383, writes, “Trouble started when the new government in Zagreb acted to install the symbols of its domination throughout Croatia, starting with the new ‘chessboard’ emblem.â€? Denich is sympathetic to “Serbian nationalists,â€? who defend themselves against “extreme Croatian nationalistsâ€? and she laments the lack of a “democratic systemâ€? in Croatia. This is typical of the “Tudjman-made-me-do-itâ€? genre of explanation.35 Robert Hayden, “Constitutional Nationalism in the Former Yugoslav Republics,â€? Slavic Review 51 (Winter 1992) 4: 6654â€"73; “Schindler’s Fate: Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, and Population Transfers,â€? Slavic Review 55 (Winter 1996) 7: 27â€"48; and with Milica Bakic-Hayden, “Orientalist Variations on the Theme ‘Balkanâ€?: Symbolic Geography in Recent Yugoslav Cultural Politics,â€? Slavic Review 51 (Spring 1992) 1: 1â€"15.36 Robert Hayden, “Imagined Communities and Real Victims: Self-Determination and Ethnic Cleansing in Yugoslavia,â€? American Ethnologist 23 (November 1996) 4: 783â€"80.37 Letter, Anto Knezevic, and Reply, R. M. Hayden, Slavic Review, 52 (Summer 1993) 2: 415â€"417. Similarly, my efforts to challenge Alex Dragnich’s 1991 article, “The Anatomy of a Myth: Serbian Hegemony,â€? that argued there was no such thing as “Serbian hegemonyâ€? were rejected by the editor of Slavic Review, and the article went unchallenged; so both professors and students still consider Dragnich’s piece “true.â€? This 1991 article is one of only four pieces by Dragnich listed on JSTOR. Dragnich had not published many articles, and like Job’s piece, this one appears to have been written for a reason.38 Journals often reflect paradigms, e.g., The Mediterranean Quarterly reflects Serbian and Greek points of view, The Journal of Croatian Studies, a Croatian point of view. Mainstream scholarly journals like Slavic Review reflect the paradigms acceptable to their editors and boards.39 Patrick Hyder Patterson, “On the Edge of Reason: The Boundaries of Balkanism in Slovenian, Austrian, and Italian Discourse,â€? Slavic Review 62 (Spring 2003) 1: 110â€"41. Taras Kermauner and Veljko Rus presented Slovenia as a “cultural Piedmontâ€? with a “missionâ€? to end the charismatic, authoritarian style of politics practiced by Tito and Milosevic. Miso Jezernik, the editor of Nova Revija, went further, depicting Slovenia’s South Slav workers as “alien,â€? thereby echoing Dinko Tomasic and others who have viewed the Balkans, and Serbians in particular, as primitive and antimodern. Slovenia thus becomes the carrier and defender of democratic ideals, a variation on the binary division of Europe into West and East. Stjepan Mestrovic, Slaven Letica, Miroslav Goreta, Habits of the Balkan Heart. Social Character and the Fall of Communism .College Station TX: Texas A & M UP, 1993) base much of their argument distinguishing Croatian from Serbian culture on Tomasic.40 Sarah Kent, “Writing the Yugoslav Wars: English-Language Books on Bosnia (1992â€"1996) and the Challenge of Analyzing Contemporary History,â€? American Historical Review (October 1997): 1085â€"1114, notes that critical perspective is still lacking and the literature is suffused with “myth, propaganda, oversimplifications, and analogiesâ€? that are misleading. Kent also notes that journalists were concentrated in Sarajevo.41 See Robert D. Kaplan, “Bloody Balkans,â€? The New Republic, April 8, 1991, “Yugo First,â€? The New Republic, September 2, 1991, “Croatianism,â€? The New Republic, November 25, 1991, and Banac, Protiv straha, pp. 232â€"3, who singled out “Croatianismâ€? as an example of the media’s penchant for resurrecting hoary (prastare) legends and creating new ones, and Anto Knezevic, An Analysis of Serbian Propaganda (Zagreb: Domovina TT, 1992), pp. 27â€"75, for a detailed rebuttal of Kaplan, who apparently had not even read the works he criticized. Damir Mirkovic, “Ethnic Conflict and Genocide: Reflections on Ethnic Cleansing in the Former Yugoslavia,â€? Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 548 (November 1996): 191â€"99, argues that Tudjman’s government practiced “cultural genocideâ€? through such acts as requiring paramilitary groups to surrender their firearms and seeks to associate Croatia’s government with Mile Budak and the 1941â€"45 Ustasa state. He also sees a historical conspiracy of Austria, Germany, Hungary, the USSR, and the Vatican to kindle conflict in Yugoslavia. Maritti Koskenniemi, “National Self-Determination Today: Problems of Legal Theory and Practice,â€? The International and Comparative Law Quarterly 43 (April 1994) 2: 241â€"69, is a sophisticated argument that recognition was premature because the “internal legitimacyâ€? of Croatia and Bosnia was questionable and transformed Serbian efforts to realize self-determination into aggression.42 Gale Stokes, John Lampe, and Dennison Rusinow with Julie Mostov, “Instant History: Understanding the Wars of Yugoslavia,â€? Slavic Review 55 (Spring 1996) 1: 136â€"60.43 Christopher Bennett, Yugoslavia’s Bloody Collapse. Causes, Course and Consequences. London: Hurst & Cpy., 1995.44 Lenard J. Cohen, Broken Bonds: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia. Boulder: Westview, 1993, and his most recent, Serpent in the Bosom: The Rise and Fall of Slobodan Milosevic. Boulder, Col.: Westview Press, 2002.45 Susan L. Woodward, Balkan Tragedy. Chaos and the Dissolution of Yugoslav after the Cold War. Washington DC: Brookings Inst., 1995.46 Laura Silber and Allan Little, The Death of Yugoslavia. London: Penguin/BBC Books, 1996.47 Ramet, Balkan Babel; Reneo Lukic and Allen Lynch, Europe from the Balkans to the Urals. The Disintegration of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union (Oxford University Press, 1996); Branka Magas, The Destruction of Yugoslavia. Tracking the Break-up 1980-92 (New York: Verso, 1993), and Branka Magas and Ivo ®anic, The War in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1991â€"1995 (London: Frank Cass, 2001); Norman Cigar, Genocide in Bosnia. The Policy of Ethnic Cleansing (College Station TX: Texas A&M UP, 1995), and Norman Cigar and Paul Williams, War Crimes and Individual Responsibility: A Prima Facie Case for the Indictment of Slobodan Milosevic (Washington DC: The Balkan Institute, 1996). 48 Banac, “Misreading,â€? and Ivo Banac, Raspad Jugoslavije, argues that whatever Tudjman did, he could not have accommodated the Serbs, although he could have improved Croatia’s image abroad.49 Banac, “Misreading,â€? notes that scholarship on Yugoslavia was “neither profound nor influential,â€? and that social scientists aped Yugoslav ideology, echoing the Yugoslav literature.50 The University of Washington published a widely read series on Eastern Europe that included Joseph Rothschild’s work on interwar Yugoslavia. See above for Rothschild.51 Ivo Banac, “Yugoslavia,â€? and “The Weight of False History.â€?  