Killers and Witnesses: What is the Truth about the Conflict between the DB and the Yugoslav Emigration

For several months, the public service FTV has been airing the show "Yugoslav Secret Services," a Croatian production. The show is one-sided and biased. In the brutal war waged between Yugoslav secret services and the Croatian emigration, the show does not provide an accurate depiction of what truly happened from 1945 to 1989.

The total casualties of this war are considerable on both sides. However, they are far greater on the side of the then Yugoslav authorities and their loyal citizens. Thus, a total of 67 Croatian emigrants were killed, some of whom were mass war criminals, like Vjekoslav Luburić, and others were the worst terrorists. On the other side, about 600 citizens and diplomats and diplomatic officials of the SFRY were killed, and more than 1200 were wounded.

According to data from documentation processed by publishers in the Republic of Croatia after independence, out of 1560 Croats who were under the scrutiny of the then State Security of Yugoslavia, only 111 had a university education. About seven hundred were completely illiterate, and as such, they were "suitable to be engaged for the worst terrorist crimes," write Croatian publishers. The brutality of the DB was evident in about twenty intellectuals who were involved in organizing the Croatian emigration. Most of those organized by these intellectuals were unscrupulous and terrorist.

Three Croatian organizations engaged in murderous activities were HRB (Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood), HNO-Luburićevci (Croatian National Committee), and HOP (Croatian Liberation Movement). The actions of these organizations were undoubtedly terrorist.

Croatian and Serbian emigration carried out about 450 armed attacks, arson, and bombings of Yugoslav diplomatic, economic, and tourist representations, as well as citizens' clubs. According to data, the Croatian emigration killed 61 citizens abroad. Sometimes people were killed for bizarre reasons, for example, because they refused to join their organizations or wear Ustaše symbols on their clothes. It can be safely said: there was no embassy or consulate of former Yugoslavia that did not experience bombings, arson, or shootings. Many embassies and consulates were attacked more than ten, even twenty times. At the same time, groups of Croatian and, to a lesser extent, Serbian terrorists infiltrated Yugoslavia and carried out murders and sabotage. The Phoenix operation in 1971 is well-known, when 19 Croatian terrorists entered Yugoslavia to start a national revolution. In the clashes, 13 members of the Territorial Defense and 15 members of this group of the Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood, which came from Australia, were killed. Four were captured and executed after a trial. Twenty-two such terrorist groups, ranging from two to 85 people, were continuously infiltrated into the territory of the former state from 1945 onwards. Hundreds of people were killed in these terrorist operations.

Yugoslav diplomat Vicko Glumičić was killed in 1946; he was the Consul of Yugoslavia in Naples, Italy. Diplomatic missions were attacked dozens of times every year. In Argentina, in Buenos Aires in 1959, an armed attack was carried out on the Yugoslav embassy, the following year on the embassy in Rome, then Bonn on April 9, 1961. In July 1961, a bomb was planted in the consulate in Sydney, and on December 23, 1961, a bomb was thrown at the consulate in Melbourne. Serbian emigrants attacked the consulate in Cleveland (USA) in July 1962. An armed attack on the embassy in Bonn (Germany) on November 29, 1962, resulted in the death of official Momčilo Popović and injury to official Stane Dovgan. It was claimed at the time that Stjepan Bilandžić was the organizer behind this assassination. On June 8, 1965, Ante Klarić, Consul of Yugoslavia in Munich, was seriously injured. Consulate official in Stuttgart, Savo Milanović, was killed on August 30, 1966. He was killed by Franjo Goreta, one of the heroes of the aforementioned FTV show. In the premises of the Embassy in Paris, an explosive device detonated on November 26, 1966, injuring 15 people. In July 1967, a bomb exploded at the Embassy in Oslo. In German cities, bombs were planted at consulates and representations in February 1968, and in March at consulates in Austria, in Klagenfurt and Graz. In February 1969, the consulate in Frankfurt was set on fire. In that year and in 1970, bombs exploded near the embassy in Ottawa, in Copenhagen, West Berlin, Melbourne, and the residence of the SFRY ambassador in Brussels. In West Berlin, on June 30, 1969, an attack occurred on the SFRY Military Mission, and the head of the mission, Anton Kolendić, was seriously injured.

On April 4, 1971, a group of Croatian terrorists stormed the embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, killing Ambassador Vladimir Rolović and injuring consulate official Mira Štempiher. The perpetrators were sentenced to many years in prison, and then, after another terrorist act, they were released: a Swedish plane was hijacked, and the hijackers, along with the convicted murderers of Ambassador Rolović, fled via Spain to Paraguay.

That was not the only plane hijacked by Croatian terrorists. On September 10, 1976, a TWA plane flying from New York to Chicago with 92 passengers was hijacked. Before this hijacking, five Croatian emigrant hijackers had planted a bomb on the New York subway, killing one American police officer and injuring two. This plane hijacking was led by Zvonko Bušić, Petar Matanić, Slobodan Vlašić, and two other group members. They were convicted of terrorism. Serbian emigrants also hijacked planes. A Boeing 727, en route from New York to Chicago, was hijacked by terrorist Nikola Kavaja on June 20, 1979. There were 137 passengers on board. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. After serving his sentence, he returned to Serbia and died. In December 1980, four Croats, members of Ustaše Luburić's organization, were arrested while attempting to hijack a plane at New York airport, but the police discovered and arrested them.

In March 1975, Consul Mladen Đogović was injured in Lyon. Edvin Zdovc, consul in Frankfurt, was killed on February 7, 1976. An assassination attempt was made on Consul Vladimir Topić, which was miraculously avoided.

Assassinations were common, so the Yugoslav emigration attempted to kill Ambassador Marko Štrić in Venezuela in February 1980. In November, shots were fired at the house of German judge Maxwell, who was trying a group of Croatian terrorists.

There were also absurd situations. In Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, on June 7, 1976, the Uruguayan Ambassador Carlos Abdala was killed. The killer was arrested and turned out to be the Croatian Jozo Damjanović, a member of the HNO-Luburić terrorist organization. Everyone wondered why the Uruguayan ambassador was killed. It was then discovered that Damjanović was supposed to kill the Yugoslav ambassador Momčilo Vučeković, but he mistook his target and killed the Uruguayan.

The actual author of the show "Yugoslav Secret Services" is Božo Vukušić. It is tragic that the editors and authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina are not reacting to the appearance of this man on a public service in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Namely, Vukušić, along with Damirko Šišnjar, killed Jusuf Tatar from Sarajevo in Karlsruhe. In court, these killers stated that they "assumed Tatar was an agent of the Yugoslav DB." The trial showed that Jusuf Tatar had no connection with the Yugoslav secret services and was an ordinary guest worker. Božo Vukušić is now free and presents himself as a righteous man to the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Jusuf Tatar's family has to watch his killer on a public service.

Croatia and Serbia constantly warn about Bosniak terrorism. There are no Bosniaks anywhere in these terrorist stories, except as victims. This is an opportunity to remind our neighbors of their recent past.

Written by: S. Omeragić