ESSAY
Serbia’s History Must Be Rewritten
By Aleksandra Rebic
August 10, 2007
61 years ago...
dark forces took the life of a warrior who fought valiantly for the human rights of his people, a visionary, a hero whose moral standards and ethical principles included the virtues known to humanity since the birth of Jesus Christ. He was General Dragoljub-Draza Mihailovich – a man from the country that was once Yugoslavia.
Since his time, the history of Yugoslavia has been written and rewritten many times over, but never as history should be written. It was always written in collusion with the existing political dogmas that had subverted what Yugoslavia had striven to be after she was formed upon completion of the First World War. This modern historical record has presented events in such a way as to satisfy and justify the political and social ambitions of the dark forces that killed Mihailovich. The false historical record, a primary tool of these dark forces, the Yugoslav communists and the Ustashe in Yugoslavia, and unfortunately those outside of Yugoslavia who either succumbed to their influence or supported them whether outright or tacitly, has indicted and presented General Mihailovich, a sincere patriot and true friend of the democratic Allies, as both a traitor to his own country and as a fascist collaborator. The lie has been so pervasive, that anything truthful and factual said to the contrary has often been dismissed as “propaganda” when, in fact, it is “propaganda” that sealed his fate and that continues to haunt him decades after his death. Another lie, that of his being a staunch “nationalist” whose primary goal was to promote the empowerment of a “Greater Serbia” at the expense of the other ethnicities and nationalities in Yugoslavia, continues to be propagated. Just open any number of history books about World War II and check the Mihailovich references. Regardless of how it’s represented, his legacy cannot be separated from that of the fate of his beloved country of Serbia, and of Yugoslavia as it was, neither then or now.
Yugoslavia as a country is now no more. She has been replaced by six countries, of which Serbia is the largest. Though Serbia can be validated as a “country”, the others are merely pseudo-countries, established as a result of manipulations that keep on serving the dark forces perfectly to this day. Though Serbia survived, she endured 55 years of falsehoods and political and moral degradations beginning at the end of World War Two, which resulted in her coming out of the Yugoslav syndrome a politically and in many other ways a crippled country. There was hope, however. In October of 2000, she began gasping to reestablish the democratic ideals that once made her one of the most respected countries of Europe, the very democratic ideals that had once been personified by her martyred hero, General Mihailovich.
What was at the core of the problem? Dr. Kosta Nikolic, senior member of the Institute of Contemporary History in Belgrade, in his introduction to the book Dragoljub-Draza Mihailovich and the Second World War (History of a Great Betrayal), written by Rade and Aleksandra Rebic, states it clearly when he writes:
“It is an old rule that the end of an historical process and the coming of the consequences create the conditions for an objective study of past events, especially those deeply inserted in the collective minds of the contemporaries. Maybe the history of the Ravna Gora Movement is the most characteristic such case. In past writings about it, many fallacies were picturesquely propagated in post-war Serbian historiography which was more a result of political and ideological usefulness than of serious scientific work. Such historiography has shown more than clearly what kind of negative impact the uncritical interpretation of the past has on the development of science. If we agree with the idea that historiography, the picture of the society in which it originates, is either an interpreter of its true past or is, as the case is here, a desirable and false picture that only seems to be a mirror and the reflection of the spiritual and scientific atmosphere, then we can say that the history of the Ravna Gora Movement represents the corner stone which since the end of the Second World War has symbolized public, unscientific historiography. Generations of Serbian historians and those who carried the mask of historian on their face and the ideology of Marxism-Leninism on their mind, made an effort to win many times over a victory over the Ravna Gora Movement and especially over General Dragoljub Mihailovich in agreement with the proclaimed dogma of “heroes and enemies” and the established worthless formula of “brotherhood and unity”. Distorted interpretations, numerous falsifications, suppressing the basic facts, and political disqualifications, were the main elements of such historiography.”
“One of the basic motives for such behavior should be sought in the fact that the war did not stop existing as a realistic influence on science, and more importantly, on all of the political relationships in Yugoslav society. Established was a specific ‘rear-connection’ – that present problems could be solved by the shaping and “resolving” of the past. Present and past interchanged their places. Whenever the country was in a crisis, most of all in the domain of international relationships, help was searched for in the ‘epic poetry of the people’s liberation struggle” in which the Yugoslav people forged “eternal togetherness”. And just because of that it was necessary, with the application of various non-scientific methods, to constantly be victorious over the Chetniks, and once and forever wipe out the memory of them and all the traces of their activities. The most vicious attacks were on General Mihailovich. He was the personification of all the attacks on the Serbian royalists, on the national idea of the Serbian people, on the manifestation of any nationalist work. That was the only field where unified agreement of national historiographies was achieved.”
