Open Letter to the Australian Coordinator

I am writing in response to Mrs. Cornelius' interview with Mr. Peter Young on national television in which she made two valid points. Mrs. Cornelius, Australian Coordinator, stated that people have a moral responsibility to find peaceful solutions to national and international problems before they lead to the 'final sacrifice' by the military, and, that following World War II the world is divided by the policies of imperialistic powers and that the 'final sacrifice' did not solve anything.

As you all attempt to raise the public level of consciousness towards the importance of peaceful solutions, I also hope you intend to give serious attention to many specific inequalities and injustices in our communities, both national or international.

We all share a legacy of injustice left from World War II in one way or another. One issue we all share which concerns world peace is the nuclear threat which began with the atomic bombing of two cities in Japan . In this letter I will be concerned with another equally terrible injustice in the world today. That is the case of Croatia and Croatian people. What has come to be known as the 'Bleiburg Genocide' took place as half a million Croatian men, women and children were slaughtered after World War II. Today, the cover up of this crime continues on by the world media and this is what causes recurring damage to the Croatian people all over the world.

I was born in Ottawa , Canada of Anglo/Scottish descent, and later came to Australia where I married a Croatian man and am raising a family. Croats have a rich beautiful culture, language, literature and history. It didn't take me long to discover that their 4,000 year old history has been almost totally obliterated from most English texts such as encyclopaedias, etc. This blatant omission of such a strong nation's existence, a nation which had one of the first parliaments and kingdoms in Europe , shocked me. It aroused my curiosity to learn as much as I could about Croatia .

My parents both worked and met in the Department of Munitions & Supply during World War II in Ottawa . For my father's contribution during the war he was distinguished with the insignia, the MBE. My inheritance of this insignia and a document which was signed by King George the Sixth was always a source of pride for me as it symbolically represented the victory over fascism. But it seems this legacy of victory has been betrayed.

My youthful pride gradually turned into a sense of shame after visiting villages in Croatia and living there. I experienced first hand their fear, subsistence and humiliation. The picture I could paint would not be a proud one. As news spread that I was visiting from Australia , many old ladies in dingy black clothes came to me clutching creased photographs, begging for news of their relatives lost in a foreign land. I was not able to understand them very well or to help them.

Since those days which changed my life, spent in Croatia , I promised myself to try to find a way to help them. I have attempted to learn their Croatian language and to educate myself about their tragic past.

You have stated that people have a moral responsibility to find peaceful solutions to national and international problems. I agree with this. I believe that in this International Year of Peace the western world must come to terms with the mistakes it has made and this includes the mistakes and crimes committed against the Croatian people. They have suffered greatly, firstly as a result of these post war mistakes and secondly as a result of continuing to cover up the crimes against humanity committed, and still 'being committed' by Yugoslavia . This cover up of the truth by the world media is also accompanied by omission of Croatian history and the truth from all popularly quoted texts in the English language

At the very outset it is interesting to point out that the Croats and Serbs lived relatively peacefully as neighbours for centuries until the formation of Yugoslavia . The first Yugoslavia was formed as a dictatorship after a military coup in 1929, following the assassination in 1928 of Dr Stjepan Radic, the leader of the Croatian Republican Peasant Party 'in a session of parliament' by a Serbian MP, Punica Ratchitch. Four other Croatian MPs were gunned down in that session of parliament in Belgrade . Yugoslavia disintegrated in 1941 with the onslaught of the German troops and a 'bloodless severance of Croatia from the Yugoslav state' took place (according to the National Archives, Washington DC ).

At the end of the second world war, with the help from the Allies, the 'second' Yugoslavia was formed, under Tito - this time on the skeletons of half a million Croatians. Hundreds of thousands of Croatian refugees were turned back at the Yugoslav border after trying to surrender in Austria in the British sector. Of those who were able to enter Austria , they were sent back to their enemies, like lambs to the slaughter, unarmed. For example, one devious method used was to tell the Croats that trains which carried thousands of their unarmed soldiers were going to Italy , when the trains arrived at their destination they found themselves back inside 'Yugoslav' territory.

