Ina Vukic

A Moving Memorial Mass Tribute In Sydney Australia To Mile Nekic – One Of „Croatian Six“

January 22, 2023 by inavukic 10 Comments

_{From Left: Barry Lowe, Marijana Rudan, Vesna Krizmanic, Marko Franovic, Ina Vukic, Cecile Lowe. Inset: Mile Nekic}

On a busy, working day, Friday 20th January 2023, a Memorial Mass was held at the St Anthony’s Church, Croatian Catholic Centre, Summer Hill, Sydney, Australia. It was a holy mass honouring the memory of a Croatian selfless patriot who walked and lived with the Croatian Community in Sydney for many years and passed away at the age of 75 in Osijek Croatia on 10 December 2022. After immigrating to Australia in 1969 Mile Nekic lived a peaceful productive life until 1979 when along with five other Croatian immigrants’ lives known as Croatian Six took a deeply tragic turn. The six men were arrested on allegations of planning terrorist attacks in Sydney area, tried and convicted to 15 years of prison each. They always maintained their innocence to be released from prison in 1991 on good behaviour around the same time when the Australian television investigative journalist Chris Masters tracked down their accuser, Vico Virkez, who confessed that his testimony against the Croatian Six was false and that he was a Serb national Vitomir Misimovic on Communist Yugoslavia Secret Services UDBa assignment to blacken Croatians as extremist terrorists. Almost immediately after being released from prison in Australia Nekic packed his meagre belongings and headed back to war-torn Croatia to help defend it from the brutal, genocidal Serb and Yugoslavia Army aggression. His life’s dream had always been to see Croatia free from communist Yugoslavia. He died as a retired Croatian Army Officer; a hero of oppressed people by anyone’s definition. He died yearning for final justice for him and all the Croatian Six; he was not meant to see the day when the outcome of the Supreme Court of NSW in Australia would deliver the findings of the late 2022 ordered Judicial Review into convictions for planning terrorist attacks from 1981 against the Croatian Six.

_{Ina Vukic, Readings from the Bible, Mile Nekic Memorial Mass Sydney}

Today, there are several sources that indicate that the Yugoslav UDB set up the case against the Croatian Six, and these sources include the declassification in 2016 of the relevant National Archives of the Commonwealth of Australia, the publication in 2019 of the book “Reasonable Doubt: Spies, Police and the Croatian Six” by Hamish McDonald, McDonald’s interview with American national security professor John Schindler, publication of the book “The Secret Cold War, The Official History of ASIO, 1975-1989.” by John Blaxland and Rhys Crawley, 2017, Hamish McDonald’s 2012 book “Framed”, which succinctly contextualises the circumstances under which the Croatian Six were charged and convicted of conspiring to bomb or attempt terrorist attacks on Sydney, and interview by Vice Virkez with ABC journalist Chris Masters, in which Virkez (Misimovic) clearly admits, among other things, that he lied in his statements to the police and the court against the Croatian six.

**_{Fra Davor Filko , St Anthony’s Church, Croatian Catholic Centre Summer Hill, Sydney, Australia}**

After the Memorial Mass on Friday 20 January 2023 delivered by Fra Davor Filko touching memories of and tributes to Mile Nekic were shared by Mr Barry Lowe, a prominent former Australian journalist and Ms Marijana Rudan, a journalist, documentary film producer and a former television presenter.

“It’s a bit painful reflecting on a life that was as difficult as the life Mile lead. 10 years in some of the worst prisons in Australia, the whole time knowing you’re innocent. Then the rest of your life waiting and hoping for that wrong to be righted,” Barry Lowe said, continuing:

“I think some of the people like me who tried to get the Croatian Six verdict over-turned – and there were many of us, some of them in this church today – have carried a sense of guilt that we couldn’t have done more. For me the Croatian Six campaign had a personal element, Mile was my friend and my starting point in wanting to see justice prevailing.

