24.07.2004 Slobodna Dalmacija
  NO FORGIVENESS FOR THE CRIMINALS
 
 

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.