Vladimir Žerjavic
Encyclopedia
Vladimir Žerjavić was a Croatia
n economist
and a United Nations
expert. He published a series of historical articles and books during the 1980s and 1990s in which he argued that the scope of the Holocaust
in World War II
-era territory of Yugoslavia was intentionally exaggerated. Žerjavić also published a document regarding the death count in the war in Bosnia (1992–1995).
and graduated at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Zagreb
. After 1934 he worked in the private sector, and after 1945 in various institutions of SFR Yugoslavia. Between 1958 and 1982 he worked abroad as an industrial consultant. In 1964 he joined the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
and later consulted the governments of various nations.
of 1992–95, of which 160,000 were Bosniaks
, 30,000 Croats and 25,000 Serbs.
However, according to newer research done by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the number of people killed in the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina was around 102,000. Among killed it was found 69.24% (70,625) Bosniaks, 25.35% (25,857) Serbs and 5.33% (5,437) Croats.
lost 1,027,000 people in World War II. Of that, 295,000 died in Croatia, and 328,000 in Bosnia and Herzegovina
(both part of the Independent State of Croatia
and under the Ustaše
regime at the time), and another 36,000 from those countries died abroad. His claim includes 153,000 civilian victims in Croatia and 174,000 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and of that, 85,000 people from Bosnia and Herzegovina and 48,000 from Croatia died in concentration camps.
This was substantially smaller than in all Yugoslav official estimation, especially with regard to previous estimates of hundreds of thousands of Serbian deaths in Jasenovac
and other places, which are later disputed by professor Vladeta Vučković, Serbian author of the official 1946 Yugoslav document.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center
and Yad Vashem
on the other side did not accept Žerjavić estimates. The Simon Wiesenthal Center
cites Yad Vashem document Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Yad Vashem Center claims that only in Jasenovac concentration camp
, 600,000 people, mainly Serbs, have been killed. However, Yad Vashem Center seems to contradict itself as, in a separate entry on the Ustasha movement in general, cites "more than 500,000 Serbs killed" in the entire NDH, including Jasenovac and all other camps and massacres. Neither article cites original sources.
With regard to the Serbs
, Žerjavić's calculation ended with a total of 197,000 Serbian civilian victims on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia: 50,000 in the Jasenovac concentration camp
, 25,000 died of typhoid, 45,000 killed by the Germans, 15,000 killed by Italians, 34,000 civilians killed in battles between Ustaše, Chetniks
and Partisans
, 28,000 killed in prisons, pits and other camps, etc. Another 125,000 Serbian people from Independent State of Croatia were killed as combatants, raising the total to 322,000.
in Yugoslavia was considerably exaggerated for the sake of war reparations
claims by the Yugoslav
government shortly after the war. According to his own word, his primary intent was to demonstrate with these findings that there should be no argument for further bloodshed between Croats
and Serbs
based on these exaggerated figures, that much of the revenge had already occurred between Croats and Serbs during the war, and that Croats and Serbs could continue to live together peacefully, as they had for centuries.
Žerjavić also stated that the majority of Croats and Serbs fought side by side against the Nazis, as did he, in Tito's partisan army.
Excerpt from Žerjavić's book "Manipulations with WW2 victims in Yugoslavia":
) calculations as the most reliable data on war losses in Yugoslavia during World War II
:
Žerjavić's (and Bogoljub Kočović's) calculations of war losses in Yugoslavia during World War II
were accepted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
, together with other typically higher estimates:
Professor Vladeta Vučković, Serbian author of the official 1946 Yugoslav document agrees with Žerjavić and Kočović estimations. Vučković has stated that he had calculated demographic loss to 1,700,000, and later that number was interpreted as actual number of victims and presented by Yugoslav delegation on peace conference later that year in Paris.
and that some go so far to state he was a Holocaust denier
. They point out that Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia lived in rural areas and therefore had much higher growth rate then others. Žerjavić used growth rate for Serbs in Bosnia as 1.1% (as for all nations together), while actual growth rate was 2.4% (1921–1931) and 3.5% (1949–1953). They claim that he underestimated growth rate of Serbs in order to decrease Serbs death count, according to critics, especially Serbian statistician Đorđević. These criticisms were rejected by Kočović
book, published in 1997, which refutes Đorđević's efforts to "reinstate" the "great numbers" victims figures dominant during Communist Yugoslavia period.
So far, the institutions that have not accepted (or haven't expressed their opinion on the matter) Žerjavić's and Kočović
's results of investigation include the Yad Vashem
memorial and the Simon Wiesenthal
center. Others, like the United States Holocaust Museum and, most importantly, the Jasenovac memorial museum in Croatia, have accepted both scientists' estimates as realistic.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n economist
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and a United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
expert. He published a series of historical articles and books during the 1980s and 1990s in which he argued that the scope of the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
-era territory of Yugoslavia was intentionally exaggerated. Žerjavić also published a document regarding the death count in the war in Bosnia (1992–1995).
