No. 13

PROTEST LETTER BY THE MUSLIM LEADERS FROM BANJA LUKA TO TWO MUSLIM REPRESENTATIVES IN THE NDH GOVERNMENT ON NOVEMBER 12, 1941, IN WHICH THEY COMPLAIN ABOUT THE MASSIVE KILLINGS AND LOOTING, THE PROSELYTISM OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH WHICH ALSO THREATENS MUSLIMS, POINTING OUT THAT THE UPRISING WAS USED BY THE COMMUNISTS AND REQUESTING LEGAL AND PROPERTY SECURITY.^[1]

12 Nov. [ember] 41^[2]

Translation into German of a protest letter from the leading Muslims of Banja Luka sent to their representatives in the Croatian government.

Gentlemen

Dr. Džafer Beg Kulenović, Deputy Prime Minister in the Government of the Independent State of Croatia

and

Eng. Hilmija Bešlagić, Minister of Transport, both in Zagreb.

Gentlemen Ministers!

Since the beginning of the creation of our Independent State of Croatia, we the Muslims have noticed with the greatest concern how certain Ustashas and other responsible and irresponsible factors are committing the grossest mistakes and crimes. Elementary human rights have been violated. Security of life and property, religious freedom and freedom of conscience have ceased to apply to a large part of the population of these territories.

Murders of clergy and other leading figures without trial and verdict, mass shootings and torture of often innocent men, women and children, massive expulsion of entire families from their homes and property from their beds in the middle of the night within just 1 to 2 hours, their deportation to unknown places, appropriation and looting of their property, forced conversion to the Catholic faith, are all facts that fill a normal person with horror and that have had the most severe impact on us Muslims from these parts.

We neither expected nor wanted such actions and methods of governance in our region. During our turbulent past, we did not use such means even in the most difficult conditions, not only because Islam forbids it, but also because we have always been, and still are, of the opinion that such methods in every country lead to the elimination of public peace and order and endanger its existence. In our opinion, such violence should not be carried out even against the worst enemy, and we doubt that an example in the history of any nation could be found for what was happening in our country at all.

The results of this policy (if such actions can be called policy at all) are, as any reasonable person could have guessed, horrible. Religious tolerance, which in our country in Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite confessional divisions, was at its height, has dropped terribly. The insults and provocations by a part of the Catholics have often become so widespread against us the Muslims, that this seriously incites us to thinking.

Relations between both parts of our people, which were very good, are now on the way to becoming completely bad. The mutual efforts of those Croatian nationalists, who aimed to establish brotherhood between both parts of the people, and which have already shown good results, are now on the way to suffering complete failure.

One part of the Catholic clergy believes that their hour has now struck and is unscrupulously taking advantage of this. The propaganda for the conversion has taken on such proportions that it is reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition. Under their pressure and with tolerance from public authorities, a mass conversion of Christians to the Catholic faith took place, so that those who had been deprived of all civic value and all national kinship, became equal citizens and national Croats, and only because they formally converted to the Catholic faith.

The equality of Islam, which is often emphasized in written words and many statements from the highest places, is often questioned in practice. The conversion to Islam, which we never propagated, never received the protection given to the conversion to the Catholic faith. Many intellectuals now had to pay for such a similar attempt with their lives, as was the case in Travnik. We often hear from the Catholics derogatory songs that insult the religious feelings of Muslims and prophesy the same fate as Christians [Translator’s note: under “hrišćani”/“Christians”, i.e. Christen, in Bosnia are meant members of the Greek-Eastern Church, in contrast, Catholics are referred to as “kršćani”, i.e. those who acknowledge the cross, “križ”].

One part of the Ustasha militia, not only the “irregular” Ustashas but also the regular ones, committed severe incidents and attacks not only against Christians but also against Muslims, and this caused horror in our ranks. The case of the horrific murder of the village hoca Edhem efendi Hadžić in Banja Luka, in the middle of the hospital yard and in broad daylight, is a horrible example of an orgy committed by the Ustasha Josip Babić. The most unfortunate fact, however, is that to this day it is not known whether the criminal was arrested at all, although the entire population in Banja Luka, as well as all other Muslims requested the information, and still do.

The uprising in our region, which is spreading more and more, is a consequence of the above-mentioned acts and mistakes. This uprising bears all the hallmarks of civil wars. Also, the insurgents have torched and brutally killed men, women and children, often in order to take revenge on those who are completely innocent for their misfortune. The uprising has now spread all the way to the gates of our city, and its consequences are becoming more and more noticeable. Our city has already been without water for three days, the shortage of heating materials and foodstuffs is putting more and more pressure on us, and we must expect even more severe consequences.

