Reassigned Killing Fields

Feral Tribune, Split, Croatia, June 28, 1999

Fifth Column

According to the documentation published in the Registrar 11 and Registrar 18/1,2 of the Historical Archive in Karlovac, 43 persons were sentenced to be shot to death. I was unable to establish the origin of the difference between 43 death sentences and 51 executed persons, as was claimed during the last week's commemoration. It is likely that during Partisan reprisals in the village of Furjan, on June 19 1944, there were extra judicial executions as can be concluded from a report of the then local committee of the Communist Party of Croatia for Slunj, which mentions as many as 64 executed persons. Furthermore, the report of the then Regional Intelligence Center in Slunj, dated June 20 1944, states that "several Ustashe families which assisted in various ways 8th Ustashe Bojna were temporarily moved from the villages of Salopek Luka, Naric Selo, and Donji Furjan to Bihac". The decision of the Court states that the death sentences were issued in the case because of "beastly torture of wounded Partisans, collaboration with Ustashe, treason and participation in the struggle against the People's Liberation Army," but the documents indicate longer pre-history and deeper layers of the whole case.

Ustashe Stronghold

"At the end of July, Ustashe corporal-returnee Vital Baljak suddenly arrived on a freight train (with a group of Ustashe returnees) and several hundreds of rifles (allegedly about 400). He did not establish contact with either the regional administration or the Ustashe Staff or the local Ustashe Police, but started on his own to recruit and arm people... He also ordered that all [Serb] Orthodox from Slunj be jailed. He claimed to be on a special mission, that he was only responsible to the central authorities in Zagreb and that the rest of us had nothing to do with his action... I reported that to Poglavnik [the Leader, Ante Pavelic] (telegram of 100 words). Then, when the answer failed to appear, I called Poglavnik's office by phone. I was told that the telegram had been received and that the reply would soon arrive. I went first to Karlovac to see the head of the district Niksic, then to Zageb, personally. However, while I was traveling all the Serbs from Slunj were already murdered and their bodies thrown into a ravine and buried (in Donje Taboriste, so called Drenka).

"In Zagreb, I resigned my post as the Ustashe administrator for the Slunj district... When Slunj was 'cleansed' [of Serbs], a hunt on [Serb] Orthodox switched to the nearby villages. If anyone was caught, he or she would be killed on the spot. All those [Serb] Orthodox who could escape escaped to the forest, so that most of the victims were women, children and elderly, who could not run away. That orgy of violence went on for 15 days... All the inhabitants of Slunj and the surrounding region were shocked and condemned that action especially because these butchers also engaged in looting. They murdered above all wealthy individuals (they would steal money, watches, gold, clothing), which gave the whole action appearance of ordinary banditry. Other villagers did not participate in the murders but would only catch and imprison the [Serb] Orthodox. On that occasion, between 3,000 and 4,000 [Serb] Orthodox were murdered in the district of Slunj. Perhaps between 100 and 200 of them were men, while the rest were women, children and elderly..."

Parish Priest's Report

"'Cleansing' by the Ustashe started on July 29 1941... That went on until August 8, but was less effective toward the end of that period because the people were aware of the situation and were hiding in the forest... The town of Slunj was totally cleansed and the cleansing of the nearby villages was also rather successful, while there was less success in the more remote villages. It is currently impossible to provide precise figures [for the number of the dead] because the remaining inhabitants are hiding in the woods, but it is certain that many families have lost at least one member... The work of Ustashe on cleansing was almost public, which is one of the main reasons for the fleeing of the population to the woods. 'Cleansing' took place in houses, courtyards, on the road, in the presence of parents, children or the other way round. Houses and property [of the victims] were looted, so that Ustashe were fighting among themselves who was going to cleanse a wealthier household... Such actions provoked revulsion even among the strongest Croat patriots..."

Partisan sources provide names for 1,313 victims who were executed during that 15-day "cleansing" operation on the territory of the then district of Slunj, which indicates that Ustashe administrator Niksic in his outrage exaggerated the number of victims almost three fold. However, that does not change the character of the committed crimes and their consequences, which marked the definite divisions in Kordun during WWII. The village of Furjan was especially branded by crime that took place on March 23 1942 in the village itself. The perpetrators were allegedly a group of Ustashe from Slunj, led by petty officer Zarko Kovacevic. However, some of the Ustashe from the village also took part in the crime. In a very cruel manner, all 53 Serbs from the nearby hamlets were murdered in this action. Among them were 24 children, most of them of school age (there is a list of all victims, with names and dates of birth, in the documentation).

Some of the Ustashe from Furjan also took part in similar crimes in the village of Masvina, on July 18 1942. When Partisans, during 1942, gradually took control of Kordun, Furjan and Slunj were the last Ustashe strongholds and resisted the longest. Partisans managed to take them on November 11 and 14, 1942, respectively. Most of Ustashe from Furjan managed to break through to Karlovac and join with the 8th Ustashe Bojna. A lot of civilians from Furjan withdrew together with Ustashe in a mass of 6,000 to 8,000 refugees from the Slunj and Bihac districts. Most of the refugees did not manage to break through to Karlovac and Partisans returned them to their homes.

Massacre of Wounded

The explosion of enmity took place in June 1944. The 6th Company of PPK, a sort of precursor to the future military police, was active in the area around Furjan. Ustashe supporters from Furjan were following the movement of the Company and reported to Cazin about its whereabouts. Ustashe from Cazin, some of them from Furjan, set up on June 12 a well-hidden ambush. The Ustashe waited for the Partisans to get within 20 meters [yards] from the ambush and then begin shooting. Out of 60 Partisans who fell into the ambush, at least 10 to 12 died in the first fusillade, while many more were wounded. Less than a half of the Partisans managed to get away.

Ustashe murdered all the wounded Partisans on the spot, allegedly after sadistic torture. Also allegedly, according to the record of the investigation, some villagers from Furjan participated in the capture and killing of the wounded Partisans. The data about the total number of killed Partisans widely vary: some reports mention 25, some 29, most 45, and the highest mentioned figure is 49 dead. In any case this was the biggest number of Partisan casualties at one place and single battle in all of Kordun in the period between 1941 and 1945; actually, the worst Partisan defeat.

Partisan units controlled by the Staff of the First Crops of the People's Liberation Army of Croatia immediately took control of the whole region around Furjan. In their footsteps followed Partisan informers, investigators and judges. The result of the investigation were sentences and executions which took place on June 19 1944 and expulsion of those families for whom it was, allegedly, established that they had helped Ustashe on the eve of the ambush by providing accommodation and food, or in any other fashion.

Of course, it is justified to be suspicious about the credibility of such a speedy (five day) investigation and swift death sentences in as many as 43 cases "for beastly torture of wounded Partisans, cooperation with the Ustashe, treason" etc. It can be assumed that, in an angry reprisal, innocent also perished. However it can also be assumed that some of the individuals responsible for the deaths of children who had been, on March 23 1942, pulled out of their school benches and slaughtered behind their school, were among those sentenced to death. There are records of questioning, interrogations, testimonies, confessions, allegedly established guilt. These are judicial sentences that can be annulled only by a renewed trial. Only after that it is possible to talk about who should get a memorial, who should be offered gratitude, who accused of being a criminal, and who rehabilitated.

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