REPORT OF MARCH 26, 1942 ON THE SITUATION IN WESTERN BOSNIA IN THE PERIOD FROM APRIL 1941 TO MARCH 1942, ON THE USTASHA KILLINGS OF SERBS, THE ORGANIZATION OF THE UPRISING, THE ROLE OF THE COMMUNISTS AND A NEW WAVE OF KILLING OF SERBS.[1]
Transcript
Report
on the situation in the former Vrbas Province (Western Bosnia)
in the period April 1941 – March 1942.
The establishment of the Croatian state was received with enthusiasm by the Croatian population. The entire state power, based on the personal decision of the Supreme Leader, was exercised by the lawyer Dr. Viktor Gutić. The police were led by his brother Blaž Gutić. Around these two, in themselves and for themselves very problematic persons, the biggest scum of the city of Banja Luka gathered, as did for example Betunac Matko – a sixth grade high school student, who was given the management of the City Mortgage Bank[2]. The Serbs were convinced that the German army would take over the administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was considered optimistic. Even when the Croatian state was proclaimed, they behaved loyally and correctly. Gutić’s guard consisted of Croats, Bosniaks of the Islamic religion (Muslims), but the core consisted of the Roman Catholic youth organization “Križari” (Crusaders).
The most prominent Serbs in Banja Luka were taken hostage and imprisoned in the “Black House”[3]. On Gutić’s order, the Serbian bishop Platon was – as an outsider[4] – expelled, of which he complained to Gutić. He also addressed the Croatian Bishop Josa Garić with a request to mediate with the authorities in order to suspend this expulsion order. The Croatian bishop gave him a guarantee that he would finish this matter within 3-4 days, and until then, the Serbian bishop should calmly wait for the decision in Banja Luka. That same night, between 1 and 2 o’clock, the Serbian bishop was taken away by force. The population was convinced that the bishop had been expelled to Serbia pursuant to the expulsion order.
Two mutilated corpses – of Bishop Platon and of the spiritual presbyter[5] Dušan Subotić – which were found in the river Vrbanja after about three weeks, convinced the population of something completely different. I personally established the identity of the corpses, which were urgently buried between the military cemetery and the city cemetery. Eyewitnesses, among other things, recognized the police agent and a member of Gutić’s body guard Tomić, and the Muslim Dželić among the killers.
This murder was a signal for the daily growing number of murders of the most prominent Serbs. Hostages (of the German army) were taken out of the “Black House” almost every night, and on Gutić’s, mostly oral, orders, outside of Banja Luka, they were brutally tortured, killed and thrown into the Vrbas River. This is how my personal acquaintances were killed: the priest Živko Danilović and Nikola Ćurčija (the latter is an innkeeper who once kicked Gutić out of his inn due to drunkenness and a fight), then Boško Panić, Perduv (this one was allegedly ground in a meat grinder at the city slaughterhouse), then MP Simo Marjanac with a notary from his town, priest Bogdan Vranješević, former opposition MP Dušan Branković and many, many others. Among the butchers, the Muslim Dželić and the Ustasha leader (camp warden) Marić (from Dragočaj) stood out. That is how it happened in the first days of May in Banja Luka and in all larger towns of the Vrbas Province. There was an even greater evil in the villages, where everyone could torch uncontrollably and unhindered, plunder and kill as much as his heart desired. There was hardly a Serb village that was spared by the bandits.
The first Croatian work on culture was the demolition of the Serbian cathedral in Banja Luka, a masterpiece of modern architecture. The Serbs had to work side by side with the Jews to demolish God’s house. After two months of work, only the foundations remained, and standing on the ruins, the Ustasha leader – Staff Officer Gutić – is on the one hand shining with happiness, and yet full of anger and hatred for his accomplices: “Brothers Croats, we are celebrating a big day today, the day of the destruction of the Devil’s house.” Numerous citizens – Croats and Turks – applauded the speaker and the perpetrators.
Mr. Gutić spoke often, and where he spoke, he only provoked anger in anyone who had even a little brain in his head. Thus for example in Sanski Most, on the occasion of handing in the decorations and rewarding the murderer of 27 innocently slaughtered Serbs from the village of Tomina, he said: “I have issued a strict order for the Serbs to be destroyed economically first. Then I will sweep them completely with iron brooms.” And then he started shouting hysterically: “Grab your scythes and hoes, kill Serbs wherever you see them, my blessing and the blessing of our Supreme Leader will follow!”