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Mon, 09 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6253/1/E-Prof-Dr-Kulic-o-Gubitku-Hrvatskog-Monetarnog-Suvereniteta.html  Moramo imati na umu da traje svjetski rat koji  se vodi za sve oskudne izvore energije, pa tako i vodu i hranu. PROFESOR SLAVKO KULIC S EKONOMSKOG INSTITUTA U ZAGREBU O GUBITKU HRVATSKOG MONETARNOG SUVERENITETANe pristupa Hrvatska Europi, vec nas Unija anektiraGlobalizacija je uÅ¡avÅ¡i u Hrvatsku najprije prisvojila domacu akumulaciju koja je postala vlasniÅ¡tvo talijanske, austrijske i njemacke drzave koje na taj nacin drze pod kontrolom citav naÅ¡ zivot jer raspolazu naÅ¡om Å¡tednjom koju plasiraju vodeci se iskljucivo svojim potrebama i interesima. Neoliberalni »tsunami« najprije nam je omogucio da pomocu kredita troÅ¡imo sve Å¡to je svijet proizveo, a onda se povukao s naÅ¡om akumulacijom. Ta nas je neoliberalna oseka ostavila potpuno osiromaÅ¡ene u stanju da moramo pristati na bilo koju alternativu koja nam se ponudi. Dok god ne budemo u potpunosti pristali na podloznost i bespogovorno prihvacanje europskih direktiva nece biti ni clanstva u EU-uRazgovarao Drazen MAJICProfesor Slavko Kulic predstojnik je Odjela za interdisciplinarna istrazivanja Ekonomskog instituta u Zagrebu i autor viÅ¡e od 250 znanstvenoistrazivackih radova te stotinjak sudskih ekspertiza vezanih za ekonomsku problematiku. Kulic je medijski vrlo zanimljiv sugovornik jer u svojim razmiÅ¡ljanjima beskompromisno analizira hrvatsku gospodarsku i politicku stvarnost koristeci angazirani pristup intelektualca humanisticke provenijencije i vjerodostojnost znanstvenika. Osim po nedavno objavljenoj knjizi »Neoliberalizam kao socijal-darvinizam«, Kulic je paznju medija izazvao i sudskim vjeÅ¡tacenjem uzroka sloma Istarske banke i citavog hrvatskog bankarskog sustava. Razgovor smo zapoceli upravo tom temom pokuÅ¡avajuci spoznati utjecaj rasprodaje hrvatskih banaka na pregovaracku poziciju naÅ¡e zemlje prilikom pristupanja Europskoj uniji.Dugo smo bili u zabludi oko privatizacije hrvatskih banaka- Zbog cega tvrdite da se u drugoj polovici devedesetih nije dogodila privatizacija hrvatskog bankarskog sustava, vec su ga preuzele banke u vlasniÅ¡tvu susjednih drzava?- NaÅ¡a je javnost doista dugo bila u zabludi misleci da se dogodila privatizacija hrvatskih poslovnih banaka. Istina je da se dogodilo podrzavljenje banaka jer hrvatska drzava, odnosno njena politicka elita, nije bila sposobna upravljati svojim monetarnim sustavom. Stoga su odlucili cjelokupnu domacu Å¡tednju i raspolozivu akumulaciju predati meðunarodnoj politickoj i financijskoj oligarhiji. Globalizacija je tako uÅ¡la u Hrvatsku i jeftinom kupovinom najvecih banaka najprije prisvojila domacu akumulaciju koja je postala vlasniÅ¡tvo talijanske, austrijske i njemacke drzave koje na taj nacin drze pod kontrolom ne samo banke nego i citav naÅ¡ zivot jer raspolazu naÅ¡om Å¡tednjom koju danas plasiraju vodeci se iskljucivo svojim potrebama i interesima. Kada su nedavno hrvatski graðani podigli oko milijardu kuna svoje Å¡tednje jedan je celnik Hrvatske narodne banke (stranac) napravio pravu uzbunu pitajuci ih Å¡to misle takvim ponaÅ¡anjem. Strane drzave ocito paze koliko koristimo svoju akumulaciju kontrolirajuci tako i naÅ¡e ponaÅ¡anje spram te akumulacije koja im je inace prodana uz 1,5 posto kamata. Danas nam tu istu akumulaciju prodaju uz kamatu od 6 do 28 posto. Taj je proces preÅ¡utjela i znanost i politicka vlast, kao i vodeci mediji.- Smatrate da je taj proces bio dobro osmiÅ¡ljeni scenarij. Tko ga je osmislio?- Svjetska politicka i financijska oligarhija imala je za cilj doci do akumulacije tranzicijskih zemalja bilo kroz zivotna osiguranja, bilo kroz izvoz i prodaju svoje jeftine robe ili kroz kupnju banaka. Njihova je strategija osvajanje i preraspodjela onoga Å¡to je gotovo, a ne ulaganje u investicije i stvaranje novih vrijednosti. Namjera je bila da se do toga doðe na Å¡to bezbolniji nacin.- Znaci cilj je bio primorati drzavu da sanira i proda najvece banke te ukloni one manje i stvori mjesta za dolazak stranih banaka?- Otprilike tako. Tvrdilo se da moraju doci strane banke jer se mora stvoriti konkurencija Å¡to je bilo zamagljivanje financijskog trziÅ¡ta u Hrvatskoj. Naime, te nove banke su naÅ¡im graðanima i privredi prodavale novac po daleko vecoj cijeni od one u njihovim maticnim zemljama. One su u stvari zlorabile prostor naÅ¡ih slabosti, naÅ¡e neinformiranosti ili neobazrivosti. Naravno, do hrvatske akumulacije nije se moglo doci bez suglasnosti hrvatske politicke elite.Spisak za likvidaciju 35 banaka- Dakle, Franjo Tuðman je bio potpuno svjestan tog procesa?- Nije, mada sam ga joÅ¡ 1993. godine upozoravao da je naÅ¡ Ustav vrijednosno politicki, a ne vrijednosno socijalni akt te da se u Hrvatskom saboru moramo odluciti na koji tip kapitalizma pristajemo - na anglosaksonski ili proeuropski. Nazalost, do danas nismo donijeli politicki konsenzus o tome. Hrvatska nema politickog i ekonomskog konstitucionalizma, pa ce biti teÅ¡ko doci do pravnog konstitucionalizma koji od nas traze europske direktive, odnosno europski ustav. Dok god ne budemo u potpunosti pristali na podloznost i bespogovorno prihvacanje europskih direktiva nece biti ni clanstva u Europskoj uniji. ZaÅ¡to? Upravo zato jer te direktive ne traze pregovarace vec izvoðace.- Je li prilikom preuzimanja banaka uopce bilo nekakvog pregovaranja ili su naÅ¡i politicki i monetarni celnici tek sproveli izvanjski diktat?- Sve se dogodilo u Hrvatskoj narodnoj banci unutar koje je oformljena komisija sa zadatkom da sprovede spomenutu koncepciju i koja je sacinila spisak za likvidaciju 35 banaka, meðu kojima je bila i Istarska banka. Privremeni upravitelji i njihovi postupci nisu bili slucajni vec pomno osmiÅ¡ljeni, a svi oni koji su u tome sudjelovali potom su unapreðeni i nagraðeni. Pitanje je kako bi proÅ¡li da to nisu prihvatili. Primjera radi, sanacija Dubrovacke banke vrijedna tri milijarde kuna pokrivena je izdavanjem drzavnih vrijednosnih papira, a banka je potom prodana za nekih 300 milijuna kuna. Samo na tom primjeru vidimo da se neko olako poigrao s poreznim obveznicima. Pravo je pitanje tko je sebi dozvolio toliku kolicinu ovlasti da neÅ¡to sanira s tri milijarde kuna, a onda to isto proda za desetinu vrijednosti i tko je od toga imao koristi? Onaj tko je banku kupio znao je Å¡to stoji u njenom portfelju u smislu onih dvadeset hotela - dvadeset bisera koji su, osim preuzimanja akumulacije, i bili cilj kupaca.TadaÅ¡nji guverner Marko Å kreb pritom je zloporabio izvrÅ¡nu vlast Å¡to predstavnici HNB-a i danas priznaju u svojim priopcenjima tvrdeci da su sve radili skupa s Vladom. To je jedan od najtezih promaÅ¡aja u sociologiji drzave zbog kojih studente ruÅ¡imo na ispitima ako to ne znaju. Monetarna vlast je odgovorna Hrvatskom saboru kao zakonodavnoj vlasti jer je u jedinstvu vlasti monetarna vlast jednako vazna kao i izvrÅ¡na, sudbena ili zakonodavna buduci da u stvarnosti obavlja vrijednosnu valorizaciju onog Å¡to se dogaða u spomenutim segmentima. Kod prodaje bankovnog sustava sve se dogodilo izvan Hrvatskog sabora, a posljedica tih dogaðanja je gubitak monetarnog suvereniteta.Politika je zloporabila ogromno povjerenje naroda nakon osamostaljenja- Kako je moguce da nitko na to nije reagirao?- Sve je ucinjeno bez prisustva znanosti. Nama ti detalji nisu bili dostupni cime ne zelim umanjiti odgovornost jer jedan narod, izmeðu ostalog, treba znanstvenike da sprijece socijalnu nesrecu ako narod u nju srlja ili ga netko drugi gura. Mi na zalost ni dan danas nemamo dovoljno uvida u sve materijalne cinjenice. Sve je bilo skriveno od znanstvenika i medija.- Zar nismo onda kao narod malo naivni ili cak i primitivni kad nas netko moze tako izraditi?- Ne radi se o primitivizmu vec o ogromnoj kolicini povjerenja koju je narod dao politickoj strukturi koja je to povjerenje zloupotrijebila protiv naroda i to je najtezi dio naÅ¡e istine. Narod je izabrao svoje predstavnike u Saboru koji su prepustili izvrÅ¡noj i monetarnoj vlasti da donose odluke koje nisu u interesu samog naroda. Na temeljno pitanje kako je to bilo moguce joÅ¡ nitko nije odgovorio. To je moguce samo u kancelarskom sustavu gdje premijer ima potpunu izvrÅ¡nu vlast i kontrolu nad zakonodavnom vlaÅ¡cu tako da je pitanje je li baÅ¡ Tuðman bio naÅ¡ najautoritativniji vladar.- Kako se gubitak monetarnog suvereniteta odrazio na hrvatsko gospodarstvo?