Bleiburg massacre
Encyclopedia
Operation Keelhaul
Operation Keelhaul was carried out in Northern Italy by British and American forces to repatriate Soviet Armed Forces POWs of the Nazis to the Soviet Union between August 14, 1946 and May 9, 1947...
is a term encompassing events that took place during mid-May 1945 near the Carinthian
Carinthia (state)
Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...
town of Bleiburg
Bleiburg
Bleiburg is a small town in the south Austrian state of Carinthia , south-east of Klagenfurt , in the district of Völkermarkt, some four kilometres from the border with Slovenia....
, itself some four kilometres from the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n-Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n (then German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
-Yugoslav
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
) border.
Shortly after midnight on 13 May 1945, the British 5th Corps
V Corps (United Kingdom)
V Corps was an army corps of the British Army in both the First and Second World War. It was first organised in February 1915 and fought through World War I on the Western front...
Headquarters in Austria estimated that there were "approximately 30,000 POWs, surrendered personnel, and refugees in Corps area. A further 60,000 reported moving north to Austria from Yugoslavia". The retreating columns had fled to southern Austria ahead of the advance of the victorious Yugoslav Partisans (Yugoslav Army), hoping to surrender to the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
. The British refused to accept the Axis surrender and directed them to surrender to the Yugoslav forces. Most of the captured military personnel in the columns were subjected to forced marches over long distances.
Contrary to explicit orders from the Yugoslav prime minister and commander-in-chief Marshal Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
and the General Headquarters, Yugoslav Partisan troops summarily executed for treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
and collaboration
Collaboration
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
an unknown number of persons from the retreating columns of Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
collaborationist forces previously in power in the Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n and Bosnian parts of occupied Yugoslavia. The columns were, for the most part, made up of remnants of the military of the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
(NDH) (a fascist puppet state
Puppet state
A puppet state is a nominal sovereign of a state who is de facto controlled by a foreign power. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette...
, established in part of occupied Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
), the remnants of the Chetnik movement
Chetniks
Chetniks, or the Chetnik movement , were Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organizations from the first half of the 20th century. The Chetniks were formed as a Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire in 1904, and participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II...
, and the Russian Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
s of XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps
XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps
The XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps was a German cavalry corps during World War II. With order of February 1, 1945 the Corps was transferred to the Waffen-SS.-History:The summer of 1942 marked the high tide of German success in the East...
. The number of casualties has proven difficult to ascertain, with exact numbers being a subject of much debate. The events took place a week after the formal end of World War II in Europe
End of World War II in Europe
The final battles of the European Theatre of World War II as well as the German surrender to the Western Allies and the Soviet Union took place in late April and early May 1945.-Timeline of surrenders and deaths:...
, but at a time when hostilities on the Yugoslav front were still on, due to the goal of the local Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
forces to attempt an escape into the British occupation zone.
Background
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
-appointed Ustaše government in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
headed the Nazi puppet state
Puppet state
A puppet state is a nominal sovereign of a state who is de facto controlled by a foreign power. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette...
the Independent State of Croatia and had its own lethal agenda for Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-fascist
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...
Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
.
This was manifested in the atrocities at Jasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac concentration camp was the largest extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia and occupied Yugoslavia during World War II...
and elsewhere, the scale of which even shocked German and Italian occupying forces. As early as July 10, 1941, Wehrmacht General Edmund Glaise von Horstenau
Edmund Glaise-Horstenau
Edmund Glaise-Horstenau was an Austrian officer in the Bundesheer, last Vice-Chancellor of Austria before the 1938 Anschluss, and general in the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War.- Life :Born in Braunau am Inn the son of an officer, Glaise-Horstenau attended the Theresian Military...
reported the following to the German High Command, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht was part of the command structure of the armed forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.- Genesis :...
(OKW):
The Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
report to Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
, dated February 17, 1942, states that:
The Yugoslav Partisan movement grew rapidly, partly as a result of these atrocities. Eventually, units of the Ustaše military began defecting to the Partisans. By 1945, the Yugoslav Partisans had become the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
, numbering over 800,000 men organized into five field armies
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
, and were in pursuit of the remnant of the defeated German and NDH forces.
Events
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
, as they abandoned their homes and businesses to flee with Ustaše leaders. Retreating alongside the Ustaše forces and the Chetniks
Chetniks
Chetniks, or the Chetnik movement , were Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organizations from the first half of the 20th century. The Chetniks were formed as a Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire in 1904, and participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II...