Another time he paraphrased a folk song from the Turkish era: “Yes, and the roads will want Serbs, but there will be no more Serbs.” In Kotor Varoš, he said, among other things: “Brothers, if you come across two Serbs somewhere, then kill one – because you should know – they don’t want anything good for you.” His speeches with quoted sentences can easily be found in the Ustasha newspaper “Hrvatska Krajina” (May, June) and also in Zagreb and Osijek’s newspapers.
And despite the threats, the Serbs did not despair, they could only understand them as outbursts of a notorious alcoholic. No, they really could never have imagined, even in their dreams, that what Staff Officer Gutić was saying was just a hint of the horror that would come.
Within the circle of his confidants, he informed them of the Supreme Leader’s plan for resolving the Serb question in Bosnia and Herzegovina: “One third will be forced to convert to the Roman Catholic faith, another third will be expelled from the country and a third will be disposed of.” He once said to several Serbs from Banja Luka: “What do you want, you must disappear from Bosnia, regardless of who the ultimate winner is. If Germany wins, you will no longer exist, if England wins, you will still be defeated in time, and if Russia wins, then neither we nor you will exist.” Simultaneously with these open threats from Staff Officer Gutić, the police directorate issued a denial assuring the people that there was no talk of mass expulsions and killings of the Serbs. Old Serbian families who knew Gutić and his accomplices fled to the territory of the Military Commander in Serbia in a timely manner. It must be noted that until August, there was no reason in the territory of the Vrbas Province that could provoke even a punishment, let alone justify murders and robberies. The Serbs from Bosnia are known for their tolerance in good and evil alike. Even when the Ustashas began to establish themselves in the villages, when the gangs – gathered from the worst scum of the population – proclaimed themselves the only state governance and maintained this cowardly horror by looting and killing, even then they bore their heavy cross. No voice of rebellion was heard.
At the beginning of June, the Ustasha commander – the Bihać camp commander Kvaternik[6] (nephew of the Military Commander – Marshal Kvaternik) got rid of the Serb inhabitants in both ingenious and evil ways. Simply, all the Serbs, men, women, children, were evicted from their apartments, loaded and, near Petrovac, simply unloaded in the hills and left to God’s will and their destiny.
The ingenious recipe spread like wildfire throughout the country. Panic! The craziest rumors have found fertile ground, no wonder, because the most incredible thing has become a reality and even a law in the Independent State of Croatia. The only thing that still sustained the Serbs was their belief in the German occupation of Banja Luka and the hope that the rapid occupation of the whole of Bosnia by the German army – would bring to an end the chaotic anarchy. There were also rays of hope: due to the German veto, the “Black House” ceased to be a fowl felons’ den for the sadistic instincts of various staff members, camp wardens and other Ustashas. The anticipated rumors about the German administration are persistently spread. Unfortunately, these are just rumors. The only absolute certainty that then no evil would happen to this badly suffering country. Bosnia would experience the end of the war in the greatest order and in the deepest peace.
Another ray of hope has shown itself, but it shows that there is no hope from the Ustasha government. The Supreme Leader’s big speech around June 22 was supposed to announce law and order in the country. Exposure to violence, looting, murder of the “Greek-Eastern” population has to stop. All are of course equal before the law! Whoever does differently will be shot. – The flash of hope disappeared too quickly. A naive, good-natured Serb thought he could give faith to one head of state. He believed in the law and the law in the state of the Croats, but this time as well – as before (and in the future) he was cruelly cheated. Again, the Serb had to pay dearly for his belief, because he still did not know that the Supreme Leader’s talk was empty, he believed that with a double deception (of Europe and his subjects) he would kill two birds with one stone. Only a few days after the Supreme Leader’s speech, before Vidovdan (June 28 – the greatest Serbian national holiday) – the Day of Remembrance of the Battle of Kosovo in 1389), the terrible news spread across the country at the speed of lightning that all Serbs in Banja Luka and the Vrbas Province would be slaughtered on Vidovdan.
Most Serbs spent that night outside of their apartments. On Vidovdan itself, an official denial appeared, according to which “persecutions and murders of Greek-Easterners are not imminent”. This appeasement did not last for a long time either, because after a few days, rumors about the forced emigration of the Serbian population arrived. This was also denied, yet those who were acquainted with past experiences could not trust. On the same day, the Croatian police sealed all Serbian churches and confiscated all church books. It was first said that the clergy were allowed to hold the last church liturgy the next morning on St. Peter’s Day, however that same night the entire Serbian clergy of the Vrbas Province were arrested by the Ustashas and taken in open trucks to the fortress in Banja Luka, and then they were further transferred to the concentration camp in Požega. In the following nights, they also set on the prominent and wealthy Serb residents. It is self-evident that the victims were completely robbed. Their real estate was sold at bargain prices and the money was distributed among the Ustashas. From the great wealth (because the Serbs not only made up the majority of the population of the Vrbas Province, but they were also the richest and most respectable inhabitants of the country), the Croatian state did not benefit at all. All of this is too well known so I will not dwell on this any longer.