- Destrukcija monetarnog sustava je dalekosezna jer predstavlja onesposobljavanje druÅ¡tva za bilo kakav oblikosamostaljivanja u bilo kojem segmentu: politickom, pravnom, pa cak i vojnom. Hrvatskog gospodarstvo i stanovniÅ¡tvo liÅ¡eni su mogucnosti koriÅ¡tenje vlastite akumulacije i valute za gospodarski rast. Izgubili smo sposobnost upravljanja vlastitom kreditno-financijskom politikom te danas djelujemo pod uvjetima koje nam drugi odreðuju. Primjera radi, uzmimo karticno poslovanje i karticnu potroÅ¡nju koja je suludo visoka jer narod nema druge mogucnosti da doðe do novca. Taj karticni dug se popeo na preko deset i pol milijardi dolara, plus kamate od 13 do 28 posto. Kada tom dodamo i unutarnji dug od 7,6 milijardi dolara, te dug globalnim financijskim institucijama od preko 33 milijardi dolara bez kamata, 22 milijarde dolara umirovljenicima, kao i cinjenicu da su pristigle na naplatu drzavne obveznice te garancije i vatikanski ugovori - situacija je katastrofalna.MMF nam porucuje: Izvolite svoje zdravlje cuvati na jeftiniji nacin!- Od ove drzave zahtjeva se neÅ¡to Å¡to proturjeci svakom razumu jer ta drzava viÅ¡e ne moze podmiriti sve one koji su se postavili kao vjerovnici. Å trajk lijecnika se dogaða jer Meðunarodni monetarni fond kaze: U zdravstvu viÅ¡e ne mozete troÅ¡iti toliko koliko zelite - izvolite svoje zdravlje cuvati na jeftiniji nacin. Buduci da se pripremaju Å¡trajkovi u obrazovanju i kod umirovljenika, mi tek dolazimo u probleme koje necemo moci zatrpati. Oni su zakonita posljedica liÅ¡enosti hrvatske akumulacije jer da smo imali akumulaciju, mogli smo to sami rjeÅ¡avati. Nadalje, od 16,5 milijardi kuna koliko potroÅ¡imo na hranu iz uvoza dolazi dvije trecine Å¡to znaci da smo i bioloÅ¡ku osnovicu doveli u ovisnost, a slicno nam slijedi i s energentima.- Gdje nam je uopce ostala neovisnost? Koje joÅ¡ atribute suverenosti uopce imamo?- Gotovo da viÅ¡e i nemamo polja u kojem nismo ovisni. JoÅ¡ jedino imamo suverenitet uma da se protivimo situaciji u koju smo se doveli jer za nju nam nitko drugi nije kriv. Moramo se osvijestiti o stanju u koje smo doÅ¡li.- Tek smo izaÅ¡li iz jedne drzavne zajednice, a spremamo se u drugu s prilicno loÅ¡ih polaznih polozaja. Nisu li onda rat i sve zrtve bile uzaludne?- Onaj tko nas je liÅ¡io naÅ¡ih mogucnosti potpuno je obesmislio Domovinski rat. To se mora znati.- Znaci »otac domovine« Franjo Tuðman vec je za vrijeme svoje vlasti dozvolio da njegovo dijete izgubi svoju neovisnost?- Nije za vrijeme njegovog mandata sve bilo izgubljeno jer su i njega takozvane proeuropske snage osuðivale jer se protivio pristupanju Europi prije sreðivanja unutarnje situacije. Osim toga pitanje je i koliko je on uopce razumio Å¡to se dogaða i koliko je on kao povjesnicar bio svjestan onoga Å¡to se dogaða na polju ekonomije. Ne zna se Å¡to su mu njegovi savjetnici predocavali o dogaðanjima u monetarnom sektoru. Znam tek da nije puno znao o monetarnoj politici i da je odgovoran Å¡to nije monetarnoj vlasti pridavao jednaku vaznost koju je imala zakonodavna ili izvrÅ¡na vlast. Na to su ga trebali upozoriti pravni strucnjaci koji su kreirali ustav u kojem monetarna vlast nije u jedinstvu vlasti. Monetarna vlast je tuða i izvan je sustava odgovornosti prema hrvatskoj stvarnosti.Sve je u funkciji uvoznog lobija, a protiv proizvodno-tehnoloÅ¡ke i izvozne orijentacije- Å to bi se dogodilo da su banke ostale pod hrvatskom kontrolom?- Da smo ostali u posjedu 135 milijardi kuna akumulacije, ne bi nam uopce bio problem 30 ili 40 milijardi kuna uloziti u investicije i ne bi bilo potrebe za tolikim koriÅ¡tenjem inozemnih kredita. Meðutim, mi i ove preostale banke zelimo prodati strancima Å¡to znaci da nismo naucili lekciju. Oni nas zele liÅ¡iti bilo kakve mogucnosti da iÅ¡ta mozemo uciniti u smislu unutarnjeg samoodreðenja ili jasnog meðunarodnog opredjeljenja. Slicno je i s ustrajanjem na fiksnom tecaju koji je iskljucivo u funkciji uvoznog lobija, a protiv bilo kakve proizvodno-tehnoloÅ¡ke i izvozne orijentacije. DanaÅ¡nja rasprava o promjeni tecaja nema nikakvog smisla u postojecem beskoncepcijskom stanju. Razlika je izmeðu fiksnog i stvarnog tecaja kune oko 20 posto. Imperativno je da drzava u Saboru ili na gospodarsko-socijalnom vijecu utvrdi proizvodno-tehnoloÅ¡ku-izvoznu razvojnu politiku umjesto trgovacke. Deficit proracuna raste. Rashodi se ostvaruju, ali ne i prihodi. Planirani deficit je 4,5 posto, a onaj stvarni je i preko 6,5 posto. Stanje se prikriva umjesto da se rjeÅ¡ava preraspodjelom. Tecajne razlike prenose se na domace potroÅ¡ace, a to ce nas tek koÅ¡tati kad poraste cijena nafte i plina.- U svjetlu pristupanja Europi Å¡to nam je onda joÅ¡ preostalo za pregovaranje? Jer, po vama, vec smo na koljenima.- Za to ne treba optuzivati Europu vec naÅ¡ kancelarski sustav koji kontrolira sve razine vlasti. Dokaz tome je preko 90 tisuca pravnih normi koje su od 1991. do 2004. godine usvojene u Saboru od kojih je 75 tisuca na »brzi« nacin nametnula izvrÅ¡na vlast. U takvim okolnostima teÅ¡ko da se moze govoriti o parlamentarnoj demokraciji jer kod nas izvrÅ¡na vlast dominira nad zakonodavnom Å¡to u svijetu baÅ¡ nigdje ne postoji. Sabor se olako odrekao odgovornosti koju je preuzeo prema narodu.Primit ce nas tek 2017. u paketu sa Srbijom i Crnom Gorom- Kako gledate na problem generala Gotovine i koliko je on doista prepreka naÅ¡em ulasku u EU?- Gotovina je samo jedno od pitanja za koja insistiraju da budu u skladu s njihovim zahtjevima. Ante Gotovina uopce nije problem za pocetak razgovora, vec oni zele da budemo u potpunosti podlozni svakom njihovom zahtjevu. Kada rijeÅ¡imo taj problem pojavit ce se problem ljudskih prava i to ce biti razlog zbog kojeg ce nas pod schengenskim zidom drzati cak do 2017. godine. Tu je i umirovljenicki dug od 22 milijardi dolara koji je vec dospio do Strasbourga, pa povrat izbjeglica. To su naÅ¡i stvarni problemi pa ako nas na Gotovini mogu ovako odgaðati, koliko nas tek mogu pritiskati na spomenutim problemima? Mislim da ce se ti razgovori odgaðati sve dok ne budemo u paketu primljeni 2017. godine, zajedno sa Srbijom i Crnom Gorom.Istaknuo bih, takoðer, da se u stvari ne radi o pristupanju Europskoj uniji vec o obicnoj aneksiji. Dok ne pristanemo na bespogovorno izvrÅ¡avanje naloga oni ce nas iscrpljivati jer mi s naÅ¡e strane zida niÅ¡ta ne poduzimamo kako bi rijeÅ¡ili svoje probleme, vec se nadamo da ce se problemi rijeÅ¡iti kad uðemo u Uniju. Suludo je ocekivati da ce nam probleme rjeÅ¡avati netko treci i to je naÅ¡a najveca zabluda. Jer Unija ce uskoro imati toliko svojih problema da nece imati kad razmiÅ¡ljati o necijim problemima.- VaÅ¡ termin aneksija podsjeca na neku zlu silu tipa Treceg Reicha?- Konstrukt Europe je utemeljen na filozofiji nasilja, a Europska unija je stvorila ustav poretka sile kao prava. Dok god ne prihvatimo poredak sile kao prava mi necemo uci u Europu Å¡to znaci da moramo prihvatiti ekonomsku, politicku, pravnu, socijalnu i vojnu podreðenost te da cemo sluziti tuðim interesima bez prava da sluzimo interesima hrvatskog naroda. Financijsko-politicka oligarhija koja je i stvorila Europsku uniju otpocetka je oblikuje spram svojih interesa, a ne zbog interesa naroda koji se uvode u taj nadnacionalni projekt. Nema nam egzistencije bez edukacije za takvu nasilnu Europu.- Stvar pomalo nalikuje nekoj zavjeri. Koji su eksponenti te financijsko-politicke oligarhije?- Nema tu nikakve zavjere jer se sve radi potpuno otvoreno. Tu prevladavaju americke i dijelom europske korporacije. Sve nadnacionalne tvorevine uvijek su u funkciji njihovog interesa. Radi se o americko-europskom interpersonalnom savezu koji sve zeli podciniti interesu svoga novca. Trenutno se najviÅ¡e radi na problemu Ukrajine, Bjelorusije i Moldavije koje su zbog svoje vaznosti u transportu plina i nafte dobile prednost pred Balkanom. Aktualno putovanje Condoleeze Rice u Rusiju najava je skoraÅ¡njeg pritiska na Ruse da prihvate daljnju ekspanziju Unije.