Ante Beljo
director of the Croatian Heritage Foundation and
manager of the Croatian Information Centre
Trg Stjepana Radica 3,
10 000 Zagreb-CROATIA

ILIJA GARASANIN (1812-1874)
Ilija Garasanin was one of the most active Serbian politicians in the 19th century. He was the contemporary of Ljudevit Gaj in Croatia. He was a minister in several ministries of the Obrenovic dynasty and the Karadjordjevic dynasty, thus just this fact shows his political ingenuity. He became famous for his "Nacertanije" which originated in 1844, but was published at a much later date. In his "Nacertanije" he outlined a plan for the creation of Greater Serbia which was to include not only the territories that once belonged to Serbia, but also the lands he thought should belong to Serbia. Garasanin knew that Serbia would need the aid of neighbouring countries for the realization of these plans and he counted on the weakening of the Balkan states by the fall of the Turkish Empire, thus enabling Serbia to grab certain territories more easily.

In this "Nacertanije" he says: "The Serbian state must strive to expand and become more stronger; its roots and foundation are firmly embedded in the Serbian Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries and the glorious pageant of Serbian history. Historically speaking, the Serbian rulers, it may be remembered, began to assume the position held by the Greek Empire and almost succeeded in making an end of it, replacing the collapsed Eastern Roman Empire with a Serbian-Slavic one. Emperor Dusan the Mighty even adopted the crest of the Greek Empire. The arrival of the Turks in the Balkans interrupted this change, and prevented it from taking place for a long time. But now, since Turkish power is broken and destroyed, so to speak, this process must commence once more in the same spirit and again be undertaken in the knowledge of that right.

***

The substructure and framework of the Serbian Empire, therefore, must be cleared of all encumbrances so that a new edifice may be constructed on this solid and durable historical foundation

"The Serbs were the first of all the Slavs of Turkey to struggle for their freedom with their own resources and strength; therefore, they have the first and foremost right to further direct this endeavour. Even now in many places, and in certain European cabinets, it is anticipated and expected that a great future is imminent for the Serbs, and it is this fact which has attracted the attention of Europe. If Serbia is thought of as merely a principality, the nucleus of a future Serbian Kingdom, then the world need not concern itself any more than it did with the Moldavian and Wallachian principalities where there is no independent principle and whom it considers Russian satellites.

A new Serbian state in the south could give Europe every guarantee that it would be orderly and strong, and able to maintain itself between Austria and Russia."

"... the hereditary princely dignity must become the most important and fundamental law of the state. Without this principle, which is the very embodiment of national unity, an enduring and permanent fusion between Serbia and Serbs in neighbouring areas is unthinkable."

* * *

"Not only must the fundamental constitutional laws of Serbia be extended to Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with the administrative system of the Principality of Serbia, but a number of young Bosnians should be accepted into the Serbian administration to train them as political, financial and legal specialists. Later these people would take what they learned in Serbia to their own country, and put into practice the knowledge which they have gaTherefore, they endeavoured by all means to educate in administration a certain number of people from Bosnia and, once they were sent back, this would be utilized to Serbianize Bosnia.

"Special attention must be paid to the problem of diverting the peoples of the Roman Catholic faith from the Austrian influence, and evoking a sympathy for Serbia. This goal can be best achieved through the Franciscans. The Franciscans must be won over to the idea of the union of Bosnia and Serbia."

They strove to win over to this idea the Franciscans who were always held in esteem by the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina and enjoyed their support. Thus Garasanin proposed for this purpose the publication of certain religious books in the Serbian language, which were then to be used during religious ceremonies in Bosnia. These were the ideas of Garasanin which the state administration of the Serbian state of that time implemented.

VUK STEFANOVIC KARADZIC (1787-1864)
Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic was a linguist and writer who traveled throughout the Balkan lands studying and collecting folk songs. He wrote widely on linguistic subjects and problems, and published a grammar book and dictionary of what he considered to be the Serbian language. The Serbs consider him to be the founder of the Serbian language reform and Serbian culture in general.

One of the main themes of his work is that all those speaking the Stokavian dialect are Serbian (even though most Croatians speak a form of this dialect as well). This line of thinking is evident quite frequently in Karadzic’s work, and it influenced Serbian attitudes toward other Balkan nations. Karadzic’s article "Serbs All and Everywhere" was published for the first time in the book "Treasure Box for the History, Language and Customs of Serbians of All Three Faiths" in 1849. This work is a typical example of Karadzic’s views on the language and ethnicity of Serbia’s neighbours. He also attempted to negate the existence of any significant number of Croatians, distorting historic and linguistic facts to prove his theories.