Winston Churchill had delivered many noble speeches which caused his people to 'rise up' to the defence of their nation. His words were brave indeed with the knowledge that half of the world was on his side. Contrast his situation with that of Croatia , who had to fight off Tito's partisans who received help from the Allies; Serbian Chetniks who were receiving help from the partisans and the fascist Italians; Italian fascist occupiers; and advancing Soviets who had been collaborating with Tito to secure communism's place in the next Yugoslavia . Unlike German aggressors, the Croats were only concerned with self defence. After the war Croatia did not receive any compensation for the losses to her country. Instead everyone was intent on occupying Croatia, defeating Croatia, exploiting Croatia and committing genocide in Croatia, as the Allies handed half a million Croats over to Tito's partisans to meet a terrible fate. With the release of top secret British documents these facts have all been documented (see 'The pro-allied putsch in Croatia in 1944 & the Massacre of Croatians by Tito's Communists in 1945'; or 'Enigma Tito'; Omrcanin, I.)

Milovan Djilas, a professed Yugoslav in his new book 'Rise and Fall' says that inside Yugoslavia there are "forced labour camps, compulsory 'volunteer' labour brigades, internal secret police, informers, punishment of the innocent families of dissidents, dogmatic ideology, rigid bureaucratic structures, the replacement of thought by slogans, the drastic enforcement of conformity, and the replacement of freedom by unquestioning obedience". Djilas also admitted on an interview with Radio Zagreb that "the Croatians had to die so that Yugoslavia could live". In the Weekend Australian newspaper of 4-5 January 1986, Djilas' new book, 'Rise and Fall' was reviewed under the misleading title, "Djilas: A Moral Man in an Amoral Age". I think a more appropriate title would have been " Yugoslavia exposed as a Tyranny of Terror".

Two historians in Yugoslavia were brave enough to publish statistics which proved that not the exaggerated figure of 770,000 were killed at the hands of the Croatian army, but that less than 55,000 were killed by Croats in defending her own Croatian soil. Dr. Franjo ALBUM LINK Tudjman was imprisoned twice, and Bruno Busic fled into exile in Paris and met with five bullets to his head in a back street. I hope that their sacrifice to tell the truth will not be in vain.

Croats under the Yugoslav tyrannical government have been exploited right from its very beginning. Following the Bleiburg Genocide which was referred as 'Operation Slaughterhouse', Croats have been exploited physically, mentally and spiritually. Croatian people have virtually been forced to emigrate by Yugoslavia in co-operation with western nations who accepted them, thus putting off any domestic solution to the injustices faced by Croatia , and also allowing the spreading of this injustice. Croatia 's birth rate is on its way to being 'minus zero' in contrast to all other European nations. The people who remain in Croatia who oppose in any way the government even if it be the singing of a 150 year old traditional song are persecuted and imprisoned. Yugoslavia is an artificially created state and its government is trying forcefully to create a new nationality of people and a new language.

Why do I call the Bleiburg genocide a so-called 'perfect crime'? The dream of every criminal, the perfect crime, is one which goes undetected and unpunished. If there is no crime who bothers to look for the criminal? Serbian-controlled Yugoslavia is a master at deception. The Bleiburg genocide of Croats is still virtually unknown to the world and the cover up allows Yugoslavia to go unpunished and to carry on to repeat its crimes.

It has often been said that 'what you don't know won't hurt you'. Then it should follow that 'what the world doesn't know won't hurt it'. Well, in the past this wasn't the case and 'what the world didn't know' often did hurt all of us. We should never forget that organisations committed to Serbian imperialism sparked off the first world war after the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo "by assassins who belonged to a Serbian terrorist organisation called the 'Black Hand' ". (see 'Experience of Nationhood Australia and the World since 1900', Mason K.J.) Still today Yugoslavia 's name has been linked in today's headlines in the deadly ring of terrorism over Europe and the Mediterranean which threatens to ignite world war III. It is no small matter that Yugoslavia is a proven terrorist and it is no small matter indeed that it exists only as a direct result of the genocide of the Croatian people.

Yugoslavia has continued to commit so-called 'perfect crimes' unhindered while managing to juggle public opinion to create another phenomenon, the so-called 'perfect criminal'. Once again I can now quote from Djilas who admits that "history is filled with examples of 'just' men being condemned because of 'political necessity' . ". A prime example is Cardinal Stepinac, to whom Djilas was directly referring. Cardinal Stepinac died after being systematically irradiated with xrays while in prison after world war II. He was tortured and murdered by Yugoslavia in front of the whole world yet the silence is deafening!

