From: kovacevic@qut.edu.au
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: REPETITIO MATER STUDIORUM EST
Date: 14 Oct 92 17:02:41 GMT
Organization: Queensland University of Technology

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    REPETITIO MATER STUDIORUM EST.

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42 POINTS WORTH REMEMBERING

1.
     Serbs and Croats came to the Balkans from Eastern Europe in
the sixth century A.D. They ultimately formed small duchies - the
Serbs under the nominal suzerainty of the Byzantines; the Croats
under the Franks and Venetians.


2.
     Croatia never had a full-fledged independent state. Their
kings were Papal vassals who received crowns from Popes John X
(King Tomislav 925 AD) and Gregory VII (King Zvonimir, 1076) in
return for absolute fealty and fixed yearly tribute. Croatia ceased
to exist as a separate political entity after signing the Pacta
Conventa with Hungary in 1102 and Austria in 1527. Until the end
of World War I in 1918, the Croats lived in separate
semi-autonomous and semi-feudal provinces of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire.


3.
     Serbs had several fully independent kingdoms between 1159 and
1345 that combined to form a large empire between 1345 and 1389.
This empire was defeated by the Turks in 1389 at the Battle of
Kosovo. Serbia then became a small semi-independent
tributary state (despotate) until it was abolished entirely by the
Turks in 1459. Serbs overthrew Turkish rule in 1804, reconquered
Kosovo-Metohija during the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), and built a
modern democratic state of free land-holding peasants.


4.
     The Serbs living in Krajina came to their present domicile in
two waves. The first group, now settled in Dalmatia, came from
Kosovo-Metohija in 1347-1355 at the invitation of Dowager
Princess Jelena Subic. The princess built several Orthodox
monasteries, churches and schools for them. The Serbs in the
northern part of Krajina (Lika and Slavonija) came between 1460 and
1490, fleeing from advancing Turks. They were settled on feudal
fiefs which at the time were completely abandoned by their Austrian
and Hungarian lords and Croat serfs. The original land-patents
given to the Serbs by Austrians refer to these lands as "desertum
primum et secundum". These Serbs were given the status of free
peasants in return for military service against the Turks. Their
"Military Border" was under direct control of Vienna and
independent of the Austrian governors of Croatia.


5.
     Serbia lost 25 percent of its total population and 56 percent
of its adult male population during the Balkan Wars and World War
I. (To put these figures into perspective, it is helpful to know
that casualties reported from both sides participating in America's
Civil War totaled two percent of the population). Serbia fought
with the Allies in both World War I and World War II.


6.
     The idea of South Slavic unity (Yugoslavism) originated among
Croats. It began as a literary movement in 1850, when at a meeting
in Vienna three Croat writers, I. Kukuljevic, F. Miklosic and I.
Mazuranic, invited two Serbian linguistic reformers, V. Karadzic
and Dj. Danicic, to sign an "Agreement on Common Literary Language,"
whereby their reforms would become the basis for the Serbo-Croatian
literary language. This remained an intellectual idea with slight
popular support among Serbs and virtually none among Croats who
resisted giving up their orthography.


7.
     "Yugoslavism" was transformed into a political idea during
World War I by three Croatian deputies of the Austro-Hungarian
Parliament, A. Trumbic, F. Supilo and J. Smodlaka. They were
Dalmatians, and as such, were alarmed by the Allied London Treaty
of 1915 which assigned parts of Dalmatia to Italy as a prize for
joining the war against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Since the same
treaty gave parts of Slovenia to Italy, the Croat deputies invited
some Slovenian colleagues to approach the Allied Kingdom of Serbia
with the plea to include all of Croatia and Slovenia in its claims
as a war prize under the slogan of a "South Slav State," based on
ethnic and linguistic kinship with Serbs. Thus, Serbia was to use
its enormous war-prestige to thwart the Italian claims upon the
South Slavic lands which at the time were enemy territory. This is
how the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed in 1918.


