Introduction from the Webmaster

THE CAMPS

JASENOVAC. This was one of the most horrible places of tortures and executions. In Jasenovac arrived the remainder from the camps of Gospic and Koprivnica, while daily newer and newer groups arrived from all parts of the country. At first the camps were established in three differ­ent places. One of them was in Jasenovac itself, in the brick factory of Ozren Bacich, the second was to the left of the highway leading to Novska, and the third was in the village of Krapje, five kilometers away.

The commander of all of these camps was an Ustashi officer, Lubaric, and the commander of the camp at Jasenovac was one Ljubo Milos, an Ustashi lieutenant, a native of Hercegovina. The Ustashi, Croats and Moslems, were from Hercegovina, though some came from the vicinity of Osijek.

That which was seen and endured there by those rare fortunates who succeeded in saving themselves goes beyond any fantasy or imagination.

The prisoners worked at horribly strenuous tasks at the hydro-electric plants, working at top speed beyond their strength from early dawn to late in the night. The food consisted of a boiled potato from time to time or water gruel. Beatings, clubbings and tortures continued while death haunted every step.

• The Ustashi killed off the Serbs both in groups and individually day and night, using all possible means of murder and torture.
• Machine guns, rifles, revolvers, knives, axes, hammers, all were used to destroy Serbian lives.
• In order to save on ammunition the Ustashi would drag certain groups of Serbs to the fiery furnaces of the brick factory.
• There they would stun each man, one by one, with a hammer, and throw him alive into the roaring furnace. The first of the group would be shoved into the furnace from behind by his fellow sufferers, so that they could be thrown in instantly, and thus quickly meet their end.

Others again were butchered along the beaches of the Sava river and thrown into the water. The most cruel and the most bloodthirsty of them was one Ljubo Muos. He himself has killed at least three thousand Serbs. He slaughtered his victims with a knife and later licked their blood, jesting and crying out: “How sweet is the Serbian blood.”

At the arrival of the various groups this Milos would ask each person about his occupation. As soon as he ascertained that one was an intellectual or a city dweller he would immediately murder him on the spot. Usually the majority of the new prisoners would be killed at once on coming to the camp. There was a gang of grave diggers formed from tramps who spent the whole day only in collecting corpses and burying them naked, for they would strip them of their clothes and store them in a warehouse.

With Autumn came the cold and the floods. Since the area was beneath water level, the people were forced to sleep right in the water. Now they suffered even more because of the cold. New batches of prisoners arrived in unrelentless tempo. One group from Pakrac came on the Catholic Christmas Eve, about 100 of them, who had been beaten and tortured before their arrival here. At that time a certain Ustashi “begged” Milos to “give” him a Serb for a Christmas present. Milos allowed him with great magnanimity to take his pick.

To the lot of that Ustashi, whose name was Matkovich, fell a certain Joca Divjak, the owner of a restaurant in Lipik. Matkovich recalled that Divjak once, when his restaurant was crowded, could not offer him a seat. Therefore, Joca Divjak was chosen by Matkovich to be the bloody sacrifice.

At midnight, two of the Ustashi felled the unfortunate victim to the ground. One sat on his head, tore open his coat and shirt and began slowly to pare him with a knife in the chest. After half an hour Matkovich tore the living heart out of Divjak.

The others were forced to watch all this and even laugh while the wretched Divjak endured such indescribable tortures. He who turned away his head from this horrible scene was immediately killed on the spot.

There was another horrible means of torture called “Zica” (wire). It dealt with the barbed wire fenced area of some ten square meters. At a height of a little more than a meter the wires were thickly woven on top like a bird cage. Beneath, water was ankle deep. Therein were placed those who had committed some breach of discipline.

For whole nights those wretches had to squat in the water in that horrible cold while by day they were forced to work. Dr. Oton Gravancich, Sokol leader from Zagreb, endured about nine nights of this torture and finally died from exhaustion. Many others shared his fate, especially Serbian army officers, who had been released from captivity by Germans to return to Croatia.

The news of these bestial acts was heard abroad. In the month of February, 1942, the rumor was spread that a certain international committee would come to Jasenovac. The authorities of this camp began to get busy to “clean up” the camp. There were a sort of barracks there which served as a hospital, though without any doctors or medical equipment for patients whatsoever. All of the patients were killed.

There was a new dispensary built according to regulation with all equipment and clean beds. Other barracks were fitted out as a mess hall supplied with all the requirements. The remaining barracks were put into order in such a way that the camp assumed an exterior likeness of some home.

The inmates received some imaginary numbers and orderly clothes, as well as better food, for the sake of appearance, before the commission which was expected to arrive. In addition they placed beds in the infirmary and put in them healthy men to play the part of recuperating patients. The commission finally came and went satisfied with conditions. After that everything reverted immediately to the same old order.