- Cijela prica je prilicno pesimisticna. Å to nam preostaje? - Moramo javno pricati o tome dok cekamo pred zidom. Moramo rjeÅ¡avati probleme koji su pobjegli kontroli naÅ¡e politicke elite. Nalazimo se u stanju autodigestije – samoprobave, odnosno potroÅ¡nje svega raspolozivog. Neoliberalni »tsunami« koji nam je najprije omogucio da pomocu kredita troÅ¡imo sve Å¡to je svijet proizveo, sada se povukao s naÅ¡om akumulacijom. Ta nas je neoliberalna oseka ostavila potpuno osiromaÅ¡ene u stanju da moramo pristati na bilo koju alternativu koja nam se ponudi.Preostaje nam rasprodaja prostora, voda i Å¡uma- U Istri se najavljuje prodaja dijela vodovodnog i prometnog sustava Izraelcima. Kako na to trebamo gledati?- Moramo imati na umu da traje svjetski rat koji se vodi za sve oskudne izvore energije, pa tako i vodu i hranu. Kada se voda bude prodavala nece biti lako, a tuzno je i da ovisimo o uvozu hrane. Kada bi nocas ukinuli uvoz hrane sve bi se paraliziralo i trebalo bi nam duze vrijeme da doðemo k sebi. Mi ne promiÅ¡ljamo svoju stvarnu situaciju, vec idealisticki ili cak patoloÅ¡ki ocekujemo da ce nam Europa rjeÅ¡avati probleme. Na raskrinkavanju te zablude moraju poraditi i znanost, a posebno mediji. Mi smo ostali zadnji koji moramo biti odgovorni spram javnosti i stvarnosti. Sve nam je zadano kroz ekonomsku politiku (MMF, EBRD i EU), a nama ostaje da utjerujemo poreze i da se sukobljavamo oko preraspodjele onoga Å¡to je preostalo - rasprodaje prostora, voda i Å¡uma!Izvor: http://www.glasistre.hr/?403fd6282c1c042435ed0ff5b3abee4b,TS,507,,3276,,43590,   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Mon, 09 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6252/1/E-Slavko-Morozin-Dobanovic-Dachau-victim.html  Slavko Morozin DobanovićI've just gone through the list of Croatians who disappeared in German Conc. Camps and would like you to add the name of an ancestor of mine: Slavko Morožin Dobanović was my grandmother's brother, born in Biograd, was a Partisan and taken to Dachau where he was killed. My mother visited Dachau back in 1980s and found his name on the wall among the names of all known victims of the Camp. Thank you and kindest regards.Sandra Steticcultural@croatiaemb.orghttp://www.croatianworld.net/Letters/5126.htm   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Mon, 09 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6258/1/E-City-of-Split-was-founded-1700-years-ago.html  Split, Croatia 1700th year celebration   Thousands of people gather for the traditional annual celebration of Saint Duje in Adriatic port of Split, Croatia, May 7, 2005. The city was founded 1,700 years ago by Roman Emperor Diocletian who ordered the killing of bishop Duje, later known as Saint Duje, the patron of Split city. REUTERS/Matko Biljak  A member of the Cambridge rowing team salutes the crowd while their boat sinks in Split city waterfront, Croatia, May 7, 2005. The team participated in a race with Oxford to mark the 1700 anniversary of Split. REUTERS/Matko Biljak   letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sat, 07 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6260/1/E-Archbishop-Stepinacs-Reply-at-the-Trial.html  Archbishop Stepinac's Reply at the TrialTo all charges brought against me here, I answer that “my conscience is in every way clear (even though the public here present ridicule this statement), and I seek neither to defend myself nor appeal against the verdict.For my convictions I am able to bear not only ridicule, hatred, and humiliation, but - because my conscience is clear - I am ready at any moment to die.Hundreds of times during the trial I have been called "the defendant Stepinac." There is no one so naive as not to know that with the "defendant Stepinac" here on the bench sits the Archbishop of Zagreb, the Metropolitan, and the head of the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia.You yourselves have many times appealed to the accused priests present to acknowledge that only Stepinac is guilty for their, the people's, and the clergy's attitude. Stepinac, the man, cannot wield such influence, only Stepinac, the Archbishop.For seventeen months a campaign has been waged against me, publicly and in the press; and for twelve months I suffered actual house arrest in the Archbishop's palace.The guilt for the rebaptism of Serbs is ascribed to me. That is a misleading expression, for he who is once baptized, need not be re-baptized. The question concerns change of religions, and of this I shall not speak in detail, except to state that my conscience is clear and that history shall one day render its judgment in this matter.It is a fact that I was obliged to remove pastors, for they stood in danger of death from the Orthodox. The Serbs wanted to kill these priests because they refused them admission into the Church. It is a fact that during the war the Church had to find its way through countless difficulties. There was a desire to aid, as much as it was at all possible, the Serbian people.The honorable judge has produced evidence showing that I sought an abandoned Orthodox monastery (once belonging to our own Pauline Fathers) in Orehovica to lodge Trappists whom the Germans had driven away from Reichburg. It was my duty to aid my brother Slovenes, whom the Hitlerites had banished, to find temporary shelter.Because I was the Military Ordinary, grave criminality is imputed to me. The honorable judge asked me if I did not consider myself a traitor to Yugoslavia because in this matter I sought an understanding with the Independent State of Croatia.I was the Military Ordinary in the former Yugoslavia. I labored during those eight to nine years to bring about a definite solution of the religious problem. This question was finally solved through the Yugoslav Concordat, which was agreed upon after great difficulties, solemnly ratified in parliament, but then shelved.When the war between Yugoslavia and Germany neared its end, I extended spiritual aid to the Catholic soldiers of the former Yugoslav army and of the newly created Independent State of Croatia. If, therefore, the state had fallen, but the soldiers still remained, I felt obliged to concern myself with this situation.I was persona non grata to either the Germans or the Ustashe; I was not an Ustasha, nor did I take their oath as did some of the officials of this court whom I see here. The Croatian nation unanimously declared itself for the Croatian State and I would have been remiss had I not recognized and acknowledged this desire of the Croatian people enslaved by the former Yugoslavia.I have said that Croats were not allowed to advance in the army or to enter the diplomatic corps unless they changed their religion or married a nonbeliever. That is the factual basis and background of my pastorals and sermons.Whatever I have said of the right of the Croatian nation to its freedom and independence is in complete accord with the basic principles enunciated by the Allies at Yalta and in the Atlantic Charter.If, according to these principles, every nation has the right to independence, then why should it be denied to the Croats? The Holy See has declared that both small nations and national minorities have a right to freedom. Must, then, a Catholic Bishop and Metropolitan maintain total silence on this issue? If fall we must, then we fall because we have done our duty.Do not think that the Croatian nation is pleased with this trial, or that if given an opportunity to express themselves I would suffer as a result. I have honored and respected the will of my people, and I shall continue to