Tom Sunic – Croatia, the War, and the Future

Vampire Stake For The Khmer Rouge In Croatia

September 16, 2018 by inavukic 6 Comments

Croatia Uncensored tour in Australia – Melbourne:
From Left: John Ovcaric, Darko Orec, General Zeljko Glasnovic,
Dr Josip Jurcevic, Dr Tom Sunic, Igor Vukic.
13 September 2018

The eagerly awaited tour of Australia organised by Croatian Diasporan Voice, named “Croatia Uncensored” with the very strong politician, scientists and historians who have spent decades in battling for a communist heritage free Croatia made a strong start in Geelong and Melbourne this past weekend. General Zeljko Glasnovic, Member of Croatian Parliament for the Diaspora, Dr Tomislav Sunic, author and political commentator, Dr Josip Jurcevic, author and historian as well as Igor Vukic, political scientist and researcher into the truth of WWII Jasenovac camp started their patriotic tour of Australia during which main issues thwarting real progress toward a fully functional state of Croatia arouse and were openly and strongly discussed in front of and with many Austraian Croatians taking part in these events.

The main points strongly marking this Croatia Uncensured tour of Australia are summarised as follows:

The biggest problem in Croatia is the left-right wing of UDBA (Yugoslav Secret Service) that has penetrated the entire State;
Croatia is paying tens of thousands pensions into Serbia and yet it has not yet solved the question of Croatian Defence Council status;
Lustration has not been carried out;
Out of 32 Constitutional court judges 27 were operatives in in former communist Yugoslavia system;
It’s easier to create a State than to keep it – all former communist operatives need to be knocked out of the State system;
The current Croatian State has disappointed us all;
It is a shame that in 1991 Croats didn’t go for the ousting of Yugoslavs and communists;
The young need to know that if we don’t understand our past we do not have a chance for a functional democratic future;
We need to look for the truth and stick to our identity;
Croatia must rid itself of lies and communist legends and myths;
The real traitors in Croatia are those who collaborate with former communists such as Milorad Pupovac (a Serb minority parliamentary representative);
Representatives in the Croatian Parliament have concocted the so-called joint criminal enterprise, which to them is the independent state of Croatia;
This is not a tour of desperation but a call to hope and action for a better, functional democratic Croatia.Ina Vukic

General Zeljko Glasnovic, Member of Croatian Parliament for the Diaspora

Dr Josip Jurcevic (R)

Igor Vukic

Top from L: Igor Vukic, Josip Jurcevic, Darko Orec, Tom Sunic
Centre row from L: Ina Vukic and Zlata Busic Valet
Front row middle from L: Zeljko Glasnovic, Mary Sumiga

Dr Tom Sunic (R)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Croatia, Igor Vukic, Josip Jurcevic, lustration, Tom Sunic, Zeljko Glasnovic

Remember The Month of September – For Croatia!

September 1, 2018 by inavukic 19 Comments

While Australian Croatians eagerly await in September the visit from Croatia of several outstanding people in the long-drawn and painful battles for free and democratic Croatia it is to be noted, with profound sadness but also with pride for the courage of Croatian people, that the month of September is marked by fierce battles against the Serb and Yugoslav Army aggressors for freedom and democracy. The aptly named tour of Australia “Croatia Uncensored” is organised by the Association “Croatian Diasporan Voice” and with the collaboration of various Croatian Community Organisations across Australia the tour has all the hallmarks of leaving a decisive footprint on the stage of toilsome efforts still in need of unwavering Croatian people’s dedication, both in Croatia and in the diaspora, if Croatia is to become a just, successful and free of communist heritage country for which rivers of Croatian blood were spilled during the 1990’s war.

Visiting Australia from Croatia in September will be Croatia and worldwide acclaimed Croatian patriots and tireless advocates for a free and truly democratic Croatia from the word “go”. They are retired Croatian Army and Croatian Defence Council general Zeljko Glasnovic, Member of the Croatian Parliament for the Croatian Diaspora, Dr. Tomislav Sunic, author, political commentator, former California State University professor and former diplomat of the Republic of Croatia, Dr. Josip Jurcevic, acclaimed historian, University Professor in Croatia and author, Igor Vukic, political scientist and scientific researcher into the factual truth of WWII Jasenovac camp and Jakov Sedlar, acclaimed film director who will, during this visit to Australia, hold a World Pre-premiere of his new movie “1918-2018: Hundred Years of Serbian Terror in Croatia (From Karadjordjevic and Pribcevic to Vucic and Pupovac)”.

As significant for the life of progress in achieving a truly functional, free of communist mindset, democracy in Croatia this Australian tour is, it is also a moment that calls upon us all who are of Croatian heritage, especially, to remember the month of September that was when Croatia was burning, ethnically cleansed of Croats and non-Serbs, pillaged and raped – was being murdered and massacred!