But I think the remarkable thing about Mile was that he managed live a full and productive life despite the bad hand of cards that he had been dealt. He was a patriot who made a significant contribution to Croatia’s struggle for independence – and he was awarded the medals for bravery that prove it. His role in leading a military intelligence unit that worked behind enemy lines, is an important chapter in the history of the Croatian resistance in eastern Slavonia.

_{Barry Lowe delivering his speech at Memorial Mass for Mile Nekic, Sydney}

But this productive life also included the warmth and generosity and total commitment of loyalty that he gave to his friends. An anecdote from the time soon after I got to know Mile – which started when I interviewed him about his success as an artist while serving time in Long Bay jail: My wife Cecile and I had just moved into a small terrace house in Marrickville – a bit of wreck, in dire need of some major renovation. But I barely knew which end of a hammer you’re meant to hold. Mile dropped in one day, had a look around and said ‘I can help with this’. The next day, a Saturday, 6 o’clock in the morning we’re woken by a knock on the door and Mile walks in with a couple of mates, a cement mixer, bags of cement, timber, power tools, you name it. All the weekend they’re pulling up floors, stripping down walls and in a couple of days we’ve got a reasonably presentable house. I couldn’t get Mile to take a cent for the work or supplies, he even insisted on buying the beer for the post-job celebration.

We kept in touch, and we spent time together when the war was on, often sitting in the bar that used to operate in the underground shopping mall beneath the central square in Osijek, a safe haven when the city was being shelled.

Then there was a couple of decades when we didn’t have much contact until I heard about the new effort to reopen the Croatian Six case. I tracked Mile down and last April went to see him, Cecile and I driving from Salzburg through territory I hadn’t visited since the war. The four us – including Mile’s lovely wife Mirjana, who we really bonded with despite a reliance on Google Translate – had a wonderful four days together, kicking over the old traces, visiting the ruined water tower at Vukovar, touring the underground wine cellars in Ilok. I’ve been reflecting recently how much more painful Mile’s death would have been for me if I hadn’t had those few days with him last year.

Then the news a few months ago that the judicial review into the Croatian Six had been ordered. I rang Mile – in the middle of the night for him. He was over the moon. He sent me a message the next day saying it was important to him that I had been the one to give him the news. He talked about returning to Australia to have his day in court.

Well, that’s not going to happen now. There’s a bitter irony about how things turned out. Mile always wanted to clear his name and have the world know that he wasn’t the terrorist he’d been labelled with. I think he had imposed a sort of exile on himself and felt he couldn’t come back to Australia until his name was cleared. He didn’t get that opportunity that but at least he learnt that it was going to happen.

Of course, the Croatian Six conspiracy wasn’t just about jailing six innocent men. It’s objective was to defame the entire Croatian community in Australia. I think Mile somehow assumed some of the burden of guilt for that being allowed to happen.

I’ve been advised to steer away from politics in this speech. But I can talk about religion, this seems like an appropriate place. One of the tenets of our faith is forgiveness. And I can, with difficultly I admit, forgive those who made this injustice happen. But they need to show remorse and contrition. Some of them – former public officials – are still out there. They need to speak out now and say, yes this did happen, we were part of it and now it needs to be put right. Rest in Peace Mile.”

“Last year in May, thanks to the efforts of Ina Vukic, i visited Mile Nekic and his wife Mirjana in Osijek for a research project. I stayed with them in their home, where Mile recounted all the details of his difficult life to me,” said Marijana Rudan and continued:

“There in his tiny kitchen while he smoked many cigarettes and Mirjana made coffee, he explained how he’d met my uncle at the airport in Vienna as they boarded the same plane to Australia in the late 1960s.

Young migrants with no money, bound by their desire to escape Yugoslavia and start again in a free land of opportunities.

‘I know your father and your uncle well. Welcome Marijana,’ he said.

I immediately sensed two things in his large blue eyes as he spoke.

I saw that this man carried so much pain and that did not surprise me knowing the details of his life, yet despite the years and the many times life had broken Mile with its injustice, his eyes still held onto hope …

_{Marijana Rudan delivering speech at Mile Nekic Memorial Mass, Sydney}

‘What will you do with my story?’ Mile asked.