do so.You accuse me as an enemy of the State and the people's authority. I acknowledge your authority. What was my authority? I repeat again: you have been my authority since May 8, I 945, but not before that. Where is it possible in the world to obey two authorities: you in the woods; they in Zagreb?Should I have given allegiance to the authority of the illegal Simovic, or - as you call it - the "exiled" government in London, to the one in Cairo, yours in the woods or theirs in Zagreb? Is it possible to serve two masters? This is impossible, according to Catholic morals, the law of nations, and common sense. We could not ignore the authority here, even if it were Ustasha. It was here. You have a right to call me to account for action since May 8, 1945.As to my so-called acts of terrorism, you have no proof, nor can anyone believe you. If Lisak, Lela Sofijanec, and others came to me under assumed names, if I received a letter which I never read, and if it be a crime for men to come to me, I shall accept the verdict with equanimity.It does not trouble my conscience to have issued a certificate of free movement to the Rev. Maric, for I did not do so with the purpose of creating difficulties, and if this be guilt I would leave this world with my soul at peace.Whether you believe me or not, does not matter. The accused Archbishop of Zagreb knows not only how to suffer but also to die for his convictions.President Bakaric (of Croatia) himself acknowledged to the Rev. Milanovic: "We are convinced that the Archbishop stands behind these acts, but we have no proof" That, for me, is sufficient acknowledgement.And now, what is the essence of our controversy and our vicissitudes, and why has not a peaceful solution been reached? The state prosecutor has many times affirmed that nowhere else is there such freedom of conscience as in this state. I am free to demonstrate the contrary.Before all, I repeat: 260 to 270 priests have been killed by the National Liberation Movement. In no civilized state in the world would so many priests be punished for such crimes as have been imputed to them. For example, the pastor of Slatina, the Rev. Burger, as a member of the Kultur bund, should have been sentenced to, say, eight years imprisonment; but no, you killed him because he, in fulfillment of his duty as dean, had saved the sacred vessels of a national shrine.The Rev. Povoljnjak was, without benefit of trial, murdered like a dog in the streets. And the same has been the fate of accused Sisters. In no other civilized state would death have been meted out: only, at the most, a prison sentence.You have made a fatal mistake in murdering priests. The people will not forgive you for that. Such is your "freedom."Our Catholic schools, built at the cost of great sacrifices, have been taken away from us. If I had not received seven carloads of foodstuff from America, we could not have done anything for the children of our poor peasant folk.With force you took away all the seminary property. You have done nothing less than what the Gestapo did in seizing the seminary at Mokrice. We are not against agrarian reforms - the Holy See has issued many encyclicals on the social question - but they should have been carried out in agreement with the Holy See.Our orphanages have been rendered useless. Our printing presses have been silenced, and I am not sure if one still exists. We have no publications today, although they have been violently attacked here.Is it not manifestly scandalous to insist that nowhere does the Church enjoy such "freedom" as here?The Dominicans were unable to publish a spiritual book, translated by me from French, to be printed at a cost of 75,000 dinars. Is this freedom of the press?The St. Jerome Society has ceased to exist. It is a grave offense against the people to treat their greatest and oldest cultural institution in this manner. You have reproached me for the work of my Caritas. But I say to you: Caritas has performed untold services for our people and your children.There is the question of religious instruction in the schools. You have laid down the rule: In the higher grades of the secondary schools religious instruction is forbidden, and in the lower grades it is discretionary.How can you give to children the right to determine for themselves when they have not grown up, while those in the higher grades who have the right to vote are not allowed freedom of choice in this regard?Our nursing Sisters in the Catholic hospitals must bear untold miseries and hardships.Against the overwhelming opposition of the people you have introduced civil marriage. Why did you not interpret this freedom in accordance with the spirit of society in America, for example, where one is free to choose either civil or religious marriage?We do not deny to you some degree of control over marriage. But it grievously pains our people when they must first enter a civil before a religious marriage. If you had turned to us, we would have given you suggestions on this matter.The buildings of some of the religious in Backa have been confiscated. Some churches in Split (I do not know whether it still holds true) have been converted into warehouses. Church lands have been seized without any agreement with the Holy See. You have witnessed how the people, in the face of your agrarian reform, refuse to take these lands.No, the material question is the least of our concerns. The tragic thing is this: not one priest or bishop is today certain of his life, day or night. Bishop Srebrnic was attacked in SuÅ¡ak by youths at the instigation of responsible persons. For three hours they tormented him and invaded his quarters while your police and militia looked on.I myself suffered a similar experience in ZapreÅ¡ic when I was attacked with rocks and revolvers. Bishop Lach, when he was on a Confirmation tour across the Drave, and even though his mission was known, was turned back and held the whole night in the prison at Koprivnica. In fact, your own men who were in the woods came to me and declared: "This is unbecoming conduct. We shall protest to the authorities."Rocks were hurled through the window of the house where Bishop Buric was staying while on a Confirmation tour. Bishop PuÅ¡ic, as I heard, was recently the target of rotten apples and eggs.Such "freedom" we hold to be an illusion. We do not wish to exist like outlawed bandits. We shall fight, by all just means, for our rights - and here in this state.I would add - so that you may understand why we fight - three or four more examples of your "freedom." In the classrooms it is officially taught - in defiance of all historical proofs - that Jesus Christ never existed. Know you then: Jesus Christ is God. For Him we are ready to die. And today, you teach that He never actually lived. If a teacher dared to teach the contrary, he would certainly be expelled.I tell you, Mr. Prosecutor, that under such conditions the Church is not free, but will be slowly annihilated.Christ is the foundation of Christianity. You express concern for the Orthodox Serbs. I ask you: how can you conceive of Orthodoxy without Christ? How can you conceive of the Catholic Church without Christ? It is an utter absurdity.In the school books it is stated that the Mother of God was an adulteress. Are you unaware that for both Catholics and Orthodox the Mother of God is holy?You have proclaimed, as official doctrine, that man descends from the apes. That perhaps may satisfy the ambition of some. But why decree that as an official theory when no scholar of reputation holds it to be valid?According to your reviews, materialism is the only acceptable system and that implies the elimination of God and Christianity. If