Early life
Žerjavić was born in KrižKriž
Križ is a village and a municipality of western Moslavina, located southeast from Zagreb, near Ivanić-Grad. In the 2011 Croatian census, the population of the Križ municipality numbers 6,962 people, with 1,834 residents in the village itself.-Settlements:...
and graduated at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
. After 1934 he worked in the private sector, and after 1945 in various institutions of SFR Yugoslavia. Between 1958 and 1982 he worked abroad as an industrial consultant. In 1964 he joined the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa was established in 1958 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council to encourage economic cooperation among its member states following a recommendation of the United Nations General Assembly.It is one of five regional commissions.The ECA...
and later consulted the governments of various nations.
Žerjavić's calculations regarding the Bosnian war
According to investigations of Vladimir Žerjavić, there were 220,000 victims in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Bosnian warBosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
of 1992–95, of which 160,000 were Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
, 30,000 Croats and 25,000 Serbs.
However, according to newer research done by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the number of people killed in the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina was around 102,000. Among killed it was found 69.24% (70,625) Bosniaks, 25.35% (25,857) Serbs and 5.33% (5,437) Croats.
Žerjavić calculations regarding 1941/45 war
Žerjavić asserted that YugoslaviaYugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
lost 1,027,000 people in World War II. Of that, 295,000 died in Croatia, and 328,000 in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
(both part of the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
and under the Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
regime at the time), and another 36,000 from those countries died abroad. His claim includes 153,000 civilian victims in Croatia and 174,000 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and of that, 85,000 people from Bosnia and Herzegovina and 48,000 from Croatia died in concentration camps.
This was substantially smaller than in all Yugoslav official estimation, especially with regard to previous estimates of hundreds of thousands of Serbian deaths in Jasenovac
Jasenovac
Jasenovac is a village and a municipality in Croatian Slavonia, in the southern part of the Sisak-Moslavina county at the confluence of the river Una into Sava.The name means "ash tree" or "ash forest" in Croatian, the area being ringed by such a forest....
and other places, which are later disputed by professor Vladeta Vučković, Serbian author of the official 1946 Yugoslav document.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
and Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
on the other side did not accept Žerjavić estimates. The Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
cites Yad Vashem document Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Yad Vashem Center claims that only in Jasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac concentration camp was the largest extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia and occupied Yugoslavia during World War II...
, 600,000 people, mainly Serbs, have been killed. However, Yad Vashem Center seems to contradict itself as, in a separate entry on the Ustasha movement in general, cites "more than 500,000 Serbs killed" in the entire NDH, including Jasenovac and all other camps and massacres. Neither article cites original sources.
With regard to the Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, Žerjavić's calculation ended with a total of 197,000 Serbian civilian victims on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia: 50,000 in the Jasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac concentration camp was the largest extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia and occupied Yugoslavia during World War II...
, 25,000 died of typhoid, 45,000 killed by the Germans, 15,000 killed by Italians, 34,000 civilians killed in battles between Ustaše, Chetniks
Chetniks
Chetniks, or the Chetnik movement , were Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organizations from the first half of the 20th century. The Chetniks were formed as a Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire in 1904, and participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II...
and Partisans
Partisans (Yugoslavia)
The Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II anti-fascist resistance movement in Yugoslavia...
, 28,000 killed in prisons, pits and other camps, etc. Another 125,000 Serbian people from Independent State of Croatia were killed as combatants, raising the total to 322,000.
Žerjavić's opinions and statements
His investigations and statistical analysis aim to show that the original number of lives lost on all sides during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in Yugoslavia was considerably exaggerated for the sake of war reparations
War reparations
War reparations are payments intended to cover damage or injury during a war. Generally, the term war reparations refers to money or goods changing hands, rather than such property transfers as the annexation of land.- History :...
claims by the Yugoslav
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
government shortly after the war. According to his own word, his primary intent was to demonstrate with these findings that there should be no argument for further bloodshed between Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
and Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
based on these exaggerated figures, that much of the revenge had already occurred between Croats and Serbs during the war, and that Croats and Serbs could continue to live together peacefully, as they had for centuries.
Žerjavić also stated that the majority of Croats and Serbs fought side by side against the Nazis, as did he, in Tito's partisan army.
Excerpt from Žerjavić's book "Manipulations with WW2 victims in Yugoslavia":
- “One should also believe that the Serbs in Croatia, who have lived in these territories for more than four centuries, will realize that they are not endangered in a community with Croats. They especially should not be afraid that any form of genocide could occur, because they themselves know best that during the Second World War a large number of Croats stood at their defense, and that they, along with Serbians, contributed to the National Liberation War, and even prevented a larger number of victims. It should be mentioned that the regular Croatian Army (Domobrani) also helped with their passive role and even by logistic support to the partisan units.
- vengeance for the crimes committed by the Ustaše was executed immediately after the war, with the terrible massacres at BleiburgBleiburgBleiburg is a small town in the south Austrian state of Carinthia , south-east of Klagenfurt , in the district of Völkermarkt, some four kilometres from the border with Slovenia....
in AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and during the so-called Way of the Cross (Death Marches), when many innocent opponents of the Communist regime were also killed. Therefore, enacting vengeance against the Croats, with whom the Serbs in Croatia have peacefully lived for the past 45 years, could not be excused, neither morally nor politically.