Actual criminals such as Hitler or Genghis Khan seem to live in history almost as heroes as their deadly military successes are examined in countless documentaries. Sometimes their sins seem to be less focused on than the men themselves. But herein lies proof positive - few if any documentaries could possibly be made about Yugoslavia 's artificially created criminals because their crimes didn't exist. In addition, Yugoslavia has continued to make sure that Croatian leaders' names are blackened 'in print' in order to keep the fabricated Croatian fascist image alive.

Statistics are now pointing to another 'perfect crime'. By the year 2000 Croatia 's birth rate will be less annually than her death rate. This is because the most liberal abortion laws inside Yugoslavia are offered to the Croatian province resulting in abortions on a massive scale reaching the proportions of another genocide. Mass abortion is coupled with mass exodus, mass European 'guest worker' schemes, mass family separations, villages increasingly filled with a high ratio of elderly people, 37 'death penalties', and prisons full of political prisoners on a scale per population highest in the world, to make Croatia one of the 'emptiest' yet richest lands in Europe today.

Reports such as the above can be obtained from Amnesty International and these political prisoners suffer in a living hell inside Yugoslavia . Some of them are mere teenage students who did no more than to sing a Croatian song. Others are writers and poets, one who has even been blinded by his solitary confinement, who you can read about in the book, "The Blind Dissenter: Vjenceslav Cizek". I mentioned earlier in the letter the name Dr. Stjepan Radic. He was a non-violent fighter for human rights during the events which took place in the ' Kingdom of Serbs , Croats & Slovens' which lead to the creation of the first Yugoslav dictatorship.

I quote from a book the following about the imprisonment of Dr. S. Radic: "In Zagreb therefore on February 3 rd , 1919, Radic and other main Croatian leaders, put together in the form of a resolution a demand for the establishment of the promised assembly (establishment of Constituent Assembly was inherent in Declaration of Corfu). And this resolution was sent to all the western powers, and to the president of the United States . The allied leaders, who were deliberating the new boundaries of Europe at Paris , ignored this resolution.

In May 1919, the demands of this resolution were made directly to the Paris Peace Conference, in the form of a petition, which carried on it 157,669 signatures. The petition thus was truly representative of the political feeling of the Croatian people as a whole.

Again the Croatian people were ignored. And for his part in the preparation of the petition, Dr. S. Radic was imprisoned for a period of eleven months." (see 'Trial by Slander', Les Shaw).

Thus, the first Yugoslavia and the second Yugoslavia continue to mean for Croatian people - enslavement, genocide or exile.

A few months ago in Zagreb Croatia a very unique occurrence appeared in the news. Marchers went through the streets carrying 'blank' placards and when the speaker began his speech he silently 'mimed' his message and waved his arms about. It was twice as effective that they were demonstrating about the lack of freedom of speech. It was also a non-violent attempt at bringing world attention to the plight of Croatia within communist Yugoslavia today.

In conclusion it is painfully clear that all of these terrorist violations against human rights in Croatia and other subjugated nations of Yugoslavia are deliberately covered up by the world media. This cover up is what continues to hurt the most.

Croatians living under the Australian government have similarly been persecuted and discriminated against, although not so obviously as under the Yugoslav government. There is no recognition of Croatia as an entity in its own right. There is no radio hour which represents Croats, their language and rights are continually infringed upon as in Yugoslavia , and there are even Croatian political prisoners in Sydney Australia.

The situation facing Croatian refugees or later emigrants to Australia however was almost a 'pioneer' one. Already in America and others places there were established Croatian communities from the beginning of the 20 th century. However, in Australia before world war two as per the 1921 census, there were less than 1000 Croats registered. Thus Croatians literally 'travelled back into time' as they faced obstacles which only pioneers of unsettled nations faced a century ago with regard to establishing their identity.

The result of this situation is that today Croatian communities in Australia are still in the 'silent movies' era when pictures with captions and accompanying piano music replaced communication. This compares also with the silent demonstration held recently in Zagreb as described in (5) above. The following phrase seems to fit the bill:

"You have the right to remain silent but if you choose to speak anything you say can and will be used against you .".