The communists took advantage of the dissatisfaction of a large part of the population and put themselves at the head of the uprising. During the persecution of the communists, injustice was done to us Muslims. We will not claim that there are no communists among the Muslims in the cities, but however, those Muslims who were never communists were also arrested because of them, if they expressed themselves negatively about various injustices committed. In contrast, many Catholics who were well-known communists were not only hidden, but have often been rewarded with various positions and lucrative and easy jobs.

It fills us with special anger that those elements that caused the uprising also involved a part of the Muslim ordinary people in this action, which we regret and condemn. We know enough cases in which the Ustashas committed massacres and murders with a fez on their heads. This was in Bosanski Novi, where the Ustashas came in four trucks “from over there” (Catholic Croats on the other side of the Sava, Translator’s note) with fezzes and slaughtered Christians together with the Muslim mob. The same thing happened in Bosanska Kostajnica, where 862 Christians were killed in the same way during one day. The same thing happened in Kulen Vakuf, and here the Ustasha from Vrtoč, Miroslav Matijević, stood out especially shamefully. About 950 Christians were killed here, which gave the insurgents a reason to carry out their revenge on September 6 of this year, in which they set Kulen Vakuf on fire, and 1,365 Muslim men, women and children had to pay for this with their lives.^[3]

We know of cases where the Catholic Ustashas attacked Christians with mutual invocations of Muslim names, such as: “Hit Mujo! Hold him, Huso! Watch out Meho!” and the like. We are also aware of cases where Christians are told in whisper that we the Muslims are the ones who kill and slaughter them in order to eradicate them. If we wanted to eradicate, kill and convert Serbs and others, we could have done this centuries ago, while we had more power than today and when such a crime could be more easily justified.

After such a severe antagonism was caused between us Muslims and Christians, we are now called upon as soldiers to quell this uprising, in which we kill Serbs and at the same time we get killed until we destroy and eradicate each other, without knowing when this will end and what consequences this will bring. So it came to pass that this struggle, which we had not provoked, has already escalated so much, that many of our villages have been torched and plundered, and that their inhabitants, men, women and children, naked and barefoot, hungry and thirsty, seeking help and protection from the mobilized and volunteers, wander around and flee to our overcrowded cities, so it is difficult to help them.

Protection for our villages is completely insufficient, especially in those areas that are under Italian occupation. There, the Italian army is calmly watching the torching of Muslim villages, as was the case these days in the villages of Ključ, Petrovac and Sanski Most, where not even our army provides assistance.

And yet what is worst: The perpetrators of this unrest are retreating into the background, parading around in uniforms and mostly practise looting of Serbian and Jewish property. We see this best here in Banja Luka, where the property of evicted and refugee Serbs and Jews has been made a source of plunder and enrichment for individuals, their families and friends.

At the same time, the question of the honesty and past of these persons was not raised, and neither were the interests of the state taken into account. Professional companies were given to non-experts, even those of great value, who were given without any assessment at bargain prices and without a guarantee to those people who have no merit for the Croatian state.

This was ordered by those who did not have any authorization for such decisions, and they usurped the rights. When an investigation was launched in Banja Luka over these irregularities, in the interest of public morality and justice and in the interest of the state, it was the man who unfortunately holds the highest place in the country in “Ponova”^[4] (Reconstruction), at the request of the main defendants in all these cases, hurried to obstruct the same investigation. We reject with indignation the false claims that we wanted to get hold of these companies.

Gentlemen Ministers, we address you as our representatives in the government of the Independent Republic of Croatia and as the first advisers to the Supreme Leader with a request to report all this to the Supreme Leader and use all your influence to put an end to this terrible situation in such harsh times.

We hereby join every action of our people that represents the same goals, and above all the action of the Sarajevo Muslims from October 12, 1941, and together with them we ask and demand:

1) introduction of genuine security of life, honor, property and religion for all citizens in the state without any exception,

2) that the innocent population truly receives strong military protection,

3) further prohibition of undertaking any action which by its nature could encourage the people to rise and shed blood,

4) that all perpetrators, whatever violence or criminal offense they have committed, regardless of the religion they belong to, are brought to justice and receive the most severe punishments under the law, as well as those who ordered or facilitated such evildoings,

5) that laws are enforced only by regular authorities and the regular army,

6) to prevention of any religious intolerance and strictest punishment of those who, in this regard, commit any provable incident,

7) provision sufficient material aid to those who have suffered through no fault in these riots as soon as possible.

Banja Luka, November 12, 1941

Haji Hafiz Mustafa Nurkić, retired mufti

Hakija Bešlagić, Mayor (brother of the Minister of Transport, com. [ment])

Hafiz Idriz Skopljak, muderris^[5]

Eng. Sulejman Aga Salihagić, president of the association of landowners.

