INTRODUCTORY NOTE

This publication describes the circumstances in which the initial account of 1.7 million casualties of war was established on the territory of the prewar Yugoslavia for the period between 1941 and 1945. This account was officially given by the government of the Federal Peoples' Republic of Yugoslavia (FNRJ) to the reparations committee in Paris in 1946. It shows the persistance with which they tried to prove the accuracy of their first estimate that had been conveyed long before the first census (the first postwar census was carried out on March 15, 1948, and its results were not analysed until 1951), as well as their attempts to prevent the researchers and public from obtaining the accurate data.

The publication also shows the results of research based on the available official documentation. This documentation proves that the total number of victims of war, that is actual casualties for the entire territory of Yugoslavia, was around one million. This negates the allegation of certain Serbian authors and politicians that one million Serbs were killed during the war in the concentration camp Jasenovac alone. Though the struggle against the occupying forces and their collaborators chiefly took place on the territory of Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska (Independent State of Croatia) which at that time included the present-day territories of the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Srijem (since 1945, Srijem has become a part of the autonomous province of Voivodina), they also took place in other parts of prewar Yugoslavia, which can be seen from the data given for particular republics and provinces (constituted after 1945). The role of official governmental organizations, particularly the Federal Bureau of Statistics (Savezni zavod za statistiku), is also uncovered here. In the years of 1946 and 1964, this Bureau took part in creating a list of victims of the war. The lists have never been officially released, and therefore - apart from the highest authorities - the Bureau carries the bulk of responsibility for the consequences. In fact, covering the truth about the victims of war caused enormous tensions between the various nationalities, and, unfortunately, was utilized by Serbia to commence the war against Croatia under the pretext of its "moral" foundation to do so. However, Serbia's real aim was to achieve the creation of Greater Serbia, which was clearly shown after it continued its attacks on Bosnia-Herzegovina.

OBSESSIONS AND MEGALOMANIA WITH JASENOVAC AND BLEIBURG, by Vladimir Zerjavic, is a book written with the intention to analyze the modes in which this war could have been avoided. However, the Greater Serbian aspirations smothered all peaceful resolutions to the Yugoslav crisis. This publication is a summarized version of the book. At a time when the world has forgotten the victims of the Second World War, when states are forming new alliances, such as the European Community, in order to maintain economic and cultural prosperity, a war is being waged in these territories with an aim to avenge the victims of a war fought 50 years ago. Particular persistence is obvious in substantiating the number of the Jasenovac victims, which escalated from the early figures of 5, 6 and 7 hundred thousand to the 'precisely' calculated number of 1,110.929 victims, mainly Serbians. The number of one million Serbians killed in the Second World War, constantly repeated by Serbian leaders, and even by writers and other public figures, gained the status of 'verified' magnitude of the suffering that the Serbian people experienced during the war.

On the other hand, a myth about a considerable number of Croatian victims after the Second World War on the Austrian-Yugoslav border has been revived. It is known as Bleiburg, where 300,000 Croatians were killed (including the victims of the so-called Way of the Cross/Death Marches).