The Denial of Jasenovac - A Modern Controversy

The denial, minimisation and relativisation of the crimes at Jasenovac have become a significant political and historical problem over the past 30 years.

What is "Jasenovac denial"?

Jasenovac denial takes several forms:

• Denying the existence of the camp - an extreme position, very rare
• Minimising the number of victims - "There were not 700,000, only 20,000"
• Relativisation - "The Partisans did the same"
• Justification - "They were communists and terrorists, not innocent civilians"
• Rehabilitation of the Ustaše - "The Ustaše were fighters for Croatian independence"

The history of the debate over the number of victims

1945-1990 (Yugoslavia):

• The official figure: 700,000 - 1,000,000 victims (all NDH camps combined)
• Criticism: The figure was exaggerated for political reasons (communist propaganda)

• Croatian revisionists began to claim: "Only 20,000-30,000"
• The aim: Minimising the crimes of the Ustaše in order to justify Croatian nationalism

• The Jasenovac Memorial Site: Documented 83,145 names of victims
• International organisations (USHMM, Yad Vashem): 77,000-100,000 for Jasenovac alone
• The consensus of researchers: At least 80,000-100,000 for Jasenovac itself

The main actors of denial

• Far-right Croatian historians:
  • Igor Vukić - claimed "20,000 victims"
  • Some members of the HOS (a paramilitary group of the 1990s)
• Political movements:
  • Some members of the HDZ (the ruling party of Croatia)
  • Ustaša émigré communities (Argentina, Canada, Australia)
• Certain media outlets:
  • Right-wing tabloids in Croatia
  • Websites of Ustaša nostalgia

Forms of denial in practice

1. Debates over the numbers: "There were not 700,000, only 20,000 - therefore, it was not genocide." The response of scholars:

• It does not matter whether it was 20,000 or 700,000 - the murder of 20,000 civilians on account of their ethnicity IS genocide
• International organisations confirm: at least 80,000-100,000 for Jasenovac alone
• 20,000 children systematically killed - that too is genocide

2. Relativisation: "The Partisans also killed - Bleiburg, the Foibe." The response:

• The Partisan reprisals (Bleiburg) were WAR CRIMES and should be condemned
• But that DOES NOT JUSTIFY Jasenovac
• Jasenovac was a systematic, bureaucratically organised death camp for CIVILIANS (women, babies, children)
• These are two different kinds of crime

3. Rehabilitation of the Ustaše: "The Ustaše were Croatian fighters for independence." The response:

• The Ustaše were a fascist movement that systematically killed CIVILIANS
• There was no "fighting" - there was the slaughter of unarmed women, children, babies
• One can advocate for the independence of Croatia without rehabilitating perpetrators of genocide

Concrete examples of denial

Example 1: Streets named after Ustaše:

• In some Croatian towns there were streets named after Ustaša officers
• For example, Jure Francetić (an Ustaša commander who took part in massacres)
• After international pressure, some were renamed

Example 2: The graffiti "Za dom spremni":

• "Za dom spremni" ("Ready for the homeland") was an Ustaša salute (the equivalent of "Sieg Heil")
• After the 1990s, it reappeared in Croatia - in stadiums, on walls
• Under pressure from the EU, the Croatian government is trying to ban it

Example 3: Denial on the internet:

• Websites and forums that claim: "Jasenovac is a myth"
• Bogus "research" institutes that minimise the victims
• Social media groups with Ustaša symbolism

The international reaction

Yad Vashem (the Jewish Holocaust memorial): "The denial of Jasenovac is the equivalent of Holocaust denial. It is an insult to the victims and a danger to the future."

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: "Jasenovac was a death camp. There is undeniable evidence: Italian photographs, testimonies, exhumed graves. The number of victims is at least 77,000-99,000."

The Simon Wiesenthal Center:

• Placed Croatian deniers on its "Watch List"
• Presses the EU to ban the denial of Jasenovac

The European Union:

• During the negotiations for Croatia's entry into the EU (2000-2013), the denial of Jasenovac was an issue
• Croatia had to show that it was confronting its past

The Serbian side - problems

On the other hand, there are problems in Serbia as well:

• Exaggeration of the number - insistence on 700,000 despite the scholarly evidence
• Political use - Jasenovac used for anti-Croatian propaganda
• Generalisation - "all Croats are Ustaše" - this is untrue and unjust

• One should not insist on 700,000 (it undermines credibility)
• One should focus on the documented 83,145 names
• One should distinguish the Ustaše from the Croats - most Croats were not Ustaše

The law on genocide denial

Croatia:

• There is no explicit law prohibiting the denial of Jasenovac
• There is a law against racial hatred, but not one specific to denial

Bosnia and Herzegovina:

• A law against genocide denial (which includes Jasenovac)

Europe:

• The EU Framework Decision (2008) - prohibits the denial of internationally recognised genocides
• Jasenovac is in a grey area - it was not part of the Nuremberg tribunal

How can denial be combated?

• Education - teaching the young about Jasenovac in schools
• Documentation - continuing research and exhumations
• International verification - relying on Yad Vashem, the USHMM
• Dialogue - honest conversations between Serbs and Croats (without politics)
• Justice - prosecuting the remaining Ustaša criminals (if any are still alive) and their apologists

Conclusion

The denial of Jasenovac is:

• Historically untrue - there is undeniable evidence
• Morally wrong - an insult to the victims and their families
• Politically dangerous - it opens the way for new crimes

"He who denies Jasenovac is preparing a new Jasenovac." - Elie Wiesel (a survivor of Auschwitz, Nobel laureate)