there is nothing but matter - then thank you for your "freedom."One of your men of influence once boasted: There is no one in this State whom we could not bring to court and sentence.To these outrageous charges whereby you place us among murderers and associates of terrorists, I say to you that not all the evil committed in the former Independent State of Croatia was the work of the Domobrani or the Ustashe.Let no one think I want conflict. Let the present authorities come to an understanding with the Holy See. The Church does not recognize dictatorship, but she is not against honest understandings. If that could be achieved, then the Bishops will know what is their duty and there will be no need to seek out priests to point out their (the Bishops') guilt, as was done here.Finally, I want to say a few words to the Communist Party, which, in reality is my accuser. If you think I have taken the present stand because of material things, you are wrong, for we have remained firm, even after you have made us poor.We are not against workers obtaining greater rights in the factories, for this is in line with the Papal Encyclicals. Nor are we against reforms. But let us make it plain to the leaders of communism: if there shall be freedom to diffuse materialism, then let us have the right to confess and propagate our principles. Catholics have died and will die for that right.I conclude: With good will, an understanding can come about. The initiative lies with the present authorities. Neither I nor the hierarchy are the ones to enter into this basic agreement. That is a matter between the State and the Holy See. As to myself and as to the verdict, I seek no mercy. My conscience is clear!  letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sun, 17 Apr 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6259/1/E-Croatian-Archbishop-Stepinac-risked-his-life-to-aid-the-Jews.html  The same NYT published on October 15, 1946 quite different story:" When the Nazis occupied Croatian Archbishop Stepinac risked his life to aid the Jews.  From:hmfgsf@juno.com To: letters@nytimes.com Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 Subject: Cardinal Stepinac, New York Times. 4.3.2005.Dear Editor:As Croatians, we are outraged that the New York Times would print a statement regarding Croatia's Cardinal Stepinac's beatification by Pope John Paul as incensing his critics - because Stepinac was the archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia, during WWII, - while you fail to mention that he saved many Jews at his own peril during the Nazi puppet state and opposed racism of any kind. Please compare your article with the article of the NYT of Oct 15, 1946 where you wrote the truth about Cardinal Stepinac with this statement: "When the Nazis occupied Croatia, Archbishop Stepinac risked his life to aid the Jews. With his aid, hundreds of Jews were smuggled out of the country. He denounced the race laws. He worked with the International Red Cross to rescue Jews in other countries, concealed these victims of racism under his own roof and many of his priests did likewise." You might be interested in the quote by Louis Breiner, President of the American Jewish Society after the show trial conviction of Cardinal Stepinac in Tito's Yugoslavia: "He was one of the few people in Europe who spoke out against Nazi tyranny, at all hours, when it was dangerous..."In addition, you are coming up with the utterly false number of 700,000 Serbs, Jews and others sent to death in camps in Croatia. Even one innocent victim is one too many, but the number long established as correct is between 60,000 to 80,000 in camps, while one million perished in WWII in Yugoslavia, most of them as combatants, Croats, Serbs and Bosnian Muslims. So let's not bandy about ad nauseam with numbers instilled by communist Yugoslavia ruled by the Serbs. It is obvious that Serb propaganda against Croatia still flourishes today, even in a respected newspaper as the NYT. Sincerely,Hilda M. FoleyNational Federation of Croatian AmericansSanta Ana, CA 92705714 832-0289All-Embracing Man of Action for a New Era of Papacy Published: April 3, 2005 (from page 9) NYTThe pope acknowledged as much, but failed to mollify critics, who were also incensed by his beatification of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, the archbishop of Zagreb during World War II, when a Nazi puppet regime ruled Croatia and 700,000 Serbs, Jews and others were sent to death camps.HOWEVER this was published in NYT on 10/15/1946.The same NYT published on October 15, 1946 quite different story:" When the Nazis occupied Croatian Archbishop Stepinac risked his life to aid the Jews. With his aid hundreds of Jews were smuggled out of the country and obtained the repeal of an order that all Jews must wear a yellow tag. He denounced the Nazi race laws. He worked with the International red Cross to rescue Jews in other countries, concealed these victims of racism under his own roof, and many of his priests did likewise.    letters@croatia.org (Nenad N. Bach) Sun, 17 Apr 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6261/1/E-Croatian-Inmates-in-German-Concentration-Camps.html  CROATIAN INMATES IN GERMAN CONCENTRATION CAMPSBy John Peter KraljicINTRODUCTION. The 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz brings to mind the relatively unknown story of ethnic Croat inmates in German concentration camps.CROATS AS VICTIMS OF ITALIANS. A substantial portion of Croatia came under direct Italian control during World War II. Italy annexed outright large swathes of Croatian territory and, following the outbreak of uprisings in adjacent areas of the Independent State of Croatia in the summer of 1941, took over control of a belt of land stretching along the Adriatic Sea.In annexed areas, which included most Croatian islands, a large area of the northern Kvarner around Rijeka, and the cities of Sibenik and Split, the Italian fascists authorities instituted a policy of ethnic cleansing not unlike what they had put into place in Istria, Rijeka, Cres, Losinj and Zadar after they had annexed those lands following World War I. The Italians closed all Croatian language schools, transformed Croatian place and personal names into Italian ones and eliminated all indications showing any connection of these ethnic Croat areas to Croatia (e.g., the removal of Ivan Mestrovic's statue of Croatian Bishop Grgur Ninski in Split). These policies understandably gave rise to resistance among the Croat population who began to support Partisan activity in the area as well as in adjacent NDH territory.In order to break the back of resistance, Italian military and civilian officials instituted a policy of mass terror involving raids, executions and deportations. In Dalmatia, for example, local military authorities executed 40 hostages in May 1942 after 22 telegraph poles had been cut down near Sibenik. Worse was to come in July when Italian troops executed 91 inhabitants of Podhum near Rijeka and deported the remaining 889 people of the village. Another military campaign conducted by Italian troops in June led to 33 executions in the Biokovo region. In November 1942, Italian troops opened an artillery barrage on the town of Primosten after Partisans had killed 14 Italian sailors in a confrontation nearby. 