(Yugoslav monarchic movement) were the remaining units of the Slovene Home Guard (a Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n collaborationist militia).
By the end of March, 1945, it was obvious to the Croatian army command that, although the front remained intact, they would eventually be defeated by sheer lack of ammunition. For this reason, the decision was made to retreat into Austria, in order to surrender to the British forces advancing north from Italy. A large-scale exodus of people took place. On May 6, 1945, the collaborationist government of the Independent State of Croatia fled Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
. The Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
was in retreat and General Alexander Löhr
Alexander Löhr
Alexander Löhr was an Austrian Air Force commander during the 1930s and, after the "Political Union of Germany and Austria" , he was a German Air Force commander...
, Commander-in-Chief of Army Group E
Army Group E
Army Group E was a German Army Group active during World War II.Army Group E was created on 1 January 1943 from the 12th Army...
was about to surrender, handing command of the Croatian forces to Pavelić on May 8. When Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelic
Ante Pavelić was a Croatian fascist leader, revolutionary, and politician. He ruled as Poglavnik or head, of the Independent State of Croatia , a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia...
, the leader
Poglavnik
Poglavnik was the title used by Ante Pavelić, leader of World War II Croatian fascist movement Ustaše and of the Independent State of Croatia between 1941 and 1945.-Etymology and usage:...
of the NDH, left Zagreb on May 6, he intended to join his regime in Austria. On May 9 Pavelić issued an order from Rogaška Slatina
Rogaška Slatina
Rogaška Slatina is a settlement and a municipality in Slovenia. It is famous for its curative mineral water, spa and crystal glass.Rogaška Slatina is a synonym for health resort tourism in Slovenia. For centuries the curative mineral water rich in magnesium , the picturesque countryside and other...
for his troops not to surrender to the Partisans, but to escape to Austria, in order to implement the Croatian government's decision of May 3 to flee to Austria. The remnants of the Ustaše forces, the Russian Cossacks of XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps and the Chetniks began to withdraw to the Austrian border on May 12, traveling to Bleiburg where the 38th British Infantry Brigade
38th (Irish) Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
The 38th Infantry Brigade was a British Army unit formed initially after the start of World War I, without the title 'Irish'.-History:...
was stationed.
Stipulations of the unconditional German Instrument of Surrender would normally also have applied to the armed forces of the puppet NDH. This would ordinarily have meant that they too had to cease their activities on May 8 and stay where they found themselves. The Ustaše military, however, were now under the command of Ante Pavelić. As late as 14 May 1945, a week after the war in Europe had ended, the collaborationist troops fought pitched battles to keep their escape routes open. They refused to obey the stipulations of surrender and lay down their arms. The Yugoslav Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief, Marshal Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
, repeatedly issued calls for surrender, and on May 14 dispatched a telegram to the supreme headquarters Slovene Partisan Army prohibiting "in the sternest language" the execution of prisoners of war and commanding the transfer of the possible suspects to a military court. This diktat was, however, as subsequent events were to illustrate, plainly ignored. This was due to the policy established in November 1944 by the interim Partisan government of destroying all quisling
Quisling
Quisling is a term used in reference to fascist and collaborationist political parties and military and paramilitary forces in occupied Allied countries which collaborated with Axis occupiers in World War II, as well as for their members and other collaborators.- Etymology :The term was coined by...
and collaborationist forces on Yugoslav territory.
| British negotiator | Yugoslav negotiators | Croatian negotiators |
|---|---|---|
| Brigadier Patrick Scott (38th (Irish) Infantry Brigade 38th (Irish) Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom) The 38th Infantry Brigade was a British Army unit formed initially after the start of World War I, without the title 'Irish'.-History:... ) |
Major-General Milan Basta (51st Vojvodina Division) Commander Ivan Kovačič Efenka (14th Attack Division) |
Infantry General Ivo Herenčić Ivo Herencic Ivo Herenčić was a general of the Croatian World War II Ustaše regime in charge of the Independent State of Croatia during World War II.... (5th Ustasha Corps) Infantry General Vjekoslav Servatzy Vjekoslav Servatzy Vjekoslav Servatzy was a Croatian officer and nationalist politician.-Biography:Servatzy was born in Ruma on 23 March 1889. As an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army he was decorated with the Golden Bravery Medal . After the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, he was often... Infantry General Vladimir Metikoš Vladimir Metikoš Vladimir Metikoš was a Croatian general in the then Independent State of Croatia .Metikoš was born in Banja Luka. During World War I, he was posted on the Italian front as a lieutenant of the Austro-Hungarian Army... (6th Croatian Infantry Division) Colonel Danijel Crljen |
The main column traveled through Celje
Celje
Celje is a typical Central European town and the third largest town in Slovenia. It is a regional center of Lower Styria and the administrative seat of the Urban Municipality of Celje . The town of Celje is located under Upper Celje Castle at the confluence of the Savinja, Ložnica, and Voglajna...