8.
     In 1929, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes changed its
name to Yugoslavia.


9.
     Under the attack by the Axis powers in April 1941, Yugoslavia
fell. Yugoslavia was completely encircled by the Nazi war machine
countries of Albania, Italy, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria.


10.
     Serbia's Colonel (later General) Draza Mihailovic and his
Chetniks formed the first guerilla resistance to Hitler in all of
Europe, but Serbs paid dearly for resisting the German army of
occupation, as reprisals were set of 100 Serbs shot for every
German killed and 50 Serbs executed for every German wounded.


11.
     On April 10, 1941, the illegal Croat fascist party (Ustashe)
proclaimed the Independent State of Croatia. Its policy, as
articulated by its minister of education, was to kill one part of
all Serbs living in Croatia, push one part over the border and
convert the last part to Catholicism. The Independent State of
Croatia was a full-fledged Axis co-belligerent, officially at war
with all Allies. (It declared war on the United States on December
12, 1941).

12.
     World War II Croatia had more men under arms proportionately
than any other Axis state. It had 160,000 regulars (Domobrani);
75,00 Fascist militia (Ustashe); and 15,000 police auxiliaries
(Oruznici and Redarstvo). In addition to its own units, Croatia
provided more volunteers for the German Army than anyone else in
Axis Europe: five full-strength divisions, three Wehrmacht (369th,
373rd, 392nd) and two Waffen SS (13th and 23rd), plus a "Croat
Legion" of 7,000 volunteers serving under German command at the
Russian front, and an anti-aircraft unit of 500 men serving in
Austria. These units were officered by Germans and wore German
uniforms and insignia, but all had the Croat national "chessboard"
emblem on the sleeve of their jackets, the same emblem the new
Croat Republic is using, the same emblem which Serbs in Krajina
fear.


13.
     The Croatian Ustashe operated numerous extermination camps,
including the one at Jasenovac, which was the third largest death
camp in all of Wartime Europe. According to the Simon Wiesenthal
Center, 77% of all Jews, more than 500,000 Serbs and 20,000 Gypsies
living in Croatia were annihilated by the Ustashe during World War
II. When Herman Neubacher was the high ranking Austrian Nazi
serving as special German envoy for Southeast Europe he wrote,
"When the leaders of Ustashas boast to have slaughtered one million
Orthodox Serbs, that in my opinion is self-glorifying exaggeration.
On the basis of reports I had received, I estimate the number of
defenseless Serbs who were slaughtered at three-quarters of a
million."


14.
     During World War II, the newly formed Albanian fascist militia
in western Kosovo-Metohija brutally expelled 70,000 Serbs and
brought in  about an equal number of non Serbian speaking Albanians
from Albania. In northeastern Kosovo-Metohija, Serbs were left
undisturbed until 1944, when the 21st SS "Skanderberg Division"
began operating in the area. Manned by Albanian volunteers from
Kosovo-Metohija, the division massacred thousands of Serbs and
forced others to flee to German-occupied Serbia.


15.
     Most historians claim about 15 percent of the Serbian
population was killed during World War II. Some revisionists claim
this figure was closer to seven percent, but these are often the
same revisionists who state Croatia suffered the worst genocide
during World War II without clarifying that the genocide in Croatia
was conducted by Croatians and Muslims against Serbians, Jews and
Gypsies. Approximately 200,000 Serbian Orthodox Christians were
forcibly converted to Roman Catholicism during World War II.


16.
     Unlike German and Austria, Croatia never apologized for its
war crimes.

17.
     Yugoslavia's interior borders have no basis in history. They
were drawn up secretly by five members of the Central Committee of
the Yugoslav Communist Party in 1943. Serbs were not represented
at this AVNOJ meeting because Serbia was, at that time, under the
control of Mihailovic's guerrillas.