While Garasanin in his "Nacertanije" from 1844 outlines ideas how to Serbianize other nations, Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic had already in 1836 integrated all neighbouring nations into the Serbian nation. This can be concluded from his text written, as I already stressed, in 1836

"It is known for certain that Serbs now live in present-day Serbia (between the Drina and Timok rivers, and between the Danube and Sar mountains), in Metohija (from Kosovo over the Sar mountains, where Dusan’s capital Prizren, the Serbian patriarchate of Pec, and the Decani monastery are located), in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Zeta, Montenegro, Banat, Backa, Srijem, the western Danube region from Osijek to Sentandrija, Slavonia, Croatia (Turkish and Austrian), Dalmatia, and in the entire Adriatic littoral from Trieste to Bojana.I said at the start that it is known for certain that Serbs live in these regions, while it is still not known how many Serbs are Albania and Macedonia. Along the Cetina river (in Montenegro) I was talking with two men from Dibra, who were telling me that in those places there are many Serbian villages, in which Serbian is spoken the way they speak it, that is, a cross between Serbian and Bulgarian, but always closer to Serbian than Bulgarian.

In the aforementioned places there are at least five million people who speak the same language, but by religion they can be split into three groups: it can be estimated roughly that about three million are Greek Orthodox, and of this one million in Serbia (with Metohija), one million in the Austrian provinces (Banat, Backa, Srijem, western Danube, Slavonia, Croatia, Dalmatia and Boka), and one million in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Zeta and Montenegro; of the remaining two million it can be said that about two-thirds are Muslim (in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Zeta etc.) and one-third are Roman Catholic (in the Austrian provinces, and in Bosnia, Herzegovina and the Bar nahija). Only the first three million call themselves Serbs, the rest will not accept the name. Those of the Islam faith think that they are real Turks, and call themselves that, although only one in a hundred can even speak Turkish. Those of the Catholic faith use the name of the place in which they live: for example Slavonian, Bosnian (or Bosniak), Dalmatian, Dubrovnian, etc., or, as is common among writers they use ancient names such as Illyrian or Illyrianist. However, in Backa they are called Bunjevacs, in Srijem, Slavonia and Croatia they are called Sokacs, and around Dubrovnik and in Boka they are called Latins. Bunjevacs possibly get their name from the Herzegovinian river Buna, from where these people, as it is told, migrated some time ago..."

***

"All of the wiser people among the Orthodox and Catholic Serbs recognize that they are one people and strive to totally uproot or at least lessen the hatred because of different religions as much as they can. Even so, those of the Catholic faith still have a hard time calling themselves Serbians, but they will adjust to this in their own time, because if they do not want to be Serbs, then they have no national name at all. To say that one is Slavonian, another Dalmatian, still another Dubrovnian is useless, because all these are place names and do not describe any nation. To say that they are Slavs is too general, as Russians, Poles, Czechs and all other Slavic peoples fall under that name. To say that they are Croats, I would say that in truth only the Cakavian speakers could use this name. They are the descendants of Constantine Porfirogenitus’ Croats whose language is a little different from Serbian, but still closer to Serbian than any other Slavic dialect. Today’s Croatians in the Zagreb, Varazdin and Krizevci districts, whose land was called Croatia after the Battle of Mohacs in 1526 (and was until then called upper Slavonia), speak a language which is a cross-over from Slovenian into Serbian. I do not know how the name Croatian can be used for our Catholic brothers who live in Banat, Backa, Srijem, Slavonia, Bosnia, Herzegovina or in Dubrovnik, who speak the same language as the Serbs."

These are the ideas expressed by Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic.

NIKOLA STOJANOVIC (1880-1964)
Nikola Stojanovic, a lawyer and politician, was born in Mostar. Before World War I, he was a prominent opponent of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the founder of an opposition paper called "Narod" (Nation). During the World War I he was a member of the Yugoslav Committee, which worked on the unification of the South Slavs. He was considered an expert on Bosnia and Herzegovina, and was an adviser for that region during the Peace Conference of 1918-1919. He wrote an article that was first published in "Srbobran" (a Serbian periodical based in Zagreb), number 168/169, in 1902. In the article, titled "To Extermination: Ours or Yours", he judges the Serbians and the Croatians as though it were merely a matter of two different parties, and not as if it were a matter of different nations, one of which had to win and eliminate the other (Croatia, in reality). He said the following:

"... Serbs and Croats are, according to some, two tribes of the same nation; the others, two separate nations (nationalities); still to others, one nation, one tribe."

***

"A tribe originates in the time before the formation of a state, a nation emerges in a state at the initiative of one tribe. In our history, this role was filled by the tribe of Stevan Nemanja, but after this we have many examples showing that Serbian leaders did not want or did not comprehend the union of interests of all religions, without which there can be no talk of a political union. The Serbs were politically united during the defense of Kosovo and by the subsequent shared fate of slavery under the same authority. Cultural unity, founded by Saint Sava, was at its best in this magnificent defense and in the later amalgamation of the Serbian aristocracy with democracy into one indivisible, wonderful whole-democracy with aristocratic pride. In this lies the importance of the Battle of Kosovo, in this sense the Serbian defeat in Kosovo meant one great victory."