Hasan Beg Džinić, former mayor

Halid Beg Džinić, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Crafts

Dr. Asim Beg Džinić, lawyer

etc.

^[1] АВ, Ф. 562, 3.1.1.2, 14-17, translation from Croatian.

^[2] Handwritten note.

^[3] On these crimes, see: M. Bergholz, Nasilje kao generativna sila, 129-298.

^[4] The State Directorate for Reconstruction was a newly created institution that managed the property of killed or expelled Serbs and Jews; see: N. Kršljanin, „Pravni režim nepokretnosti u Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj”, in: B. Begović, Z. S. Mirković, Pravni poredak Nezavisne Države Hrvatske, Beograd: Univerzitet u Beogradu, Pravni fakultet, 300-305.

^[5] Teacher in a madrasa, higher religious school. – Subeditor’s note.

Subeditor’s Note

This – English – edition of the book is a translation of the one in the Serbian language, published in 2022 under the title Ustaška zverstva: Zbornik dokumenata (1941–1942). As far as the corpus of the Dossier from the personal fonds of Slavko Odić is concerned – and it makes the essential body of this book – the translation team worked from its Serbian version given in the said book and not from the German original.

The Serbian edition, with the documents translated from German, was printed in the Cyrillic alphabet, which necessitated some explanations provided by the Editor, Dr. Milan Koljanin, with regard to the linguistic traits, orthography and punctuation resorted to by the translators from German into Serbian (Tatjana Janićijević, Akademija Oxford) and the Editor. Naturally enough, numerous clarifications referring to the Serbian edition do not apply on the English one in most of the aspects of translation work. Hence the need to write this Note.

To begin with, the translators basically opted for the varieties of the American English rather than British English.

Personal names in the officially processed documents are most often written in what is today considered inverse order: family name/surname first, followed by one’s first/Christian name, without a comma in between.

Originally, the documents (letters, reports, statements etc.) were written (typed) in bureaucratic style and with a page layout practised by German offices, so these traits have been retained herein, and so have the obvious spelling and/or typing errors (personal names, toponyms); the latter have been corrected in the footnotes. The parts of text/sentences which are underlined or written with spaces between letters as means of emphasis correspond to the German original and its Serbian/Croat counterpart. The same applies to whole words or lines written in capital letters.

Punctuation has been kept almost completely, except when the meaning demanded comma (usually related to the rules of word order in an English sentence). Some marks, such as hyphens, dashes or slashes may impress the Reader as outdated or misplaced. Earlier typewriters did not have buttons with parentheses, and the slash was used instead of them.

Dates are written with differing uses or omissions of period (full stop), whereby month is written in three ways: fully in letters (20 January), in Arabic numerals (e.g. 20.1.) or Roman numerals (e.g. 20.I.). In rare cases, the slash can be found in dates (e.g. 12./X. 1941), but not as a regular separator between their constituents. Years are occasionaly written without the first digit, e.g. 942 instead of 1942, which is a frequent occurrence in oral communication.

Abbreviations, other than official identification means for offices, titles or codenames (VB, MA, RSHA etc.), have been translated (e.g. ’etc.’). The translators chose to retain the Croat/Serbian abbreviation for the name of the wartime ’state’, that is, ’NDH’ is standing for Nezavisna Država Hrvatska (Independent State of Croatia) instead of the less known English name (ISC). Some words were written in a shortened form for the reason of economy of expression, and the habit has been transferred to the translation, including the Editor’s intervention in the Serbian edition: Reg.[ister], Gend.[armerie], Gor[nja] Tuzla.

Footnotes in the English edition partially differ from those in the Serbian version. Some proved to be unnecessary (those that provided original names which were transliterated into the phonetical Cyrillic alphabet). New footnotes have been added by the Subeditor in order to explain/clarify the specific, locally used, words or phrases with which the Reader may not be familiar (such as slava, din, sokolski dom), or to indicate some nuances in the meaning (student, profesor). Here and there, the Reader will find notes in brackets inserted into the main body of the text by translators or the Editor where immediate understanding was needed.

Finally, it is noteworthy that the above-mentioned bureaucratic style of the presented documents mirrors the established conventions of communication in Central Europe and the Balkans of the first half of the 20th century, particularly in state and military affairs, yet also illustrates the specific ’hierarchy’ of various authorities on the occupied territories during World War Two, accentuating the relations between the German organs/institutions in power and the various offices subordinated to the administrative and military system of the Third Reich. As to the information, facts and accounts of events recorded in these documents, they are the subject of the history science and studies related thereto.

A. Č. P.