By
Dr. Efraim Zuroff
The director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center comments on the
Croatian reaction to “Operation:Last Chance”.
It is a well-known psychological phenomenon that
the more threatened someone feels, the more likely he or she
is to make threats or even violently attack the individual
or group that they perceive as responsible for ostensibly endangering
them. Thus I was hardly surprised to learn that at the end
of last week, a letter from the so-called “Anti-Jewish
Movement” which was sent to Zoran Pusic, president of
the Civic Committee for Human Rights which is the local partner
of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in our “Operation: Last
Chance” project, threatened to start murdering Croatian
Jews if a single Croat is put in prison because of “sick
Jewish ideas.” In fact, these were not the first threats
which Zoran Pusic and I have received since launching “Operation:
Last Chance” in Zagreb on June 30. Quite a few threatening
phone calls have already been received on our infoline (01-617-1530
or 091-579-9020), practically from the very first days, including
express threats of violence against us and assorted anti-Semitic
epithets.
So why do Croatian extremists feel so threatened by “Operation:
Last Chance” and what precisely are the “sick Jewish
ideas” behind this project, which has already been launched
in eight countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania,
Croatia and Hungary). In this regard, the basic principle which
is totally anathema to the Ustasha supporters and sympathizers
is that the violent measures taken by the Ustasha against civilians
during World War II are crimes which must be prosecuted. This
is extremely difficult to accept for those who view the Ustasha
as heroes, but it has to be absolutely clear that their violent
actions against civilians constituted genocide and crimes against
humanity, crimes on which there is no statute of limitations.
In that regard, it is particularly important to reiterate
several cardinal principles of the activities of the Simon
Wiesenthal Center, the first of which is that the passage of
time in no way diminishes the guilt of the perpetrators of
the crimes of the Holocaust. Thus the fact that a criminal
was able to escape justice for even fifty years does not transform
him or her into an innocent person.
The second principle relates to the age of the criminals.
There are those who say that since the perpetrators we are
dealing with have reached a relatively old age, there is no
sense in bringing them to trial. But we do not agree with such
a position since there is no reason why a healthy and mentally
alert person should not be held accountable for his or her
crimes. In this regard, the issue is not a person’s age
but one’s health – mental and physical. If Milivoj
Asner is healthy and alert enough to play an active role in
public life – and even to go into hiding – there
is no basis of any kind to ignore his crimes.
Often these defendants make an effort to elicit public sympathy
by appearing to be as ill and unfortunate as possible, but
any empathy with them is totally misplaced. These were people
who had absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for their innocent
victims – among them women, children, the elderly and
the handicapped – and therefore are not deserving of
any consideration. It is their victims who deserve our sympathy
and it is out of a sense of obligation to them – among
other important factors – that we undertake the efforts
to hold their murderers accountable.
Ultimately, we view “Operation: Last Chance” not
only as an effort to prosecute those guilty of the crimes of
the Holocaust, but also as a project which will help ensure
historical accuracy and assist Croatian society in confronting
the crimes of the Ustasha. In the long run, it will also help
combat the traditional anti-Semitism which still exists in
Croatia today, even though the local Jewish community is less
then 5% of its prewar total.
Although there are numerous similarities in the reactions
to “Operation: Last Chance” in the various countries
in which it has already been launched, Croatia, to date has
been the only country in which we have received death threats.
Perhaps that is because of Croatia’s uniqueness in three
other respects, which no doubt cause the right-wing extremists
many sleepless nights. Croatia is the only country in which
we launched the project with a fully-documented case of a Nazi
war criminal (Milivoj Asner) already in hand, the only post-Communist
country which has successfully prosecuted a Holocaust perpetrator
(Dinko Sakic) and the only country in which the head of state
(President Mesic’) has publicly endorsed the operation
before it was officially launched. These three factors are
cause for the optimism for “Operation: Last Chance” in
Croatia and no doubt cause for grave concern for these opposed,
who foolishly hope that threats of violence will scare the
Wiesenthal Center and its Croatian partners into dropping the
project. I can state categorically therefore that “Operation:
Last Chance” will continue in Croatia, as we are now
more convinced than ever of its unique significance. So if
anyone reading this article has any pertinent information or
knows of someone with such knowledge, please call us at (01)617-1530
or at (091)579-9020.
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