It is a fact that the Serbs turned many defeats in history into victory. He continued to say: "The Croatians have neither a separate language, nor unified customs, nor a firmly unified lifestyle, nor, most importantly, a sense of mutual affiliation, and because of this cannot be a distinct or separate nation."

* * *

"The Croatians are thus neither a tribe nor a separate nationality. They are now something between a tribe and a nationality, but without hope of ever becoming a separate nationality."

* * *

"Their wandering in the 19th century from Gaj’s Illyrianism to Strossmayer’s Yugoslavism to Starcevic’s Croatianism proves this quite well. Their leaders, who wanted to create a nationality to fit the needs of others, forgot that a nation as a product of history is not created overnight, and that various myths cannot destroy the Serbian pride in their past, expressed in the epic poetry, and be replaced by pride in the ‘shining Croatian past’."

* * *

"Croatians often assert that they have some sort of cultural advantage over the Serbians. Those who do not have a distinct view of the world (in religion, customs, education etc.), no national art nor literature, dare to speak of Croatian culture."

* * *

"Croatians, therefore, are not and cannot be a separate nationality, but they are on the way of becoming part of the Serbian nationality. Taking on Serbian as their literaty language.

* * *

"The process of blending is unstoppable, as these are masses speaking the same language, and by the same token we must reject without any declamation of unity a battle between the intelligentsia and the middle class; as the Serbs and Croats in today’s form are two political parties. The struggle going on between liberalism and ultramontane cosmopolitanism is personified in the struggle between the Serbs and the Croats. The contrast between the historical state right, which serves as the basis for the programmes of all Croatian parties, not one of which is liberal (certainly unique in Europe), and the natural rights expressed in the Serbian national thought, which is the basis for Serbian political party programmes, none of which show any trace of clericalism or conservatism, is the best proof of this." "The proud people of Dubrovnik decided on Serbianism, although the other Dalmatian cities, which were under the influence of the same Italian culture, decided on Croatianism. Dubrovnik was a free republic, but the remaining cities were under the domination of the Republic of Saint Mark (Venice). The liberated people decided to go with the liberated and progressive Serbian nation, the subjugated people chose subservient and regressive Croatia.

This is the best proof that only concepts of freedom separate us, that we are simply two political parties.

In the struggle between these parties there can be no talk of unity, as their principles come from a separate foundation, and because the Croatians are somebody else’s avant-garde, whereas the Serbians represent the principle of ‘the Balkans for the Balkan people’.

On the basis of this principle the Serbs must unite with other Balkan nations, leaving internal Balkan questions for another time. Croatians, as the representatives of foreign expansionist desires, are totally excluded from this, not because of their national characteristics, but rather because this nation allowed its fate to be managed by a few cliques who were obviously serving the interests of foreign governments.

This struggle must lead to an extermination of ‘ours or yours’. One side must submit. That this will be the Croats is assured by their small size, geographic location, surroundings (as they are mixed in with Serbs everywhere) and the general process of evolution, where the Serbian ideal means progress.

Through the education of the masses and their participation in politics, the reactionary clericalist idea will finally subside. The fall of clericalism in our nation means the fall of Croatianism."

JOVAN CVIJIC (1865-1927)
Jovan Cvijic is an eminent ideologist of the Greater Serbian idea. He is considered the founder of modern geographic science in Serbia. He researched and wrote extensively about Balkan geography. He had a great knowledge not only of the geography of Serbia and the surrounding regions but also of the history and current events in those areas.

He was also interested in Serbia’s political advancement and because of this he often lost his scientific impartiality when writing about Serbia or the Balkans in a geographic context. Much of his work was and is used as a ‘scientific justification’ for Greater Serbian politics.

I shall present statements from various articles and publications by Cvijic in which he clearly shows his Greater Serbian inclinations in the context of an academic/scientific conception. All of these statements reflect the assertions of present Greater Serbian ideologists, and it is evident that Cvijic’s work, since he was a reputable geographer, is used as ‘scientific proof’ of their territorial claims.

I shall quote some of his statements:

"Serbs also live outside the present boundaries of Serbia." He continues: "The world must know and realize that Serbia can operate with a much larger entity than the territory it now holds. The greatest possible territorial transformations may take place with Serbia. We must not flinch from this fear pouring into the world if it is useful to our national interests."

"The Serbian problem must be resolved through violent means. Both Serbian states must chiefly prepare themselves militarily and educationally, sustain their national energy in the military portions of the Serbian population, and use the first possible opportunity to debate Serbian questions with Austro-Hungary."

"Outside of the Morava-Vardar depression (South Serbia and Macedonia) there are no territories in the western half of the Balkan Peninsula suitable for forming a permanent state able to live an economic and political life." He goes on to say: "The economic and trading interests of certain Dinaric regions (the following are listed by name: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dalmatia and the ‘Dinaric’ Croatia) even now aim for the Morava-Vardar depression; these lands cannot acquire life and importance unless they join with the Morava-Vardar state..."

"... it is widely known that Bosnia and Herzegovina are lands settled entirely by people who are purely Serbian in race..."