The massive anxiety in the people was severe. The people are confused, crushed, in despair – but they fatalistically succumbed to their destiny, which, as atonement for the sins of its leaders, let the scourge of God hit them. They were ready to persevere by suffering in the fire and surrendering to God’s will to await purification and resurrection. After Germany declared war on the USSR, the position of the Serbs did not change; they still believed in reason, a sense of justice and the legitimacy of the Croatian state leadership.
They still did not seek their salvation in the forests and mountains. The first to do so were Muslims and Croats (mostly in Croat-settled areas). However, as the atrocities of the bloodthirsty Ustashas became more widespread, people no longer had any choice between life and freedom in the hills and certain martyrdom on the doorsteps of their ancestors’ houses. The “bare” life needed to be saved; there could be no talk of combat actions against the occupying troops – they expected only their deliverance, salvation, almost resurrection from the dead.[7]
The first to escape from Banja Luka were the well-known and previously punished communists Nikola Pavlić and his brother, then Adolf Podgornik also with his brother, then the three Mažar brothers, the Lastrić brothers – all pure Croats – intellectuals. Among the Muslims, the well-known communist and candidate for a member of Parliament is Muharem Kasas and the tinsmith Maslo. The son of the judge – Maglajić with his sister, Karabegović, a medical student, Radman, the Odić brothers, Kapetanović and many other Muslims. There were only two Serbs: Ličina Rade and Ljubomir Babić, which, in relation to 15,000 and 11,000 members of all other nationalities and religions in Banja Luka, represents the genuine ratio of the participation of Serbs in the Partisan intrigues. In all other towns, the ratio was the same.
The immediate reason for the uprisings on Ilindan (St. Elijah’s Day – August 2) including Drvar was the following: A week before Ilindan, the Croatian authorities recklessly attacked the Serbs who lived there in the vast majority. Several churches in the immediate vicinity of Drvar were set on fire, and the religion of the Serbs was bestially ridiculed and desecrated. Numerous Serb residents died, tortured in an inhumane manner. The villages were looted and their inhabitants, regardless of age and sex, were killed.
No man to show mercy was found even for infants. Several hundred murders took place in Drvar alone. On August 1, when the atrocities reached their peak, under the leadership of professors Sorić[8] and Desnica, well-known nationalists, the Serbs in Drvar and the surrounding area rebelled and, after several hours of combat, took control of the situation. It is easy to understand that on that occasion the most bloodthirsty Ustashas lost their lives. It was similar in Bosansko Grahovo. On the basis of Gutić’s order in the purest Serbian district, “in this hajduk nest” all respectable Serbs were to be wiped out. Several hundred were recruited. Thanks to denouncement, the intention of the Ustashas became known, as they were thwarted by a decisive counterattack. After taking power, Gutić’s order and the list of Serbs sentenced to death were found. The Grahovo uprising was led by the local peasants, strong nationalists, without any communist influence. The character of the uprising was purely defensive, it was a desperate battle of the convicted to death peaceful, patriarchal peasants against the bloodthirsty men and the executioner’s assistants. It is self-evident that the communists did not leave unused such a situation that was favorable for them. Uninvited guests soon appeared at the table that had already been set. Communist agitators came from the north from Mount Kozara: the first of these was the Croat Nikola Pavlić, then the teachers Velimir Stojnić and Ljubomir Babić.
They imposed themselves as leaders on Drvar by fraud and called themselves “people’s liberators”. Pavlić appointed himself press commissar, Stojnić war commissar and Babić political commissar. In Grahovo, the Reds’ attempt to impose themselves on the people and take the lead failed, thanks to the nationalists Živko Brković and the priest Đujić, [9] who took the lead and drove the Communists out of Grahovo. Brković was sentenced to death by the Reds for that. In Drvar, the leader of the nationalists Desnica was soon killed by the Communist Velimir Stojnić, because he did not want to take the oath to Stalin. The fate of another nationalist from Drvar, Sorić, is uncertain.