‘What would you like me to do with your story Mile?’ I asked him. ‘What is your wish?’

‘I just want people to know that I wasn’t guilty. I just wanted to live my truth and for that they wrongly judged me. I want the world to know that I was innocent.’

I told Mile, that I would do my best to make sure his wish came true.

‘But Mile’, I said,

‘Please eat something and look after yourself.

I want you to live to see the day when everyone will know the truth.’

and Mirjana laughed. ‘It’s a good day when Mile remembers to eat.’

That evening in Osijek Mile and his wife showed me their city, the cafes they frequented, the main square and then they took me to dinner in one of the nicest restaurants. ‘See, I do eat Marijana, but for me it’s more important that you eat and that you remember your time here with us in Osijek.’

I will never forget his kindness.

A few months after I left Osijek, the news spread that a Judicial Inquiry had been ordered and that the evidence that led to the conviction and jailing of six innocent Croatian men, including Mile, would now be re-opened for examination.

I immediately called them.

‘The time has come Mile. The time has come.’

‘Are you still going to tell my story?” He asked me.

‘Yes, of course, but I am working with a team and these things take time. Look how long you have waited already. Over 42 years. Just a little more now. Hold tight.’

‘OK’ he said, ‘you will tell my story one day’.

When Vesna Krizmanic rang me to say Mile had died, we were both in shock and shed tears.

Over the years Vesna and Lydia had shared many stories about Mile’s kind heart.

‘He was a dreamer’ said Lydia ‘a true artist by nature.’

‘Mile was ruled by his emotions and his ideals, but somehow he was unfairly judged and so misunderstood.’

Mile Nekic lived his entire life yearning for freedom through expression in his fight for Croatia and through the stories he told in his artwork.

In one way, I’m not surprised that Mile chose to die on the night Croatia beat Brazil in the World Cup. Little Croatia beating the world’s greatest footballing nation. What a story of resilience, a fight to the end.

Mile’s heart was probably bursting. Because dreams do come true…

So will yours Mile Nekic.

Rest in peace dear Mile.

And know that your story will be shared, and your innocence honoured.

We all gathered here in your name today promise you this. Amen.”

With proud memories we hope and trust. Rest in God’s peace Mile Nekic and may the perpetual light shine upon you – always!

With thanks to Branko Miletic, Written and compiled by Ina Vukic

PRITISNI ZA OVAJ ČLANAK NA HRVATSKOM JEZIKU/ CLICK FOR THIS ARTICLE IN CROATIAN LANGUAGE

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Barry Lowe, Branko Miletic, Chris Masters, Croatia, Croatian Six, Fra Davor Filko, Hamish McDonald, Ina Vukic, judicial review, Marijana Rudan, Marko Franovic, Memorial Mass for Mile Nekic, Mile Nekic, Vesna Krizmanic

Croatia: The Horror of Communist Crimes Still Swept Under The Carpet

May 1, 2022 by inavukic 4 Comments

_{iFilms and Croatian Film Institute Youtube Channel – a wealth of truth}

If it weren’t for truth-dedicated people like USA-based Nikola Knez and those involved in the Croatian Film Institute, iFilms and KnezTV and the wealth of truth they endow the world with, most of communist Yugoslavia and Serb crimes against the Croatian patriotic and independence-loving people would be buried deep, never to be seen and/or prosecuted in the mind if not courts of law.