Croatia appears in the media through its folkloric advancement, meeting halls, sporting prowess, demonstrations, video cassettes, tourism and books (produced in Yugoslavia for tourists and overseas libraries in English). These glossy books give a slanted history of Croatia and always leave out the provinces of Bosnia & Hercegovina where Croats have also lived for thirteen centuries. On films and videos Croatia is presented in all its splendour but the sound fades into the background behind a pro-Yugoslav commentator. Thus Yugoslavia 's good image is nurtured by the media while Yugoslavia 's criminal side is played down, and as always Croatia 's fate hangs in the balance.

Yet another petition is underway to get a fair Croatian radio programme on 3EA and to get fair and equal representation from the SBS. The radio programme has not had the support of the Croatian Australian community for the past two years as they cannot compromise their existence to fit in with Yugoslav propaganda and censorship. The SBS is also a vehicle of Yugoslav propaganda.

A century ago, imperial Germany condemned the luring of her fellow Europeans to the North American west as 'criminal'. It will be written by future historians that the luring of Croatian people out of Croatia by western industrialised nations was also a comparable 'criminal' act. Australian historians admit that Australia had to build up its population after the second world war under the policy of 'populate or perish'.

It is worth remembering that Djilas wrote that in order that Yugoslavia can exist, Croats had to die. Genocide, in the television age, is not wise as it can be detected so new immigration schemes were instigated with places such as Australia to "get rid of" Yugoslavia 's Croatian unwanted population. (see 'A New History of Australia', F. Crowley).

The case of continuing Croatian immigration to Australia needs to be compared and contrasted with the other main ethnic groups. For example, the Australian Italian newspaper 'Il Globo' jokingly referred to the 'Australian Department of Immigration' as the 'Australian Department of Migration' recently as reported on 'Ethnic Media Report (Ch. 28), in highlighting the fact that more Italians leave Australia each year than arrive.

All over the world Croats labour in mines, in tunnels, on skyscrapers, in factories, and on night shifts - doing jobs which build the nations of others, doing jobs which others prefer not to do. For their reward Croats are further dishonoured as shown by the plaque which honours the men who died making the Snowy Mountain Hydro Electric Scheme in Australia . They are referred to as 'Yugoslavs' or 'displaced persons' (even though they had UN refugee documents before they came to Australia ). In Australia today the recognition of Croats as an ethnic group in a multicultural framework is at best haphazard.

Croatian communities have learned the hard way that some government loans liberally given to them by the Australian government for meeting clubs haven't solved the problem of inequality and discrimination. When it comes to the important issues of language and ethnic representation, government grants are minimal by comparison with other ethnic groups. This is an unsatisfactory response from the Australian government which admits in writing after considerable research that groups from Yugoslavia who actually engage in 'pan Yugoslav' functions are of a very small percentage. (Dept of Education & Youth Affairs: Cultural Background Paper) The present expression of Croatian culture is healthily progressing, but the 'acoustics' are poor. The governments of every country which eagerly accepted and enticed Croats to come to their shores must now start 'paying the price' and give them their freedom of speech 'in stereo'. The issue of discrimination against Croats should be addressed in this UN Year of International Peace 1986.

It's time for Australia to pay the price to her Australian citizens of Croatian ancestry whether or not this comes into conflict with Yugoslavia 's crystal image as a peacemaker. Recently Ch. 2 and Ch. 28 screened a programme about the World Skydiving Championships held in Yugoslavia (filmed over the skies of Croatia ). Out of the official's mouth in broken English came the astonishing sentence:

"As you already know in what I hope you will convince yourselves once again that Yugoslavia has been continually fighting for peace and friendship of all nations and we shall never endanger freedom of others but we shall also know how to keep our own." I hope that once again, 'what the world doesn't know . won't hurt it'.

On the World Map of Freedom published in the magazine ' Institute of Public Affairs Review ' Spring 1985, Yugoslavia is on the list of 'part free' nations. Croats therefore automatically fall into this 'part free' category whether in their homeland or abroad.

Let's explore what 'part free' means in practical terms:

In summary of the above then it appears that 'part free' more correctly means 'part- non-free'. Life in the free world and in a democracy is supposed to mean freedom of expression for all. The violation of human rights of the Croatian people all over the world, including Australia results in a continued 'part-non-free' existence.

