The Exploitable Bosnia

Mostar 1985 

Poor Bosnia and Herzegovina! I cannot name another country that has been so exploited. 

The first culprits were the Hungarians followed by the Ottomans. Then along came the Austrians, Hitler and his Croatian protegees, the Ustasha. In the same war, the Jew-hating Amin Al Husseini from Jerusalem paid a special visit to Bosnia. From 1981 it was the Franciscans at Međugorje, then Franjo Tudjman and Slobodan Milosović during the breakup of Yugoslavia. Latterly radical Islam has joined the sad succession.

It breaks my heart.

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that Bosnia's poverty and divisions are the direct result of centuries of exploitation. Bosnia is a country rich in natural resources: bauxite, coal, iron ore, zinc, lead and timber. It has a small access to the Adriatic within the larger Croatian coast, a seventeenth concession by Dubrovnik to the Ottomans to keep the Venetians off their backs.

Here is an extract from my travel diary to show you what the region was like in May 1985.

We left the hotel at 9am and headed south west from Belgrade to Sarajevo where the 1984 Winter Olympics were held. Initially the fields were flat, cultivated by hand and horse-drawn ploughs, or occasionally primitive tractors. During the last half of the journey, we passed through hilly country, and the road and the railway through the mountains near Sarajevo pass through tunnels cut into the rocks. The land is, apart from anything, very green, so different to Australia. Everything looks fertile. Among the hills nestle little towns with one, two or three storey houses and sloping rooves, very much like Austria. The difference is, again, that the people are poor and their houses are not terribly well kept. Notice how hay is stacked in tall, peaked domes, maybe six or seven feet high. Also note the many farm animals inside the rickety hand-made yards: cows, pigs, big black boars, chickens, dogs, ducks. Without the highways, these little towns and farms with their hand-made buildings and fences, and especially the hand-drawn ploughs, could be taken straight out of the seventeenth century. The whole landscape is terribly pretty and scenic. Villages are set into the greenery of deep gullies and the caps of the distant mountains are snow-covered. In fact, there was still snow by the side of the road, although it had turned to ice.

On the same trip, I saw a woman in long trousers pulled in at the ankles, ploughing a field by dragging a wooden plough through the earth. No horse, no husband. I can't remember whether she wore a headscarf but in the 1980's in Australia (for example) a headscarf didn't automatically identify a Muslim woman. In the hospital where I worked in 1982, older non-Muslim women from the Balkans often wore their headscarves even in bed. So I don't know who she was, I only remember being shocked when I saw her with the plough, and I remember the trousers. 

Mediaeval Bosnia. Malcolm Booker, the late Australian Ambassador to Yugoslavia wrote, In the twelfth and thirteen centuries Hungarian rule was also extended to Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was in this period following the absorption of Croatia by Hungary that the seeds of the bitter enmity between the Croats and the Serbs were sown. The Magyar dynasty in Hungary sought to control the whole of the Balkan peninsula and in particular to gain access to Dalmatia and the Adriatic Sea. Since the Serbs were the main obstacle to this, they were the principle target of the Hungarian onslaughts in which Croat troops were extensively employed. (1). 

The Ottomans. Bosnia fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1463 and anyone who has read Ivo Andrić's Nobel prize-winning novel The Bridge on the Drina (2) will recall the odd phenomenon of Bosnians with Slavic surnames who are nevertheless referred to as Turks. They might also recall the almost unreadable account of the staking execution of a local man for interfering with the construction of the bridge. As my Greek relatives will tell you 'the ordeal of the Turk' was not a happy four hundred years and it has left divisions and hatred in a country where people have long memories.

After Austria-Hungary acquired Bosnia from the Ottomans in 1878, the Austrians constructed an extensive network of narrow-gauge railways to supply its troops and to transport natural resources. Unfortunately, Austria was also the enemy of Serbia and when, after 1908, Austria stamped its control over Bosnia more aggressively, it aroused great resentment among Bosnia's large Serbian minority. Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand then made the critical error of parading Austrian imperialism through the street of Sarajevo on 28th June 1914, St Vitus Day, the most sacred day in the Serbian calendar.

We all know what happened next.

In World War 2, Hitler gave Bosnia to Croatia. Bosnia became part of The Independent State of Croatia (NDH), and a mass slaughter of Serbs, Jews and Roma commenced under the Croatian government, the fascist Ustasha. In his book Croatia, British author Marcus Tanner opines that the figure of 600,000 dead Serbs was probably too high, but there is no doubt that the NDH intended to exterminate the Serb population and failed only because it lacked the means (3). A significant Croatian massacre of Serbs took place near Međugorje, which we will come to shortly. 