18.
     One of the first acts of Josip Broz Tito, who was half
Croatian and half Slovenian, was to pass a law March 6, 1945
prohibiting Serbs who were expelled from Kosovo-Metohija from
returning to their homelands. The act voided all land-deeds made
during the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, but not those made under Axis
occupation. Tito then kept the borders to Albania open from 1945
to 1948, allowing another 115,000 Albanians to move into Kosovo-
Metohija. From the Albanian-controlled provincial government of
Kosovo-Metohija, the Albanian immigrants in Kosovo-Metohija
received cash subsidies, welfare and child support payments equal
to twice the average Yugoslav wage - the bulk of it financed by the
Republic of Serbia.


19.
     The decision to allow the "Albanization" of Kosovo-Metohija
was made by three Politburo members: Tito, Bakaric and Kardelj (all
Croatians and Slovenians). Edvard Kardelj remarked at the time that
the decision must not be publicized because "it would give powerful
arguments to Serbian bourgeoisie and Draza Mihailovic who would
accuse us of breaking up Yugoslavia."


20.
     In a meeting February 23, 1967, Tito and Kardelj called in the
communist leaders of Kosovo-Metohija and told them "All you need
to undo Rankovic's injustices and have your way in Kosovo-Metohija
is to bring up your share of (Communist) party membership."
Following this, Kosovo-Metohija Albanians joined the communist
party in droves, took over the provincial assembly, government,
courts, police, schools, and public enterprises and launched a
systematic terror over non-Albanians including Serbs, Moslem Turks
and Gypsies. Thousands of the oppressed fled to Serbia.


21.
     In 1974, Kosovo-Metohija was made a full-fledged sovereign
state of the Republic of Serbia by Yugoslavia's communist
government in yet another effort to dilute Serbia's representation.
As a result of numerous terrorist acts perpetrated against Serbs,
and the law that was in effect from 1945-1990 that forbade Serbs
from returning to Kosovo-Metohija, the population in Kosovo-
Metohija-Metohija today is more than 85% Albanian.


22.
     Metohija literally translates to "monastery land given by the
feudal lord." Because Kosovo-Metohija is regarded as the
cradle of Serbian civilization and is the site of numerous
monasteries which have been classified by UNESCO as international
treasures, Serbians have an obvious bond to the area. These same
monasteries and their trove of artistic treasures have been
desecrated and destroyed in an attempt by the Kosovo-Metohija
Albanians to eradicate proof of Serbian history in the area.


23.
     Tito controlled Yugoslavia from 1944 until his death in 1980.
He carved Yugoslavia into six republics and two autonomous
provinces as a means of diluting the strength of the majority
Serbian population. The republics and provinces rotated the
governance of Yugoslavia, so that little Slovenia, with only eight
percent of Yugoslavia population, actually controlled the
presidency as often as the 40 percent Serbian Majority.


24.
     Slovenia and Croatia are often called more prosperous states
than Serbia, without any explanation as to how this imbalance
occurred. Tito moved factories and industry to Slovenia and Croatia
at the expense of Yugoslavia's other republics.


25.
     Much of the current fear felt by Serbs living in Krajina,
Banija, Western Srem and Slavonia, the hotly contested areas within
Croatia's Tito-drawn internal borders, dates to the genocide
conducted against Serbs, Jews and Gypsies living in those
territories. This genocide was conducted by the Croatian and Muslim
Ustashe who ruled the Independent State of Croatia during World War
II. This fear has been revived by the following events which
occurred over the last two years:

a.   When Croatia declared its independence June 25, 1991, its
     leaders resurrected the same chessboard insignia for its flag
     that had been worn by the Ustasha during World War II. This
     would be the same to Serbs, as Jews seeing their neighbors
     sport German swastika armbands.

b.   Reports of discriminatory taxation and job dismissals of Serbs
     because they were not ethnically pure Croatians increased
     dramatically in 1991.

c.   Non-Croats were asked to sign loyalty oaths to the Croatian
     government, not to the state, which had just demanded its
     independence from a nation voluntarily formed 73 years before.

d.   Serbians have lived in Krajina, Western Srem, Banija and
     Slavonia since their ancestors settled the territories more
     than 500 years ago. After hearing of Croatia's intention to
     hold a referendum to vote on secession from Yugoslavia, Serbs
     in Krajina conducted their own referendum on May 14, 1991.
     They voted for autonomy from Croatia if Croatia voted to
     secede from Yugoslavia. This referendum was not acknowledged
     as legitimate by the Croatian government, yet Croatia expected
     its referendum on secession held five days later, on May 19th,
     to be recognized by the Yugoslav federal government and other
     governments of the world.