There is no way to ascertain exact figures of the atrocities for not one of the survivors could obtain a full view of the acts and the number of men who came there, never to leave again. It is estimated by conservative calculations that nearly 40,000 Serbs found their death in Jasenovac.

THE MEMORANDUM OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

Excellency:

The distressing news which we are daily receiving of the atrocities committed upon the unprotected Serbian population in the Croatian State in general, and especially in the Serbian provinces: Lika, Srem, Bosnia and Herzegovina, compels us to call these crimes to the attention of your Excellency, as the representative of the German Army in occupied Serbia, as a representative of the German people, and as a human being…

From the very beginning of the creation of the Croatian State the persecution of the Serbian people, tortures, murders and robberies have been recorded, though somewhat to a lesser degree, while the German troops were stationed in different parts of Croatia, and while the Commanders of German garrisons, as soldiers and as human beings, were attempting to hold off and subdue the animal instincts of the Croatian rulers and their accomplices. Even in spite of this there were perpetrated a number of crimes, the nature of which is the reflection of an absolutely merciless and sadistic temperament.

People were murdered in the most ruthless manner after extremely cruel tortures, such as the gouging out of their eyes, the cutting off of their ears, noses, and sex organs, or crucifying them on the door frames of their homes and torturing them by all kinds of unspeakable methods which could have been invented only through insanity or savagery.

The Croatian Ministers: Dr. Mile Budak, Dr. Milovan Zanich, Dr. Mirko Puk and Dr. Victor Gutich, were in reality trying to outdo each other in inciting their fellow Croats against the Serbs and in awakening in the Croatian sadists their animal instincts.

These ministers have publicly declared that they would cause the murder of one-third of the Serbian population, that one-third of it they would expel from Croatia, and the remaining third they would convert to Catholicism, and in this manner liquidate over two million Serbs in the Croatian State.

These declarations of the above Croatian Ministers were carried out in deeds and the Serbs were forced into concentration camps enmasse. Some of them were expelled from the territory of the Croatian State and ruthless murders of Serbian men, women and children were begun.

The Serbian clergy and their families were forcibly carried away from their homes and exterminated; the Serbian churches and monasteries were razed and burned; the records kept by church institutions were confiscated and delivered to Catholic priests; the Serbs were coerced to abandon their Orthodox faith and to embrace Catholicism. In all these crimes, it is to be regretted, the Catholic priesthood participated also.

Excellency:

The Serbian people, who have for centuries defended the honor of their name and endured the most terrific tortures, or have died for their holy faith, could not have remained passive in view of these atrocities, but. were compelled, though totally unarmed, to rise in defence not only of their own lives, but also of the lives of their dearest ones, as well as in defence of their faith and their property.

This justified and necessary defence on the part of the Serbian people, which has spread in Herzegovina, Bosnia and Lika, the Croatian rulers now proclaim to be a Communistic movement and they desire by such a lie to justify before the civilized world their inhuman atrocities, and especially before the German people. who have begun to register their disapproval of such conduct and crimes.

The Serbian people are deeply religious and nationally conscious and have proven both their religious feelings and national-mindedness in century long struggles up to this day. The Serbian people are, in great majority (90%), agriculturists with patriarchal traits, and therefore never have had and have not now anything in common with Communism or the ideas of the industrial proletariat.

It is therefore a most deliberate misstatement to characterize this defence by the Serbian people against the atrocious attacks of the Ustashi as a Communistic movement among Serbs.

TORTURES

In addition to the tortures to which all of the Serbs were subjected, because cases are rare where murders were committed without preceding tortures and mistreatment, ruthless beatings, dismemberment of parts of the body, the gouging of eyes, or the breaking of arms and limbs and the like, we will refer to a few characteristic cases:

50. IN PETROVO SELO.—Where the peasants of Brodski Slatnik were murdered, as described in Paragraph 38 herein, the victims were brutally tortured before being murdered. These unfortunates’ arms were broken, they were pelted with bricks, and while in agonizing pain from such terrific mutilation, they were killed by dum-dum bullets.

51. There were instances where some victims were smeared with feces while other victims were forced, at the point of a gun, to lick their bodies. The crushing of victims’ heads with iron bars, or beating victims into insensibility with sacks filled with stones were other methods used.

Peasant Popovich suffered twisting of the testicles. In the Nova Gradiska goal, one Mirko Trninich, a resident of the same town, was flogged and died from the beating. Just before he died he told another victim, who has since escaped to safety, that every night between the hours of 11 and 12, a group of Croats were permitted to enter the gaol (jail) and that the Chief Gaoler, Koran, would turn his flashlight upon one of the victims who would then be jumped upon by these sadists and dragged away to a separate cell where they would beat him with sacks of stones.