The peasant uprising spread to the District of Glamoč. Just like in Drvar, here, too, the Reds managed to impose themselves as leaders in Mlinište, Potoci, Oštrelj and other places. Where Gutić’s infernal plans were not thwarted, the Ustashas massacred men and women and children in ways that make one’s hair stand on end.
It must be explicitly emphasized that the mass bloodshed took place in those districts where there was no talk of any unrest, let alone uprising. Thus, for example, 4000-5000 Serbs got killed in the District and town of Livno. In Livno, the Catholic Croats were in vast majority, so the Serbs could not even dream of an uprising. Serb families were taken from their homes around Ilindan at night; they were told that they should prepare for a transport to Serbia. The feeling of happiness of the Serbs loaded into trucks did not last long – near the village of Gradina, they were unloaded from trucks and, without any selection, men, women and children were killed in a way that is not deserved by beasts. When this became known in Livno, the remaining small number of the Serbs fled to the barracks of the Italian occupation troops, and here they found a humane reception and salvation from brutes. Apart from the Ustashas, the citizens of Livno, Croats and Muslims, also took part in the massacre, led by a certain Kajić (Samser), who in his brutal bloodthirstiness even had his own mistress slaughtered. The Italian occupation troops had the people exhumed, and the exact number of victims was determined. The slaughter of the Serb population was further transferred from Livno to Glamoč. Where there were no Italian occupation troops yet, there was a systematic extermination action led by the Roman Catholic Church, from village to village, from house to house.
No one who was caught was spared, no man, no woman, no child. Thus, for example, the village of Vrba, 6 km away from Glamoč, was completely exterminated. In Glamoč and Vrba, 34 members from my mother’s family alone were killed. Later, when the insurgents captured Glamoč, only one gendarme was killed! However, when the Ustashas recaptured Glamoč after 48 hours, it took them mere 24 hours to literally eradicate the entire Serbian population from the surrounding area. The villagers were driven from the surrounding villages to Glamoč to be killed and slaughtered there. Both priests, Simo Banjac and Stojisavljević, were slaughtered together with their sons by Avdo Solak-Kec.
After that, children drove the mutilated corpses in cars, threw stones at them and butchered them. The hands and feet of 80-year-old Savka Narelović were first broken, her lower jaw was pulled out and it was only after two days with seven gunshot wounds that she succumbed to terrible torment. According to the data of the Italian authorities, 2,500 corpses were counted in the District and town of Glamoč. Among the murderers, the Muslim Berberović stood out in particular. Here, Catholic assassins gave preference to Muslim assassins. From Glamoč, the murderous tide spread in the direction of Mlinište. Croatian troops did not succeed in capturing Drvar and Bosansko Grahovo. Drvar fell in the fall, when armored units were engaged. The leaders of the uprising in Grahovo, Brković and Đujić, handed over the city to the Italians. There was no retaliation; to the sadistic bloodthirstiness of Catholics and Muslims instigated by religious frenzy, Italian troops put a stop here. The behavior of the Italians was not only correct but also extremely humane, so they won the general sympathy of the Serbs. And especially in the district where they operated.[10]
There was bloodshed around Ilindan in Sanski Most, although there was no sign or voice of any rebellion there. With the complicity of the local Croats and Muslims, the Ustashas took the lives of a total of 2,862 men, women and children. Only four Serbian families (Marinković, Bašić, Surunić and Bijelović) remained alive in this city. In mixed-population villages, Catholics were more radical than Muslims. The former killed every last member of the Greek-Eastern Church.
At the same time and in the same way as in Sanski Most, they acted in the town and District of Prijedor. Those who survived the first attack had to convert to the Roman Catholic faith, without exception, in order to save their lives. Here, too, it is assumed that the details of the horrors are known too well. I will only state that the mass murders had special proportions in the cities and district of: Bosanska Krupa, Bosanski Novi, Bosanska Kostajnica, Drvar na Uni, Bihać and many, many others.
In the District of Banja Luka, these villages had the worst fate: Srpska Ivanjska, Dragočaj, Piskavice,[11] Han Kolo, while the city itself (probably) had to thank the German occupation troops for being spared from mass killings. From here, the inhabitants were first deported to a concentration camp and then to Serbia. In the fall, the situation was pretty much regulated. Proclamations were issued several times by the Ustashas, the police, and even by the Supreme Leader himself. According to these, the state of Croats was finally to become a country where law and order should rule. From now on, no citizen (Croat) or subject of the state (Serb) should be deprived of life without a legal verdict, even if he is caught in the act. Especially (!) women and children had to be spared. Further promises were made that those who have so far disobeyed the Supreme Leader’s orders and who have committed illegal acts will be brought to justice, regardless of who they are and regardless of their position in the country, and that they will be legally and lawfully called to account.