Hitler helped himself to the bauxite mines near Mostar for aeroplane manufacture, as well as Bosnian coal and extensive quantities of food and timber.

Of Ante Pavelić the leader of the Ustasha, Hubert Butler in his Balkan Essays writes, 'He was extremely devout, attending Mass every morning...[This] man who organized the murder of King Alexander and was later responsible for the attempted extermination of the Serbs as well as the Jews in Croatia, was received with rapture in convents and monasteries and ecclesiastical seminaries, as well as being idolized in the Catholic press (4). Butler also notes that Pavelić was well-disposed towards Muslims but Slavko Goldstein writes that his hatred of Serbs had deranged him (5). In his work 1941 the Year that Keeps Returning Goldstein acknowledges the abuse of Croats by the Serbian government of Yugoslavia between the wars, but says that it cannot be compared to the Croatian revenge. 

Palestine Haj Amin Al Husseini is a little known figure today but Yasser Arafat is not. The two men were related through their mothers and pursued almost identical careers. Al-Husseini was an inciter of violence against Jews in the British Mandate of Palestine. To calm him down, the British made him Grand Mufti, which only made him worse. Since 1941, he had been comfortably provided for in Berlin by Hitler in order to assist with the Holocaust. In the spring of 1943, the Nazis flew him to Yugoslavia to help with the organizing and recruiting of Bosnian Muslims into Himmler's SS Divisions. Many photographs exist of al-Husseini at this time. After initial training in France, the units were sent to Germany, where al-Husseini met them again, inspected them and blessed them. Swelled by German soldiers, their numbers approached 22,000. In December 1943, the Germans returned the divisions to Yugoslavia for active service in Bosnia, and in October 1944 they were disbanded. Their purpose was to kill Jews, but they were noted for their brutality towards the Serbian population.  

Međugorje. Why is there is a Catholic community in Bosnia Herzegovina, particularly the Franciscans at Međugorje? The Yugoslav census of 1971 records 21% of Bosnia's population declared themselves Croats, 40% Muslim and 37% Serb (6). The reference work Good People in an Evil Time Svetlana Broz's account of the Bosnian war, records that the Franciscans had been in Bosnia since Mediaeval times. 'Bosnian Franciscans...actively maintained the link with native literacy and promoted knowledge of the Bosnian language through both spiritual and literary education' (6).

During World War 2, the Franciscans were closely associated with the Ustasha. In his Balkan Essays Hubert Butler, who taught English in Zagreb before the war and returned immediately afterwards to research the crimes of the Ustasha, pulls no punches when referring to the brooding Croatian nationalism of these same Franciscans, ignited by the hatred of the Ustasha for the Serbs. The focal centre for the forced conversions [of Serbs in 1941] and the massacres had been the Franciscan monastery of Shiroki Brijeg [30 kilometres from Međugorje]. Cardinal Tisserant, a French member of the Curia, wrote in 1942, I know for sure that even the Franciscans of Bosnia Herzegovina behaved atrociously. Father Shimitch, with a revolver in his hand, led an armed gang and destroyed Orthodox Churches. No civilized and cultured man, let alone a priest, can behave like that (4). 

In August 1941, the village of Prebilovci 2o kilometres from Međugorje ... was attacked by nearly 3,000 Ustasha from the so-called NDH...237 children and 233 young girls, women and old women were led to the place of execution at Surmanci [8 kilometres from  Međugorje] where all of them were killed... Moreover, in the village and its surrounding area there were also 48 places of execution where people were tormented and killed.... primarily men (7).

Any Catholic visitor to the Franciscan church at Međugorje must take this history into account. To date, the Croatian Catholic Church has neither repented of their war crimes nor asked forgiveness of the Serbs. Jesus said, Make peace with your brothers.    

The Bosnian War. The most human book I can recommend on this conflict is Good People in an Evil Time (6). In it Svetlana Broz demonstrates how people of all backgrounds cared for each other. Before political activists stirred up trouble as far as Istria where my mother was born, these families in the old Yugoslavia had been living together decently. The claim about this war, on which I'm not going to comment, is that Franjo Tuđman of Croatia and Slobodan Milosević of Serbia planned to divide Bosnia between them.