This man, Trninich, was exceptionally strong and upon offering resistance, about 16 Ustashi converged upon him and beat him so that there was no part of his body that remained uninjured. He reported that in this manner Protich, a cafe owner, a peasant by the name of Gavro Kovacevich, and another young man, were killed. In the same manner Dr. Galski, an attorney, was tortured and murdered.

52. In the Osek Garrison Gaol, by order of the Ustashi, Matijkovich, a former laborer in a tannery, the arrested Serbs were tortured in the following manner: needles were stuck beneath their nails and they were tied to benches and beaten with wooden sticks.

While they were so tied, their legs were forced apart causing them to suffer agonizing pains. Others were compelled to spit on the Serbian flag and ordered to tear it up with their teeth and eat it. While the victims were doing this they were receiving blows upon their heads and bodies.

The unfortunates were forced also to tramp barefooted over barbed wire stretched over a board. Upon the heads of some of the victims they placed a crown of thorns, thereafter pressing the thorns into their heads, causing them to bleed profusely. They were given good food on very rare occasions and water upon still rarer occasions.

Some of the victims by reason of such treatment became blind and began to faint, after which they were given 200 grams of bread. The food which some of them would receive from their homes, the Ustashi ate themselves. The clergy were forced to clean latrines with their hands and refuse was thrown in their faces.

53. In the vicinity of Gracac, Dr. Veljko Torbica, a physician, was murdered. The Ustashi made deep knife gashes in his chest and thrust salt into these wounds and while suturing the wounds they asked the victim: “Doctor, was the operation successful?”

54. Milos Teslich, an industrialist of Sisak, was tortured in an especially beastly manner. The River Sava threw up his corpse with gouged eyes, a horribly mutilated face and his body and chest cut wide open. Several Ustashi, with smiles on their faces, photographed themselves standing around the body of their victim.

The well known Serb, Teslich, whose heart the Croat Ustashi extracted through the holes on his chest.

55. At Bosanska Kostajaica the victims were crucified alive by being nailed, hands and feet, upon the doors of their homes and after brutal tortures, were knifed to death.

56. In the village of Otoci by Krupa, the wife of Stojan Stopar and his two daughters were raped, murdered and then thrown into the river. There were also instances of the burial of live victims, which was admitted by several Croats.

57. AT BANJA LUKA.—Nikola Curcija, a merchant, was murdered in a most gruesome manner. Having been first subjected to unspeakable tortures, his eyes were gouged, his sex organ was cut off, his arms and limbs dismembered and then he was clubbed and stoned to death.

FORCIBLE CONVERSION OF SERBIAN ORTHODOX PEOPLE TO CATHOLICISM AND DESTRUCTION OF ORTHODOX CHURCHES

61. From the very beginning the Ustashi authorities have inaugurated a system of terror, whereby they have forced many Orthodox Serbs to be converted to the Catholic faith. The close co-operation between the Catholic Church and the Ustashi authorities is known, which is also evidenced by the fact that among the Ustashi officials there are a great number of Catholic priests.

The first intimidation for conversion to Catholicism was directed against the State employees, who were advised that in the Croatian State’s employ only those Orthodox people might remain who would embrace the Catholic faith, but in effect this was only a ruse. Thus depriving the Serbian people of having their clergy, the Roman church forced the Orthodox people to the Catholic rites.

According to the testimony of Reverend Janko Vejakovich, pastor of Grbovich, the Catholic priests there lead the armed Ustashi in the closing of Orthodox churches and the confiscation of church records, also in the plundering of all church valuables. At Banja Luka, an official order was issued directing that all of the Orthodox Church records (of marriages, baptismals, burials, etc.) be delivered forthwith to Catholic parishes, which order was later extended throughout the territory of the former Croatian province. Catholic priests took possession of the Serbian Bishop’s residence at Pakrac and locked and sealed the Cathedral, all of which occurred April 12, 1941.

This was all being done in accordance with the plans of the Croatian State officials, which is evidenced by a speech made by Dr. Victor Gutic, a high Ustashi official of Banja Luka, on July 9, 1941, at Prnjavor. Among other things in his speech on that day, Dr. Gutic said:

“In this countryside there are three churches which were taken away from the Croatian people, one of these is in Prnjavor. Tomorrow you shall take possession of it and display thereon a sign: ‘Croatian Hall.’ Those of you who are of the Orthodox religion should at once embrace the Catholic faith so that I need not make special decisions in this respect. And as for this Serbian nest in Prnjavor, I promise, that I will come here and take twenty-four hours time to clean it up. I will kill and you shall follow me.” (Apparently Dr. Gutic had in mind the three Russian Orthodox Churches which are located within the district mentioned in his speech.)

On the afternoon of July 10th, 1941, the Serbian Orthodox priest in Prnjavor was thrown out of his residence, his church was confiscated and upon the church edifice there was a large sign “Croatian Hall,” displayed. Not long ago, Mile Budak, also a high Ustashi official, publicly declared that upon the territory of the Croatian Independent State only two religions may be recognized, to-wit: the Catholic and the Mohammedan, which meant that the Orthodox religion would not be further tolerated.