- After the artificially created euphoria is over, and once peace is established, all reasonable and objective Serbs will -- I strongly believe -- realize that their common life with Croats, in a state with a prosperous economic future, is the most acceptable solution for them.“
-
- - Vladimir Žerjavić, Zagreb, April 27, 1992
Positive
Some international agencies and experts have accepted Croat Žerjavić's (and almost equal data achieved by Serbian statistician Bogoljub KočovićBogoljub Kocovic
Bogoljub Kočović is a Bosnian jurist and statistician, Yugoslav by ethnic affiliation.Kočović was born in Sarajevo; his father was a Serb and mother French by origin. He obtained a MA in economy at the Roosevelt University in Chicago, and a Ph. D. in law in Paris...
) calculations as the most reliable data on war losses in Yugoslavia during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
:
- "Details of the (Yugoslav) 1948 census were kept secret but, in negotiations with Germany, it became apparent that the real figure of the dead was about one million. An American study in 1954 calculated 1,067,000. Following Tito's death in 1980, the 1948 census results became available for comparison with those of 1931. Allowances had to be made for the birth rates of the different communities and for emigration. Research was pioneered by Professor Kočović, a Serb living in the West, whose findings were published in January 1985. He assessed the number of dead as 1,014,000. Later that year a Serbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsSerbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsThe Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia today...
Conference heard that the figure was 1,100,000. In 1989 Vladimir Zerjavic, a Croatian living in Zagreb published, with the aid of the Zagreb Jewish community, his calculation of 1,027,000. ... So a figure of about one million for all Yugoslavia is now generally accepted."
Žerjavić's (and Bogoljub Kočović's) calculations of war losses in Yugoslavia during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
were accepted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history...
, together with other typically higher estimates:
- "Due to differing views and lack of documentation, estimates for the number of Serbian victims in Croatia range widely, from 25,000 to more than one million. The estimated number of Serbs killed in Jasenovac ranges from 25,000 to 700,000. The most reliable figures place the number of Serbs killed by the Ustaša between 330,000 and 390,000, with 45,000 to 52,000 Serbs murdered in Jasenovac."
Professor Vladeta Vučković, Serbian author of the official 1946 Yugoslav document agrees with Žerjavić and Kočović estimations. Vučković has stated that he had calculated demographic loss to 1,700,000, and later that number was interpreted as actual number of victims and presented by Yugoslav delegation on peace conference later that year in Paris.
Negative
His critics consider his work to have been politically motivated, with the aim of downplaying nationalist Ustashe atrocities during the war, such as at the concentration camp of JasenovacJasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac concentration camp was the largest extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia and occupied Yugoslavia during World War II...
and that some go so far to state he was a Holocaust denier
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
. They point out that Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia lived in rural areas and therefore had much higher growth rate then others. Žerjavić used growth rate for Serbs in Bosnia as 1.1% (as for all nations together), while actual growth rate was 2.4% (1921–1931) and 3.5% (1949–1953). They claim that he underestimated growth rate of Serbs in order to decrease Serbs death count, according to critics, especially Serbian statistician Đorđević. These criticisms were rejected by Kočović
Bogoljub Kocovic
Bogoljub Kočović is a Bosnian jurist and statistician, Yugoslav by ethnic affiliation.Kočović was born in Sarajevo; his father was a Serb and mother French by origin. He obtained a MA in economy at the Roosevelt University in Chicago, and a Ph. D. in law in Paris...
book, published in 1997, which refutes Đorđević's efforts to "reinstate" the "great numbers" victims figures dominant during Communist Yugoslavia period.
So far, the institutions that have not accepted (or haven't expressed their opinion on the matter) Žerjavić's and Kočović
Bogoljub Kocovic
Bogoljub Kočović is a Bosnian jurist and statistician, Yugoslav by ethnic affiliation.Kočović was born in Sarajevo; his father was a Serb and mother French by origin. He obtained a MA in economy at the Roosevelt University in Chicago, and a Ph. D. in law in Paris...
's results of investigation include the Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
memorial and the Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal KBE was an Austrian Holocaust survivor who became famous after World War II for his work as a Nazi hunter....
center. Others, like the United States Holocaust Museum and, most importantly, the Jasenovac memorial museum in Croatia, have accepted both scientists' estimates as realistic.
External links
- Zerjavic, Vladimir: Manipulations with World War II victims in Yugoslavia
- Zerjavic, Vladimir: Lies of dr. Bulajic on the Internet: a polemic with Director of the Museum of Victims of Genocide in Belgrade
- Dinko Sakic trial:Jasenovac Memorial Area
- Glišić, Venceslav: "Žrtve licitiranja - Sahrana jednog mita, Bogoljub Kočović"; NIN 12.01.06 (in Serbian)
- Human Rights Watch: "Šansa za pravdu? Procesuiranje ratnih zločina u bosanskoj Republici Srpskoj: Kontekst"; March 2006 (in Bosnian)