December 1, 2006, p.26 GLOBUS (CROATIA)
 
  "I'm Disappointed With Jasenovac, But Even More With the Speech by Seks"
By Dr. Efraim Zuroff
 
 

I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about coming to Jasenovac this week. It was going to be my fourth visit to the site so it was not a question of seeing this terrible place for the first time, but rather it was the occasion. This time there were very high stakes. The creation of a permanent historical exhibition was a difficult challenge with incredibly important potential. Anyone acquainted with the complex history of ex-Yugoslavia instinctively understands the problems facing such a project.

Would the exhibition accurately present the events of the war? Would the responsibility of the Ustasha for the crimes committed at Jasenovac be fully and unequivocally acknowledged? Would each group of victims be given their due without their numbers being minimized? These were the questions which I pondered as I tried to decide whether or not to accept the invitation of the museum to attend the opening ceremony.

The truth is that many people were asking the same questions and all sorts of accusations and rumors reached Jerusalem, which only increased my trepidation on the one hand and my curiosity on the other. I spoke with many Croatian friends and acquaintances over the past two weeks in order to help me decide. Ultimately, it was a sense of obligation to see the exhibition with my own eyes that convinced me to come to the ceremony. After all, this was such an important part of the ultimate objective of all our activities to bring Nazi war criminals to justice-the fight for historical truth and the efforts to encourage post-Communist societies to acknowledge their complicity in Holocaust crimes. The fact that one of our most important successes was the conviction and punishment of Jasenovac commandant Dinko Sakic also had its effect no doubt.

Before we were able to enter the museum, PM Sanadar, Speaker Seks and President Mesic all delivered speeches whose content was more or less as expected. There was a heavy emphasis on Croatia as a country with humanistic values which sees its future as an integral part of Europe, and of course a rejection of Ustasha evil. Coming from right-wingers like the speaker of the Sabor, such comments sound rather hollow, not to mention his statement that Jasenovac was patterned after various Nazi camps such as Treblinka, which was built quite some time after Jasenovac was created, as if the Croatian camp was merely an imitation of the evil innovations of others. While the first two speakers did not refer to the details of the exhibition, President Mesic wisely reserved judgement on an exhibition which he had not yet seen. What was very surprising, in retrospect was the absence of any mention of one of Croatia's greatest achievements in facing its Ustasha past-the conviction of Dinko Sakic. What better story about Jasenovac from a Croatian perspective than the fact that democratic Croatia had extradited, tried, and convicted one of the commandants of this terrible place. But Sakic was not mentioned, and all the perpetrators were only referred to as “Ustasha” as if all the killers were anonymous Ustasha, a code word for Croatian criminality that left the perpetrators nameless.

This impression was reinforced in the exhibition which I found very disappointing. To my surprise and consternation, there was not a single photograph of any of the commanders of Jasenovac or any of the major criminals who operated in the camp.None of Vjekoslav “Max” Luburic, or of Ivica Matkovic, or of Milos Ljobo, or of Miroslav Filipovic-Majstorovic, or of Dominik Picilli or even of Sakic.It was as if there was no element of personal responsibility for the genocide of Serbs and Gypsies, the Holocaust of the Jews, and the murder of Croatian anti-fascists. But if there is any important lesson to learn from the crimes of Jasenovac it is precisely the issue of personal accountability. In a museum that refers only to nameless Ustasha, no individuals bear any blame. In addition, there was no mention of the Righteous Gentiles, another critical element of the historical events and the educational process. In fact, the museum seemed a bit detached from the site as if it was dealing with events that happened elsewhere and in fact could have been built anywhere. To be fair, however, the original buildings of the camp no longer exist, which obviously is a disadvantage.

If we add the facts that the historical events are not presented in chronological order and that there is no historical context whatsoever (no World War II, no Holocaust) in which to try and understand why they happened, it is clear that the exhibition has serious flaws. Even more important is the lack of any material or explanations on prewar Ustasha ideology-the hatred for the Serbs and the anti-Semitism which helped spawn the genocidal policies of the NDH-and student visitors are therefore likely to emerge more confused than anything else.

And finally there was the list of victims with no reference to their religion or nationality. This reminded me of the attempts by Tudjman to turn Jasenovac into a national shrine for all Croatians-victims and perpetrators alike. In a place where most of those killed were murdered for being Serbs, Jews, or Gypsies there is a problem in lumping everyone together.

This was undoubtedly one of the issues which most concerned me before I came and in that respect I thought that the main problems would be vis-à-vis the victims, but after seeing the exhibition, it is clear that the major cause for concern is the Croatian visitors, especially the younger generation who I believe will not come away from their visit to Jasenovac with the two most important messages-how and why these crimes took place-and a strong determination that they must never be repeated.

I have no doubt that Natasha Jovicic and her staff made every effort to succeed in their difficult task. They had to deal with an enormously-complex history and a politically-charged atmosphere which no doubt had an impact. If the results that I saw this week are only the beginning or first step as President Mesic suggested, then they have achieved an important achievement. If, on the other hand, the exhibition is final, a tremendous opportunity will have been squandered.