The last time I was in Sarajevo in 2023, it seemed a peaceful place, but a young man we met in a local bakery told us that he thought another war was brewing. Let's hope not.  

Radical Islam. Bosnia seemed tolerantly Islamic to me, and people dwelt peacefully. I was last there during Ramadan when families flacked to the restaurants in the evening. I have read, however, that fighters from the Arab states helped during the Bosnian War and that today there exist pockets of more radical political Islam. 

It is my hope and prayer that they will leave this lovely country in peace. Bosnia has suffered enough.

Sources

1. Booker, Malcolm Conflict in the Balkans Catalyst Press Sydney 1994

2. Andrić, Ivo The Bridge on the Drina Prosveta 1945

3. Tanner, Marcus Yale Croatia University Press 1997

4. Butler, Hubert Balkan Essays Irish Pages Press 2016

5. Goldstein, Slavko 1941: the Year That Keeps Returning New York Review Books 2013

6. Broz, Svetlana Good People  in an Evil Time Other Press New York 2004

7. https://prebilovci.net/stari/english/tales/letter.htm

WINTER BATTLES: BOSNIA 1941

December 1941: Fleeing the German destruction of Užice in Serbia,
Tito and the Partisans crossed the River Drina in winter,

climbed the mountains of Bosnia on the other side, 

and walked through the forests.    

Bosnia Herzegovina is a very mountainous country. In winter it is snow bound.

As someone who has actually driven through Bosnia in the snow, I have difficulty understanding why the Nazis thought that they could successfully invade the country. Even today, the roads seem to be a collection of mule tracks up and down the formidable Dinaric Alps with the addition of a few optimistic motorways. In Eastern Approaches (Jonathon Cape pub. 1949) Fitzroy Maclean writes, 'the Germans, with an elusive enemy, with unreliable allies, and without enough troops of their own to occupy the country effectively, could do little more than garrison the large towns and try to guard the lines of communication between them'.

However, during the war they needed bauxite from the mines near Mostar, the mediaeval capital of Herzegovina, for use in the construction of aeroplanes. Bosnia Herzegovina is also rich in coal, iron ore, zinc and lead. There were two ways to transport coal and ore to Germany. One was along the system of Bosnian narrow-gauge railways built by the Austrians which was extended between the wars to connect the coast to Belgrade, and the other was by sea to Trieste. The railways ran the gauntlet of demolition by the Partisans, and ships in the Adriatic risked being sunk by the Allies. 

The Partisans needed Bosnia to connect with their operational zones in Croatia, Dalmatia, Slovenia and Montenegro. The Nazis waged a series of offensives against them. They were assisted in this by the Italians, the Croatian Ustasha and the Chetniks. The Partisans held up to twenty-eight German divisions in Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro which suited Churchill as the Allied Invasion of Sicily approached.

To understand the creation of the Partisans from a motley collection of local fighters engaged over the centuries in battling Turks, we must go to Bosnia in December 1941.

'Tito and his staff had formed a conception of Partisan warfare which deviated from past Soviet practice...where a Partisan unit was an auxiliary weapon of a regular army...To the Yugoslavs the Partisan units were the army, organized in mobile formations and in territorial defense units.'

from The Embattled Mountain, FWD Deakin, Oxford University Press, 1971.

Between December 1941 and May 1942 Tito formed five Proletarian Brigades of up to 1000 fighters each, as a military striking force under his direct command. By November they had increased to 28.

 Deakin continues, 

'The immediate task of the First Proletarian Brigade [in December 1941] was in ensure the hold of the Partisans over the key strategic areas of East Bosnia.'

The chief difference between these forces and the old local fighters was their mobility. They no longer defended only their home territories. 

'Long before the Allies, the Germans and Italians came to realize that the Partisans constituted a military factor of first rate importance against which a modern army was in many respects powerless.,,During each of [their seven] offensives, the extensive troop movements involved exposed [them] more than ever to the attacks and ambushes of the Partisans.'   

from Eastern Approaches by Fitzroy Maclean  

The contrast between the Partisans and the Germans was striking. The Germans in Bosnia were an efficient modern army, often using Alpine troops, with field kitchens and heavy artillery, 'lumbering, snail-like'. The Partisans were organized into small, mobile, lightly armed units who were familiar with the terrain. Much of the reason for the failure of the Germans to subdue the Partisans was their inability to embrace change. Tito told Deakin that the Germans 'had missed the lesson of creating mobile units with special anti-Partisan training. German forward units were always pressing behind the Yugoslavs and could never move with speed in self-contained columns to attack the Partisan forces from the rear. By not winning every grim race for each mountain crest, the German operation failed in its central purpose of annihilating the Yugoslav main operational group.' 

