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Bleiburg/Pliberk

ustaša-commemoration in bleiburg Mostly unnoticed by Austrian media or politics, every May thousands of people meet at the "Loibacher Feld" near Bleiburg/Pliberk in memorial of the "tragedy of Bleiburg". On site you'll immediatly realize: This "memorial service" is rather one of the biggest fascist meetings in Austria. Hundreds of people in black Ustaša-uniforms, swinging the suiting flags are gathering in front of the site. Together with Croatian goverment representatives and clerics they commemorate the fascist troops of the NDH-Regime.

However there was no central capitulation of the Ustaša-divisions in Bleiburg/Pliberk nor is it proved that shootings or mass killings by the Yugoslavian army took place there. The individual divisions were returned to Yugoslavia after the capitulation. During this process killings and executions occured. Current research assumes that several tenthousand people died. In Croatia high tendentious phrases like "Way of the Cross" or "death marches" found their way into common language.
After the collapse of the Yugoslavian state the Ustaša-exile-associations got a significant boost since they considered the independed state of Croatia to be in direct continuity to the NDH-state. This idea was also supported by the goverment of Tuđman. Despite the official commitment to antifascism in the Croatian constitution Ustaša-symbols and Ustaša-ideology were used. Especially during the war between 1991-1995 croatian officials seeked for positive reference to the NDH-State. Only after the death of Tuđman and the beginning rapprochement to the EU, parts of the Croatian society tried to deal with the NDH-legacy in an more critical way.
The debate around World War II came to a climax in the "case Šakić". The former camp commander of the concentration camp Jasenovac, Dinko Šakić participated in the Ustaša-meeting in Bleiburg/Pliberik in 1990. Four years later he met president Tuđman in Argentinia, who signalized him to have a "right" to come back to Croatia, since he was "a victim of historical circumstances" In 1999 Šakić got sentenced to maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment in Zagreb.
Another wanted war criminal who is still waiting for atonment is Milivoj Ašner, former Ustaša-police chief in Požega. Until now he succeeds to abscond Croatian justice. He lives a quiet life in Klagenfurt/Celovec - undisturbed, since Austrian authorities consider him incapable of being interrogated. During the European Soccer Championship he talked openly with a SUN-reporter and declared that he is "ready anytime to make a statement in front of the law".

ustaša-commemoration in bleiburg

⇒ read on: Headquarter of the Gestapo