"... as an unassailable minimum for the principle of nationality it must stand that one cannot relinquish that central dominion and the heartland of the nation to another country, a foreign state; this is what Bosnia and Herzegovina represent to the Serbian people."

"... for economic independence, Serbia must acquire access to the Adriatic Sea and one part of the Albanian coastline: through the occupation of the territory or by acquiring economic and transportation rights to this region. Therefore, this implies occupying an ethnographically foreign territory, but one that must be occupied due to particularly important economic interests and vital needs. Such occupation might be called an anti-ethnographic necessity and in such a form it is not against the principle of nationality. In this case it is all the more justified because the Albanians of northern Albania came about through a merging of the Albanians and Serbs.

This is what Cvijic says about Dubrovnik and Dubrovnians:

"It seems that the Slavs who settled in these lands in the 6th and 7th centuries first settled on the steep cliffs above where the town is located today, on the cliffs that used to be wooded with an oak forest, known then as ‘dubrava’.

This, then, is the origin of the Serbian name for the city of Dubrovnik which replaced the earlier Greek-Roman name (Ragusa)."

VASA CUBRILOVIC (1897.-xxx))
Vasa Cubrilovic wrote a memorandum for the Stojadinovic government in which he proposed measures for resolving the Albanian problem. He was born in Bosansko Grahovo and was one of the youngest participants in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. He was a historian and a member of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences. In his memorandum about the Serbianization of Kosovo he criticized the colonization of that region after World War I. Members of the former Serbian army were at the time settled there in order to expel the Albanian population. In his memorandum, sent to the government of Milan Stojadinovic on the 7th March 1937, he suggested methods of physical expulsion of the Albanians from Kosovo to Albania. That was in actual fact an elaborately planned ethnic cleansing.

Let us see how Vasa Cubrilovic conceived this:

"The problem of the Albanians in our national and state life did not arise yesterday. It played a major role in our life in the Middle Ages, but its importance became decisive by the end of the 17th century when the Serbian masses were displaced northwards from their former ancestral war territories and were supplanted by the Albanian highlanders. Gradually the latter came down from their mountains to the fertile plains of Metohija and Kosovo and, penetrating to the north, they spread in the direction of Southern and Western Morava; by crossing the Sar Mountain, they descended toward Polog, and hence toward Vardar. In this manner, by the 19th century, the Albanian triangle was formed, a wedge which, based on its Dobar-Rogozna axis in its ethnic hinterland, penetrated as far into our territories as Nis and separated our ancient territories of Raska from Macedonia and the Vardar Valley.

Serbia began to cut pieces off this Albanian wedge as early as the first uprising, by expelling the northernmost Albanian inhabitants from Jagodina."

* * *

"From 1918 onwards it was the task of our present state to destroy the remainder of the Albanian triangle. It did not fulfill this task. There are several reasons for this, but we shall mention only the most important:

1) The fundamental mistake of the authorities in charge at that time was that, forgetting where they were, they wanted to solve all the major ethnic problems of the troubled and bleeding Balkans by Western methods. Turkey brought to the Balkans the custom taken from the Sheriat, according to which victory in war and the occupation of a country confers the right to the lives and property of the subject inhabitants. Even the Balkan Christians learned from the Turks that not only state power and domination, but also home and property are won and lost by the sword. The concept of the relations of private ownership of land in the Balkans was to be softened to some extent through laws, ordinances and other international agreements issued under the pressure from Europe, but this concept has been to some degree the main lever of the Turkish state and the Balkan states to this day. We do not need to refer to the distant past. We shall mention only a few cases of recent times: the removal of Greeks from Asia Minor; the recent removal of Turks from Bulgaria and Romania to Turkey. While all the Balkan states, since 1912, have solved or are on the way to solving the problems of national minorities through mass removals, we have stuck to slow and sluggish methods of gradual colonization. The results of this have been negative... Taking into account the intractable character of the Albanians, the pronounced increase in their numbers and the ever-increasing difficulties of colonization through the old methods, with the passage of time this disproportion will become even greater and eventually put in question even those few successes we have achieved in our colonization from 1918 onwards."

* * *

4) There is no doubt that the main cause of the unsuccessful colonization in those regions was the fact that the best land remained in the hands of the Albanians. The only possible way for our mass colonization of these regions was to confiscate the land from the Albanians. After the war, at the time of the rebellion and actions of the insurgents, this could have been achieved easily by expelling a part of the Albanian population to Albania, by not legalizing their usurpation and by buying their pastures. We have to return again to the grave error of our post-war concept about the right to possession of land. Instead of taking advantage of the Albanians’ own concept about their usurpation of land - scarcely any of them had title-deeds issued by the Turks, and those only for the land purchased - to the detriment of our nation and state, we not only legalized all of these usurpations, but worse still, accustomed the Albanians to Western European ideas of private property. Prior to that they never had these notions. In this way we ourselves handed them the weapons to defend themselves, to keep the best land for themselves and to render impossible the nationalization of, to us, one of the most important regions."

