On Serbian Mythology and Kosova
C Michael McAdams / Home Page

May 1, 1999

It has been said that truth is the first casualty in war. In June of 1991 war broke out in Europe for the first time since World War II as Serbia attacked Slovenia, then Croatia, and then Bosnia. Today, Europe is again at war attempting to stop Serbia’s brand of genocide known as ethnic cleansing. At the same time a war of propaganda and mythology is being fought by Serbia’s supporters in the world’s press. The purpose of this war is to mask the reasons for Serbian aggression and to blur the realities of genocide prose-cuted solely to maintain a centralized Serbian dictatorship in what was Yugoslavia. Over the years a great deal of Serbian propaganda has become mythology with a life of its own, growing and changing with each retelling. These myths were not only resurrected and embellished by propagandists, but by well-intended journalists and others as well attempting to understand or to justify Serbian aggression.

The conflict in Kosova has produced dozens of expert and not-so-expert opinions about the origins and background that led to hostilities and revived some very old, and created some very new myths about the conflict. The most common include: "These people have been killing each other for (pick a number from 100 to 2000) years." Two thousand years would have come as quite a surprise to the Romans. In fact the genesis of current Balkan crisis can only be traced back to Serbia’s invasion of Kosova in 1912. "Kosova is the most recent venue for radical Islamic states that wish to establish a beachhead in Europe." Kosova has been Muslim since 1389. "Kosova is supported by Iran and by Saudi Arabia who send their mercenaries to fight with them." If so, they don’t seem to be doing a very good job. "Kosova has been a province of Yugoslavia for hundreds of years." Either in name or territory, no state known as Yugoslavia appeared on a map of Europe prior to 1929 and the very concept of Yugoslavia only dates to 1915.

Perhaps the most widely held myth is that during World War II the Serbs led the anti-fascist resistance and held down "dozens" (again pick a number) of elite Axis divisions in Yugoslavia. The reality is that like virtually every country on the European continent during World War II Serbia had a government which collaborated with the Axis. All of the nations of Yugoslavia had elements which supported the Axis, and all had elements that were anti-fascist. However, it was the Croatian-dominated Partizans, led by the Croatian Josip Broz Tito which formed the only true anti-fascist fighting force in Yugoslavia and the most formidable Allied force in occupied Europe during World War II. The Serbs overwhelmingly supported the para-military forces known as the Chetniks which opposed the pro-Allied Partizans during the War.

When Yugoslavia disintegrated with the German invasion in April 1941, one faction of Chetniks swore allegiance to the new pro-Nazi Serbian government of General Milan Nedic. Another group remained under the pre-war leader Kosta Pecanac, who openly collaborated with the Germans. A third Chetnik faction followed the Serbian Fascist Dimitrije Ljotic. Ljotic's units were primarily responsible for tracking down Jews, Gypsies and Partizans for execution or deportation to concentration camps. By August 1942, the Serbian government would proudly announce that Belgrade was the first city in the New Order to be "Judenfrei" or "free of Jews." Only 1,115 of Belgrade's twelve thousand Jews would survive. 

The main force of Chetniks rallied around Draza Mihailovic, a 48 year-old Army officer who had been court-martialed by Nedic and who had close ties to Britain. Early in the war, Mihailovic offered some resistance to the German forces while collaborating with the Italians. By July 22, 1941, the Yugoslav Government-in-Exile in Britain announced that continued resistance was impossible. Although Mihailovic and his exiled government would maintain a fierce propaganda campaign to convince the Allies that his Chetniks were inflicting great damage to the Axis, they did little for the war effort and often openly collaborated with the Germans and Italians while fighting the Partizans. At its peak, Mihailovic's Chetniks claimed to have 300,000 troops. In fact they never numbered over 31,000. By February 1943 the Western Allies condemned the Chetniks as collaborators and threw their support to the Partizans. Mihailovic was executed in 1946 for treason. Ironically, his son and daughter Branko and Gordana went over to the Partizans in 1943 and both publicly supported their father's execution after the war.

The Partizans, founded by Josip Broz Tito, a Croatian Communist, represented the only true resistance to the Axis in Yugoslavia during World War II. On June 22, 1941, Partizans in the Brezavica Woods near Sisak, Croatia launched what would come to be known as the War of Liberation in Yugoslavia. The date remains a national holiday in Croatia and is celebrated as the "Day of the Anti-Fascist Uprising." While many Croatians and Bosnians supported the pro-Axis Croatian state of Ante Pavelic, hundreds of thousands joined the Partizans and they represented the majority of Partizan brigades throughout the War.

On July 13, 1943, the Democratic Republic of Croatia under the leadership of Andrija Hebrang was declared in those areas occupied by the Croatian Partizan forces. It marked the foundation of post-War Yugoslavia. As the war progressed and Italy collapsed, more and more Croatians, especially from Dalmatia, joined the Partizans. Serbs came over to the Partizans in great numbers only late in the War as entire Chetnik units changed their allegiance. By 1943 Allied support shifted to Tito and by 1944 the Partizans were the only recognized Allied force fighting in Yugoslavia. 

As in many countries after the War, the numbers and deeds of resistance fighters grew more and more impressive as the years passed. In post-war Yugoslavia the heroics of the Partizans took on mythical proportions as monuments to the heroes of the Liberation War were erected in every village. As more and more benefits were announced for veterans, more and more veterans appeared. Exiled Chetniks claimed that it was they, not the Partizans, who held down "dozens" of Nazi divisions. Depending on which source was cited, up to twenty "crack Nazi divisions" were tied down in Yugoslavia. The numbers are cited frequently by politicians and even military "experts" opposing intervention to stop Serbian aggression in Kosova and predicting another Vietnam.

Although the official Partizan history lists 32 German divisions, there were never 20 or even twelve full German divisions in all of Yugoslavia during World War II. After the initial invasion, Italy occupied or annexed one quarter of Yugoslavia and a few large German units remained in occupied Croatia. None could be considered elite. Three "German" divisions, the 369th, 373rd, and 392nd Infantry Divisions in Croatia and Bosnia were in fact manned by Croatians and Bosnians with "Volksdeutsche" ethnic German officers. Attempts to form a pro-Axis Bosnian Muslim division failed when the conscripts revolted against the Germans at a training base south of Le Puy, France in September 1943. It was the only large-scale mutiny within the German army during the War. While it is true that during the War the Chetniks aided Allied pilots in escaping, they, like the Partizans, were paid in gold for each one. 

Despite a wealth of scholarship condemning the role of Serbian Chetniks during World War II, Serbian mythology lives on and even grows as the genocide of the Kosovars goes on. No amount of ancient fiction or new mythology will ever make Serbia the victim or erase today’s crimes. Too many have seen too much through the eyes of the media. From this war, myth will not triumph over reality.