And look, a commission appeared in Banja Luka, headed by Colonel Ivan Mrak,[12] which was supposed to establish order and peace in the Vrbas Province. In one proclamation, he gave the Serbs absolute guarantees. Let them just return peacefully to their places of residence, their lives are guaranteed, their confiscated property will be reimbursed. All culprits, regardless of religion or nationality, should be punished. And indeed many Serbs returned to their homes, they even got their property back. Several refugees came from Serbia. Colonel Mrak understood his duty as a soldier with honor. He went so far that he allowed himself to even arrest certain Ustashas who were especially prominent in torturing and killing the innocents. Among them were the notorious butchers Dželić, Marić – the camp warden from Dragočaj, Tomić from Ivanjska and many others. It also seemed that he intended to arrest the main culprit, Gutić. – How seriously did the culprits take the proceedings against them can be seen from the following: During the court hearing, the defendant Dželić addressed the present prosecutors – 13 widows – with a cynical question: “You are accusing me for your 13 husbands. Well, I have killed 130 of them!” and laughed out loud. When asked by Colonel Mrak why he did that, he stated that this was done on the order of his superior – on the order of the one who gave him the weapon. Colonel Mrak’s actions were followed with great sympathy by all Serbs in Croatia, because he did his best to bring the solemn guarantee of the Croatian rulers to life.
Only communists remained beyond the boundaries of the law in the time of Mrak, and among them mostly Catholics and Muslims. Their main attention was focused on Serb villages because they were the easiest to find and recruit desperate people there; at a time when the Bosnian Serbs were optimistically waiting for better times, for a fair court verdict, the mass murderers were acquitted of every verdict, released, and Colonel Mrak was recalled.
The Ustashas agreed to make preparations for new massacres, this time of those Serbs who were so naive as to give faith in the words of someone such as the Supreme Leader.
The hills were now inhabited exclusively by communists. Thus, on the mountain Kozara, Dr. Mladen Stojanović was their leader, his deputy and political commissar was the Croat Mašer,[13] and the war commissar was a certain Croatian staff officer.
The composition of Partisan units is characteristic:
The 2nd Partisan Battalion in the village of Ponikve (7 km away from Banja Luka): political commissar[14] was a Muslim, tinsmith Maslo, then Mašer II,[15] son of the judge from Banja Luka and his sister.
The 3rd Partisan Battalion near Mrkonjić Grad is led by the Muslim Muharem Kasas.
The 4th Partisan Battalion (Crni Vrh) is led by a Croat, Ivan Radman, a student from Banja Luka, and Radić,[16] a captain from Jošavka.
The other Partisan battalions were also commanded for the most part by Croats and Muslims.
Since November, the communists have focused themselves exclusively on Serb villages. In the first line, they brought unrest to the Prnjavor District, which had peace until then. The villages of Kokalj, Mravica, Potočani fell as their victims, where the municipal office and school disappeared in fire. In the Prijedor District, villagers were forced to cut off railway lines and roads. On the Banja Luka-Jajce road, Serbs were forced by the Partisans – mostly Muslims and Croats – to dig transverse trenches so that traffic was interrupted.
In December, the Reds attacked Serb villages along the Banja Luka-Prnjavor road. The villagers also had to carry out sabotages. Bridges and telephone lines were destroyed, so traffic had to stop here as well. In mid-December, the Ustashas began retaliatory measures, exclusively in Serb villages. Numerous villages were set on fire, and the population that did not flee in time was killed. Nowhere did the Reds offer resistance. Not a single captured communist, who was a Muslim or a Croat, was shot. That is why, on the other hand, they threw themselves on the Serbs, in order to give the action of extermination a new name. During the raid on the gendarmerie station in Hrvaćani, the Reds killed 10 Croatian gendarmes under the command of the Croat Radman. As the Ustashas approached, the Partisans disappeared without a fight, and the innocent Serb population had to bleed again. A similar thing happened in Han Kolo, Krupa, Bočac and many other places. The blood, only Serbian blood had to flow, it seems again for the glory of the Lord, so similar to the Anni Domini of 1618-1648.[17]
It is symptomatic that the Reds took part in the extermination of Serbs just as zealously as the Ustashas. Maybe because they wanted to take revenge on the Serbs for little or no support at all. The Serb peasant from the Vrbas Province is not rich, but he is patriarchal, national and deeply religious, as opposed to the Croat, who is not patriarchal and who almost exclusively ties his national feeling and religion to the formal abounding to Roman Catholic church rules. Such a solid peasantry, as the Serbian one, of course could not suit the Reds, especially since they were commanded by Muslims and Croats.