* * *

"This concentration of Albanians around the Sar Mountain has great national, state and strategic importance for our country. We have already mentioned the way it came into existence and the importance of this region for linking the regions around the Vardar Valley firmly with our ancient territories. The greatest force behind Serbian expansion ever since the creation of the first Serbian state in the 9th century has always been based on the continuity of this expansion of the ancient territories of Raska in all directions, even towards the south... Only the country inhabited by its own people can be secure in the 20th century; it is, therefore, an imperative for us all not to allow these positions of such strategic importance to be in the hands of a hostile and alien element. The more so since this element has the support of a national state of the same race. Today this state is powerless, but even in this condition it has become the base of Italian imperialism, which intends to use it to penetrate into the heart of our state. Our own element, which will be willing and able to defend its own land and state, is the most reliable means against this penetration.

Besides this block of 18 district, The Albanians and other national minorities in the southern regions are dispersed and thus not so dangerous to our national and state life. To nationalize the regions around the Sar Mountain means to bury all irredentism forever and to ensure our power in these territories forever."

* * *

The Albanians cannot be repulsed by means of gradual colonization alone; they are the only people who managed during the last millennium not only to resist the nucleus of our state, Raska and Zeta, but also to harm us by pushing our borders northwards and eastwards. While our ethnic borders were shifted over the last millennium to Subotica in the north and Kupa in the northwest, the Albanians pushed us from the valley of Skadar, the former capital of Bodin from Metohija and Kosovo. The only way and the only means to cope with them is through the brute force of an organized state, in which we have always been superior to them. We are to blame for having no success in the struggle against them since 1912, as we have not used this power as we should have done. It is not feasible to speak of any national assimilation of the Albanians in our favour. On the contrary, their national awareness is awakened in their countenance for Albania, and if we do not settle accounts on time, within twenty to thirty years we shall have to cope with a horrific irredentism, the signs of which are already apparent and which will inevitably place all our southern territories in jeopardy."

* * *

"As we have already stressed, the mass removal of Albanians from their triangle is the only effective course for us. In order to realise the relocation of a whole population, the first prerequisite is the creation of a suitable psychosis. It can be created in many ways. It is a known fact that Muslim masses in general are very susceptible to influence, especially religious, and are superstitious and fanatical. Therefore, first of all it is necessary to win over, through money or threats, their clergy and men of influence to support the relocation of the Albanians. Agitators to advocate this removal must be found as quickly as possible, especially if Turkey would be willing to cooperate with us."

* * *

"Another means would be coercion by the state apparatus. The law must be enforced to the letter so as to make life intolerable for the Albanians: fines and imprisonments, the ruthless application of all police dispositions, such as the prohibition of smuggling, cutting forests, damaging agriculture, leaving dogs unchained, compulsory labour and any other measure that an experienced police force can contrive. From the economic aspect: the refusal to recognize the old land deeds, the work of the land register should include the immediate and ruthless collection of taxes and the payment of all private and public debts, the requisitioning of all state and communal pastures, the cancellations of concessions, the withdrawal of permits to exercise a profession, dismissal from state, private and communal offices etc., would hasten the process of their removal. Health measures: the brutal application of all the dispositions even in homes, pulling down encircling walls and high hedges around houses, rigorous application of veterinary measures which would impede the sale of livestock on the market etc., could also be applied in an effective and practical way. The Albanians are most susceptible to matters regarding religion, and thus they should be most harassed on this point also. This could be achieved through ill-treatment of their clergy, the destruction of their cemeteries, the prohibition of polygamy, and in particular the inflexible application of the law compelling girls to attend elementary schools wherever they are.

Private initiative can also assist greatly in this direction. Weapons should be distributed to our colonists as need be. The old forms of chetnik action should be organized and secretly assisted. In particular, a tide of Montenegrins should be launched from the mountain pastures in order to create a large-scale conflict with the Albanians in Metohija. This conflict should be prepared through our trusted people: it should be encouraged and this could be all the more easier once the Albanians revolt; the whole affair should be presented as a conflict between clans and, if need be, ascribed to the economic reasons. As a final resort, local insurrections could be incited. These would be violently suppressed through the most effective means, by colonists, Montenegrin clans and chetniks rather than by the army.

There remains one more means, which Serbia had employed with great practical effect after 1878, and that is the secret burning down of Albanian villages and city quarters."

* * *

Hence, if we want the colonists to remain where they are, they must be assured of acquiring all the means of livelihood within a few years. All speculation with the houses and property of displaced Albanians must be ruthlessly suppressed. The state must reserve for itself the unlimited right to dispose of the fixed and movable assets of the people transferred and must settle its own colonists there immediately after the departure of the Albanians. This must be done because it will rarely happen that a whole village departs at once. The first to be settled in these villages should be the Montenegrins, as arrogant, irascible and merciless people who will drive the remaining Albanian population away with their behaviour, and then the colonists from other regions can be brought in."