, Šoštanj
Šoštanj
Šoštanj is a town and municipality in northern Slovenia. It was first mentioned in written documents dating to around 1200 as Schönstein in relation to its castle. As a market town it was first mentioned in 1348. It was given town status in 1919 and until the 1960s was the center of the Šalek...
, and Slovenj Gradec
Slovenj Gradec
Slovenj Gradec is a town and a municipality in northern Slovenia. It is part of the historic Lower Styria region, since 2005 it belongs to the NUTS-3 statistical region of Carinthia...
on its way to Dravograd
Dravograd
Dravograd is a small town and a municipality in northern Slovenia, close to the border with Austria. It lies on the Drava River at the confluence with the Meža and the Mislinja. It is part of the traditional Slovenian province of Carinthia)....
. On May 11 and 12, generals Vjekoslav Servatzy and Vladimir Metikoš
Vladimir Metikoš
Vladimir Metikoš was a Croatian general in the then Independent State of Croatia .Metikoš was born in Banja Luka. During World War I, he was posted on the Italian front as a lieutenant of the Austro-Hungarian Army...
entered discussions with Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n generals to allow the Croatian column to pass into Austria. The discussions were inconclusive, but the Bulgarians suggested they head in the direction of Prevalje
Prevalje
Prevalje is a settlement and a municipality in northern Slovenia. It lies in the traditional Slovenian province of Carinthia. On 1 January 1999 Prevalje became an independent municipality. Prevalje lies in a valley where the Meža River emerges from a narrow gorge, full of fluvioglacial sediments...
and Bleiburg which the column did. They began surrendering to the British on May 15, and this continued until the May 17, making these remnants of the NDH military the last Axis force in Europe to surrender. During this time Ustaše generals Ivo Herenčić
Ivo Herencic
Ivo Herenčić was a general of the Croatian World War II Ustaše regime in charge of the Independent State of Croatia during World War II....
of the V. Corps, and Vjekoslav Servatzy as well as a translator, Professor Danijel Crljen, began surrender negotiations with the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the Partisans, represented by Milan Basta. On May 15, the Croatian forces raised white flags in surrender.
Ustaše military representatives attempted to negotiate a surrender to the British under the terms of the Geneva Convention, but were directed to surrender to the Yugoslav military, in accordance with Article 20 of the Hague Convention
Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)
The Hague Conventions were two international treaties negotiated at international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands: The First Hague Conference in 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907...
: After the conclusion of peace, the repatriation of prisoners of war shall be carried out as quickly as possible. General Brian Robertson
Brian Robertson, 1st Baron Robertson of Oakridge
General Brian Hubert Robertson, 1st Baron Robertson of Oakridge, GCB, GBE, KCMG, KCVO, DSO, MC , known as Sir Brian Robertson, 2nd Baronet, from 1933 to 1961, was a British Army General....
gave British troops the order, "All surrendered personnel of established Yugoslav nationality who were serving in German Forces should be disarmed and handed over to Yugoslav forces". Unfortunately for the NDH troops and civilians, he was not to know that the Croatian "surrendered personnel" were not actually under the command of, or serving with, any German forces.
The Independent State of Croatia had joined the Geneva Convention on January 20, 1943, and was recognised by it as a "belligerent", that is, as a national state with armed forces in the field. All the signatories of the Convention, including Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, were informed that this recognition had been given. However, this did not in any way nullify the requirement to immediately repatriate foreign nationals per the Hague Convention, but merely guaranteed the Yugoslav Axis soldiers prisoner of war status upon their surrender, as opposed to that of civilians. In light of subsequent events, it is doubtful that the details concerning the Hague Convention were raised during the surrender process by the Yugoslav military.
