Germany should express remorse for crimes committed against Serbs

Germany should express remorse for the crimes committed against Serbs, according to an article in the Jerusalem Post by the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Efraim Zuroff, and the honorary consul of Serbia in Israel, Aleksandar Nikolić.

In their joint article, they write that the UN resolution on Srebrenica has sparked a debate about arbitrary historical justice, particularly regarding Germany’s role in the atrocities committed against Serbs during World War II.

Zuroff and Nikolić note that just over two months ago, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that was not supported by the majority of its member states (84 voted ‘for’, 68 abstained, 19 voted ‘against’, and 22 countries, including Israel, did not attend the vote).

• The adopted resolution declares July 11 as the ‘International Day of Remembrance and Commemoration of the Genocide in Srebrenica in 1995,’ condemns genocide denial, and the glorification of war criminals. Why, among so many massacres committed during the modern era, was this heinous war crime chosen to be marked as a case of genocide? The UN General Assembly did this despite the fact that the vast majority of Bosniaks who fled to Srebrenica, officially declared a sanctuary for Bosnian Muslims, were spared by the Republika Srpska troops. Moreover, all women, children, and the elderly, who made up the vast majority of the 25,000 refugees, were released unharmed – the article states.

The authors point out that this absurd decision is not unusual for the UN, characterized by political games where certain political allies have an automatic majority.

• Under such circumstances, Serbia had no chance of preventing the adoption of this resolution. Israelis can sympathize with Serbia, given that Israel has also been a victim of clearly politically motivated resolutions and unjust criticisms in the General Assembly. The most infamous and outrageous among them was the ‘Zionism is Racism’ resolution – Zuroff and Nikolić note.

While Serbia can take comfort in the fact that the majority of General Assembly members refused to support the resolution, they highlight that one of the most frustrating aspects is the fact that the resolution was proposed and co-sponsored by Germany.

• While Germany’s responsibility for the horrific ‘Final Solution’ carried out by the Nazis with the aim of the complete extermination of European Jews is well-known, few people outside the former Yugoslavia are aware of the extent and brutality of Nazi crimes against Serbs during World War II – the article published by the Jerusalem Post states.

Nazi brutality, the article continues, was evident from the very first day of the invasion of Yugoslavia, which began in April 1941, when Belgrade was bombed, resulting in the complete destruction of the National Library and its valuable collection of books, some dating back to the 12th century. This was followed by the organization of notorious Nazi concentration camps in areas under German military occupation, such as Banjica in Belgrade and the infamous Crveni Krst in Niš, where around fourteen thousand innocent people, mostly Serbs, were killed.

BLACK OCTOBERS EVERYWHERE

Zuroff and Nikolić emphasize that the organization of concentration camps was accompanied by mass reprisals against Serbian civilians, far more drastic than measures taken in other occupied countries (100 civilians, in some cases including children, were shot for every German soldier killed, and 50 for each wounded soldier). The most notorious mass crime against innocent people occurred in Kragujevac during the aptly named “Black October” of 1941.

• A significant number of Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans), residents of Yugoslavia, played the role of a fifth column during the years preceding the war, only to later join the Nazi invaders, with many of them voluntarily joining the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division “Prinz Eugen” – the authors note.

The article emphasizes that in the annexed areas of Yugoslavia, Germany’s allies committed horrific crimes against Serbian civilians, with the full permission and support of the Nazis.

• In this regard, the Croatian Ustaše stood out the most, launching a campaign of genocide against the Serbs, who were mass-murdered in their communities and in concentration camps built across the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), which the Germans established after the occupation of Yugoslavia. Serbs, Jews, Roma, as well as anti-fascist Croats, were tortured in the most horrific ways and eventually killed in Jasenovac, a camp that became a symbol of Ustaše brutality and depravity – the article states.

NAZI GERMANY BORE FULL RESPONSIBILITY

Zuroff and Nikolić emphasize that even the German military envoy in Zagreb, Edmund Glaise von Horstenau, sharply criticized the horrific Ustaše atrocities, warning that they would provoke an uprising among the local Serb population.

• Nazi Germany bore full responsibility for these actions. It not only created the conditions but also conceived the NDH. Nazi Germany never attempted to curb the Ustaše campaign of genocide initiated by NDH dictator Ante Pavelić. On the contrary, Hitler emphasized to him that if the NDH wanted to be stable, an intolerant nationalist policy had to be pursued for 50 years, as excessive tolerance could only create problems – the article notes.

The article mentions that Michael Roth, head of the Foreign Policy Committee of the German Bundestag, in discussing the negative reactions from Belgrade to the adoption of the Srebrenica resolution, called them “shameful and disappointing,” while simultaneously suggesting that the initiative to adopt a similar resolution on Jasenovac seemed like an attempt to divert attention. “The point is not for people to point fingers at each other.”

• Despite understanding what Roth was trying to convey, the lack of a basic expression of regret and remorse is unacceptable. It is not about the absence of honoring victims as such, but about the absence of specific consideration of their fate, which was expected from Germany, which bore full responsibility for Jasenovac. To this day, however, there is no sense in the Balkans that Germany has ever expressed remorse or regret for the crimes committed against Serbs – Zuroff and Nikolić emphasize.

On the contrary, Zuroff and Nikolić highlight, for political reasons, Germany has too often sided with those who acted to the detriment of Serbia.

• Germany is among the most significant investors and foreign trade partners of Serbia. It is certainly one of the central countries of the EU, so important to Serbia itself. For this reason, it is natural to expect an expression of historical responsibility towards the Serbian people and respect for its victims – the article concludes.

Source: RTRS