* * *

"In view of all that has been said above, it is no accident that, following our examination of the question of colonization in the south, we proceeded with the view that the only effective method for solving this problem is the mass resettlement of the Albanians. Just as in other countries, gradual colonization has yielded no success in our country. When the state wants to intervene in favour of its own element in a struggle for land, it can be successful only if it acts brutally. Otherwise the native, with roots in his birthplace and more accustomed to his surroundings, is always stronger than the colonist. In our case this should be kept especially well in mind, because we have to deal with a rugged, resistant and prolific race, which the late Cvijic described as the most expansive in the Balkans."

The quotations I have presented are the best manifestation of the viewpoints held by Vaso Cubrilovic, who, I might stress, advocated the "mass displacement of Albanians". As he had said, this option was "the only effective means of resolving this problem".

STEVAN MOLJEVIC (1888-1946)
Now after Cubrilovic let us see what another advocate of the Greater Serbian ideology said about the homogeneity of the Serbs. Let us speak of Stevan Moljevic, a lawyer from Banja Luka. He was born in 1888, and in 1941 he fled to Montenegro. He was one of the chief advisers to the chetnik leader, Draza Mihajlovic. The ideas advocated by him and the kind of Greater Serbia he hoped for, are best shown in his memorandum called "The Homgenous Serbia" which was released in Niksic on 30th June 1941.

Stevan Moljevic wrote the following in this manifesto: "The temptations of the Serbian people in this war, provoked by the loss of their state and their freedom, has brought them to these unwavering convictions:

1) that the power of a country is not based on its territorial size, nor the number of inhabitants, nor even upon the richness of the land, but rather on the independence of thought, the concept of love for the country, its freedom and independence, internal unity and spiritual ties of the nation when subject to foreign invasion, and the readiness of its people to sacrifice everything they have, including their lives, for their country and its freedom;

2) that this identity with national views, sense and love of nation and independence can only be reached in a homogeneous Serbia. Examples of this are Serbia and Montenegro in past wars and Greece in the present war.

In this regard, the Serbs today have a primary and basic duty:

- to create and organize a homogeneous Serbia which must consist of the entire ethnic territory on which Serbs live, and to ensure the necessary strategic and transportation lines and centres, as well as economic areas which would enable and secure free economic, political and cultural life and development for all times.

These strategic and transportation lines necessary for the security, life and existence of Serbia must serve the interests of Serbia and the Serbian nation so that the horrible suffering the Serbs have endured at the hands of their neighbours whenever the opportunity arose does not to repeat itself, even if some of these areas would not have Serbian majorities in the local population today.

Moving and exchanging inhabitants, especially Croatians from Serbian and Serbians from Croatian areas, is the only way to establish a border and create better relations between them, and thereby eliminate the possibility of repetition of the horrific crimes which happened in the last war and particularly in the current war in all areas where Croatians and Serbians are intermingled, and where Croatians and Muslims planned the extermination of Serbians."

the continuation of the manifesto Stevan Moljevic elaborated the question of the borders of GREATER SERBIA, and he wrote the following:

"The basic mistake of our state administration was that in 1918 the boundaries of Serbia were not firmly set up. This mistake must be corrected immediately, for tomorrow it will be too late. These borders must be struck now, and they must include the entire ethnic territory on which Serbs live with unhindered access to the sea for all Serbian districts that are in the vicinity of the coast.

1) In the east and southeast (Serbia and South Serbia), the Serbian borders are the result of wars of liberation, and it is only necessary to reinforce them by adding Vidin and Custendil. In the south (Montenegro and Herzegovina), the Southwest Serbian province should include not only the Zeta Banovina (Royal Province) but:

a) all of eastern Herzegovina with a railroad tie from Konjic to Ploce, including a land belt that would protect this line, so that in this area the entire Konjic district would be included; from the Mostar district the following municipalities: Mostar, Bijelo Polje, Blagaj and Zitomislici; the entire Stolac district; from the Metkovic district Ploce and all the areas south of Ploce, as well as Dubrovnik, which would have a special status.

b) the northern part of Albania, that is in case Albania does not acquire autonomy.