Military conflicts between the Partisans and the retreating collaborationist forces continued across Slovenia and in their time in Austria. Of these, the biggest confrontation was the Battle of Poljana
Battle of Poljana
The Battle of Poljana was a battle of World War II in Europe. It started at Poljana, near the village of Prevalje in Yugoslavia , and was the culmination of a series of engagements between the Yugoslav Partisans and a large retreating Axis column, numbering in excess of 30,000 men...
on 14 May, which ended in a Partisan victory and caused the reteating column to change direction, at a cost of several hundred caualties. The vast majority of the refugees were returned to Yugoslavia via forced marches over long distances under inhumane conditions and the remaining survivors were repatriated as Yugoslav citizens.
Number of victims
The exact number of those who met their death in Bleiburg is impossible to ascertain accurately. Unlike many other operations of the Yugoslav Partisans, which have been described in the minutest detail, very little has been written on operations in Slovenia near the Austrian border during the week of May 7–15, 1945. Generally, there are three schools that have tried to ascertain the number of victims:The first school whose estimates are based mainly on the historiographic and demographic investigations of scientists.
- Croatian journalist Vladimir ŽerjavićVladimir ŽerjavicVladimir Žerjavić was a Croatian economist and a United Nations expert. He published a series of historical articles and books during the 1980s and 1990s in which he argued that the scope of the Holocaust in World War II-era territory of Yugoslavia was intentionally exaggerated...
estimates the numbers of Croats and BosniaksBosniaksThe Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
who were killed during Bleiburg massacre on the Austrian border in 1945 at 45,000 to 55,000. - Reports in the independent press state that actual figures of killed at Bleiburg were about 12,000 to 15,000.
- Slovene historian Jerca Vodušek StaričJerca Vodušek StaričJerca Vodušek Starič, Slovene historian, * 1950Graduated history on the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Ljubljana, obtained a master's degree in 1979 and a PhD in 1991.An investigator of Slovene and european history....
writes about the mass killings following liberation of Slovenia and Croatia in May 1945: "It is impossible to find out the exact number of those liquidated. Today the number reaches 14,531 Slovenes and an estimate 65,000 to 100,000 Croats (mainly the Croat Home-guard, which was the regular army and not ustasha forces). Among them were also civilians."
The second school based its findings on accumulated eyewitness accounts.
- Juraj Hrženjak in his book, Bleiburg i Križni put 1945 ("Bleiburg and the Way of the Cross 1945") affirms that the majority of the victims in Bleiburg were killed by various means at the hands of Ustaše execution squads from elite formations like the Black LegionCrna LegijaThe Black Legion was a militia unit active during World War II in Yugoslavia and later incorporated into the 5th division of the Croatian Armed Forces in December 1944...
, who were treating all soldiers attempting to surrender as traitors and deserters for not fighting to the last. According to this research, a figure of between 12,000 and 14,000 people were shot after returning to Yugoslavia. Additionally, 20 individuals committed suicide and at least 1,500 concentration camp guards were shot near MariborMariborMaribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
. - According to Misha GlennyMisha GlennyMisha Glenny is a British journalist who specializes in southeastern Europe and global organized crime.-Biography:Glenny is the son of the late Russian studies academic Michael Glenny...
, "As German troops streamed out of Yugoslavia the Croat fascist leader Ante Pavelić and 100-200,000 Ustaša troops and civilians set off for the Austrian border on 7 May 1945, with Partisan forces in hot pursuit. They got as far as Bleiburg, a small Austrian border town, before being surrounded by British troops to the north and Partisan's to the south. With RAF Spitfires buzzing overhead, about 30-40,000 soldiers, including Pavelić, managed to disappear into the surrounding woods and then deep into Austria. But the remainder were taken prisoner by Partisan forces amid scenes of carnage. Some 30,000 Ustaše were killed on the four-day march towards the Slovene town of Maribor. On 20 May, near the village of Tezna, 50,000 Croat soldiers and about 30,000 refugees, mainly women and children, were executed over a five-day period. - Petar Brajović, a Yugoslav general who participated in the battles around Bleiburg, claims in his book Konačno oslobođenje ("Final Liberation") published in 1983, that the Ustaše did not suffer serious casualties during capture, adding that artillery was not used. The work affirms that a grand total of 16 soldiers were buried in the local cemetery. It is also estimated that a figure of 30,000 soldiers (6,000 of them Chetniks) and 20,000 civilians were captured by the Partisan 3rd Army.
