Letters

April, 12, 2005

Ms Kathleen Stephens

Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs

2201 C Street NW

Washington, DC 20520

Dear Ms Stephens,

I am writing to you to express the concern of the National Federation of Croatian Americans with the recent announcement of the establishment in Belgrade of a “government-in-exile” for the Republika Srpska Krajina (RSK), the Milosevic-dominated statelet which had existed on occupied Croatian territory during the 1991-95 Balkan war. The establishment of such a “government”, allegedly with the backing of the Serbian Radical Party (SRP), is a direct affront on Croatian sovereignty and calls into question the intentions of the Serbian government.

We note that the SRP, the largest political party in Serbia, has not disavowed its long range goal to create a Greater Serbia. The formation of a “government-in-exile is a step openly taken to fulfill that goal We further note that the formation of this entity also has as its purpose to portray Serbia as the victim of the wars in former Yugoslavia when in fact it was the aggressor. Indeed, it was the RSK which first carried out ethnic cleansing against non-Serbs, a tactic repeated by its sister entity in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As you are aware, relations between Croatia and Serbia have steadily improved over the past few years. However, allowing the RSK to have a badge of legitimacy threatens to harm these relations and, moreover, may lead to other disruptive influences in the region.

This recent event underscores the importance that NATO membership has for Croatia as well as NATO members. NATO membership will work to assure Croatia and its citizens that despite saber-rattling from Belgrade, the threat of invasion by a neighboring state will be greatly diminished. At the same time, Croatia's membership in NATO will provide further testimony to Serbia that heading down the road of democratization and respect for other peoples and states will lead to its integration into the Western alliance as well. The United States and its allies will also benefit from Croatia's membership since it will bring further stability in the area.

We ask that the United States protest the establishment of the RSK “government” and take the foregoing matters into account in its consideration of Croatia's desire to join NATO .

Sincerely,

Edward A. Andrus, President

National Federation of Croatian Americans

cc:

Mr. Robert Zoellick, Deputy Secretary of State

Mr. R. Nicholas Burns, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs

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NFCA

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF CROATIAN AMERICANS

Mr. Adrian Benepe

Commissioner

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation

Central Park

830 5 th Avenue

New York, New York 10021

Re: Holocaust Memorial Park – Brooklyn

Jasenovac Memorial

Sir:

I am an officer of the National Federation of Croatian Americans, a national organization representing 120,000 Croatian Americans. I am also a resident of Flushing in New York City.

We were outraged to read that the City of New York has approved the erection of a monument in Holocaust Park in Brooklyn for the victims of the Jasenovac which will reportedly include an inscription that “hundreds of thousands” of victims perished there. We understand that the monument is scheduled to be erected on or about April 15, 2005.

We certainly have no issue with commemorating the victims of the Jasenovac, who included tens of thousands of Croat victims as well as Serbs, Jews and Roma.

However, Greater Serbian interests have purposely inflated the number of victims of Jasenovac over the last 60 years in a pernicious campaign to denigrate the Croatian nation as being “genocidal in nature,” to obscure the collaborationist work of Serbian Chetnik units in World War II, to deny the participation of hundreds of thousands of Croats in the Allied cause, and to further their campaign to deny the right of Croatia to exist as an independent and democratic state.

In this regard, the inflation of Jasenovac's victims played an integral role in the media campaign orchestrated by Slobodan Milosevic in preparation for his war on Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

No reputable historian has ever stated that the number of victims at Jasenovac was over 100,000 people. Indeed, the web site of the United States Holocaust Museum (www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/jasenovac) states that “[a]lthough further research may yield more exact figures, current estimates place the number of victims murdered by the [Ustasha] in Jasenovac during World War II between 56,000 and 97,000.”

To allow a monument to be placed on New York City parkland with any inscription which exaggerates the number of victims of Jasenovac is both a smear on the Croatian-American community and an affront to the victims of that camp whose death is being used as a political tool to advocate questionable agendas.

We urge you to immediately put a stop to allowing the monument to be erected unless it accurately portrays the facts concerning Jasenovac.

Very truly yours,