26.
     Croatia demands the right to self determination, yet denies
this right to Serbs in Krajina, Banija, Western Srem and Slavonia.


27.
     The Croats and Slovenes who want to secede insist that
Yugoslavia's external borders can be changed. Yet, they also insist
that Yugoslavia's arbitrarily drawn internal borders that were
never democratically verified or internationally recognized cannot
be changed.


28.
     To fully comprehend the difference between Serbs living in
Croatia's Krajina, Western Srem and Slavonia, and the ethnic
Albanian minority living in Kosovo-Metohija, it must be realized
that Serbs in Krajina, Western Srem and Slavonia are not requesting
to separate from Yugoslavia, but rather requesting that they remain
an integral part of it. Croatia was only an independent nation
prior to 1102 and between the years of 1941-1945, when it was a
Nazi regime. Serbs were invited to live in the Krajina, Western
Srem and Slavonia territories. They were not squatters. They are
only asking that they remain a part of Yugoslavia because they do
not feel safe in an independent state of Croatia, which, by its
very constitution, declares them an ethnic minority and has already
discriminated against them, and in view of recent history, they
have precious little reason to trust promises made by the Croat
government, having seen what it really intends to do only months
ago.


29.
     In addition to Kosovo-Metohija being the cradle of Serbian
civilization, it is, even as an autonomous province, part of
Serbia. Kosovo-Metohija was a part of Serbian State prior to the
formation of Yugoslavia and prior to the formation of the Kingdom
of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.


30.
     Yugoslavia's current internal borders strand well over 30
percent of the Serbian population outside Serbia proper. These
Serbs are still being deprived of the cultural, ethnic and
religious rights that should exist in any democracy.


31.
     Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina are a religious, but not an
ethnic community. Despite much guesswork as to their origins, it
is a fact that most of them are muslimized Slavs, once christians
who changed their faith in order to avoid being second-class
citizens in the Ottoman Empire, and to avoid paying taxes reserved
for all non-muslims.


32.
     The Bosnian problem all too often disregards the following,
easily verifiable facts:

a)   Ethnic Serbs represent 39% of the total population;

b)   Ethnic Serbs own as private property some 60% of the land in
     Bosnia-Herzegovina (according to official land books and
     registers and census data, 1981/1991) This raises an
     intersting question: if it is known that land is traditionally
     passed on from father to son, and if Serbs own some 60% of the
     land, how is it they are merely 39% of the population? It must
     be remembers that most ethnic Serbs killed in WWII came from
     Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which also provided the worst
     of Cbutchers of WWII;


c)   Bosnian Serbs and the Serbian government right from the start
     kept claiming that a premature recognition of Bosnia-
     Herzegovina as an independent state would cause bloodshed. The
     EEC went on nevertheless, the US followed suit, and bloodshed
     there was, for many reasons, yet now, the Serbs are blamed for
     the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina;

d)   Both groups of Serbs also stated from the outset that the only
     way to negotiate a lasting and stable peace was to reach an
     agreement between all three ethnic groups in Bosnia, yet it
     is only the Serbs who are blamed for the war there;

e)   The fact that several right-wing muslim countries, such as
     Libya and Saudi Arabia, are involved in the conflict in Bosnia
     is also kept as subdued as possible, despite a half-admission
     of Libya. These countries provided money and arms, yet Serbia
     is blamed;

f)   The fact that even in his early writings, the Bosnian muslim
     president Alija Izetbegovic, claimed that a muslim state must
     be formed in Bosnia, and that no muslim state can tolerate any
     other religion, putting Islam above one and all (see his book:
     "The Islamic Declaration", Sarajevo 1971/1991) means nothing
     to the Western countries, who blame Serbia for everything;

g)   The fact that Croatia as of May 1992 had over 30,000 armed men
     (108th, 109th, 117th, 126th, etc divisions), with 80 and 120
     mm mortars and tanks, recognizing and enforcing only Croatian
     laws in Bosnia seems to mean nothing to the Western countries;
     the Serbs are blamed for everything.