As the 77^th Anniversary of May 1945, the end of World War Two, approaches it is most distressing that Croatia, which seceded from communist Yugoslavia paying an enormous price in blood, still has not paid due respect and recognition to the hundreds of thousands of communist crimes victims found so far in 1000 mass graves and pits (1,700 across Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina so far) but it has a few days ago, 27 April, raised yet another big monument to the victims of the Holocaust and the WWII Ustashi regime! It goes without saying that I do not begrudge commemorating and honouring the victims of the Holocaust, however I do think that it is an abomination to use the memory of these victims, raise monuments to them, to deny the same to all victims of the times relating to World War Two. Indeed, in Croatia, there is no doubt whatsoever that the current powers that be are made of former Yugoslav communists’ sympathisers and protectors, of those who committed horrendous crimes during and after the War against freedom-loving Croatians and they have much invested in life to cover up their or their ancestors’ sins that were within the parameters of Croatian borders many times more numerous and more murderous than any Holocaust-related events that had occurred there. Croatian government and authorities should have also raised a monument to the victims of communist crimes on this 27 April and before since Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia in early 1990’s. Placing a wreath at a mass brave or a pit where in each say lie 15,000 or more bodies, as the government does from time to time, to show it cares for victims of communist crimes, is nothing compared to grandiose monuments communist Yugoslavia raised to victims of the Holocaust and Croatia now follows suit, ignoring completely the thousand mass graves its communist predecessors dug up and filled. And the government and all Croatian authorities in power, laced with communist blood, tell us that respecting human rights is their priorities! The Yugoslav communists used to say the same but the human rights they respected belonged only to communist regime lovers and supporters – the same continues to this very day!

I take then this opportunity to, once again, draw the readers’ attention to an extraordinary source of historical information and accounts of communist crimes against patriotic Croats and those who during and since World War Two fought for Croatian independence and truth as well as accounts of the hard and merciless fight in the 1990’s to achieve an independent Croatia away from communist Yugoslavia. That source of course is the iFilms’ Croatian Film Institute based in Texas USA, headed by Nikola Knez, producer and film director. On the Croatian Film Institute’s Youtube channel there is an amazing selection of documentary films, interviews and presentations in both the English and the Croatian languages.

Approaching the 77^th Anniversary of massacres of Croatian people by communist Yugoslavia operatives, which are many, but the massacres known as the Bleiburg Massacre are extremely well presented in the Croatian Film Institute documentary ”Bleiburg: Tito’s License for Genocide.”

“In 1945, just a few days after the end of World War II, Tito and his Partisans initiated an extermination campaign against men, women, and children they viewed as enemies of the regime. The mass slaughter began with the forced repatriation of 700,000 civilians and soldiers who fled Croatia and Slovenia seeking asylum in Austria immediately at the close of the war. The refugees, deceived by the British into believing they would be provided with a safe haven by the Americans in Italy, instead were loaded onto trains and sent back to Yugoslavia. Large numbers were massacred outright, others died on forced death marches and in mass executions across the country.

Through filmed interviews with survivors, confessed perpetrators, British officers, military intelligence officials, and scholars, as well as through the analysis of historical documents and newly released evidence of mass graves, the film traces the violations of the Geneva Conventions and international law that resulted in what has come to be known as The Bleiburg Massacre. Through analysis of historical documents, newly released evidence of mass graves, and interviews with survivors, witnesses, confessed perpetrators, military officials and scholars, the film examines the atrocities in the context of international human rights law, with discussion of subsequent promulgation of protocols for the protection of refugees, asylum seekers, and prisoners of war from crimes against humanity and genocide.

This film examines the long-term challenges to democratic nation building that have resulted from the forced repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Croatian civilians and military personnel to Yugoslavia at the end of World War II. Data suggest that violations of the Geneva Conventions led to the death of many of these asylum seekers at the hands of Tito’s Partisans in both death marches and in mass executions.”

”Bleiburg: Tito’s License for Genocide”

http://hfi.mobi/tito’slicensefor.html

Besides dealing with the World War Two and Post WWII massacres and oppressions of Croatian people Nikola Knez and his Croatian Film Institute have also produced a series of documentaries/ interviews with various known dignitaries and activists in relation to the Croatia Homeland War of 1990’s, of Serbian aggression against Croatia, of the amazing efforts that went into creating the modern independent state of Croatia.

The latest series of the interviews for the Globezoom sector of KnezTV for Croatian Film Institute and iFilms includes:

Interview with Peter Galbraith

An interview with US based Peter Galbraith (in English), United States of America Ambassador to Croatia 1993 – 1998. The interview covers the Croatian Defence War and the war for independence and independence (Homeland War), negotiation missions, about Serbian crimes in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, about Operation Storm, about driving a tractor, about Dayton, about President Franjo Tudjman.