“The basic aim of official historiography was to strengthen the conviction of the victor in the correctness of his undertakings and to wrap him up in a wreath of glory. That is why we were left far from understanding key moments in the immediate history of the Serbian people, because ideological mill superseded science, preventing its critical and creative comprehension of the past. An ideological veil imposed conceptions of absolute guilt on one side and the absolute correctness of the other side, assigning to one patriotism and to the other treason. The thesis of the heroism of the partisans had a permanent place, even when it was contrary to the factual events. Because of strong ideological deposits, one of the greatest historiographic controversies was created that has left two stereotypes still present: guilt for the civil war and treason and collaboration. Outside of these dominant frames, other segments of Chetnik history were written about, but many significant themes were avoided, while the national program, the most important component of the Ravna Gora Movement, is always qualified as greater-Serbian and put on the margins, even though this program contained the roots for fundamental reform of the government and Yugoslav society as a whole….”
To wipe out all the positive traces of his legacy from the historical record of Serbia and the Serbian people, Mihailovich’s enemies published an enormous number of books. For over a half a century they were relentless in that effort. They were so successful that their lies and deceits became institutionalized in virtually every aspect of Serbia’s modern national identity. The result of their success is that today Serbia is considered a pariah among European societies, in addition to being faced with the prospect of losing her holy Christian Kosovo province to the Albanian Moslems. One of the most critical areas in which the dark forces that killed Mihailovich have succeeded has been in converting Serbia’s traditional allies into virtual enemies who then, ironically and tragically, served the ultimate ends of those dark forces by negating Serbia as a viable democracy in Europe. The dark forces who came to power in Serbia, who ruled Serbia, would ultimately be that force which would sabotage her, with the help of the democratic Allies whom she had served so faithfully in wartime. In the past, Mihailovich’s many faithful followers were in no tangible position to counteract the destruction of their beloved country or to show the world that there was another Serbia, a true Serbia. The enemy forces were too powerful and Serbia’s people were living under an imposed regime that did not permit the fundamental human political rights that would have allowed the truth to surface and be known.
Now, that it is once again becoming possible to practice democratic principles in Serbia, and to bring Serbia back to a position of being one of the more respected nations in Europe as she once was, it is absolutely necessary to address the institutionalized historical record. The history of the Serbian people and their nation over the course of the last one hundred plus years needs be rewritten. This history must be rewritten based on events as they actually happened and not on the propaganda that has so deeply corrupted the study of those events. The dark forces were masters of propagating phony, quasi-history which served their various dogmas and political interests. At the very least, it will be necessary to completely rewrite Serbia’s history covering the period from the beginning of the Second World War to the present. Revisionism is not the issue here. A true and valid historical record is what is being called for, something that each country, each nation, each people is entitled to, if we are to document human existence at all. It will not be a simple task, but it is doable. To do so, it is necessary to closely examine the past, isolate those elements in the historical record that perverted history and replace them with the true facts. It has been said that ‘Truth’ does not exist in history, only perception of the ‘Truth’ depending on which side you’re on, however, there is ‘Fact’ and there is ‘Falsehood.’
One road to take is to examine and define who General Draza Mihailovich really was, what he envisioned, and what Serbia lost by his death.
The alternative for Serbs is to accept their ‘false history’, live as a condemned people, ignore the legacy of 800 years of Serbian statehood, and grow weaker and weaker as the years go by. The Serbs are better than that, and deserve better than that.
What would have happened to Serbia after World War Two had General Mihailovich prevailed and survived? We can only speculate. The one thing that I do know for sure, however, is that had he survived and had his political, ethical and moral principles been allowed to guide the evolution of post-war Serbia, she would have retained her nobility and her potential as one of the great democracies in the world.
Aleksandra Rebic
About the Author
Aleksandra Rebic is a graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. with a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Studies from the School of Speech.
Aleksandra has been published in both Serbian and American newspapers and on the internet, and is co-author, with her father, of the book Dragoljub-Draza Mihailovich and the Second World War: The History of a Great Betrayal.
Aleksandra Rebic Archive -->
email the author:
[email protected] Opinions expressed by the authors of these articles do not necessarily represent the views of serbianna.com. Any comments you may have about the article send them to the author and not to serbianna.com
Explore Archives by Author
Carl Savich
Sam Vaknin, Ph.D
Christopher Deliso
M. Bozinovich
Marko Lopusina
TV Weber
Christopher Deliso
Boba Borojevic
Sonja Jekic, Ph.D.
Miroljub Jevtic, Ph.D.
Johnathan Widell
Srdja Trifkovic, Ph.D.
Stella Jatras
Aleksandar Mitic
Vojin Joksimovich Ph.D
Russell Gordon
Ioannis Michaletos
Michael Averko
Aleksandra Rebic
Viseslav Simic
Bojan Ratkovic
Mary Mostert
Marko Lazic
Georgy Gounev
Caleb Posner
Visit the archives of the above columnists on serbianna.com or become a columnist yourself. Find out how.