Being 'part-non-free' knows no age barrier as even primary school children face prejudice in a mainstream Australian 'multicultural' classroom context, as they are unable to match other ethnic groups with pride in their parent's nation's existence. Croatia is not on the world map, nor is it covered in contemporary encyclopaedias. When asked why this was so by a child I know of, her teacher replied to her: "I guess it's because your grandfathers didn't fight hard enough in the last war". That child cried because she had been told by her father that Croatian people have been defending their homeland longer than any nation in Europe and still struggles today non-violently for peace.

In order to keep alive the 'fascist brand' put onto the Croatian name, Yugoslavia even in far away Australia seems to find it necessary to create new artificial criminals. In Sydney the longest criminal trial in the history of Australia transpired in 1981 and it also was the most expensive criminal trial to the Australian taxpayers. Six Croats received fifteen-year sentences in the complete absence of any crime or evidence that a crime was being planned. The so-dubbed, 'Croatian Six' were framed and convicted with 'unsigned police verbals'. Currently a committee which includes some leading Australian figures from the legal profession, etc. is working on yet another appeal for their release. The ulterior motive behind this frame-up was not the trial and conviction for the six men in question, but rather to 'brand' the whole Australian Croatian community. Thus, Yugoslavia 's clandestine activities are affecting not only Croatian Australians but also the Australian taxpayers.

The terrorism in the world today takes many forms and the results of this terrorism can be seen in the increasingly restricted international travel faced by tourists. Yugoslavia has been proven to be an international terrorist, although its role in international terrorism continues to take a low profile in the world media.

"Dear Sir, I was astonished that in your information article on terrorism in Europe (2.6.82) you did not mention the current wave of assassinations in Western Europe by the Yugoslav secret service. Just within the last four months 14 political dissidents were assassinated ( West Germany 9, Belgium 3, France 1, Switzerland 1) making the Yugoslav government the most dangerous terrorist group in Europe . In West Germany there are currently three separate trials of assassins or would-be assassins who were caught. In addition, for years now Yugoslavia itself has been one of the main bases of international terrorism. H.P. Rullman has just published a book available in German and English documenting more than 90 recent assassinations of dissidents, mostly Croatian. Nova Hrvatska newspaper ( 30 Fleet St. , London ) can provide you with detailed information of UDBA's terror at home and abroad. Yours, Slobodan Ivanek, San Francisco , California ."

In conclusion therefore it is becoming increasingly difficult for all Australians to ignore world terrorism. Australians are being affected as well as Croats.

In conclusion to this brief history of Croatia within Yugoslavia, and of Croatian people who have been forced to live outside Yugoslavia, I hope I have brought attention to all who read this that gross injustices are being committed in national and international walks of life.

The 'Croatian connection' to world peace and to peace for Croatian people goes back to the assassination of a non-violent human rights leader, Dr. Stjepan Radic, to the brutal genocide of half a million people known as 'Operation Slaughterhouse' and to the continuing assassinations of a long list of Croatian historians, writers and intellectuals. The very meaning of the word Yugoslavia is synonymous with murderer.

The tragedy of the Croatian people is covered up by the media, and obliterated from history, while other equally horrendous crimes against humanity continue to receive media coverage.

However there seems to be 'no room at the inn' so to speak, for Croats who are continually being crucified in body and spirit no matter where they look for sanctuary and peace. Now this burden is heavier than ever as Croatia is caught in a pseudo buffer state between east and west, while Yugoslavia plays both sides against each other to its own advantage. The west continues to hide the truth and continues to support communist Yugoslavia , as western powers claim to be trying to halt the spread of communism in the world. ("How the USA Finance their Own Opponents" in 'That's Yugoslavia ', 3.82)

Communist Yugoslavia was unlawfully created literally on a foundation of skeletons and now as those bones crumble into dust it is desperate to keep a cloud over the truth.

In spite of this black cloud over the truth, Croats deserve the right to a free existence like other people in the world. Croats, like others, should be able to raise and feed their families together in peace. They deserve a peaceful solution to their present 'part-non-free' status.

Finally, the theme of the UN International Year of Peace should include an open approach to the injustices suffered by Croatian people who will not be satisfied much longer to live under the double standards of the world media. The status quo of Australian society, and other western nations is being maintained at the expense of Croatian people. These existing double standards continue to invite more terrorism from Yugoslavia .

A project focusing on injustices outlined in this letter, if undertaken, by the UNIYP would be one of the most important peacekeeping measures for the future benefit of all.