Vladimir Žerjavić

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Vladimir Žerjavić (August 2, 1912 - September 5, 2001) was a Croatian economist and a United Nations specialist. 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 Croatia was intentionally exaggerated. Zerjavic also published the document regarding war in Bosnia (1992-1995) death count.

Contents 1 Žerjavić calculations regarding recent 92/95 war in Bosnia 2 Žerjavić calculations regarding 1941/45 war 2.1 Žerjavić's opinions and statements 2.2 Independent verification 3 Controversy 4 Footnotes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Žerjavić calculations regarding recent 92/95 war in Bosnia

According to investigations of Vladimir Zerjavic, there were 220,000 victims in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 92-95 war of which 160,000 Bosniaks, 30,000 Croats and 25.000 Serbs [5].
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% (5437) Croats. ^[1]
The difference between these two calculations shows that Zerjavic's overall estimation was 2 times higher, for Croats 5 times and for Bosniaks more than 2 times higher than ICTY.

[edit] Žerjavić calculations regarding 1941/45 war

Žerjavić asserted that Yugoslavia 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. ^[2]
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. Yad Vashem Center claims that only in Jasenovac concentration camp 600,000 people, mainly Serbs, have been killed ^[3]. The Simon Wiesenthal Center also cites Yad Vashem document Encyclopedia of the Holocaust and states that in Jasenovac concentration camp 600,000 mainly Serbs have been killed. ^[4] Both statements are based on official Yugoslav claims from 1946.

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.^[5]

[edit] Žerjavić's opinions and statements

His investigations and statistical analysis aim to show that the original number of lives lost on all sides in the Balkans 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":

“One should also believe that the Serbians in Croatia, who have lived in these territories for more than four centuries, will realize that they are not endangered in a community with Croatians. 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 Croatians 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.

It should be noted that vengeance for the crimes committed by the Ustaše was executed immediately after the war, with the terrible massacres at Bleiburg in Austria 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 Croatians, with whom the Serbians 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 Serbians will -- I strongly believe -- realize that their common life with Croatians, in a state with a prosperous economic future, is the most acceptable solution for them.“

- Vladimir Žerjavić, Zagreb, April 27, 1992

[edit] Independent verification

Some international agencies and experts have accepted Croat Žerjavić's (and almost equal data achieved by Serbian statistician Bogoljub Kočović) calculations as the most reliable data on war losses in Yugoslavia during WW2:

"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 ^[6]. 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 Arts Conference heard that the figure was 1,100,000.^[6] 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." ^[7]

Žerjavić's (and Bogoljub Kočović's) calculations of war losses in Yugoslavia during WW2 were accepted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 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." ^[8]

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. ^[9]

[edit] Controversy

There is an undocumented claim that his critics consider his work to have been politically motivated, with the aim of downplaying nationalist Ustashi atrocities during the war, such as at the concentration camp of Jasenovac and that some go so far to state he was a Holocaust denier. Allegedly they point out that Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia lived in rural areas and therefore had much higher growth rate then others. Zerjavic 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. No sources for these claims were given.

Proponents point out that Croatia proper had circa 650,000 Serb inhabitants in 1941 — virtually the same percentage of Croatia's population as in the first post-war census. In 1931, there were 3,430,270 people in Croatia, of which around 633,000 Serbs (~18.5%). In 1948, there were 3,779,858 inhabitants, of which the Serbs numbered 543,795 (14.38%).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Footnotes