It is important to remember the aggressor’s bloody threats and deeds but especially it is important to remember the extraordinary courage and dedication to freedom demonstrated by Croats in the Homeland and in the Diaspora at the time. Here are some of the events that ensued during the month of September as the war of aggression forced Croats into self-preservation captivity.

On 14th September 1991 Marko Babic destroyed 5 Yugoslav Army tanks on Trpinjska Street in Vukovar. During that same month this Croatian veteran lost his parents, who were taken from Vukovar by the Serb aggressor to Bobota village and murdered.

At the same time, as Babic was destroying the aggressor’s tanks and armoured vehicles 150,000 Croats from Vukovar were lined up on Trpinjska Street for forced deportation. In shock, the world watched this tragedy unfolding in the heart of Europe.

The 16th and the 23rd of September 1991 saw an eight-day battle (called the September War) for the town of Sibenik. This was an exceptionally important battle because had the aggressor taken the Sibenik bridge or any other spot along the Adriatic Highway, South Croatia would have ended up torn into several smaller or larger pockets. The public had already got to know the evil Serb leader Ratko Mladic (currently serving ICTY life sentence for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes…) who at that time led the 9th Yugoslav Army Corpus. The September War is particularly remembered by the downing of two Jugoslav Army aircraft, which was accompanied by the well-known cry from Croatian forces “Both, both, both have fallen!” (“Obadva, obadva, oba su pala!”). The courage of the Croatian defenders in Sibenik was so enormous and strong that the Serb aggressors were forced to withdraw after eight days of their aggression. This was the first of the great Croatian victories recorded in the Homeland War.

11 Croats killed and 50 wounded in Nova Gradiska in September 1991. The 21st of September 1991 was the saddest day of the war for people of Nova Gradiska. Yugoslav Army airplanes first attacked the toll booths at the highway and then destroyed the town, aiming at vital objects, attempting to break and intimidate all Croatian patriots, civilians and defenders but also to murder all the love and loyalty of the Croatian people for Croatia. They did not succeed.

End of September 1991 saw the evacuation of the hospital in Pakrac – threat to life was immense, Croatian efforts to save lives were remarkable, yet another tragedy – prevented; in the face of so much destruction and civilian lives that had already been lost in Pakrac.

September 1991 saw the beautiful town on Dubrovnik surrounded from the sea by enemy blockades that ended up in the siege of Dubrovnik and the later attempts to destroy it. The siege resulted in the deaths of 194 Croatian military personnel, as well as 88 Croatian civilians.

The town of Drnis and many other Croatian towns saw Croats leaving their towns and villages, being displaced and banished from their homes in September 1991. On 14th September 1991 Yugoslav Army attacked the town of Drnis. On the 16th the Croatian authorities released danger warnings to all Drnis and its surrounding villages and areas. Under that terrible attack and its consequent fear for life the Croatian people of Drnis – the elderly, women, children, the sick… left their homes in search for safer places that could be found in Croatia at that time. There weren’t many!

September 1991 also saw the so-called “Battle for Army Barracks” (Yugoslav Army barracks) when for the first time Croatian forces finally got their hands on some heavy weaponry.

Defending Croatia and its ideals and pursuits for democracy from the communist Yugoslavia might and mindset is far from over. Much work and dedication is still needed to complete the task set during the 1990’s Homeland War.

If you are in Australia between the 14th and the 24th of September 2018 you may wish to join the “Croatian Uncensored” tour and contribute to unity and support. Please visit the http://www.glashrvatske.com.au for tour details. Ina Vukic

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Advocating for a better Croatia, Croatia Uncensored, Croatian diaspora, Croatian Diasporan Voice, Croatian Homeland War, Igor Vukic, Jakov Sedlar, Josip Jurcevic, Tom Sunic, Zeljko Glasnovic

Victims Of Post-WWII Communist Crimes Remembered At Jasenovac

May 2, 2017 by inavukic 14 Comments

Some of the participants
at Jasenovac 1st May 2017
commemorating post-WWII
victims of communist crimes at Jasenovac
Photo: Oskar Sarunic

In October 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution gave birth to the deadliest ideology in human history – Communism. That disease spread like wildfire. To date Communism has claimed more than 100 million lives worldwide and to quote Nigel Jones : “The 20th century witnessed death and slaughter on an unprecedented scale…Josip Broz Tito’s (described as belonging to the top 20 mass murderers of the 20th century) communist regime murdered some 570,000 political opponents…” and this figure does not account for family members, women and children that stack up a murderous toll. According to the world renowned academic and scientist R.J. Rummel, the democide committed by Tito’s communist regime after WWII amounts to 1,380,000 people (with the population of around 18 million at the time this figure is staggering).

Croat victims make up more than 500,000 within this number.

A free and independent Croatia cannot afford to forget the evils of Communism even if its former communists and todays so-called antifascists fiercely disagree. Tito’s atrocities cannot be allowed to fade into the background of history. The trail of blood and tears this utopian deception has left behind must not be forgotten.