Interview with Count Nikolai Tolstoy

An interview with UK based English-Russian Count Nikolai Tolstoy (in English) about his findings on the English repatriation of Croats, Slovenes and Cossacks (army and civilians) on the Bleiburg field in 1945. They all had assurances from the English that they would be accepted and forwarded to safe American zones in Italy. Instead, they were fraudulently handed over to Yugoslav and Russian communists who, without trial, liquidated them in massacres.

An interview in two parts with myself, Ina Vukic (in Croatian), as the most prominent Croatian woman in Australia – in this interview I talk about my contribution to the creation of the Croatian State, about the cooperation with the President of the Republic of Croatia Dr. Franjo Tudjman, about the embezzlement of money raised for Croatia from Australia, on the Croatian Spring, on my family, on the Communist Yugoslavia Security Services UDBA and the Croatian Yugoslavs in Australia, about Croatian emigrants and their attitude towards the war in Croatia.

Interview with Ina Vukic Part I

Interview with Ina Vukic Part II

The unresolved and horrific legacy communist Yugoslavia left behind remains a terrible burden for those communist crimes’ victims left behind; the victims themselves remain unimportant as if cattle that had to be slaughtered. All that and more to ensure the life of communism! The Croatian governments since year 2000 and all its Presidents since then have purposefully and cruelly brushed aside and trodden upon the vitally important moral reckoning and legal responsibility for the crimes committed by the communist regime of Yugoslavia.

Every day, we come across strivings to remind the world that communism is the most vicious idea in human history, one that has murdered, enslaved, and ruined more lives than any other, by a massive margin. It has already killed more than a hundred million men, women, children, infants, and unborn across the world. It has massacred, murdered, and purged hundreds of thousands of Croats, wielding knives and guns and barbed wire not only at home but also across the diaspora. How long can Croatian people endure the utter and perverse disregard for the victims of communist crimes while victims of the Holocaust keep on receiving the attention and recognition due to all. All victims of crime deserve justice, but all are not receiving it. Accountability for communist crimes can wait no longer in Croatia and until it happens, we are so fortunate to have been blessed with avenues of Croatian truth, such as Nikola Knez’s Croatian Film Institute, the world can walk along and keep the memories and truth alive. Ina Vukic

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Bleiburg Massacre, communist crimes, Communist Yugoslavia, Count Nikolai Tolstoy, Croatia, Croatian Film Institute, iFilms, Ina Vukic, Mass graves in Croatia, Nikola Knez, Peter Galbraith, victims of communist crimes

Loving Croatia is a full-time job

October 6, 2021 by inavukic 24 Comments

Ten years ago, on 19 October 2011, ahead of the 20^th anniversary of the fall of Vukovar that is marked by brutal Serb aggression, savage murder, and ethnic cleansing of Croats, I wrote and published my first article on my blog website “Croatia, the War, and the Future”. In these 10 years I grew a successful blog, I made my mark across the world as an influencer in promoting Croatian truth in the English language. The audience that accesses my blog and visit my articles approaches millions across 227 countries and independent territories. It took love, dedication, consistency, verifiability, hard work and, of course the interest and efforts of people who visit my blog, read the articles, and share them in their works or on social media. THANK YOU ALL!

Suffice to say, what motivated me to blogging was the appalling lack of truth in the world mainstream media and publications about Croatia, its history, and its efforts in distancing itself from the communist Yugoslavia. I wanted the world to know the truth and not the lies written by the Yugoslav communists and Serbs, and their partners throughout the world, including in Croatia itself, who made it their business to vilify with brutal lies the glorious truth of the Croatian nation that always wanted freedom and nothing but freedom to rule over its own life.