REVOLT AGAINST THE USTASHI GOVERNMENT

65. The heretofore mentioned beastly acts of the Croatians: tortures, murders of men, women and children, Catholicising by force, burning of buildings, churches, villages and cities, as early as June 27, 1941, were endured by the Serbs in Croatia hoping that somehow an end would come to such massacres and torture.

However, things were getting worse every day.

Deprived of the protection of any law, oppressed by an unheard of terrorism, the Serbs in Croatia, running away from a sure death, began to leave their homesteads and their possessions and to escape into the mountains to take up arms in defence of their very lives, for that was the only thing to which they could resort under the circumstances.

That is how the alleged “revolt of the Chetniks” began in Herzegovina, Bosanska Krajina, Lika and other parts of Croatia where the Serbs live.

Efforts to exterminate the Serbs, mass murders, economic annihilation, and especially forced deportations from their own homes without any possessions at all, compelled these unfortunate people to resist. All who could escape, ran for their lives into the mountains, for they had no protection of any kind either from the authorities or from their own leaders, for they were all dead or in refuge.

The people began to help themselves the best they knew how. They took up arms, and with arms, but without food, and often without water, they had to protect their very lives.

These criminal acts on the part of the Croats stirred to revolt this otherwise respectable, pious, law abiding and peace-loving people, who have always been nationalistically very conscious, because their most sacred feelings were deeply hurt. Since all of the clergy were exterminated, the people were forced to the Catholic religious rites, which was the culmination of attacks against the Serbs.

It is to be understood, however, that the people have refused to avail themselves of these and have consequently ceased to celebrate marriages or receive baptism and other religious rites, including funeral services, all of which, it is evident, tends to indicate that by such conduct on the part of the Croatian authorities, the ground for Bolshevism and anarchy is being efficiently prepared in these provinces.

In the name of
THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Bishop Valerian of Budim

A BULGARIAN RECTOR’S APPEAL

A Letter from a well-known rector of a Bulgarian Theological Seminary addressed from Sophia, Bulgaria, to the Bishop of the German Protestant Church in Berlin

Your Eminence:

… The possession of the physical properties was taken over by the Roman Catholic Church.

It is quite evident that the Roman Catholic Church in the Croatian State, together with the Roman Catholic clergy and Catholic leaders, were spiritual instigators and in some instances actual leaders in these persecutions, all in an effort to enforce the conversion of the Serbian Orthodox people into Catholicism.

With the same purpose in mind the state employees of Orthodox faith were warned by printed pamphlets, a copy of which is on file, that in the Croatian State employ only those might remain who embraced the Catholic faith.

Roman Catholic and Mohammedan. “Catholic Weekly” official organ of the Catholic Diocese in Sarajevo, approves the methods of the destruction of the Orthodox Church as being “to the Glory of God” and concludes: “Today the hour has struck when even we among the Catholics, now and forever, shall part with the prejudices against the revolutionary methods which serve truth, justice and honesty.

“The Catholic church is the best educator and instigator of such movements, but there have been many Catholics among whom there were even organs of the church, who failed in their mission.

“Therefore, once and forever, idiotic arguments shall cease, as they are not becoming to those in the service of Christ. The fight against evil and rottenness shall not be waged with gloves or in a fine or noble manner.”

CONFESSION OF A CROATIAN USTASHI*

* From the official stenographic record taken in the examination and hearing of Hilmija Berberovich, who with other Croatian Ustashi participated in the massacre of Serbs in the Serbian Church at Glina, The witness, Hilmija Berberovich, was arrested on a charge of suspicion by the Belgrade police, where he was identified as a former building janitor, residing at ‘No. 1 Kolarcheva Street, Belgrade. The witness was born April 15, 1915, at Bosanski Novi, his parents being Hasan, his father, and Halina Hajtovich, his mother. The witness is single, of Mohammedan religion and without previous criminal record.

“In 1938, I came to Belgrade where I have lived continuously up to the present time. At first I peddled various articles along the streets, and later I was engaged as a handy man with the Central Transport Society in Belgrade, No. 1 Kolarcheva Street.

“On the day of the bombardment, April 6, 1941, I was in Belgrade. Immediately I went to my army command at Sisak, according to my war orders, and there I reported to the commander of the 44th Infantry Reserve Regiment. The Regiment had received orders to proceed to Slavonska Pozega, and from there we left to take up positions in a village on the outskirts of Pozega.

“I don’t remember the exact date, but I believe it was the 17th or 18th of April, 1941. I was at home only eight days when I received a notice from the military command in Petrinja to report at once to the Military District in Petvinja. When I reported, I was immediately given a uniform and there I remained in the barracks for a month, where we did military drills according to new regulations.

