Defendants Josip Perkovic , left,
and Zdravko Mustac, second right,
former members of the Yugoslav secret service,
arrive for their trial in a Munich courtroom
Friday Oct. 17, 2014. A former head of Yugoslavia’s
secret service and a one-time subordinate
have gone on trial in Germany
over the 1983 killing of a Croatian national in Bavaria.
Zdravko Mustac and former subordinate Josip Perkovic,
who later created independent Croatia’s spy agency,
are both charged with being accessories
to the murder of Stjepan Djurekovic.
The dissident was shot and beaten on July 28, 1983
in a garage in Wolfratshausen, near Munich.
(AP Photo//Michaela Rehle,Pool)
How much the “West” will have to answer for – or at least express profound regret – as its complicity in Communist crimes is gradually revealed, may be something that will come to light in no other place but Germany. The past couple of decades have been marked…
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First Night History 
Thank you so very much for the reblog, Sarah
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A pleasure, especially as it has produced debate and facts that bring reality to light.
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A worryingly partisan view of the tragic history of this former state. ‘Tito’s secret police worse than the Gestapo.’ Really? I have no strong views on this region, which has had a troubled past since the Turks invaded centuries ago. However, perhaps we should not so readily gloss over Croat enthusiasm for the Nazis during WW2. I found this, on Encyclopedia Britannica, In the interests of balance, please forgive this very long comment.
‘War broke out soon after the Sporazum was signed, and Yugoslavia declared its neutrality. Invasion, occupation, and partition followed in 1941. In their campaign against Yugoslavia, the Germans exploited Croatian discontent, presenting themselves as liberators and inciting Croats in the armed forces to mutiny. In April 1941 Germans and Italians set up the Independent State of Croatia, which also embraced Bosnia and Herzegovina and those parts of Dalmatia that had not been ceded to Italy. Though in fact this state was under occupation by the German and Italian armies, Pavelić’s Ustaša was put into power—a takeover facilitated by the refusal of Maček to take part in a puppet government and by the passivity of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Zagreb, Alojzije Stepinac. Initially there was enthusiasm for the independent state, but once in power the Ustaša ruthlessly persecuted Serbs, Jews, Roma (Gypsies), and antifascist Croats. The Ustaša planned to eliminate Croatia’s Serb minority partly by conversion from Orthodoxy to Catholicism, partly by expulsion, and partly by extermination. As many as 350,000 to 450,000 victims were killed in Ustaša massacres and in the notorious concentration camp at Jasenovac.’
Both sides have their skeletons in cupboards, it would appear.
Best wishes, Pete.
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No need to forgive a long comment, Pete. Knowing you are a communist, I thought you would probably find the article partisan. Having said that, I’m glad to see you counter it with a quote from EB. However, don’t equate Gestapo crimes with all the war crimes committed by Hitler, Germany and the Nazis when reading the writer’s comparison comment. I can quite believe the crimes instigated by Tito match if not surpass those by the Gestapo. It’s all very interesting, and debate and counterview are what makes history so valuable.
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Wise words indeed.
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Beetleypete, indeed both sides have skeletons in the cupboard. By the way, the phrase “worse than the Gestapo” was actually used by Simon Wiesenthal when describing the Stasi secret police in East Germany, referring to book “Stasi” by JOHN O. KOEHLER, New York Times published series of chapters. The phrase rings with truth however odd it may sound to those who haven’t been following the developments of communist crimes. Anyhow, in this day and age Encyclopedia Britannica is not a good source unless it revises its content along with discoveries of historical facts. Indeed Nazi Germany did occupy all states of former Yugoslavia and the only country the world sees when talking of the Holocaust is Croatia, but did you know that by May 1942 Serbia has in collaboration woth the Nazi exterminated 94% of Serbian Jews and declared itself as one of Europe’s first “Judenfrei” countries? Bet you did not know that and you can thank Tito for that. Just as Pavelic was put into power in Croatia so was Nedic put in power in Serbia. Did you know that Communists murdered more innocent Croats than the figures you quote for Jasenovac? But let’s not keep scores because to me even one victim is one victim too many. Did you know that Yugoslav communists kept Jasenovac open to 1948 where between 1945 and 1948 they murdered many thousands of Croats who opposed communism and added those victims to the numbers of victims recorded as being murdered by Ustashi? Did you know that Stalin murdered 36 Million innocent people and yet his Judges sat in Nuremberg court dishing out justice to the Nazis? What the 21st century should become known for is humanity: punishment to all perpetrators of WWII and post-WWII murders in the name of totalitarian regimes and finally justice for the victims of communist crimes. All victims regardless of perpetrators of crimes deserve justice, not just one side.
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Good morning Ina. (And Sarah)
I was well-aware of the involvement of the Chetniks and other Serbs during WW2, and in subsequent conflicts in the Balkans. I was also aware that Bosnian Muslims fought alongside the Germans, in the Waffen SS. Claims that Stalin was responsible for the death of 36 million people are widely believed, and often quoted. Whether or not this is true, I doubt we will ever know. As I said earlier, I hold no brief for any side in the Balkan Wars, or during the campaigns in Yugoslavia during the 1940s. Propaganda should not be considered to be historical truth though, whatever personal viewpoint we are taking, and that is why I chose to use the EB entry, as a bland statement of facts.
I am lucky to have lived in a country spared from civil war in my lifetime. We have also been fortunate not to have been invaded since 1066, and we have had no religious or political purges in modern times. I was not suggesting that one side deserved punishment more than another, merely trying to get balance into a very committed debate.
I see from your profile that you do laudable work in your country, and you are to be praised for that.
I send you my best wishes from England. Pete.
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