We Will Defend Blaskic
by Dr. Slobodan Lang
Nedjeljna Dalmacija, Februrary 1, 1996
Tuesday, January 23, 1996
I met with the Bishop on my way back from Banja Luka. We talked about the individuals who were arrested, especially those arrested by General Sumanovac and don Matanovic. We also asked about the Jewish community; they are only in Doboj. We even spoke with Serbs who escaped from Croatia about the universally important issue of human rights. The mass in Banja Luka was magnificent. The Bishop was surrounded by children, and on that very same spot we participated in the prayer to which we invited all of Croatia to a year ago. Today you cannot say that you did not know; from today on you are responsible for your thoughts, words, actions and failures to act. We left the cathedral to attend the mass given at Petricavac by the Franciscans. We delivered the message from the President of the Republic of Croatia to the assembly of Croatians and while surrounded by the Serbian militia, we told them that the state of Croatia exists, that it is strong and that it will help them, and that the Croatians in Banja Luka are waiting for them. One by one, they are waiting for Croatia. Someone is waiting for medicine, someone else is waiting for a job, a third person is waiting for a school book, a fourth person is in jail, a fifth has lost all of his dignity, and they are all looking towards Zagreb, towards Croatia, and they are hoping that we will forget about our own disagreements and problems and remember the Banja Luka exists. That there are Croatians in Banja Luka. And the commitments to them.I am speaking with Granic, both of them. I am thinking about the brothers. I have learned from my own experience that conflicts between brothers have always existed in this region. Politics is always attempting to thwart the brothers. This time the brothers have defeated politics. Raise a glass to the brothers' victory over politics. We have completed the first action evidencing the rescuing of old people in liberated regions, we are saving lives. There is no man left here. I hope that the program against social collapse will help others as well.
I am speaking with Blaskic over the phone. I am proud to walk the streets of Zagreb with General Blaskic. He is a young man who applied his military knowledge to the survival of the Croatian people. At the time of the Serbian attack on Slovenia he refused to participate in aggression and abandoned the attacking army. He went to central Bosnia. They gathered their people to strive towards their survival. In ninety-two against the Serbian army, and in 93 while they were surrounded there was conflict between the Croats and Moslems. Ninety-four and 95, together with the army of BiH he participated and commanded the liberation of Kupres. This was the basis for the liberation of the whole of Croatia. Baskic was indicted for war crimes. If the Croats of central Bosnia are war criminals then that can only be because they exist. The Croats from central Bosnia are the strongest force of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are the only ones who are working towards the total unity of Croats. The Tribunal at the Hague is financed by the world, presided over by judges from South Africa, and Croats from central Bosnia should be the first to be tried. I'm asking and accusing - isn't a person innocent until he/she is proven guilty? Don't Zagreb and Croatia have an obligation to offer the possibility of innocence to those accused of being guilty for having defended the Croatian people. Who are we if we label our own people as guilty as soon as they are accused? When will this inquisition of our leaders end and when will it cease to be called moral.
Wednesday, January 24
Here comes Marko Stekic, a Franciscan from Tuzla. He is very satisfied with the Dayton Agreements, and he believes that it offers them lots of opportunities. When I see father Mark, I'm reminded of Nova Bila in the winter of 1992. October 30, 1992, the exit from Jajce, Podmilacje, I still haven't been there.We are seeing to the first humanitarian coordination with Damir Zoric. Kostovic is speaking. It is extremely important to increase the coordination between humanitarian organizations. After the coordination I met with Damir and people from Posavina. We arranged to meet at Damir's regularly. We agreed that Damir would help with his international connections. Lets not forget that there are many more refugees from Posavina than from Croatian Podunavlje. I left that same night to visit the British Ambassador. I informed him about the situation in Banja Luka. This is his area of responsibility. I asked him that all Croats and Moslems be listed. I do not wish to defend human rights after someone has been hurt. I wish to prevent it. Don't we know how many of our people are still living there (and there are about 7000 people).
Thursday, January 25
The Bishop from Banja Luka writes. He is accusing the Croatian Defense Council of forcing people from Majdan. As soon as the newspapers began writing about it, I knew that we knew nothing about it. I knew the information in the newspapers was not correct. I've never found any information of any value greater that to motivate you to go see for yourself. Majdan began to occupy my thoughts. What is oMaydanoe? Here comes Olga Papac. From women, from mothers, disappeared and taken away by force. We are seeing what we have accomplished. What has been done to find our missing and those who were taken away? These women are willing to continue trying to find out, to the point of exhaustion. Every official gets nervous when approached by them. What can a Croatian man do to made Milosevic release the people who are missing and those who were carried away. He cannot do anything. He can only swallow his pride and tears. Americans should be obliged to do this. It is the personal responsibility of the American president. It is unacceptable that the Red Cross be a medium by which people disappear, and a form of euthanasia for their own shame. For our own sake, for their sake, for the sake of today and tomorrow, it is important to find those who are missing. There cannot be any peace without it. It is possible to quiet the weapons for the time being, but it is impossible to build a peace. Olga Kruhinja is coming to visit me from Osijek. She wants to influence the establishment of peace in eastern Slavonia and Croatian Podunavlje. She has a very good relationship with international organizations. She wishes to rebuild the peace among people of all nationalities successfully or unsuccessfully, honorably or shamefully, long-term or short-term, in a any way at all. She asks whether there is place for such people. Is she excessive? There are no excessive people.We are holding the first coordinating meeting for human rights with the vice- president Hodak-Mintas. It was very useful and successful. Human rights are the hygiene of the 20th and 21st century. This is not an inquisition into our people to purge the devil, but an opportunity for good. That night I was going to meet with a group of Croatians from Srijem. They speak of Srijem, in the past and in the present. But they wish to talk about future wishes, they want to be connected to it. They were ustashas, but they are all in mixed marriages. They wanted to be friends with everyone, while being a part of Croatia. Now they simply wish to be a part of the Croatian society and Croatian culture. They are looking for and thinking about rebuilding bridges.