“At the beginning of the month of June, 1941, my regiment received orders to go to Glina, to restore peace and order in the Glina district, and to collect all weapons and ammunition from the civilians. Before the departure of the regiment, the commander, Captain Josip Dobrich, born in Split, and by profession a teacher, ordered us to search every house and all premises in every town we came to, regardless of whether these homes were of Orthodox or of Catholic citizens. He also ordered us to kill anyone who would resist us.

“Upon our arrival in Glina, we accomplished the searching of the buildings there first, and then after that we went to the surrounding villages. This search lasted for about 15 days. When the search ended, the Ustashi from Zagreb and Petrinja came and then we were ordered to round up all men between 20 and 45 years of age in the villages.

“During this round up, one Orthodox man, in the village of Cemernici, resisted and fired at us. My companion was wounded so I used my rifle and killed him. I do not remember the name of the dead man. In the beginning we arrested men, we rounded them up from the villages and brought them to Glina, and there we placed them in the Court Gaol. They remained in gaol for a few days until the gaols were filled and then the prisoners were killed. The killing was accomplished in more than one fashion.

“Some were locked in the Orthodox Church in Glina. About 1,000 men could stand in that church. Then the commanding captain would order 15 men to execute the work of killing. Before they would leave for this job, they were given alcoholic drinks, to some rum, to others strong whiskey, and when they became intoxicated, they were given knives and sent inside the church.

“During the slaughtering, guards were posted outside the Church. This was necessary because some of the Orthodox men would climb to the belfry, and jump into the churchyard. All of these were killed by the guards in the churchyard. Three times I was ordered to execute the Commander’s orders and participate in the killings in the Church. Each time some officers would go along, Josip Dobrich and Mihajlo Cvitkovich, and besides them some of the officers of the Ustashi.

“Upon entering the Church, the officers would stand at the door and watch our work of slaughtering. The killing was done by striking some directly into the heart with a knife, and some across the neck, and others wherever we landed with the knife. If some Serbian survived the first blow, the Ustashi would finish him up with a knife.

“At the time of these killings, no lights were burning in the Church, but special soldiers were designated to hold flashlights which would throw light in the room. Many times it would happen that some Serb would throw his fist at us or kick his foot into our stomachs, but he was immediately cut to pieces.

“During these Killings, there was a great deal of noise in the Church. The Serbs would cry out: ‘Long live King Peter! Long live Queen Marie! Long live Serbia; Long live the Serbs! Down with Quisling Pavelich! Down with the Ustashi! Down with the State of Croatia!’

“These killings would usually last until about two o’clock in the morning or until the last Serb was killed. These killings in the Church took place seven or eight times, and I participated in them three times. During these killings we were so soaked with blood that our uniforms could not be cleaned, but we would change uniforms at the storehouse, and later wash them out.

“After each slaughter, the Church was washed up and the trucks would come to take away the corpses. They would usually throw them into the river, but some they would bury.

“Some of the men of the Orthodox faith would be taken from gaol and taken to the shores of the nearby river where they would be lined up and shot to death with machine guns. This sort of killing would take in from 300 to 400 men at one time. They would be lined up in two groups along the shore with their hands tied to one rope, and thus standing they were mowed down by machine guns which were not far away.

“These executions were done by the Ustashi. The corpses of those killed along the shore were thrown into the river. Some groups of Serbs were taken from the gaol and killed in the woods near Glina, and later their bodies were buried in the same place where the killings occurred.

“The round-up of Serbs was done by having about 70 Ustashi and about 30 of us soldiers go to a town, all being under the command of Ustashi officers. The town was always surrounded and a designated group went in to round up the Serbs. When gathered, they were taken, under guard to the court gaol in Glina.

“At first we took only men, but later we were ordered to bring along women also from 15 to 50 years of age. During these trips I saw some of the Ustashi and my companions rape the women and girls, and later they would take them to Glina. Here they would all be placed in the court gaol, and later taken to some requisitioned houses which were transformed into military outposts. They remained there from eight to ten days, after which they were permitted to return to their homes.

“I saw outposts some of the Ustashi would enter at night and take away the women upon whom they wanted to force their lovemaking, to some spot on the outskirts of town, and later return them to the outposts. This practice was not forbidden by the officers, and some of the officers did the same thing.

“My regiment had the task of gathering all the Serbs in Glina and in the Glina district, but it was ordered that all the Serbs from the districts of Topusko and Vrgin Most were to be taken to Glina, and there executed. I don’t know how many Serbs were executed, but from conversation with my companions, I should say there were about 120,000 Serbs killed in Glina.