It is a great moral failing that so many do not know the extent of Communism’s atrocities and an even greater moral failing that so many do their utmost to uphold and spread that moral failing. All the numerous commemorations held at hundreds of mass graves and pits filled with hundreds of thousands of victims of communist crimes have not moved Croatia’s authorities to seriously pursue condemnation and prosecution of these crimes; it’s as though the victims of communist crimes do not deserve the same dignity of justice offered to the victims of the Holocaust.

An atrocity of its own kind!

And so, to commemorate the victims of post-WWII communist crimes in Croatia at the same site where the gigantic flower-shaped monument to victims of what is known as the Holocaust – Jasenovac – would be an event that, sadly, makes many people turn the other way, shaking their heads in disapproval. The same denial is found in all former communist countries of Europe. One might well ask but why such cruelty (?) – victims are victims and all deserve the dignity of respect and remembrance.

Numerous academic works and historical facts point to the reality that Jasenovac camp was kept in “working order” by communist Yugoslavia authorities for the purposes of purging the Croats (and others) until 1952. Attempts to dig up the grounds around Jasenovac WWII campsite with view to researching the truth about the identity of victims’ remains have fallen on deaf ears repeatedly, or better said – hit the wall of resistance to the truth. In recent years there have been numerous fierce discussions about the future historical and cultural memory of the expanded Europe. The most controversially discussed areas were those pertaining to the history of formerly communist-ruled countries. Conflicts about memories and memorialisation were primarily ignited by the differing national perceptions of historical events and the evaluation of these events in the 20th century. The discussions focused on those states in which the assessment and treatment of national-socialist and communist crimes did not accord with the expectations and standards, which had developed over the previous decades in Western Europe, particularly in the Federal Republic of Germany.

The point was, and is, not merely which historical events should be remembered and how they will be, or rather should be, commemorated. How these historical events should be perceived and how they should be integrated into the respective national or transnational historical narratives were likewise a matter of heated debate. Discussions focused on the status accorded to particular historical events, their representation and memorialisation, compared to other historical events. The prominence given to the memorialisation of national-socialist crimes was/is hotly debated.

These discussions focus on the memorial cultures which have begun to develop in the formerly Soviet-dominated post-socialist nations of Central and Eastern Europe – nations which, during the course of the 20th century, were the site of crimes committed by those two big totalitarian systems: national-socialism and communism. In Croatia, bar few courageous individuals, the discussion regarding communist crimes is nowhere near to what they publically are in countries of Eastern Europe, and one cannot err in concluding that the fake antifascists, communist at heart, are responsible for such an atrocity against humanity that is reflected in a planned path of erasing a nation’s memory of those terrible communist crimes. The antifascists pursue that the authoritarian, repressive communist regime, which persecuted persons or groups for political, religious and/or ethnic reasons, would recede from view behind these memories.

But one fact and truth remain: memorialisation of events serves to promote the identity of a nation and is accompanied by a comprehensive externalisation of moral guilt and responsibility. In this lies the absolute responsibility and duty of today’s Croatia to face its past demons of communism and its crimes head on.

To some, an event that was organised Monday 1st May at Jasenovac may appear relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things happening or not happening in Croatia regarding holding the nation’s attention focused on communist crimes.

But make no mistake – the event is significant!

It was as recent as late April when Jasenovac saw three separate commemorative gatherings to honour the victims of WWII Holocaust. The victims of communist crimes whose remains also lie buried in that soil were completely forgotten, ignored and denied. And so, on 1st May a special commemoration was held at Jasenovac for the victims of communist crimes at that very site. Croatian government, sadly and in line with its political and practical reluctance to determinedly address the issues pertaining to communist crimes, played no part in this neither did the opposition – out of the same reasons as the government’s.

The 1st May event in Jasenovac was held to commemorate all the victims that fell in Jasenovac by the partisan and communist hand after the end of WWII, i.e., after 1945. Present at the commemoration were Zeljko Glasnovic, independent member of Croatian parliament, Bozidar Alic, Croatian people’s tribune, Zorica Greguric, president of Association of Zagreb veterans in the 1990’s battle for Vukovar, Mirna Zakman Sunic, a political prisoner in communist prisons, Stipo Pilic, a historian, dr. Tomislav Sunic, writer, translator and former university professor in the USA, Zeljko Koroman, president of state-building forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, representatives of Pure Croatian Party of Right from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ivan Pandza, former president of HVIDR (community of Croatian army Homeland War invalids), and others.

Prayers, the laying down of flowers and the lighting of candles for all the innocent victims murdered there in Jasenovac: Croats, Germans, Roma, Jews and Serbs, along with speeches and a cultural performance were the order of the day in Jasenovac on 1st May. This is hopefully the first of such events at Jasenovac where all the victims – those that perished during WWII and those that perished after it – are commemorated and their dignity uplifted there where it should be. Victims of communist crimes are thus bestowed the place in the terrible history that is rightly theirs – a place in lasting memory. Ina Vukic