3) In the west, the Western Serbian province should include, apart from the Vrbas Banovina, Northern Dalmatia, the Serbian part of Lika, Kordun and Banija and a part of Slavonia, so that the railroad from Plaski to Sibenik and the northern rail connection from Okucani over Sunja to Kostajnica belong to this region. This province would include one part of the Bugojno district except for Gornji Vakuf, and from the Livno district: Livno and Donje Polje, and on the other side from the Sibenik district: the municipalities of Sibenik and Skradin; from the Knin district: the city of Knin and the Serbian part of the Drnis municipality with its territory through which the Knin-Sibenik railroad passes, and eventually the Serbian part of Vrlika in the Sinj district; the entire Benkovac district; the entire Biograd district; the entire Preko district; so that the borders of the Western Serbian province go along the Velebit Channel and include Zadar with all the islands around it; from the Gospic district: Gospic, Licki Osik and Medak; the eastern part of the Perusic district through which the railroad passes; from the Otocac district: Dabar, Skare and Vrhovine; from the Ogulin district: Dreznica, Gomirje, Gornja Dubrava and Plaski; the Vojnic district except the municipality of Barilovic; the entire Vrginmost district; the Glina district except the municipalities of Bucice and Stankovac; from the Petrinja district: the municipalities of Blinja, Gradusa, Jabukovac and Sunja; the Kostajnica district without Bobovac; from the Novska district: Jasenovac and Vanjska Novska, but these places should be abolished so that the railroad stays on the territory of these two municipalities; the entire Okucani district; the Pakrac district without: Antunovac, Gaj and Poljana; Velic Selo from the Pozega district; the districts of Daruvar, Grubisno Polje and Slatina; then the Bosnian districts of Derventa and Gradacac. It is understood that all other districts within these borders will be included in this region.

For this Western Serbian province, which would have 46 districts and nearly 1.5 million inhabitants, on which the entire Sipad enterprise falls, as well as the iron mine at Ljubija, and over which the Adriatic railway Valjevo-Banja Luka-Sibenik runs, it will be necessary to secure the Zadar area and the surrounding islands to ensure its outlet to the sea.

4)The Northern Serbian province should get, in addition to the territory of the Danube Banovina, the dispossessed Serbian districts of Vukovar, Sid and Ilok, and from the Vinkovci district: the municipalities of Vinkovci, Laze, Mirkovci and Novi Jankovci; the entire district and city of Osijek. This district should be secured with Baranja with Pecuj and eastern Banat with Temisvar and Resice.

5) The Central Serbian province - the Drina Banovina - should have the following dispossessed Bosnian districts returned to it: Brcko, Travnik and Fojnica.

Dalmatia, which would include the Adriatic coast from Ploce up to Sibenik, as well as the Bosnian-Herzegovinian districts: Prozor, Ljubuski, Duvno; the western parts of the Mostar and Livno districts, and the northern parts of the Knin and Sibenik districts, must become part of Serbia but has to be granted a special autonomous position. The Roman Catholic church in Dalmatia will be recognized and receive state aid, but the work of the church and the Catholic clergy among the people must be favourable to the state and under its control."

In chapter II "Relations with other Yugoslav and Balkan States", Moljevic wrote:

"With the conviction of its past and its mission in the Balkans, Serbia must also in the future be the bearer of the Yugoslav idea as well as the first defender of Balkan solidarity and Gladstone’s principle of ‘the Balkans for the Balkan people’. Time demands that smaller states must combine in larger communities, unions and blocks, and Serbia’s friends will expect this of her. Serbia will gladly respond to these expectations, for this is at the heart of her historical mission in the Balkans. The Serbs already started on this path when they created Yugoslavia, and they will continue on this path. However, the first step on this path was taken incorrectly in that the Serbs and the Montenegrins allowed themselves to be immediately melted into Yugoslavia, while the Croatians, Slovenes and Muslims took a different course and take all they can from Yugoslavia without giving anything in return. This mistake must be corrected and it can only be done if the Serbs, with the resurrected Yugoslavia, immediately and unhesitatingly create a homogeneous Serbia within the borders previously outlined. Only after this has been achieved will we approach all other questions relating to the Slovenes and Croats.

Yugoslavia would thus be arranged on a federal basis with three federal units: the Serbian, Croatian and Slovene units (Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, my own remark). Only when this state of affairs is settled, when all Serbian regions are united in a homogeneous Serbia, can a limited rapprochement with Bulgaria be conceived... The Serbs must exercise hegemony in the Balkans, therefore they must previously gain hegemony in Yugoslavia."

THE MEMORANDUM OF THE SERBIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES (SANU), 1986
After learning about the viewpoints of the six most eminent ideologists of the Greater Serbian idea, i.e. Ilija Garasanin, Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic, Nikola Stojanovic, Jovan Cvijic, Vasa Cubrilovic and Stevan Moljevic, let us learn about the theses represented by the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences through it renowned MEMORANDUM. It was written at the time when the democratic changes taking place in the world were slightly felt even in Yugoslavia, and Serbia began losing the power of absolute economic and political control. This is the time when Milosevic calls the Serbs to rebel. The main message of his famous speech at Gazimestan on Kosovo was that all Serbs must live in one country and that "no one will beat the Serbs".

"The Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences" was reproduced with mimeograph in 1986. It comprised the ideological basis for Milosevic’s future politics and instructions for the Yugoslav Army as what to do in a war that was inevitable. I shall read only some of the passages:

"The dilapidation of moral values and leading public institutions and a lack of faith in the competence of decision-makers have spread apathy and bitterness among the public and produced alienation from all the mainstays and symbols of law and order. An objective examination of the Yugoslav reality suggests that the present crisis may end in social shocks with unforseeable consequences, including such a catastrophic eventuality as the disintegration of the Yugoslav state. No one can close his eyes to what is happening and to what may happen. Certainly our nation’s oldest institute of scientific and cultural creativity cannot do so.