“During these round-ups of Serbs, many of them escaped to the forest with weapons, and some of them are still in Petrova Gora. Once the Ustashi went to find them, but the Serbs pounced upon them and fought them. About August 20th of this year, a notice was posted inviting all Serbians to return to their homes and their work, and this time we were ordered not to touch or kill any of them. Whoever should disobey this order was to be court martialed.

“I stayed in Glina until September 3rd, 1942, when I was discharged because other soldiers were called for drilling. From Glina I returned to Belgrade with the intention of returning to my old job, but I was gaoled by the police.

“To the above I have nothing more to add. These minutes were read to me and my statements were recorded exactly as I stated them. I am literate.

“At Belgrade, October 20, 1942.
“(Signed Hilmija Berberovich.”

CROAT’S PLEA WHICH REMAINS UNHEEDED

(The following is a letter written by Mr. Prvislav Grizogono, a Croat—former minister in the government of Yugoslavia, to Dr. Aloisius Stepinac, Croat Roman Catholic Archbishop of Zagreb. The letter was written at Zemun, February 8, 1942.

Your Grace:

“I write this to you as man to man, as a Christian to a Christian. I have held this up for months in the vain hope that the terrible news from Croatia would cease so that I could settle my mind and write you in a more amiable atmosphere.

A Serbian victim of the Croats’ Ustashi whose brain was extracted.

“For fully ten months now, however, the Serbs in Croatia are being exterminated in a most beastly manner, with billions of their property subjected to destruction, while the face of an honorable Croat blushes with shame and anger. Since the first day of the Independent Croatian State, the Serbs have been massacred (Gospich, Gudovac, Bos, Krajina, etc.) and this massacring has continued to this day.

“These atrocities do not amount to simple killings alone. They aim at the extermination of every Serb, men, women and children, and with terribly-wild tortures of the victims. These innocent Serbs were stuck on poles alive and fires built on their bare chests. Literally they were roasted alive, being burned to death in their homes and in their churches.

“In many cases boiling water was poured on living victims before their mutilation, their flesh was salted and their eyes gouged out while they were still living, their ears and noses were lopped off and their tongues cut out. The beards and mustaches of clergy, together with their skin were ripped off by knives, while the victims’ sex organs were cut off and stuffed into their mouths. Some were tied to trucks and dragged, while other victims had their arms and legs broken and their heads spiked.

“Their heads were smashed by crowbars, many were thrown into the deep cisterns and caves, and then literally bombed to pieces. Their children were thrown into fire or scalding water, and then fed to the fired lime furnaces. Other children were torn apart by the legs, their heads were crushed against walls and their spines were broken against rocks.

“These and many other methods of tortures were employed against the Serbs—tortures which normal people cannot conceive. Thousands upon thousands of Serbian bodies floated down the Sava, Drava and Danube rivers and their tributaries. Many of these bodies bore tags: ‘Direction — Belgrade, to King Peter.’ In one boat on the Sava, there was a pile of children’s heads with a woman’s head (presumably that of the mother of the children) labeled: ‘Meat for Jovan’s Market—Belgrade’ (meaning meat for the Serbian market).

“The case of Milenka Bozinich from Stapandza, is a particularly gruesome one, because they ripped her unborn child out of her with a knife. In Bosnia, a huge pile of roasted heads were found. Utensils full of Serbian blood were also discovered—this was the hot blood of their murdered brothers that other Serbs were forced to drink.

“Countless women and girls were raped; mothers in the presence of their daughters and daughters in the presence of their mothers, while many women, girls, and small children were ushered off to Ustashi garrisons to be used as prostitutes.

“Rape was committed even before the altars of the Orthodox Church. In Petrinja County, for instance, a son was forced to attack his mother. About 3,000 Serbs were murdered in the Serbian Orthodox Church at Glina and the massacre of Serbs before the altar at Kladusha with sledge hammers is something that may never be mentioned in history.

“There are detailed and official minutes (reports) of these unheard of crimes. They were so terrible as to have shocked even the Germans and the Italians. Many pictures were taken of these massacres and torture orgies.

“The Germans claim the Croats did these same things during the Thirty-Years’ War and that, since then, there has been a proverb in Germany: ‘God save us from cholera, hunger and the Croats.’ Even the Germans from Srem hate us and act more or less humanly towards the Serbs. The Italians have photographed a utensil holding 31_1/2 kilograms of Serbian eyes, and one Croat who came to Dubrovnik decorated with a string of eyes and with two wreaths of Serbian tongues.

“The horror in the camps where thousands of Serbs were murdered or left to die from hunger, cold and mistreatment, is indescribable. The Germans tell about one camp in Lika in which the Croats confined thousands of Serbs. Yet when they came there, they found the camp empty, flooded with blood, and clothing strewn everywhere.

“Today, in the camp of Jasenovac, thousands of Serbs are being tortured and murdered. In this bitter winter, they’re kept in Gypsy barracks without enough straw or covers, and their food consists of but two potatoes a day.

“Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of Europe. We must go to Asia, to the times of Temerlan and Ghengis Kahn, or to Africa, to the states of beastly Negro rulers to find anything similar. The Croatian name has been blemished with dishonor and shame for centuries for these atrocities. Nothing can clear us now. We won’t dare mention our ‘thousand-year-old culture’ even to the last Gypsy in the Balkans any more, because even Gypsies were never so beastly.

“Why I do write this to you, since you are not a political character and not responsible for this? Here is why: In all these unprecedented crimes, worse than pagan, OUR CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS ALSO PARTICIPATED IN TWO WAYS.

• First, a large number of priests, clerics, friars and organized Catholic youth actively participated in all these crimes, but more terrible even Catholic priests became camp and group commanders and, as such, ordered or tolerated the horrible tortures, murders and massacre of a baptized people.
• ONE CATHOLIC PRIEST SLIT THE THROAT OF AN ORTHODOX SERBIAN MINISTER. None of this could have been done without the permission of their Bishops and if it was done, they should have been brought to the Ecclesiastical Court and unfrocked. Since this did not happen, then ostensibly the Bishops gave their consent by acquiescence at least.
• The Catholic Church has used all means to Catholicise forcefully the remaining Serbs. And, while the land streamed with the innocent blood of martyrs and while the moanings of the surviving unfortunates were still audible, the friars and nuns carried Ustashi knives in one hand and a Cross and a prayer-book in the other. The province of Srem is covered with the leaflets of Bishop Akshamovich, which were printed in his own print shop at Djakovo. He calls upon the Serbs through these leaflets, to save their lives and property, recommending the Catholic faith to them. It would seem our Church wanted to prove it could murder souls like the Ustashi do bodies. And worse suspicion falls here upon the Catholic Church because, at the same time, many Serbian Churches were destroyed, while others were converted into Catholic.

“Though we Croatians shall never be able to erase this shamefulness which we have brought upon ourselves with these crimes, we can at least lessen our responsibility before the world and our conscience if we raise our voices in protest against all this infamy.

“This is the last hour for us to do so. After all the great crimes in history, punishments follow. What will happen to us Croats if the impression is formed that we participated in all these crimes to the finish?

“Again, it is the duty of the Church to raise its voice: first, because it is a Church of Christ; second, because it is powerful. The great Catholic Bishop in Germany had the courage to raise his voice in behalf of the haunted Jews, yet in our country not one Bishop has decried the fate of the innocent Christian Serbs who have suffered more than the Jews in Germany. For this reason the greatest responsibility and both divine and human punishment shall fall upon the heads of the Catholic Church and also upon the people if they do not repent in time for these grave and terrible sins.

“I write you this—about these terrible crimes—to save my soul and I leave it to you to find a way to save your soul.

(Signed) Prvislav Grizogono.”
Former Minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
At Zemun, February 8, 1942.

By the time you have read thus far your heart will be sad and, no doubt, you will be filled with amazement that such terrible things could happen in this supposedly enlightened age. That these crimes should be perpetrated in the name of religion and so-called Christianity is galling in the extreme to every lover of the meek and lowly Jesus. But to be stirred only either sympathetically or indignantly is not enough. It is because we can see the trend of affairs in Canada leading to a similar climax in this country that we of the Canadian Protestant League have taken the step in faith of having this book published to warn the people.

God says to the prophet Ezekiel:

“Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

“If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

“Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

“He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” Ezek. 33: 2-6.

We remember the tragedy of Pearl Harbour, which was said to be the fault of an unfaithful watchman who held up the message for seventeen hours. We feel it our bounden duty to warn the people of Canada that the Church of Rome has taken possession of this land. This could never have occurred had it not been for the indifference of Protestants and the refusal of some of the finest Christians to witness against the idolatry of Romanism and to evangelize Roman Catholics.

From a booklet written in America called “The Freedom of Worship,” the author of whom is Francis J. Connell, a Redemptorist priest, which bears the imprimatur (approval) of Francis J. Spellman, Archbishop of New York, dated April 6th, 1944, we cull the following quotations which should impress on Protestants that Rome means to do the same in America and Canada as she did in Yugoslavia and is doing in Spain and Greece at the moment of writing—when the opportune moment arrives.

“THE FREEDOM OF WORSHIP”: THE CATHOLIC POSITION

No one has a real right to accept any religion save Catholic religion, or to be a member of any church save the Catholic Church, or to practice any form of divine worship save that commanded or sanctioned by the Catholic Church. (Page 4.)

Hence, the mere fact that a person sincerely believes a certain religion to be true gives him no genuine RIGHT to accept that religion in opposition to God’s command that all must embrace the one true religion. Neither does it necessarily oblige others to allow him the unrestricted practice of his religious beliefs. (Page 7.)

