Bosniacs are the Descendants of Old Goths

In the last few editions of your paper I noticed in several places claims that the Bosniacs are Slavs. This was written by some people of authority. I would like to point out that this theory is the product of the Serbian distortion of history; I bring to your attention differences in views of Germanic and Slavic anthropologists about the origin of our people.

Indeed there are a lot of indications that we have little in common with Slavs. . . .

I hope that this text will bring in an avalanche of similar contributions since in the time of [the former] Yugoslavia, Slovenians wrote about this topic and our anthropologists are certainly familiar with it; however, it was kept quiet because the Yugoslav communists qualified the theory of the Germanic anthropologists to be fascist, obviously according to the Serbian wishes, because they wanted to annex the whole Bosnian nation.

In the opinion of Germanic (above all German) anthropologists, Bosniacs have not descended from Slavs but from Goths. For this theory they find a lot of proofs. During the third Reich, Germans considered Bosniacs to be Goths and therefore they [the Bosniacs] could be mobilized into SS-units. It is well known that these units were reserved for the purest members of the German race.

A Gothic tribe Besi moved to the territory of todays Bosnia 80 years before Slavs; the tribe remained after the Slav arrival from the east. The name Bosnia originated from the name of this tribe; personal name Besim is one of the oldest Bosnian names. It is typical for the Bosnian Muslims and wasn't, like other names, taken over during the Ottoman rule, but remained from the oldest times.

Five Slavic tribes have migrated to the territory of the former Yugoslavia ; they later formed South Slav peoples: Slovenians, Croats, Serbs, Montenegrins and Macedonians. There didn't exist a native tribe from which the Bosniacs could have originated. Our enemies use this fact as the key proof that the Bosniacs are Serb converts to Islam. Of course there didn't exist a native tribe from which the Bosniacs could have originated, since their ancestors are Goths, actually Ostrogottic tribe Besi.

The first Slav state is the Russian state, founded by Viking Rurik, who conquered with his warriors Russian tribes in 723. Other Slavs had no concept of a state for a long time after that; however, Bosnia is for a first time mentioned as a state in 867. How could the Bosniacs (Besi) build a state, which was unknown to other Slavs, while around the Bosnian state lived Slavic tribes until 1102, when the Croats founded their state? The Gothic influence in Bosnia is behind this development.

How come there was a University in Bosnia in 1175 and the masses were literate at the time when other Slavs lived in tribes? Again obviously due to Gothic influence. Let us ask ourselves what is the origin of the middle Bosnian h in our language? Isn't it similar to the pronunciation of some words in German language? Is it a remnant from the original Bosniac language?

It is well known that Goths had blond hair. There aren't any blond Slavs. How come there are so many blond individuals among Bosniacs if they are Slavs?

Bosnian Church is considered to be a Bogumil Church. Is that right? Is the faith of the Bosnian Krstjans similar to the Bulgarian Bogumil faith ( Bogumil religion developed in Bulgaria and existed on the territories of the former Eastern Roman Empire) or to the Anglican Protestantism? There are opinions that the Bosnian Church was actually an Anglican Protestant Church. Protestantism is typical for Goths.

What is the origin of the Bosniac's military prowess? Slavs were never good fighters while Goths always destroyed everything in front of themselves. Consider the WWII. Germans occupied both Paris and Moscow. They were taken on by the Americans and the English, who defeated them; this was used by the Russians who in their campaign occupied Eastern Europe and half of todays eastern Germany; Russians had five times greater losses than the Germans (consider the numbers of victims in the WWII and keep in mind that the large number of Germans died on the Western front). Let us mention the genocidal nature of Slavs. Churchill in his memoirs writes about the formation of the Polish border. To Churchill's remark that such a border would cause large movement of population, Stalin replied that in the territory under "Red Army's" control there were no Germans. Compare this with the events in the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Similarities are incredible. While the English and Americans enabled Western Germany to build a strong state without Nazism, the Russians introduced terror and, in the USSR only (their own country), killed 21 million people after the war.

Finally, let us mention that there are no pure nations. Slavs have migrated to the territory of todays Bosnia and Besi mixed with them and adopted their language. This was especially significant when the original Bosnia started expanding to the territories inhabited by the Slavs, to the west, south and east. Later the Pope forced Bosnia and its king to officially convert to Catholicism - which means that he was the ancestor of todays Croats.

In 14th century, metal workers Sassi [Saxons] settled in Bosnia, because Bosnia was then a developed state. Even today there are traces of the existence of Sassi in Bosnia. For example, ethnically clean Sassian villages nearby Kakanj (Tesevo region). After the arrival of Turks a part of Slavs in Bosnia also converted to Islam. After Austria-Hungary left, a new principle, one nation- one religion , was introduced. According to this scheme all Catholics in Bosnia became Croats, even the forementioned Sassi. All orthodox became Serbs and all Muslims Bosniacs. This way some Slavs, which don't have even a slightest trace of the original Bosniacs - Besi, became Bosniacs as well. Also, all Turks who remained in Bosnia became Bosniacs.

Although we have a small percentage of Slav blood in our veins, we must know when we see a blond soldier in the Army of Bosnia-Hercegovina that he is a direct descendant of Vikings - the terrible warriors from the ancient past.

Mirsad Hadziahmetovic, Koln