Written by: Prof. Dr. Đorđe Mikić
The anti-Serb heritage of Kozarac and its surroundings, manifested in both world wars and led by Germany with its allies, is a notable historical narrative.
Simultaneously, the purpose of Christian Schmidt’s visit, whether in the capacity of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina or otherwise, is unclear and is not perceived as well-intentioned by Serbs. If the Serbian great Nikola Pašić were alive, he would likely repeat his words from 1914, when Austria-Hungary, under German pressure, declared war on Serbia: “Austria has declared war on us. This is her end. God will grant us victory.”
Similarly, the eminent German statesman Helmut Schmidt, observing his successors and their followers, would reiterate that Germany needs to overcome itself.
Today, Kozarac with its Muslim population, situated on the Berlin-Baghdad and Berlin-Istanbul routes, should forget the anti-Serb campaigns from the beginning of World War I, which even surprised the head of the Austro-Hungarian outpost in Kozarac. In this regard, he reported to the government in Sarajevo in 1914 that a Muslim, known in Kozarac as “Serb-eater,” had informed him about Dragica Čalić, a teacher at the Serb school in Kozarac.
The head doubted the truthfulness of his claims and was unsure of the underlying motives. In the sharpened political and national contradictions between Muslims and Serbs in Kozarac, the head maintained order with the help of the gendarmerie and Muslim Schutzkorps, recruited from the ranks of the marginalized, primarily against Serbs and to maintain peace from them. Muslims of Kozarac, and some Catholics, responded to the Austro-Hungarian mobilization with songs and cheer, as they would be directed against Serbs and Serbia.
The head stated that he harshly punished the local Serbs for numerous offenses. In the anti-Serb war euphoria, upon hearing that the extreme Tesanj mufti Adema Mesić, who later became a known supporter of Pavelic and Hitler during World War II, was recruiting volunteers, over 200 Muslims in Kozarac volunteered in 1914, eager to be led against the enemy.
They joined for different reasons and interests: Catholics desired the destruction of Serbia “in honor of Austria,” while Muslims sought revenge for Turkey’s defeat by Serbia and its allies in the First Balkan War of 1912.
Divisions
The division of Kozarac along religious and political lines regarding the Austro-Hungarian occupation reflected during the collection of war aid from the population. Catholics and Muslims were overly zealous in their contributions; at a fundraising event, a cigarette sold for 152 crowns, while a lamb could be bought for one crown before the war.
Despite the severe hardships faced by the Serb population of Kozarac, the head noted their hope that attacked Serbia would, with Russian help, escape the dire wartime situation… the peasants even expected land ownership and the abolition of the third part. He attributed the temporary compliance of Serbs in Kozarac to the consequence of gallows, stating that Serbs were loyal only until they had an opportunity not to be, as observed once Serb troops entered Bosnia.
Neither the Turkish nor the Austro-Hungarian occupations saw genocidal atrocities against Serbs in Kozarac and its vicinity as those committed by Muslims and Croats during the NDH in World War II.
On a single day, the Orthodox feast of St. Elijah in 1941, Muslim and Croatian Ustasha killed more than 200 Serbs and two Ukrainians in Kozarac. Due to the massacre that bathed Kozarac in Serb blood, the Croatian Ustasha authorities organized a trial in Banja Luka, followed later by the Partisan authorities.
Both Ustasha and Partisan documentation tied these and other crimes against Serbs in Kozarac and its surroundings to Husein Mujagić of Kozarac and, incidentally, to Srećko Brane, an artillery captain from Banja Luka. Mujagić’s role was associated with his pre-war thuggery in Kozarac, where he was punished for inciting a mob to protest in front of the jail for the release of some of his “friends in the bazaar.”
When the crowd dispersed, he alone shouted slogans that most easily mobilized co-religionists: “Listen, Muslims, the gendarmerie are putting us in jail just because we are Muslims, and for no other reason. The gendarmes took a hundred thousand dinars from us, and now they are taking us to jail.”
Terror
The terror and plunder in Kozarac and its surroundings by Mujagić’s Ustasha began by seizing horses from the disbanded Yugoslav army and reselling them, then seizing them again from the buyers, even their fellow Muslims, plundering their shops and businesses just like the Serbs. From Salih Kahvedžić’s store in the village of Deri alone, they took goods worth 15,000 dinars. Mujagić, with his murderers and looters, sold cattle seized from the Serbs in Ibro Shahbaz’s tavern.
According to Mustafa Mehanović from Kamičani, Mujagić sold oxen taken from the Serbs. Mehmet Kapetanović, a state roadman in Kozarac, stated that Mujagić’s looters took a son, father, and five children from a Serb woman in the village of Crnići and took 16,000 dinars from her. From Ostoja Prpoš, a forest contractor in Omarska, they demanded 100,000 dinars to release him from captivity.
With the arrival of Srećko Brane from Banja Luka with about 70 Ustasha soldiers, plunder and suffering of the Serbs in Kozarac and the surrounding area intensified. He told Mujagić that he came to Kozarac to clear everything. Brane perfected this work among the Banja Luka Ustasha rulers and executioners like Viktor Gutić and Felix Nedjelski, who employed executioners such as Ibrahim Kolonić from Prijedor, Hajro Bekić, Tomislav Dizdar, Asim Đelić, and others.
Kolonić and Đelić killed twenty-two Serbs from Gradiška villages, among them only Milan Šarić is known, executed in the Kastel fortress and the Gendarmerie barracks.
Conclusion
Despite some justifications and denials at later trials, the horrendous crimes committed during the wars have left a deep scar in Kozarac’s history. The region’s past, filled with brutality and division, serves as a painful reminder of the consequences of hatred and intolerance. Efforts to address these historical wounds continue to be essential for fostering peace and understanding among the communities involved.
Source: Glas Srpske