The Catholic, convinced as he is that the Catholic religion is the only true religion, is intolerant toward other creeds. Above all it is deplorable to meet a Catholic who is hesitant about expressing to his non-Catholic friends the true Catholic position on this subject—who, perhaps, even commits himself to the assertion that everyone has a right to worship God as he individually sees fit. How can such a Catholic regard himself as a loyal follower of Jesus Christ? (Page 8.)

If the country is distinctively Catholic—that is, if the population is almost entirely Catholic, and the national life and institutions are permeated with the spirit of Catholicity —the civil rulers can consider themselves justified in restricting or preventing denominational activities hostile to the Catholic religion. (Emphasis the Webmaster’s.) They are justified in repressing written or spoken attacks on Catholicism, the use of the Press or the mails to weaken the allegiance of Catholics towards their church, and similar anti-Catholic efforts. (Page 11.)

SECRET SOCIETY

In Australia at present a sinister secret society known as “The Order of Maal” is seeking to recruit children of 14 years old and upwards from all sections of the community. In a letter written inviting a young Australian Protestant to join this society, one of the conditions mentioned is Rule 4: “Parents must not know that their son or daughter is a member of this society. Occasionally parents will find out. If this happens we must be notified immediately. Parents sometimes open their children’s letters. If your parents have this habit you cannot become a member until they lose it.”

We have evidence that members of this sinister organization are worming their way into youth movements and enticing Protestants, who are ignorant of their real designs, to join their ranks.

When the rebellion of 1916 was being prepared in Ireland, young people were drawn into similar secret societies and led to take bloodcurdling oaths to give them a sense of importance and a feeling that they belonged to something that gave them “power and authority,” only to find that they were faced up with a list of names of people that had been chosen by their leaders to be shot. These young people discovered, when it was too late, that they had joined a murder gang and that the penalty of refusing to murder was to be murdered themselves.

It is common knowledge that Roman Catholic Actionist activities have multiplied and are feverishly preparing for the “big day.” Some Roman Catholics, unable to keep their vindictiveness completely concealed, have issued veiled threats to Protestants, telling them that “their day is coming.”

Recently in Darwin a Mission Worker was seeking to lead an immigrant to Christ. The immigrant said to the Protestant Missionary, “I am not interested to discuss religion with you, but I am going to tell you something. We had our instructions, before we came into this country, to be ready at a given signal to murder every Australian man and woman who refused to submit to our holy Mother the Church.”

The continual industrial strife is yet another part of the “grand plan” of Rome.

Carried out under the cloak of Communism, by Roman agitators or their dupes, these strikes are designed to cause a Revolution, which would provide the opportunity for “Catholic Action” to spring to action to deliver the country from the “Communist Menace,” and, incidentally, slaughter the Protestants.

ROMAN CATHOLIC AGITATORS

As our present (Canadian) Labor Government is very willing to oblige the Vatican, we suggest a much simpler method of dealing with the Communistic menace would be to introduce a compulsory secret ballot. If Rome is genuine in her desire to stop strikes she could issue an order to her own people to refuse to partake in strikes. As her dupes carry out her instructions, this should solve the trouble as most of the agitators are Roman Catholics.

Dumps of ammunition and equipment have mysteriously disappeared. Lorries loaded with ammunition have been seen entering monasteries and convents. Mysterious parties have been held in certain Roman Catholic homes where there was neither singing nor dancing, but the sound of heavy trucks driving up and unloading of evidently heavy cases, which could be heard by neighbors.

At a demonstration of Roman Catholic cadets in the Waverley Oval recently, a Roman Catholic priest addressing about 500 of these men, boasted that they had 10,000 cadets in connection With their Roman Catholic schools and colleges in Australia, all trained and ready. ~ Enough has been said to call all Christians to earnest prayer and deep repentance for past failures. Those who have not, as yet, learned the value of an open Bible and the freedom to worship God according to the dictates of conscience would do well to think seriously and to ask themselves whether they are ready to face the tortures and fiery trials through which the unfortunate Serbs have passed.

God says:

Perhaps you who are reading this book would like to do something definite about it. Perhaps you have realized that, although Christ died for your sins, you have never availed yourself of the free pardon He purchased for you.

Why not now repent and accept Christ and then if these tragedies must be faced, at least you will be ready and will know that “to be absent from the body” is to be “at home with the Lord”? You will then be able to say with the Apostle Paul, “I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him, against that day.” To help some to come to the point of decision we suggest this little prayer which has been a help to many:

“Thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying for me; Come into my heart Lord Jesus, and wash away my sins and fill me with Thy Holy Spirit and make me Thine own child, now and forever.” Amen.

The Lord Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with Me.” Rev. 3: 20.

The facts contained in this book are vital to all Protestants. When read pass the book on to your friends that they too may be informed and warned of Roman Catholic brutalities.

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