This third school bases its estimates on archeological evidence mostly consisting of mass grave
Mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...
s found in Slovenia. Investigations were completed in October 2009. The total number of potential mass grave locations that the Slovenian Commission on Concealed Mass Graves
Commission on Concealed Mass Graves in Slovenia
The Commission on Concealed Mass Graves in Slovenia is an office of the Slovenian government whose task is to find and document mass grave sites from the Second World War and the period immediately after it. It was established on November 10, 2005...
now intends to investigate is around 581. According to Milko Mikola in his contribution to the document on "Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes"
European Public Hearing on "Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes"
Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes are reports and proceedings of the European public hearing organised by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission...
published by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union
Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union is the institution in the legislature of the European Union representing the executives of member states, the other legislative body being the European Parliament. The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers...
in April 2008, the victims were executed without a trial.
Criticism of the massacre claims
About the numbers of the civilian refugees handed to Tito's Partisans (ethnicity not specified), British historian Christopher BookerChristopher Booker
Christopher John Penrice Booker is an English journalist and author. In 1961, he was one of the founders of the magazine Private Eye, and has contributed to it for over four decades. He has been a columnist for the Sunday Telegraph since 1990...
says:
... TolstoyNikolai TolstoyCount Nikolai Dmitrievich Tolstoy-Miloslavsky is an Anglo-Russian historian and author who writes under the name Nikolai Tolstoy. A member of the prominent Tolstoy family, he is of part Russian descent and is the stepson of the author Patrick O'Brian...
reconstructed what happened when, on May 31, the commandant of the military camp at Viktring, 'Lieutenant Ames', reported that he had received orders for 2,700 of the civilian refugees in Major Barre's camp to be taken to Rosenbach and Bleiburg the following day, to be handed over to Tito's partisans.
A comprehensive root cause analysis of the inflated numbers is given by the British political scientist D. B. MacDonald
David B. MacDonald
David Bruce MacDonald has an international reputation in the academic fields of Comparative Indigenous Politics, US politics, International Relations, nationalism studies, genocide and human rights. Born in Leeds, UK in 1973, he was raised in Canada, and is currently Associate Professor in...
:
By contrast with Jasenovac, however, most impartial historians converged on much lower number of dead, suggesting that Bleiburg was by no means as significant as the largest death-camp in Yugoslavia. ... Jasper Ridley attempts a more precise figure, although there is no way of knowing for sure. ... Of these, he noted that the Allies agreed to surrender 23,000 to the Partisans between 24 and 29 May - a mixture of Slovenians, Serbians, and Croatians. Reports from the time according to Ridley, indicate that not all the 23,000 were killed.
MacDonald's final conclusion is:
Inflating the numbers of dead at Bleiburg had several layers of significance. Firstly, it gave the Croats their own massacre at the hands of Serbs and/or Communists, which allowed them to counter the Serbs' Jasenovac genocide with one of their own. Secondly, it allowed Croats to distance themselves from the Serbs and the Communist regime that had carried out the massacres. They could portray Croatia as an unwilling participant in the SFRY, more a prisoner than a constituent nation. Thirdly, by suffering such a massacre, the Croats underwent their own 'way of Cross', as it was frequently dubbed in Croatian writings.
Further, Booker published a lengthy analysis of the Bleiburg controversy in A Looking Glass Tragedy. The Controversy over the Repatriations from Austria in 1945. The leading idea of this book is elaborated in the book overview:
Many "massacres" described in lurid detail never took place. As Booker describes how the story of the repatriations came to be presented in such a distorted fashion, his book turns into a study of people's willingness to cling on to a "make believe" version of history, even when all the facts have proved it wrong.
His research is fully summarized in the Chapter 12. 2. Bleiburg: The Massacre That Never Was (page 188). The main points of his research are:
a) there are only nine documents in the British Army archives related to the Bleiburg, Austria, May 1945. No traces of any massacre ever committed in Bleiburg or its surroundings;
b) Tolstoy's 'impartial' evidence for this massacre having taken place came from three 'eyewitnesses' whom he quoted at length from interviews conducted when he was writing his book, 40 years later;
c) all 'evidence' came from narrative stories of those who claimed to be the witnesses.