80 people were killed as a result of this war crime, while another 166 were taken to camps.The Italians established a number of camps in Croatia to house these deportees. They included camps in Lovran, Bakar, Rab and Molat. At least 1,000 mostly Croats died in the Molat camp. At the camp in Rab, the largest Italian camp in Croatia, Slovenes and Croats (primarily from the Gorski kotar region) were housed for a 13 month period. Close to 1,500 people died in Rab, approximately 500 of whom were Croats.Many more Croats were placed in camps or otherwise interned in Italy. A recent estimate places the total number of Croats imprisoned in Italy during the War at 60,000. The largest of these camps, Gonars near Udine, held around 4,000 Croats in February 1943, 1,500 of them children.The people interned in these camps or prisons in Italy included many Croat leaders, such as Viktor Ruzic, the former governor of the Savska Province (later convicted by Yugoslav communist authorities as being a "collaborator!"). Italian aims in establishing these camps clearly extended beyond merely cutting support for the Partisans. It became part and parcel of Italy's goal to change the ethnic composition of their newly annexed territories.The camps formed only one means to reach this goal. Italy also expelled thousands of Croats into the NDH and employed Chetnik forces to do the dirty work for them. A Chetnik, unit, for example, working in conjunction with Italian forces in an action in Biokovo, killed 160 Croats, including three priests in September 1942, while in another joint operation in the Mostar area about 200 Croats and 100 Muslims had been killed by them. A report by a local commander to Chetnik leader Draza Mihailovic claimed that over 2,000 Croats and Muslims had been killed in the region by the Chetniks. Yet another Chetnik unit executed 200 Croats in the hinterland of Omis in the same month. That the Italians encouraged the Chetniks in their rampages was shown by the 10,000 Lira reward provided to Chetniks who executed 23 Croat Partisans in the Rujiste area in 1942.(All the above is based on the work of Ivan Kovacic, Kampor 1942-1943: Hrvati, Slovenci i Zidovi u koncentracijskom logoru na otoku Rabu, Rijeka, 1998, and Zlatko Dizdar, "Talijanksa politika prema hrvatskim prostorima i njezine posljedice tijekom Drugog svjestkog rata," in Talijanska uprava na Hrvatskom prostoru, Zagreb, 2001).One must keep these matters in mind when discussing issues related to concentration camp victims. The few examples of repression noted above shows that many, many more Croats had been killed "on the spot" rather than in camps. This continued to be the case when the Germans arrived along Croatia's eastern Adriatic Coast in late 1943.As an epilogue, it should be noted that many of the Italians individually responsible for these crimes never saw any justice. The Western Allies, in an effort to shore up Italy in the face of a threatened takeover by the Communist Party, ignored all requests to extradite these criminals.GERMANS IN CROATIA. The Germans had forces in the NDH prior to autumn 1943. However, their presence became pronounced after Italy's capitulation in September 1943. Italy's surrender led to a national uprising throughout Dalmatia and in Istria. While the Communists have taken sole credit for these uprisings, and though their role cannot be ignored, the events along Croatia's Adriatic coast represent a true national revolt against the Italian occupiers. The Communists could count on only 85 Party members in all of Istria at the time with several hundred sympathizers. No Partisan units of any significance had been in the Peninsula at the time. Nevertheless, literally using stones, sticks and bluffs, local Croats obtained control of all of Istria, other than the city of Pula. The city of Split saw a similar uprising. These actions represent a truly unique historical event and nothing on such a scale took place anywhere else in Axis Europe.The Germans feared that the Allies across the Adriatic in Italy would use the vacuum which had been created on the Croatian coast as an opportunity to send their troop there. In October 1943 the Germans launched the so-called Rommel Offensive in Istria during which they killed approximately 5,000 people, half of them Partisans and half civilians. The Germans subsequently established a separate administrative unit under their direct control consisting of Istria, Rijeka, the Kvarner Islands, Trieste and the Friuli known as the Adriatische Kustenland.During the next several months they slowly moved down the coast line. Still, their control quite often only extended over larger towns and their immediate surroundings. As the Allies moved toward Rome, the Germans again worried that the Allies would move across the Adriatic. They launched a number of offensive operations in order to establish tighter control over these areas. These actions included one in Istria in late April and early May 1944 when they burned down practically all of the villages of the Istrian Kras region (bounded roughly by Ucka Mountain, Pazin, the Slovenian border and the Rijeka-Trieste road). During this operation, on 30 April 1944 the Germans executed 269 Croats in the village of Lipa alone.The repressive policies of the Germans continued in Dalmatia. It led to a wave of refugees, mostly Croats from the Dalmatian islands and mainland, across the Adriatic to Allied-held Bari. The Allies eventually placed these tens of thousands of Croats in refugee camps in Italy and in El Shatt, Egypt where an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 died. (Vladimir Zerjavic, Population Losses in Yugoslavia 1941-1945, Zagreb, 1997, p. 148).The entry of the Germans into the coastal areas of Croatia and Italy led to a significant number of Croats being sent to German concentration camps. The Croats sent to the camps can generally be divided into two categories: (i) those who had been previously imprisoned in camps in Italy and who failed to reach the Allied lines (approximately 10,000 of those who escaped, consisting of Slovenes and Croats, later formed the so-called Overseas Partisan Brigades. The Allies later transported them to Dalmatia where they fought in 1944 and 1945); and (ii) those captured by the Germans in their military operations.HOW MANY CROATS WERE IN GERMAN CAMPS? The number of Croats who ended up in these camps remains an open question. Demographic historian Vladimir Zerjavic has written that 3,000 Croats died in Germany, Poland and Austria during the War, but gives no hint concerning how many survived. (Zerjavic, Population Losses, p. 149). Some information concerning certain areas has been made available. A 1945 report concerning war crimes in Kastav near the city of Rijeka showed that 196 people from the town had been taken to Germany (while 56 had been shot and 2,311 had been taken to "camps" (presumably Italian ones)). (Hrvoje Mezulic, Fasizam: Krstitelj i palikuca, Zagreb, 1946, reprint, Pazin, 1997, p. 45). A list reproduced by historian Mihael Sobolevski contains details of 68 individuals, Croats and Italians, from the eastern portion of Rijeka (which had been part of Italy until 1947) killed in German concentration camps. ("Stvarni ljudski gubici na podrucju grada Rijeke u Drugom svjetskom ratua," in Zbornik Sveti Vid, vol. VII, 2002, pp. 96-98).A further 250 Croat and Muslim soldiers are known to have been killed in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. They had been recruited and drafted to serve in the 13th Pioneer Battalion of the 13th SS Division Croatia. After having been stationed in Villefranche-de-Rouerguea in France, the Battalion revolted with the plan to join the French resistance. The Germans crushed this revolt, the first known mutiny of German forces during World War II. (Zdravko Dizdar, "Prva pobuna u nacistickoj vojsci: Pobuna Trinaestoga pionirskog bataljuna 13 SS Divizije Croatia u -Villefranche-de-Rouergueu 17. Rujna 1943 godine," in Casopis za suvremenu povijest, 1993).CROATIAN ARTISTS AND THE HOLOCAUST. Mention should be made of