At Christmas time, the Serb population was oppressed by a heavy plague. The largest and most beautiful churches were destroyed, burned or demolished, our shrines were desecrated, consecrated church utensils, the ceremonial vestments of the clergy, church accessories and furniture were sold to the Gypsies for next to nothing. The Julian church calendar was abolished and the “Greek-Easterners” had to celebrate their holidays according to the Catholic Gregorian calendar. Not a single Serb celebrated his Christmas holiday according to the calendar of the blood shedding Catholic Church. Terrible rumors were circulating in Banja Luka again about St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, which would be given to the Serbs in the entire Vrbas county as a Christmas present. And again the rumors had to come true. The ice-cold snowstorm was not an obstacle for the Ustashas to stop them from going to Serb villages in search of the “culprits” who celebrate the feast of the “Devil’s faith”. And the “culprits” were killed, their houses were burned – out of 15,000 Banja Luka’s Serbs, another 2,657 Serbs were there at Christmas time. Out of these, only 657 of them had converted to the Roman Catholic faith. How those 2,000 people, who remained faithful to the faith of their fathers, felt in their souls, can only be fully understood by those who had to experience it. They were just mere shadows of those people for whom the German garrison remained the only hope for life. However, just before Christmas, the Germans left Banja Luka and the Supreme Leader’s Body Guard came to the city’s disgrace and shame. They were to finally “make order” now. And when the infamous Gutić arrived after the Body Guard, panic reached its peak. The people deformed from horror whispered from mouth to mouth that the Supreme Leader’s “gave a free hand” for the final “cleansing” in Banja Luka and its surroundings. And indeed, the “cleansing” began near the village of Ćelinci.[18]
Eight Ustashas fell in the combat with the Reds, and many were captured and wounded. Gutić’s intimate friend Mihaljević was among the victims. The next morning, photos of mutilated Ustasha corpses were hung. The Croats were incited. Groups gathered and talked about events and threatened. I saw them and heard their conversations; it was clear to me that this was a foreplay for what was to follow.
As always, police denials appeared, which, as always, were just an announcement of new attacks. However, the people allowed themselves to be lied to once again, and when it calmed down, the darkest act of Croatian cultural action took place, the absolute eradication of the Serbs in the villages in the immediate vicinity of Banja Luka. The tabula rasa was conducted in the villages: Drakulić, Rakovica, Rudnik, Motike, Bušak[19], Bistrica, etc.
The village of Drakulić is only 3 km away from Banja Luka. Thanks to its inhabitants, the current Croatian Minister Hilmija Bešlagić saved his life and property in 1918. About 80 Serb families lived in the village, honest, capable and hard-working farmers. On Saturday, February 6, before dawn, the village, which had no idea of its being sentenced to death, was surrounded on all sides by the Supreme Leader’s Body Guard. The headman of the village, the Croat Marko Gagula, who had been appointed the day before, led the Zagreb Body Guards from house to house. The frightened, confused villagers were pulled out of their beds, counted and crammed into sheep pens. This lasted until 9 o’clock. First, Stevo Glamočanin’s widow was taken away with six small children (her husband had been shot by the Communists seven days before, because he wanted to cut wood from the forest so that his small children would not freeze). Then came the turn to the families of Đorđe and Kosta Glamočanin, who were in Germany as prisoners of war, a total of 11 children, two wives and their 80-year-old mother. Then the families of Stevo, Mićo and Vid Glamočanin, and there followed, in a row, the houses (five) of the Mitrovićes, which counted about 60 heads. They were burned in the barns. The families of Vaso Stanković (a German prisoner of war) and his brother with seven children, two wives, the family of Mitar Brković (a German prisoner of war). The family of Ilija Piljegić (also a prisoner of war), then the families Kuruzović, Stolić, Đušić, Brkić, Rade Stanković with 19 heads (from his 80-year-old father to the 5-month-old son), etc. From Šargovac, the families of Petar Todorović, Katanin, Kartić, Makivić, etc. etc. – Decent, honest, patriarchal families.