33.
     The same is true of most Muslims living in the Serbian
province called Sandzak. They too are of the same ethnic origin as
the Serbs, but as opposed to Bosnia-Herzegovina (where current
muslims originate from both Serbs and Croats), their origins are
almost entirely Serbian.


34.
     Only the Albanians are a really different ethnic group, with
their own roots, which are as yet not quite clear historically
(some say they originate from the Illiryans, the original
inhabitants of the Balkans, while others say they draw their roots
mostly from the Turks).


35.
     During the war, the majority of ethnic Albanians collaborated
with ethier the Italians or the Germans; it was then that the
exodus of Serbs was perpetrated, under the auspices of the Germans,
in order to bribe the Albanians with Serbian land and an ethnically
pure region.


36.
     After the war, Tito's communist government passed several laws
1945-1947, forbidding Serbs to return to Kosovo-Metohija, in effect
giving their land to Albanians. Moreover, in his dream of a Balkan
federation encompassing Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania, Tito
allowed many Albanians from Albania to settle on Kosovo-Metohija.
This process continued well into the seventies, and to this day,
there is an unknown number of non-Yugoslav citizens living on
Kosovo-Metohija.


37.
     Most of the dirty work in illegally Albanizing Kosovo was
perpetrated under the auspices of one Fadil Hoxa, Tito's close
associate, who pushed many effectively illegal and anti-
constitutional acts through by declaring loyalty to Tito and
suggesting that it was necessary to satisfy the needs of the
Albanian people in land. In return, he mobilized Albanian masses
into the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.


38.
     All those who dared question this policy were quickly removed,
and often persecuted. This includes the greatest living Serbian
writer, Dobrica Cosic, who questioned the democratic spirit of such
acts. In the meanwhile, federal and much more so republican funds
were set up for the development of Kosovo. The money was used but
no accounting or justification was ever given in Tito's days. The
Serbs were poressured to leave, and at the same time, the
unaccounted funds served to weaken Serbia, which began to lag
behind in development, in good part due to disproportionally large
sums set aside for the development of Kosovo.


39.
     After Tito's death, the Albanians increased their persecution
of the Serbian minority on Kosovo, with much assistance from
Slovenia and Croatia, which used the Albanians to weaken Serbia.
Yet, in 1992, after being recognized, both Croatia and Slovenia
simply pass on to others refugees of Muslim origin, let alone
Albanians.


40.
     The Kosovo Albanians had every opportunity to use their
democratic rights, equal but no longer greater to the rights of any
other citizen of Serbia. In view of the fact that the development
funds were put under strict control, the false standard of living,
for years lulling the Albanians, necessarily had to decline to its
more realistic levels. Local nationalist parties used this fact to
indoctrinate ethnic Albanians that there was a special war waged
against them by Serbia.


41.
     The fact that ethnic Albanians boycotted the elections held
in Serbia in 1991 is not a question of their being or not being
allowed to vote, but of the fact that Albanian parties decided not
to run in the elections. This was and is their privilege (and a
completely legal act), but offers no ground for blaming Serbia;
some Serbian oppositon parties also boycotted the elections, while
others took part in them.


42.
     In 1992, when the world public outcry for the rights of ethnic
Albanians was at its peak, in Pristine (the capital of the province
of Kosovo), over 20 magazines and daily papers are being published
and freely sold on Albanian throughout Serbia; all legal documents
are on both Serbian and Albanian; most political parties are
operating quite freely and completely legally if they applied for
registration, etc.



Goran Kovacevic