Yet the Germans were supported from the air, as we read in the poem The Bombed Forest by Josip Cazi, a Partisan Political Commissar. Papuk is a mountain in Slavonija in Croatia.

'This morning over Papuk a reconnaissance plane is searching, an ominous buzzard in that dreary first light...Death comes from the air, seeking with fiery claws the heart of the Partisans.'

The forest burns all day. Frightened animals run from the wildfire. 

'But at sunset Partisan songs sweep through it like an inexhaustible fountain. Along the slopes the column of soldiers moves out into the lowlands. They will go into action at night – the cycle of history is still turning. Above Papuk the fires die in the evening.' 

The typical enemy tactic was encirclement, and getting out of the ring was the Partisan aim, as we read in A Partisan Letter by Josip Cazi,

Yesterday, with a fiery partisan sledgehammer, we fought the fascist regiment on Mt Psunj, so hurriedly that I didn’t send you the letter I had written. We penetrated the ring by a stormy impact, blasting the fiery chain in a bloody assault. And while to you, my orphan, I write this letter, our columns on the September roads are singing of victory in the morning sun.

'The ring' is a constant observation in British eyewitness accounts. For example, from Partisan Picture' by Basil Davison (Bedford Books, 1946) at the Battle of the Neretva River, from January to March 1943,

To hold the ring the German Command then made an arrangement with 12,000 of Mihaylovitch's chetniks, commanded by Col. Stanisitch and General Djukanovitch and others, by which the latter would attempt to seal off any further partisan retreat by taking up positions along the left bank of the River Neretva. [The fourth offensive.]

The fifth offensive ended with the breaking of the ring in Montenegro and the escape of Tito and the main formations into Eastern Bosnia. That was in mid-June 1943 [the Battle of the Sutjeska].

An account of the same battle from The Heretic by Fitzroy Maclean (Harper and Brother, NY, 1957), 

'"Now that the ring is completely closed," ran a captured German operation order, "the communists will try to break through. You will ensure that no able-bodied man leaves the ring alive."' 

 'If guerillas are to survive in conditions comparable to those in which the Partisans were fighting,' wrote Fitzroy Maclean in Eastern Approaches, 'they must...deny the enemy a target.' The Partisans did this by 'extricating themselves, fading away, reappearing elsewhere and attacking the enemy where he least expected it.' They did not stand and fight to the last man. We see this 'escape in defeat' in the poem The Battle at Twenty Below Zero. Having sown the seeds of dissent among the local population, they returned later to the same area from which the enemy had driven them out. No author is given, but it was evidently written by one of the brigades in 1945. Gradina is in northwest Bosnia.  

The sun itself is flaming on these clouds,
and on their serene heights, a grey aspect,
but on the people and villages, snows are falling.

The hoarfrost is silent, the chirp of the birds dies.
Until the middle of November its sting has dug in.
But the heart of the people beats like a burning spark.

The column of soldiers steps into the blizzard, the angry ice,
on callused feet, by swift, firm steps.
The bold ones focus on the view in the distance where autumns produce bloody fruits.
In their hearts they carry spring blossoms and their deadly rifles are loaded with freedom.

Hurry! It will be an onslaught in Gradina,
Because Tito’s heart has won the battle of the cold,
An irresistible heart for freedom.

Shh! The soldiers creep on, still on track,
What leads to the bunker? The stone tower?
The shots…the cheers… and the escape in defeat?

Five dead Nazis and three frozen traitors,
Because the stiffs in uniform have no heart.
The thermometer says: twenty below zero.

 In a further post, I will comment on the poems written by and about female Yugoslav Partisans. To close, here is a small sample.   

From A Woman Under Arms by Franjo Mraz

Oh my rifle, I will never part with you!
You will be with me at the end of my wrist until the last day
To protect the paths of freedom along which the conquered are moving.
Tremble, look, listen to the woman warrior, the woman Partisan!

                                                                                     

(Images M Walker 2023. The first three images were taken driving from Belgrade over the Drina to Sarajevo and the last on the motorway from Sarajevo towards the Neretva River and Mostar.)