From 9-11 o’clock in the morning, only three young boys out of 80 families survived, thanks to the intervention of Đorđe Majkić, the manager of the property owned by Minister Bešlagić. Everyone else, from infants to the elderly, was slaughtered. – Yes, slaughtered in an inhumane way, as was typical of the Body Guard of the head of state of the Independent State of Croatia. Yes, the same Croatia, in which, during the 23 years of the existence of Yugoslavia, they only boasted of a thousand-year-old Croatian culture. At 11 o’clock, there was not a single Serb in Drakulić. The most peaceful village in the entire district was annihilated within two hours. Of the elementary school students only, 40 died – the slaughter continued in the following villages: Rakovica, Rudnik, Šargovac. The Supreme Leader’s Body Guard is industrious – at 10 o’clock in the morning, the commander of an Ustasha detachment ordered the director of the Rakovica coal mine to get all the “Greek-Eastern” men out of the mine. The miners, who did not sense anything, were ordered to lie on the ground, after which the hyenas attacked and killed them with mallets and picks. Within half an hour, instead of 57 staunch peasants, 57 human corpses were rolling in the coal dust. They were honorable men, who had never been involved in politics, who earned their bread diligently – without complaining. There had been no sabotage in this coal mine. The inhabitants of the village of Motike suffered the same fate. There is no chance that any human soul has managed to escape.
It was a shocking sight when the Supreme Leader’s Body Guard continued its massacre in other villages at around 11 o’clock singing. Only the inhabitants of the village of Parlovac[20] sensed evil. The village was empty and the population had fled in an unknown direction. – The barking of dogs going wild due to human blood was heard everywhere. On Sunday, February 8, 1942, The Supreme Leader’s Body Guard re-entered Banja Luka. And they had won a rich loot: the hard-earned property of the killed, several hundred cows, oxen, sheep. The Ustasha Body Guard, Home Guards and the population of Banja Luka were supplied with meat for a long time. Banja Luka itself should have been the last in line.
Led by a Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Mr. Filipović, blood-intoxicated hordes approached the city. Their beastly instinct could not be fully satisfied. Sheer chance saved the lives of the remaining Banja Luka citizens – the sudden arrival of Minister Bešlagić and the Italian consul Skrabini.[21]
It was only 48 hours later that the city learned of the bloodshed in their immediate vicinity. There was a recruitment list and the ordering of the victims was established. Of course, it was “in the interest” of the Independent State of Croatia that no Serb survived. The first on the list was the physician at the city hospital, Dr. Zaharije Davidović. The manager of the property of Minister Bešlagić informed him about the massacres in Drakulić and other villages. The Minister was depressed, especially when he heard what was planned for Banja Luka. His interventions went in all directions, but without success, because only the head of state, the Supreme Leader’s, could stop the proposed slaughter. The Minister personally drove to Zagreb in his small car. I was constantly informed about the state of affairs and the Minister remained our last hope. That night was the scariest thing a man could go through. The Serbs fled in all directions. Banja Luka’s Muslims convened a conference and protested against the planned massacres. Only the Roman Catholic bishop could not appear, for he had something of a flu…
Salvation came on Monday. A telegram from Zagreb: “Banja Luka must not happen.” That is how this endangered city was saved by God’s action this time as well. And for how long?!! The Ustasha commander was reportedly recalled, but about 3,000 innocent Serb children, women and men had lost their lives.
Of course the commander should have been recalled!! And again, there were proclamations, assurances, promises… And who could still trust them, when they pushed themselves into a lie the very next day. Those who were still alive could not and would not return to their homes, for only horror and death awaited them there.
The Ustasha hatred towards everything that is Serbian, and especially the Catholic hatred, is so great that no means were spared when the final goal was to be achieved, the extermination of “schismatics”.
Everything that has been presented in my report, no matter how troublesome it may appear, is but a vague picture of everything that is happening in the Vrbas Province.
APPENDIX
on the relation between Communists and Nationalists (Chetniks)
in the former Vrbas Province.
Communists are masters of the situation almost everywhere in the hills. They are mostly commanded by Muslims and Catholics. Their special attention is focused on Serbian villages. The peasants are forced to carry out sabotages, so in the event of an attack by Croats, they must participate with the Reds, because otherwise they are exposed to certain death.
The Reds do not use any violence against Croats and Muslims, even when these are guilty. The Croats stay away from the hills and avoid fights with the Reds, but they are especially zealous in slaughtering the population along the traffic lines, that is, the population that did not escape. And so from bad to worse. In this way, the Serb is forced, nolens volens,[22] to seek his salvation in the hills. And there they are forced to place themselves under the protection of the Reds, although they have nothing in common with them, they are even dissatisfied with them (because the commissars are mostly Catholics and Muslims). And if only the will existed for the Catholic state to be governed with just a bit of brain instead of hatred, if only his life were safe in the home of his ancestors, then there would be no question about any refugees in the forest.
