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Chapter 18
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USTASHI TERRORISM AFTER WORLD WAR TWO
By Avro Manhattan |
The Ustashi became specialized in the assassination
of prominent people. Yugoslavian diplomats and military attaches were
killed. The Yugoslavian ambassador to Sweden was assassinated in the
very Embassy itself, in plain daylight. One of the many acts of
terrorism which, by then, had become a common hallmark of the activities
of the Ustashis abroad.
Minor assassinations, although common, very often were
not even mentioned by the world press. One of these was that in which
Dr. Sekulich himself had been involved. Dr. Sekulich had been dealing
with certain interested parties, who wished for a preliminary
formulation of a policy of cooperation between the Serbs and the Croats
after the demise of Marshal Tito. Since the dealings had been leaked,
and thus had aroused the suspicion of the Ustashis, he and his
associates had decided to hold their meeting in Israel.
They chose Israel as the best guarded and secure
country where terrorists had minimum chances to carry out their
activities. He was mistaken. Having gone on a secret rendezvous in
Jerusalem, after only a couple of meetings he found the chief negotiator
murdered next door to his own. A shock not only to Dr. Sekulich but also
the the Security authorities.
The present author, although never experiencing such a
dramatic sample of Ustashi activities, nevertheless had a taste of it;
appropriately in Chicago, of all cities.
In 1978, he had flown from Los Angeles to Chicago to
attend a convention organized by the Serbs of the USA. He had been
invited there to deliver a speech and to promote a book which had just
been published in the USA, entitled The Vatican Moscow Alliance.
As soon as he arrived in Chicago he was ushered into a hall where there
was a meeting taking place and a speaker was there delivering a speech.
When some people in the crowd recognized the present author, he was
asked to climb the rostrum and say a few words. This was done. Soon
afterwards, however, not a few of those present came to give a warning.
"Please do not accept such invitations unless planned beforehand," he
was told.
The warning had been motivated by the fact that, a few
months before, a writer who had delivered a speech from that same
rostrum had been shot to death while speaking. A niece of his in the
audience, who had gone up to the platform to help him, also had been
shot. "Don't accept impromptu invitations unless checked by the
committee," he was warned.
Two days later there took place a large meeting just
on the outskirts of Chicago. The meeting was postponed for almost an
hour because of the absence of the main organizer. The latter finally
arrived in a taxi. He explained the cause of his delay; a bomb had been
found under his Cadillac and had to be defused by the police.
From the very beginning a tough individual started to
shadow the present writer, walking wherever he went, shoulder to
shoulder. The individual became so noxious that finally he was asked to
leave. He refused. When asked if he was a cameramen or a television
technician, he refused to answer. Finally, when pressed by a functionary
of the convention, he opened a bulky leather case hanging from his
shoulder, and there appeared a large German revolver. He made the
revolver rotate to show the bullets seemingly coated with brass. He then
explained decisively that he was appointed the present writer's
bodyguard for the remainder of the convention.
There was a luncheon during which other tough
individuals hovered upon the guests like menacing angels of silent
surveillance, after the luncheon speeches began. These were delivered
from a large empty stage, upon which there was a single rostrum and a
microphone. The stage was darkened and the speaker was lit by a single
light beam, addressing the large audience in semi-darkness.
Various speakers participated. Amongst these, various
Orthodox and Serbian Bishops. The speaker preceding the present writer
was one Adams, who had just written a large book about the life of the
Serbs' hero, General Mirkovich. Mr. Adams was a security official of the
Senate House in Washington. To the present writer's opinion he said
certain things which had been totally inaccurate; certain events which
he mentioned had been distorted. The present writer had been implicated
during the war, since he had been dealing with the partisans in occupied
Europe, amongst these the partisans of Yugoslavia. Certain Catholic
clergy had played a noxious role which had resulted in the arrest and
execution of many individuals. That meant, of course, on the part of the
Ustashis.
When the present author finally reached the rostrum,
he thanked Mr. Adams for the information but said that he had been
inaccurate, or at least he had minimized certain facts, including the
cooperation of the Catholic clergy with the Ustashi and cognate events.
After having pointed out that and other events,
however, the present author told the audience, which was composed of
Serbs, most of whom had fled to the USA because they had been terrorized
by the Ustashi, that while they should never forget the Croatian
Holocaust, they should forgive. And indeed, they should look to the
future as citizens of the USA, a country which had welcomed them and
given them security and peace.
The audience rose and gave the present author a
standing ovation. The performance had been even more impressive because
amongst the audience were four members of the House of Representatives
and a couple of Senators who had come expressly from Washington to
attend the convention. No doubt, to nurse the Serbian vote of the USA.
Afterwards, while surrounded by a large circle of people expressing
their appreciation of the speech, many pointed out that the author's
advocacy of the right of Catholic Croatia to exist as an ethnic,
religious and cultural identity was a risky thing to say to the Serbs.
(The author, in fact, had repeated that several times, saying that both
Serbia and Croatia could exist notwithstanding their different religious
credos and could cooperate in building a new Yugoslavia.) An individual
who had been standing alone in the distance suddenly opened a passage
through the crowd, came straight to the author and shook him by the hand
with such strength that the present author had to bend his hand to avoid
a painful stricture.
The man, a tough guy looking like a professional
boxer, was brief, abrupt and to the point. "It is people like you that
we need in this country," he said. "Great pity that you are not an
American, great pity." With that, the man departed. The crowd seemed
impressed. Then they disclosed the identity of the speaker. He was one
of the leaders of the Senate. But if his comments had been gratifying,
the next encounter, half an hour later, was not. After the crowd had
dispersed and many had bought a copy of the book, signed by the author,
the present writer was having a drink standing at the bar, when he
noticed a man wearing a hat whose brim hid his eyes. He had been
observing, pretending to drink. After a while, when the present author
was alone, he approached him with an almost feline smoothness. After a
few seconds he whispered a few words as he looked at the other side of
the bar. "I came to the convention to kill you. Lucky that you said what
you did." The individual had whispered these words with such a
matter-of-fact and unemotional tone of voice that it had sounded unreal.
He kept a hand, the right hand, under his jacket and had looked
significantly at the bulk under it. Then, as people were coming towards
us, he asked the present author for a copy of the book, complete with
autograph, which he bought. Thereupon having given a courteous greeting,
he departed.
The bodyguard, who had absented himself, when told of
the incident, froze. "He is one of the most ruthless Usthasi killers,"
he commented. I kept him under surveillance all the time. The present
author returned to Los Angeles having experienced a matter-of-fact
encounter, a personal Ustashi reality.[1]
Footnote
1. See FBI file, Ethnical Political
Activities, 1978; also ClA's Serbian Convention in Chicago, 1978; also
Chicago Police, specialized surveillance of ethnical groups.
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