In referencing the documents of that time, Tolstoy quoted a General Alexander telegram, sent to the Combined Chiefs of Staff, where Alexander mentioned only "25,000 German and Croat units".
British historian Laurence Rees
Laurence Rees
Laurence Rees is a British historian. He is the former Creative Director of History Programs for the BBC, a documentary filmmaker, and the author of five books on war.-Biography:...
, however, provides a different view. His view is that historians should treat every source they use sceptically. That applies to written sources just as much as eye-witnesses.
Nigel NicolsonNigel NicolsonNigel Nicolson OBE was a British writer, publisher and politician.-Biography:Nicolson was the son of the writers Sir Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West; he had a brother Ben, later an art historian...
, a British officer with 3 Battalion, Welsh GuardsWelsh GuardsThe Welsh Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division.-Creation :The Welsh Guards came into existence on 26 February 1915 by Royal Warrant of His Majesty King George V in order to include Wales in the national component to the Foot Guards, "..though the order...
, who took part in the infamous forced repatriations from Austria in the summer of 1945, said to me that he had deliberately falsified the historical record at the time, writing that the Yugoslavian deportees had been offered ‘light refreshments’ by their Tito Communist guards. He’d done this because he had been ordered not to tell the truth in his military report – that the deportees were being appallingly treated – and so had written something that he thought was so ludicrous – how could the deportees be given ‘light refreshments? – that future historians would know he was being ironic. But, before Mr Nicolson admitted what he’d done, some historians had taken his written report at face value and used it to try and ‘prove’ that the surviving deportees who now spoke of how badly they had been treated were lying. If Nigel Nicolson hadn’t told the truth years later than that inaccurate report would still be in the written archives and the suffering of the deportees still disputed. So my advice is to be as careful of the accuracy of written archives as you are careful of the accuracy of people.
Bleiburg commemoration
The first Croats to return to the fields of Bleiburg came in secret in 1952, while regular annual visits began in the early 1960s. The first Croatian religious leader to come to the site was Cardinal Franjo ŠeperFranjo Šeper
Franjo Šeper was a Croatian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1968 to 1981, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965....
, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...
, who paid a visit in 1977.
This date was officially marked by the Republic of Croatia, by an act of the Croatian Parliament in 1995.
Many top-ranking politicians and Catholic and Muslim clerics visit the site annually. Prime Minister Ivica Račan
Ivica Racan
Ivica Račan was a Croatian career politician, leader of the League of Communists of Croatia and later Social Democratic Party from 1989 to 2007...
visited the site in 2002. Prime Minister Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader |Split]]) is a Croatian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009.Sanader obtained his education in comparative literature in Austria, where he also later worked in the 1980s. He worked as a journalist, in marketing, publishing and also as a private...
visited the site in 2004. For the 60th anniversary commemorations in 2005 a large crowd was in attendance, with speeches by Croatian parliamentary speaker Vladimir Šeks
Vladimir Šeks
Vladimir Šeks is an influential Croatian politician, a member of the Croatian Democratic Union . He has been a representative in the Croatian Parliament since the nation's independence, and has held the posts of the Speaker of the Parliament as well as Deputy Prime Minister of the Government.Šeks...
and head of the Muslim Community of Croatia, Mufti Ševko Omerbašić. In 2006, the site was attended by Croatian government officials Đurđa Adlešić and Damir Polančec and Bosnian Croat politician Martin Raguž. Catholic mass was led by bishop Josip Mrzljak, while imam Idriz Bešić represented the Islamic Community of Croatia. In 2007 a new altar was installed at the site. Cardinal Josip Bozanić inaugurated the altar at the 2007 commemorations which drew 10,000 people.
In 2008, the Croatian Parliament was represented by the leader of the Croatian Peasant Party
Croatian Peasant Party
The Croatian Peasant Party is a center and socially conservative political party in Croatia.-Austria-Hungary:The Croatian People's Peasant Party was formed on December 22, 1904 by Antun Radić along with his brother Stjepan Radić. The party contested elections for the first time in the Kingdom of...
Josip Friščić, while the Croatian Government was represented by minister Berislav Rončević
Berislav Roncevic
Berislav Rončević is a Croatian politician, and the former Minister of Internal Affairs in the Government of Croatia and the Minister of Defense....
