The decision of communist government of 1945 on the removal of cemeteries and graves of the "occupiers" and "enemies of the people" in Bosnia and Herzegovina Cover Image

O provođenju odluke komunističkih vlasti iz 1945. o uklanjanju grobalja i grobova "okupatora" i "narodnih neprijatelja" u Bosni i Hercegovini
The decision of communist government of 1945 on the removal of cemeteries and graves of the "occupiers" and "enemies of the people" in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author(s): Vladimir Geiger
Subject(s): History, Cultural history, Political history, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), History of Communism
Published by: Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Mostaru
Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina; 1945; decision on the removal of cemeteries and graves of "occupiers" and "enemies of the people"; communist repression; memoricide;

Summary/Abstract: Duration and intensity of the Second World War in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the presence of occupying forces of the German Reich and the Kingdom of Italy, the Armed Forces of the Independent Croatian State, as well as actions of Yugoslav monarchists and communists led by partisan movement resulted in direct conflict of the warring parties with large casualties among the soldiers and the population. Irreconcilable ideologies and political and military interests of the opposing sides during the conflict and civil war multiplied human losses.The communist confrontation in Yugoslavia with all actual and presumed adversaries, without distinction, during and especially at the end of the Second World War and the immediate post-war period was massive and relentless.The intention of complete and radical confrontation of Yugoslav communists with the enemy immediately after the Second World War, was based on the decision of the Ministry of the Interior DF Yugoslavia of 18 May 1945 on the removal of cemeteries and graves of the "occupiers" and "enemies of the people", which included the cemeteries and gravestones of soldiers of German, Italian and Hungarian armies, as well as the Ustasha, Chetniks and Slovenian Home Guard. That the decision on the removal of cemeteries and graves of "occupiers" and "enemies of the people" was systematically carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be confirmed by the preserved documents, contemporaries of such events and the state of these cemeteries too. After the Second World War in Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, graves and cemeteries of fallen partisans and the graveyards of the victims of "fascist terror" were protected by law, maintained and embellished, whereas the graves and cemeteries of "enemy soldiers" as well as the graves of "their collaborators" stayed out of such regulations.This continued until the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.

  • Issue Year: 2016
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 287-317
  • Page Count: 31
  • Language: Croatian
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