In these 10 years I wrote and published 1,103 articles in the English language and on average each of 1,400 words. Together they add up to 1,844,200 words. Furthermore, about 450 of these were translated into the Croatian language and published by various Croatian portals and coupled with another 350 articles written as comments or submission letters in efforts to address inaccuracies written by others throughout the world about Croatia and its fight for independence another 1,590, 535 words poured from my pen in these past ten years. My articles published on my blogsite have been quoted and referred to in 20 books or textbooks, dozens of mainstream newspapers across the world and 175 Academic papers across the world and universities. Most of my articles and opinions deal with international justice as related to wars, the 1990’s wars in the territory of former Yugoslavia, transitioning from communism into democracy, the horror of communist crimes and the Holocaust on the territory of former Yugoslavia, which was relatively manifested the worst within Serbia and not Croatia, as the world was led to believe via fabricated victim numbers and twisted events.

To have a future one desires one must have a past that is reflected in truth and not vilification, lies and fabrications. Hence, I intend to continue writing about the truth of Croatia and its wonderful nation and thanking you all for taking the time and steps on this path of the truth with me. Ina Vukic

ARTICLE IN THE CROATIAN LANGUAGE:

Voljeti Hrvatsku posao je s punim radnim vremenom!

Prije deset godina, 19. listopada 2011., uoči 20. godišnjice pada Vukovara koji je obilježen brutalnom srpskom agresijom, divljačkim ubojstvom i etničkim čišćenjem Hrvata, napisala sam i objavila svoj prvi članak na web stranici svog bloga „Hrvatska, rat, i budućnosti ”. U ovih 10 godina razvila sam uspješan blog, ostavila svoj trag u cijelom svijetu kao influencer u promicanju hrvatske istine na engleskom jeziku. Publika koja pristupa mom blogu i posjećuje moje članke broji prema milijunima u 227 zemalja i neovisnih teritorija. Trebali su ljubav, predanost, dosljednost, provjerljivost, naporan rad i, naravno, interes i trud ljudi koji posjećuju moj blog, čitaju članke i dijele ih u svojim radovima ili na društvenim medijima. HVALA SVIMA!

Dovoljno je reći, ono što me motiviralo za pisanje bloga bio je zastrašujući nedostatak istine u svjetskim mainstream medijima i publikacijama o Hrvatskoj, njezinoj povijesti i njezinim naporima da se distancira od komunističke Jugoslavije. Htjela sam da svijet zna istinu, a ne laži koje su napisali jugoslavenski komunisti i Srbi, i njihovi partneri diljem svijeta, uključujući i samu Hrvatsku, koji su se obavezali da brutalnim lažima omalovažavaju slavnu istinu hrvatske nacije koja je oduvijek želila slobodu i ništa osim slobode da vlada vlastitim životom.

U ovih 10 godina napisala sam i objavila 1.103 članka na engleskom jeziku i u prosjeku svaki od 1.400 riječi. Zajedno broje do 1.844.200 riječi. Nadalje, njih oko 450 prevela sam na hrvatski jezik i bivaju objavljeni na raznim hrvatskim portalima, zajedno s još 350 članaka napisanih kao komentari ili dopisi u nastojanju da se isprave netočnosti koje su drugi u cijelom svijetu napisali o Hrvatskoj i njezinoj borbi za neovisnost, još 1.590.535 riječi izlilo se iz mog pera u ovih deset godina. Moji članci objavljeni na mojoj web stranici citirani su u 20 knjiga ili udžbenika, desecima mainstream novina širom svijeta i 175 akademskih radova širom svijeta i sveučilišta. Većina mojih članaka i mišljenja bavi se međunarodnom pravdom u vezi s ratovima, ratovima devedesetih na području bivše Jugoslavije, prijelazom iz komunizma u demokraciju, užasom komunističkih zločina i holokaustom na području bivše Jugoslavije, što se relativno očitovalo najgore u Srbiji, a ne u Hrvatskoj, kako se svijet uvjeravalo izmišljenim brojevima žrtava i iskrivljenim događajima.

Da bi neko imao budućnost, mora imati prošlost koja se ogleda u istini, a ne u omalovažavanju, lažima i izmišljotinama. Stoga namjeravam nastaviti pisati o istini Hrvatske i njezinoj divnoj naciji i zahvaliti vam svima što ste sa mnom odvojili vrijeme i korake na ovom putu istine. Ina Vukić