Evening star., 1939-07-09
Croatia on Altar
OF Sacrifice as
Dictators' Prize
Serbs Pictured as
Dickerine to Extend
Own influences
BY TOM and HARLE DAMMANN
ZAGRER YuQoslavia "Wha

BY TOM and HARLE DAMMANN.
ZAGREB. Yugoslavia. - What
prisoner would fight to save his
jail?"
These words, uttered by August
Koshutitch, vice president of the
Croatian Peasant party. form the
meatiest answer to our questions
regarding Croatia's attitude toward
Intervention by Hitler and Musso-
1ini.
Croatia is the middle province of
Yugoslavia. lying between Slovenia
to the north and Serbia to the south,
and stretching from the Dalmatian
coast on the Adriatic eastward to
the Danube. Economically it is
generally considered the wealthiest
portion of the kingdom. producing
an abundance of foodstuffs and pos
sessing valuable timber and miner
ais. Otherwise, it is Of importance
to Europe and the world because it
is almost certainty that Hitler
and Mussolini would like to divide
this province between them.
There are few Italians living on
the Dalmatian coast but Mussolini
has been casting flirting eye in
this direction for additional reasons.
With Dalmatia he could not only
completely sew up the Adriatic but
he also could increase the italian
sphere of influence into Southeast
ern Europe, down into Greece and
the eastern Mediterranean. There
are almost 100000 Germans living
in Croatia fortunately for Hitler's
strategy in the Danube valley. Hit
Ter wants the entire Danube valley
from Vienna to the Black Sea, the
experts say Not only that, he must
control the Danube tributaries. and
among these are the Sava and Drava
Rivers, which make the most fertile
valleys in all Croatia.
Once Part Of Austro- Hungary.
Until 1919 Croatia was an au-
tonomous province within the Aus
tro-Hungary Empire. But since Ma
poleon, Croats had been agitating
together with Slovenes. Serbs. Bos-
mans, Czechs and others for pam
Slav independence. After the great
war they were formed with Slovenes
Bosnians and Serbs into the King
dom Of Yugoslavia.
From the birth OF this kingdom
to the present day there has been a
bloody feud between the Serbs and
Croats-a feud arising chiefly from
differences in culture and religion.
Too, the Croats had been forced to
fight on the side of the central
powers during the war The Serbs
who still boast that they started the
war-were on the side of the vic
torious Allies and when the king
dom was formed they naturally pos
sessed the power and psychology OF
victors. The CroatS Immediately OBJ
jected to the methods by which the
new state was formed-the Serbs got
too much power, they complained
and have maintained a strong op-
position ever since. The 20 years
fight has been red with the blood
spilled by terroristic Serbs and ex-
tremist Croats.
In recent months DR.. vladimir
Matchec, leader of the Croatian
Peasant party, has been negotiating
with the national government. His
party Is said to represent all of
Croatia. which is 30 per cent peas
ant. His demands have been for
Croatian autonomy, he wants fed
eralization of Yugoslavia. with
Croatia independent in all things ex-
cept foreign relations. A month ago
an agreement finally was negotiated
and signed by various representa-
tives of the two factions. But. for
the present, this has been turned
down by Prince Paul, regent and
virtual ruler of Yugoslavia
May Appeal to Dictators.
With the Serb-Croat dispute thus
Stalemated for the time being. it is
feared that the Croats will appeal
to Hitler and Mussolini for help.
1t was with this in mind that we
questioned Engineer" Koshutitch.
This patriot is no young man. nor
is he man of the street He has
long been associated with the Croat
cause, is the director of the Hrvatski
Dnevnik, official newspaper of the
Peasant party, and next to DR..
Matchec he is the party's most i'm
portant leader.
Hitler will offer no help to
Croatia; he is cooperating with
the Serbs Koshutitch said in reply
to our questions. In Belgrade they
are not interested in strongly
united Yugoslavia; they want a
greater Serbia in Southeastern Eu-
rope. The Serbs think Hitler will
help them get this. That's why
they broke the Balkan Entente. let
Hitler take Austria and Czecho-
Slovakia, and Mussolini Albania.
The Serbs, not the English or the
French, are responsible for the fall
of C0echo-Slovakia; they betrayed
the Czechs first when they allowed
Hitler to take Austria without a
murmur.
Now, because of this policy,
Yugoslavia is the only nation in
the world which cannot be sure who
are its friends. The Serbs think
Hitler is their friend; actually he
is more Mussolini's friend, and Mus
solini wants the same influence in
Southeastern Europe which the
Serbs intrigue for. The Serbs have
lost all our markets and now we sell
only to Germany. The democracies
are to far away to help and their
arrangements with Russia make 1t
difficult for Yugoslavia; our gov
ernment never has recognized the
Soviet Union and Prince Paul
hates it,"
Sees Axis Gaining.
Throughout our discussion Koshu-
itch intimated that the trend of
events both within and without
Yugoslavia is forcing this country
more and more under axis influence.
He declared that the great fear of
many was that the Serbs would
agree not to defend Slovenia and
Croatia against any action of the
axis powers because, in return, their