The sanguinary Croatian authorities welcome the actions of the Communists because in this way, although formally, they are still offered a reason to exterminate the non-Catholics.
If the Serbs could trust the insidious Ustashas, not a single Serbian peasant would stay in the forest, but would return to the thresholds of their fathers a long time ago. The best evidence is offered by those areas where Italian troops had their garrisons at the beginning: Glamoč, Livno, Drvar, Petrovac, Mrkonjić Grad, Sanski Most, Grahovo and others. And as long as there were Italian units, everything was peaceful. However, as soon as the Ustashas wanted to show their strength by killing and looting after the Italians had left, the people fled to the hills. Above all, the cunning and skilled Communists, naturaly enough, took the refugees under their protection. The exiles had to sell themselves to the devil, because the other devil in the form of the Ustashas was even blacker. Whenever Italian troops returned after each massacre, the people rushed back to their homes – and the Communist leaders were left alone in the woods. There is a multiple opinion that the Communist leaders are working against the Serbs together with the Ustashas. One thing must be emphasized:
- That the losses of the Serbs were as great through indirect Communist action as those caused by direct Ustasha action. It is true that the Reds do not kill Serbs (except in individual cases), but neither do they fight against the Croats, yet they force Serbs to sabotage, which in turn leads to reprisals.
- The former Vrbas Province would be completely peaceful if it were under German, Italian or any other occupation.
If this happened even now, the Serbian peasant would finish off the Reds himself and peace and order would be guaranteed.
THE USTASHA BEHAVIOR TO COMMUNISTS!
There are many communists in the Croatian army among officers and soldiers, who supply the Reds with weapons and food. Ustashas often allow themselves to be captured without a fight. (Piskavica, Mrakovica, etc.)
There is a deep rift between the Ustashas and the Croatian army. The army is much milder and more humane towards Serbs, although in many cases it has also committed atrocities.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSLIMS AND CATHOLICS!
has become much worse in recent days. The Muslims protect their fellow-believers even if they belong to the Communists. There is a particularly big rift in Prijedor. When Muslims talk to Serbs, they put all the blame on the Croats, and if a Croat talks, then he puts all the blame on the Muslims. Who would know how they talk to each other? I cannot report anything about this.
March 26, 1942
Confirming the accuracy of the transcript
personal signature[23]
[1] АВ, Ф. 562, 3.1.1.2, 167-187.
[2] Gradska hipotekarna banka.
[3] Crna kuća.
[4] That is, not born on the territory of NDH. – Subeditor’s note.
[5] In the Serbian Orthodox Church, the rank of protojerej (protopresbyter).
[6] Ljubomir Kvaternik, the Grand County Executive (veliki župan) of the County (Velika župa) of Krbava and Psat with its headquarters in Bihać; Tko je tko u NDH, 225-226 (Z. Dizdar).
[7] See: D. Lukač, Ustanak u Bosanskoj Krajini, Beograd: Vojnoizdavački zavod, 1967.
[8] It is probably Milan Zorić. He was a communist and one of the organizers of the uprising in Drvar. See: M. N. Zorić, Drvar u ustanku 1941, Beograd: Sloboda 1984. See also: E. Šinko, Drvarski dnevnik, translated (from Hungarian) by Gabriela Arc, Beograd: Beogradski izdavačko-grafički zavod, 1987, 89-202.
[9] Momčilo Đujić, a priest from Strmica, later commander of the Chetnik Dinara Division; he emigrated in 1945.
[10] See: K. Nikolić, Italijanska vojska i četnici u Drugom svetskom ratu u Jugoslaviji 1941-1943, Beograd: Institut za savremenu istoriju, 2009.
[11] Piskavica.
[12] Tko je tko u NDH, 283-284 (M. Pojić).
[13] Mažar.
[14] The political commissar, along with the military leader, is the most important position in Partisan units.
[15] Mažar.
[16] Radoslav Radić, one of the insurgent leaders in the summer of 1941, then a member of the staff of the 4th Krajina Partisan Unit. In February 1942, he formed the Chetnik Detachment Borje; the man was sentenced to death in a trial in 1946.
[17] It refers to the participation of Serbs in the Austrian army during the Thirty Years’ War.
[18] Čelinac.
[19] Budžak.
[20] Unidentified village.
[21] Scrabini.
[22] Latin: willy-nilly.
[23] Illegible.