Friday, January 26
I am speaking with Dr. Anicic, the Vicar of Banja Luka, Doris Pack from the European Parliament. Javornik from the Red Cross, Granic and Soljic. The conversation turned onto the topic of Majdan. We should go to Majdan. I arranged to go to Vienna with Bekic on the 31st. Friends are calling me from America. I asked some Jewish lawyers about Blaskic. If Croatian intellectuals are going to be reserved, then it is the responsibility of the Jews to stand up for Blaskic. Think about it. I meet with the mothers again and we make plans for next week. I have Boris from Split over for dinner. We talk about relatives, family, blood and killing. Mostly about the sons. They are studying, both of them are o.k.
Saturday, January 27
Sunday, January 28
In the morning, Branko Culo, Beri, Boris and I got
going on our trip. That true road Zagreb-Split with a
coffee at Plitvice and at Knin. We are approaching Trilj,
and we agree on dinner plans. There is no better hotel than
the Sveti Mihovil in Trilj. One hasn't been in a good hotel
until they have been in this hotel. All the Sheratons put
together don't add up to Sveti Mihovil. If IFOR finds out
about it they will never leave here. At five o'clock we
meet with Mirkovic from Croatian Radio-Television, Vidovic
from the Red Cross of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Ignac
Kostroman from the political office of the Croatian Defense
Council. Not a bad score. The Croatian meetings in every
direction in Kupres. We arrived at six and met an endless
crowd of people. Father Visaticki, a Pole, three Polish
brothers, priests from the Croatian area around Mrkonjic
Grad, Majdan and the surrounding area maintaining the unity
of the people. They have gone through so much that you
would advise journalists to only speak with them. I meet a
Croat who was in Manjaca, but he does not speak much for
obvious reasons. And then there is the Kovcalija family. I
met them for the first time in Dalj on the Dunav in August
of 91 when their father was killed and their mother and two
year-old daughter stayed behind with the remaining Croats,
waiting to leave Dalj. I wanted to take this little girl to
live with me and I could not get ever the fact that she was
not mine. Throughout the war I thought of her every day.
And, she went from Dalj, in war-torn Slavonia and the
Croatian Podunavlje, to search for peace in Majdan near
Jajce. I am now after five years in Majdan. And her uncle
and her mother are leaving the village, a place where Croats
have lived since the 12th century. A place that was
conquered by the Croatian army, liberated from terror, a
government in which even the doctors where criminals. And
now that human rights are being protected Majdan has to once
again be under Serb authority, and the representatives from
these human rights organizations, civil administration did
not even come to tell these people what their rights are,
what can be done, how can they be protected from future
persecution. The only man who came was the man who
persecuted them during the war returned to tell them that
they would once again answer to him, and from the other side
came the Croats from the Croatian Army to catch them.
Monday, January 29
I spend some time in Jajce, I talk to some people from the municipal council. A thousand people returned, the wonderful town of Vrbas, Pliva, next to a huge lake. One of the most beautiful towns I have ever seen. Many people have returned and they want to create a city, but its realization would take the support of all of Croatia. One must know that the big hospital that used to be staffed by 105 doctors now has only four. Hebrang should come here. A hospital project is necessary in Jajce. We go to Podmilacje, near Sveti Ivo. We meet father Peter at the ruins of the erect Croatian sanctuary, the largest sanctuary in Bosnia. And the Podmilacje ruins call every man and every Croat to come to Podmilacje and to commit himself to building his country and himself. While I am there I learn from the radio that there has been an exchange of prisoners and that at that very moment 11 Croatian prisoners had just arrived in Jajce. Man would let himself be overcome with happiness, but then I look at and read about the suffering, the crimes. Unbelievable crimes. I don't even want to talk about it. Pain. We have to carry the ruins within us and around us. In Dubrovnik I said "let them knock down the walls, a people will rise." Are we still willing to grow as people in our souls, around us, in all of Croatia?The post war era has begun. We are creating tomorrow. I have to go to Mostar, at 6 o'clock I am on the tribunal at the Franciscans' in the destroyed church at the wounded Christ. When the church was burned, the Christ was burned but the wood inside was untouched by the flames. The city is destroyed, wounded body, and saved soul. The message in 1992 was clear, we are protecting the soul. Everything else can be sacrified.
Translated by Croatian Helsinki Committee on February 3rd, 1996
