|
DEFENDING
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE JASENOVAC CONCENTRATION CAMP IN THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF
CROATIA (Letter No. 1) This letter is written
and addressed to you by three Jewish survivors of the death Cadik
Danon, the architect, who
escaped from the Jasenovac concentration camp in
1942 Bozo
Svarc the retired colonel of
the Yugoslav Army, who escaped from the Jasenovac concentration camp in the same
year and Josif
Erlih the retired major of the
Yugoslav Army, who was held in Jasenovac to the very bitter end and participated
in the break out on 22 of April 1945 when the Croat fascist guards started
slaughtering all remaining prisoners
DECEIT AND BLACKMAIL
We wish to advise you with some delay about the deliberation of
the Executive Committee of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia and
Monte Negro on the motion of our group 25 survivors
condemning the participation of Mr. Aleksandar Mosic in the lawsuit against
the creators of the Proceedings of he First International Conference on
Jasenovac, held in New York in October 1997. We asked
the Executive Committee to remove Mr Mosic from his position of
Chairman of the Memorial Commission of the Federation if he does not
withdrew his suit based on the inclusion in the book of his paper submitted
at the Conference without his prior permission.
The delay with which we are advising you that the Executive Committee of
the Federation doped this case was due to a deception performed by Mr Mosic
and a blackmail by him and three other plaintiffs: Jasenovac Research Institute
headed by Mr Barry Lituchy, Memory Films Production of Mr Joseph Friendly
and Mr. Antun Miletic, a historian from Croatia living in
Serbia.
During the discussion on our motion Mr Mosic produced a
document showing that the accused creator of the Proceedings Mr Petar
Makara settled. Mr Mosic created the impression among the members of the EC
that the lawsuit is finished and that three are no reasons to continue
the deliberations about Mr Mosic's action.
However, Mr Mosic provided only half of the information. He did
not reveal to the EC that the second accused, Mrs Wanda Schindley, did
not settle and that the court action (trial) in fact
continues.
In addition to revealing the terms of the settlement to which Mr Makara
agreed, Mr Mosic produced at the meeting a second
document in which the four plaintiffs declare that they still did
not sign the settlement and that they will not do it until the
Jewish Federation does not stop deliberating the case against Mr
Mosic.
Such a blackmail tied our hands. It prevented us from asking
immediately a renewal of the deliberations and informing the
public about what happened. We knew that Mr Makara did not
settle because the fate of he book became indifferent to him.
He was forced to do it in order to safeguard the family
savings for the education of their two sons. Mr Makara has spent in total
$40,000 of which $10,000 for the printing of the book, $20,000 for his
lawyer ad legal fees and had to disburse additional $10.000 to Mr Lituchy's
lawyer under the terms of the settlement. We did not want to
spoil his chances to keep the remaining family savings and
decided to wait until the court meeting on 2nd of March convoked
for possible settlements. The time gap of 9 days between 21
of February when Mr Makara signed the settlement and the 2nd of March was
created because Mr Makara's lawyer, Mr MIchael D. Assaf*, did
not secure that the other side signs simultaneously with Mr
Makara. They used the nine days to prepare
and perform the blackmail. The Lituchy's camp signed only on the
very eve of the court meeting, on March 2nd.
With Mr Makara out of the denger, we are now free to tell what has
happened and resume our action to save the book. The most remarkable
fact is that Mrs Wanda Schindley informed the President of the Jewish
Federation Mr Aca Singer, the same night after the failed meeting of the
Executive Committee, that she did not settle and that she will continue her
fight for the free distribution of the Proceedings of the Jasenovac
conference. Her letter
reads as follows: ______________________________________________________________ Mr. Aca
Singer President
of the Jewish Federation in Dear Mr.
Singer,
I have been advised of the meeting in which discussion of Mr. Mosic's
participation in the lawsuit against the proceedings book of the 1997 conference
in
Eight of those who spoke at the conference died since the
conference: Delibasic in August of 1998; Huber in February of 1999; Sajer in
November of 2001; Petrovic in February of 2003; Ivanisevic in August of 2003;
and Sabolic, Despot, and Vejnovic in 2005. I feel an obligation to those
survivors and the dear heroes Mr. Danon, Mr. Erlih, and Mr. Svarc to continue
this fight to preserve the book at all costs to memorialise forever their
testimonies at the conference.
The people who worked on and contributed to this book wish to contribute
voluntarily and would not think of making a profit or taking money for work on
Jasenovac or any Holocaust studies.
Please consider this case because I can hardly imagine that Mr
Mosic who, by his action, is suppressing the spreading of the truth
about the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, and Roma in
Jasenovac would lead by this example. I ask the Federation to continue
deliberating, and I am willing to defend each of the charges against the
conference book. I will not settle until the conference book is freed from
injunction and can be reprinted and further distributed and will spend the rest
of my life working on the tragic history of the Second World War, a history that
is, I believe, extremely relevant in today's world.
Best regards,
Wanda Schindley, PhD _____________________________________________________________
Wanda Schindley persisted in her brave position at the court meeting on
the 2nd of March. She declared that she would accept the settlement only if
Mr Lituchy apologises to all against whom he sued, leaves the Jasenovac Research
Institute and returnees it to its
founders.
Mr Makara also wrote to Mr Singer the same evening of 26 of February
declaring that he did not sent any letter to the Jewish Federation and did
not authorise any person to reveal publicly the terms of his settlement, and
that such revelation represents a grave
infringement.
Now we felt free to continue our action against the people who
prevented the free distribution of a unique book in English on the
horrors of Jasenovac and created the danger of its permanent banning.
*Michael
D. Assaf [EMAIL PROTECTED] O’Connell and
Aronowitz
|