Croatian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic, sculptor Dusan Dzamonja, and Croatian painter Krsto Hegedusic.Mestrovic's first wife had been Ruza Klein, a Croatian Jew, from whom he had been divorced before the War. Ruza and 30 members of her family later disappeared in the Holocaust. Mestrovic was an ardent anti-Nazi and refused Hitler's entreaties to exhibit his works in Germany. Mestrovic designed a Holocaust memorial for New York City's Riverside Park in 1951 which was never built.Dusan Dzamonja, born in Macedonia, has lived in Croatia since 1945. He was one of six first prize winners in a 1959 competition for a monument to the victims of Dachau.Krsto Hegedusic was imprisoned in a number of Italian camps during the War. His naïve paintings and sketches concerning Holocaust themes have been included in several retrospective works.AN UNAPPRECIATED HISTORY. The topic of Croats in German concentration camps has not been studied in any great detail. The reasons for this partly arises from the fact that the Germans considered many of the Croat and Slovene prisoners in their camps to be Italians. Italian inmates had an inverted red triangle on their camp uniforms with the letter "I" or the letters "IT" emblazoned on them (some had the letter "J" on the red triangle meaning that they came from Yugoslavia; the red triangle represented political prisoners). Boris Pahor, a Slovene survivor of the camps, noted that this designation offended Slovene and Croat inmates: "Tomaz had a big capital I in the middle of his red triangle - he was captured as an Italian citizen - but insisted, as any Slovene would, that he was a Yugoslav. No Slovene wanted to be exterminated in this place as an Italian, for since the end of the First World War the Italian government had been trying to eradicate him on his native soil. And Istrian Croats too, like the Slovenes, resisted sharing the fate of a people whose country they had annexed against their will. The proximity to death removes all masks, . . . though it wouldn't matter when we went down to the terrace with the oven." (Boris Pahor, Pilgrim Among the Shadows, New York, 1995, p. 48).Pahor's memoirs point out another reason this history has remained overlooked - the failure by Croatians to honor those of their brethren who had been victimized in the past. Pahor writes of another Slovene prisoner in Mauthausen, Zora Perello. Pahor compares her to Anne Frank as she too had written of her experiences. "But we Slovenes are too negligent a people to have collected Zora's letters or her diaries from the period that preceded her imprisonment by the Germans. . . . We wouldn't know how to present her to the world. To this day our nation's meager soul has not managed to free itself from the cocoon of its pain. We embrace our warriors, the heroes that fell on the battlefield; after centuries of subjugation they are a miraculous flame rising from the ashes; but it does not occur to us to celebrate the fate of a young girl, a beautiful high school student. Like all small people we have a penchant for the gigantic." (Pahor, p. 140).A similar indictment can be made of Croatia's treatment of its victims. While Italian prisoners of concentration camps have their own active association, no such organization had ever been established in Croatia. Moreover, the memoirs of those who survived the camps are scanty - I have only come across two such memoirs, one of which appeared in 1946!It was in an attempt to bring this matter to attention of the public that I put the list below together.A DESCRIPTION OF THE LIST AND ITS SHORTCOMINGS. The list suffers from a number of shortcomings. First, the information is based only on published sources. Second, my access to sources has been limited to books which mostly concentrate on the northern Adriatic area and I had limited ability to review works concerning the War in Dalmatia which would no doubt have yielded more information.We are fortunate to have a number of lists of people killed during World War II in certain communities in Croatia which include information on where they had been killed (I especially recommend the work Gubici Liburnijskog kraja u Drugom svjetskom ratu which lists all those killed (including some killed by the Partisans and those killed while serving in the Italian Army) from the area of Opatija). However, such lists fail to list those who survived the camps.I also note that I limited the list to ethnic Croats - I attempted to exclude ethnic Italians from Istria as well as Jews.Further, a question arises as to how to treat Croatian forced laborers sent to Germany during the War. Ivica Racan, for example, the former Prime Minister of Croatia, was born in a camp for forced laborers during the War where his father was one of those who died.SOME PEOPLE TO NOTE ON THE LIST. Despite its incompleteness, the list presents a fascinating array of persons who suffered and some who died in these camps. I note that two persons who survived subsequently became Roman Catholic priests (Zivan Bezic and Albin Kordic) while a number were priests while in the camps, including a Croatian priest (Matthias Semeliker) from the Austrian region of Burgenland which has a large Croat minority.The father of Croatian politician Ivan Jakovcic was in Dachau.The family of Ante Mandic, an official with ZAVNOH and a member of the Royal Regency, are among those who survived German camps.Of extreme interest is the story of Rude Paskvan who with a number of other Croats were among the 255 survivors of a mistaken bombing raid by the Allies on a group of ships holding 12,000 concentration camp survivors in May 1945.At least two of the survivors of the camps ultimately were executed by Communist authorities after false accusations were made against them (Oskar Juranic and Mario Stremberger).One of the inmates was born and died in the United States (Ivan Bostijanic) while another had lived in New York for a time (Igancije Bulimbasic).Edo Calic was a survivor of the camps. He became a leading authority in Europe on the history of Nazism and was a member of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences.Some members of the Sersic family on Rab were arrested after having helped American intelligence officers.SAN SABBA CAMP. A note on the little known San Sabba camp which was located in Trieste. This camp had been established by the German authorities in a former rice factory (hence it is also called Risseria) after they entered the area. It was used as a transit camp but also had been used to kill inmates for which purpose a crematoria had been established, the only one in Italy. It held many Croats and Slovenes and 2,000 people ultimately died there.SOURCES AND ABBREVIATIONS USED. The list is in alphabetical, English order. I have cited each work where the information appears. A list of the works cited follows at the end of the list.The descriptions use a number of abbreviations, most of which relate to Communist and Partisan organizations.AFZ is the Anti-Fascist Women's Front, a pro-Partisan, Communist-controlled organization.AVNOJ is the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia, a Partisan, Communist-dominated parliament.CP stands for the Communist Party and CPC the Communist Party of Croatia, CPI is the Communist Party of Italy and CPY is the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.NOO stands for National Liberation Committees. These committees were pro-Partisan administrative units which worked both in Partisan controlled territory as well as underground.NOP is the National Liberation Movement. This is the name of the pro-Partisan movement which was historically used by Communist authors. It is still a