The Croatian and Slovenian governments reached an agreement at this time of cooperation on organizing military cemeteries, similar to earlier agreements Slovenia reached with Italy and Germany. According to the Slovene government, the mass grave site in Tezno
Tezno
Tezno is a suburb of the city of Maribor in Slovenia.During World War II, an anti-tank trench was dug in Tezno, around one kilometer in length and 3 to 4 meters wide. At the end of the war in 1945, in the events now collectively referred to as the Bleiburg massacre, the Yugoslav Partisans buried...
is being planned as a memorial park and cemetery.
In 2009, Croatian President Stipe Mesić made a statement declaring that the Bleiburg commemoration has turned into an Ustaše festival funded by the Parliament, whose representatives he criticized for idly standing by while people in the crowd displayed Ustaša markings (which are illegal in Croatia).
In popular culture
The Bleiburg massacre was the subject of a 1999 film ČetveroredCetverored
Četverored is 1999 Croatian film directed by Jakov Sedlar. Based on the novel by Ivan Aralica, the plot of the film deals with Bleiburg massacre....
, based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Ivan Aralica
Ivan Aralica
Ivan Aralica is a Croatian novelist and essayist.Born in Promina near Knin, and having finished pedagogical school and Philosophical Faculty at the University of Zadar, Aralica had worked in post-war period as a high school teacher in the backwater villages of the rural hinterland of northern and...
. Croatian-American painter Charles Billich
Charles Billich
Charles Billich was named Artist of the 1996 Summer Olympics. He is the recipient of the 2000 Sport Artist of the Year Award presented annually by the American Sport Art Museum and Archives....
has painted a series of works on the event.
See also
- List of massacres in Slovenia
- Allied war crimes during World War II
- Operation KeelhaulOperation KeelhaulOperation Keelhaul was carried out in Northern Italy by British and American forces to repatriate Soviet Armed Forces POWs of the Nazis to the Soviet Union between August 14, 1946 and May 9, 1947...
Sources
- Booker, C., A Looking-Glass Tragedy. The Controversy Over The Repatriations From Austria In 1945, Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, London, 1997.
- Epstein, J., Operation Keelhaul, Devin-Adair, 1973. ISBN 978-0815964070
- Cohen, P J., Riesman, D., Serbia's Secret War: Propaganda and the Deceit of History, Texas A&M University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-89096-760-1
- Glenny, M., The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, 1804-1999, Penguin Books, New York, 1999. ISBN 0-670-85338-0
- Jancar-Webster, B., Women & revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945, Arden Press, Denver, 1989.
- McDonald, D.B., Balkan holocausts?: Serbian and Croatian victim-centered propaganda and the war in Yugoslavia, Manchester University Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0719064678
- Musgrove, D. (Ed.), BBC History Magazine, Falsified Yugoslav Handover to Tito, BBC Worldwide Publications, Bristol, 2009. ISBN 978-0956203625
- Ramet, S., The three Yugoslavias: State-building and Legitimation, 1918-2005, Indiana University Press, 2006 ISBN 0-253-34656-8
- Ramet, S., Matić, D., Democratic transition in Croatia: value transformation, education & media, Texas A&M University PressTexas A&M University PressTexas A&M University Press is a scholarly publishing house associated with Texas A&M University. It was founded in 1974 and is located in College Station, Texas, in the United States.-Overview:...
, 2007. ISBN 1-58544-587-8 - Rees, L., Their Darkest Hour: People Tested to the Extreme in WWII, Ebury Press, London, 2007. ISBN 978-0091917579
- Ridley, J.S., Tito, Constable, 1994. ISBN 0094712603,
- Shaw, L., Trial by Slander: A background to the Independent State of Croatia, Harp Books, Canberra, 1973. ISBN 0-909432-00-7
- Thomas, N., Mikulan, K. and Pavelic, D. Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941-45, Osprey, London, 1995. ISBN 1-85532-473-3
- Thomas, N., Abbot, P. and Chappell, M. Partisan Warfare 1941-45, Osprey, London, 2000. ISBN 0-85045-513-8
- Tolstoy, N., The Minister and the Massacres, by Nikolai Tolstoy, Hutchinson, 1986. ISBN 9780091640101
- Tomasevich, J., War and Revolution in Yugoslavia 1941-1945: The Chetniks, Stanford, Cal., London, Oxford University Press, 1975. ISBN 0-8047-0857-9
- Tomasevich, J., War and Revolution in Yugoslavia 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration, Stanford, Cal., Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8047-3615-4