In recent days, the well-known Israeli historian, Professor Gideon Grajf, stayed in Chicago, where he gave several lectures entitled “The Truth about Jasenovac” in Milwaukee and Chicago.
The organizer of these lectures was Serbian Times, and the sponsor was the Serbian-American Political Action Committee.
Professor Grajf, who is the world’s leading expert on the Auschwitz concentration camp, has been dedicated to the crimes in the Independent State of Croatia during the Second World War for 12 years, about which he wrote the book “Jasenovac, Auschwitz of the Balkans”.
Speaking in front of hundreds of Serbs, but also representatives of the Jewish community and members of the American-Jewish Committee, he pointed out that the Jasenovac case never received the attention it deserves, both in public and among historians, and drew a parallel between the treatment of prisoners in one and the other camp:
-Unlike the Germans, Nazis, who tried to keep their “hands clean” during executions, using gas and firing squads, the Croatian Ustashas used more than 50 methods, each of which was more bestial than the other. They killed with special knives, srbosjeks, used mallets, pulled the hearts of living people out of their chests, strangled with wire…
It is difficult for me as a historian to explain this monstrosity, psychologists and psychiatrists should really deal with it. Grajf also dealt with the role of the Vatican and the Catholic Church in the crimes committed against Serbs, Jews and Roma in the NDH.
-The then pope, although he was informed about the crimes, followed it all silently, and the Catholic Church later helped criminals like Eichmann, Mengele and Pavelić to escape to South America through its channels, where they continued to live comfortably. He also referred to the role of Croatian Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac:
-Stepinac is someone who incited crimes, and his nuns ran the children’s camp in Jastrebarsko, the only children’s camp in the world. The attempt to declare him a saint is a great shame and I hope that it will never happen. In Nazi Germany, there were many priests who rebelled against the extermination of Jews and the crimes of the Nazis, in Stepinac’s Croatia, no Catholic priest ever raised his voice. But they massively participated in the conversion of Serbs, the Israeli historian pointed out.
During his stay, he had the opportunity to meet many descendants of families who died in Jasenovac and other execution sites, and certainly the most touching meeting took place in the Church of the Holy Resurrection in Chicago, where Veselka Radovanović (85), a Jasenovac survivor, was among those present.
-Thank God there are people like Mr. Grajf, who do not allow what happened and what we went through during the war to be forgotten, Veselka Radovanović told Serbian Times with tearful but smiling eyes. Mr. Grajf, surrounded by Serbs, celebrated his 74th birthday in the Church of the Holy Resurrection. With tearful eyes, he received congratulations and took pictures with everyone who came to congratulate him and thank him for what he is doing for the Serbian people.
The moderators at the lectures were the editor-in-chief of Serbian Times Antonije Kovačević and professor of political science from Webster University, Ljupka Katana.
The lectures were attended by the Consul of Bosnia and Herzegovina Tatjana Telić, as well as the staff of the Consulate of Serbia in Chicago, headed by the Consul-žeran Andrija Zečević.
And all the founders of the Serbian-American PAC were there, who explained why they stood behind this project:
-We believed that it was of great interest and importance for the Serbian community in the diaspora to get acquainted with the research of Professor Grajf and what happened to their relatives during the Ustasha pogrom in the NDH, Ranko Ristić pointed out.
During his stay, Gideon Grajf was also a guest of the Consulate of Serbia in Chicago, where he was received with honors and had the opportunity to talk about his books, and received a monograph on Kosovo and Metohija as a gift, which was presented to him by Consul Zečević and Vice Consuls Đorđević and Milić.
Professor Gideon Grajf continues his stay in the USA with lectures in Houston, organized by the Serbian Association of Texas, where he will be a guest on March 21 at the Holocaust Museum (12PM), and on March 22 at the Westchase Hotel from 6 PM.
Serbian Times thanks Professor Grajf for his mission to acquaint the world public with the crimes committed against the Serbian, Jewish and Roma people in the Second World War.
We also owe gratitude to everyone who helped us in the realization of this mission, namely the series of lectures on Jasenovac, primarily the Serbian-American PAC, the Consulate of Serbia in Chicago, the churches of the Holy Resurrection from Chicago, Saint Sava from Milwaukee and Saint Nicholas from Lyons, restaurants Skadarliya, Zora and Amano and the pastry shop Mamine krofnice cake for the wonderful birthday cake for Mr. Grajf.
Serbian Times will continue to strive to organize similar events in our diaspora.
Tekst/Foto/Video: Antonije Kovačević
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