In these fateful times, the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences feels obliged to express its views on society’s condition in the conviction that this will help us find a way out of the present troubles. The nature of this document, however, obliges us to limit ourselves to the key issues of the Yugoslav reality. These issues regretfully include the undefined and difficult position of the Serbian nation, a position brought to the fore by recent events..."

* * *

"Unlike national minorities, portions of the Serbian people, who live in other republics in large numbers, do not have the right to use their own language and alphabet, to organize politically and culturally, and to develop the unique culture of their nation. The unstoppable and severe persecution of Serbs in Kosovo shows that those principles that protect the autonomy of a minority (Albanians) are not applied when it comes to a minority within a minority (Serbs, Montenegrins, Turks and Gypsies in Kosovo). Considering the exisisting forms of national discrimination, present-day Yugoslavia cannot be considered a modern and democratic state."

* * *

"Yugoslavia does not present itself as a community of equal citizens or nations and nationalities, but rather as a community of eight equal territories. But even this variety of equality does not apply to Serbia because of its special legal and political position which reflects the tendency to keep the Serbian nation under constant supervision. The guiding principle behind this policy has been ‘a weak Serbia, a strong Yugoslavia’ and this has evolved into an influential opinion: if rapid economic growth were permitted to the Serbs, who are the largest nation, this would pose a danger to the other nations. And so all possibilities are grasped to place increasing obstacles in the way of their economic development and political consolidation. One of the most serious of such obstacles is Serbia’s present undefined constitutional position, so full of internal conflicts.

The Constitution of 1974, in fact divided Serbia into three parts. The autonomous provinces were made equal to the republics, save that they were not defined as such and that they do not have the same number of representatives in various bodies of the federation."

The statement is not true because Serbia always had three voices in the collective Yugoslav presidency whenever the need arose (Serbia proper, Kosovo and Vojvodina). They continued to say:

" With the exception of the Independent State of Croatia from 1941-45, the Serbs in Croatia have never been as persecuted in the past as they are now. The solution to their national position must be considered an urgent political question. In case the solutions were not found, the consequences could be disastrous, not just in relation to Croatia, but to the whole of Yugoslavia."

* * *

"Having borne for over half a century the stigma and the handicap of being the jailer of other Yugoslav nations, the Serbian nation was incapable of deriving support from its own history."

* * *

"After the dramatic inter-ethnic conflicts of World War II, it had appeared that nationalism lost momentum and was even on the road to oblivion. This appearance has proven deceptive. It was not long before nationalism began rising up once more, and every change in the constitution served to promote its growth. Nationalism has been promoted from above, its chief initiators have been politicians. The fundamental cause of this multidimensional crisis can be traced to the ideological defeat of socialism at the hands of nationalism. The disintegration processes of all kinds that have brought the Yugoslav community to the brink of ruin, as well as the dilapidation of the system of values, are the consequences of this defeat... Therefore, the first and foremost action must be to remove the burden of historical guilt from the Serbian nation, to categorically deny the contention that it enjoyed a privileged economic position between the two wars, and to refrain from denigrating Serbia’s liberation-oriented history and contribution in creating Yugoslavia."

* * *

"The present depressing condition of the Serbian nation, with chauvinism and Serbophobia being ever more violently expressed in certain circles, favour the revival of Serbian nationalism, an increasingly drastic expression of Serbian national sensitivity, and reactions that can be volatile and even dangerous. We must not even for a moment under any circumstances overlook or underestimate these dangers...

Unresolved matter of Serbian statehood is not the only deficiency that must be corrected by constitutional amendments. The 1974 Constitution turned Yugoslavia into a very unstable state community, prone to considering alternatives other than the Yugoslav alternative, as has been made clear in recent statements by public figures in Slovenia and the earlier positions taken by Macedonian politicians. Such considerations and a basically accomplished disintegration lead to the notion that Yugoslavia is in danger of further corrosion. The Serbian nation cannot meekly await the future in such a state of uncertainty. Therefore, all of the nations within Yugoslavia must be given the opportunity to express their aspirations and intentions. Serbia would thus be able to declare and define her own national interests. Discussions and agreements in this vein must precede an examination of the Constitution. Naturally, Serbia should not take a passive stand in all this, waiting to hear what others will say, as she has done so often in the past."

The Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences concluded its memorandum with the following statement:

"The Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences is taking this occasion to express once again its utter willingness to promote this portentous undertaking and the historical aspirations of our generation with all the resources at its disposal."

This is the ideology of Greater Serbia with which the Serbs entered Yugoslavia and governed in it, but which was in constant collision with the concept of a joint state comprising equal nations, as well as with the concept of independent states in this region advocated by the other nations comprising the former artificial state.

Dr. sci. Dragutin Pavlicevic: Persecution and Liquidation of Croats on Croatian Territory from 1903 to 1941