Miroslav Filipović: Difference between revisions
Refs/citations put back |
|||
| Line 3: | Line 3: | ||
== Pre-1942 == |
== Pre-1942 == |
||
He was born Miroslav Filipović, and became part of the Franciscan order in [[1938]] at the monastery in [[Petrićevac]] (near [[Banja Luka]]), when he took on the name "Tomislav" as his religious name. In January [[1942]], he had completed his theological exams in [[Sarajevo]] and was subsequently assigned as a chaplain in the [[Rama, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Rama]]-[[Šćit]] region (northern [[Herzegovina]]). However, he returned to Petrićevac and instead of going to Rama, he signed up to become a [[military chaplain]] for the [[Ustaše]], the Croatian fascist organization that controlled the so-called Nazi-puppet [[Independent State of Croatia]]. <br> |
He was born Miroslav Filipović, and became part of the Franciscan order in [[1938]] at the monastery in [[Petrićevac]] (near [[Banja Luka]]), when he took on the name "Tomislav" as his religious name. In January [[1942]], he had completed his theological exams in [[Sarajevo]] and was subsequently assigned as a chaplain in the [[Rama, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Rama]]-[[Šćit]] region (northern [[Herzegovina]]). However, he returned to Petrićevac and instead of going to Rama, he signed up to become a [[military chaplain]] for the [[Ustaše]], the Croatian fascist/nazi organization that controlled the so-called Nazi-puppet [[Independent State of Croatia]]. <br> |
||
The puppet state was formed after the destruction of the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]] by the [[Wehrmacht]] in 1941, and most of its military subsequently took part in warfare on the [[Yugoslav People's Liberation War|WW2 Yugoslav front]] of WW2, against the [[Yugoslav Partisans]]. |
The puppet state was formed after the destruction of the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]] by the [[Wehrmacht]] in 1941, and most of its military subsequently took part in warfare on the [[Yugoslav People's Liberation War|WW2 Yugoslav front]] of WW2, against the [[Yugoslav Partisans]]. |
||
== |
== Ustaše chaplain == |
||
[[Chaplain]] Filipović |
[[Chaplain]] Filipović was assigned to the ''2nd Poglavnik Bodyguard Brigade'' (an Ustaše military formation) in Banja Luka. On [[7 February]], [[1942]], they raided the [[Serb]] Orthodox villages of [[Drakulići]], [[Šargovac]] and [[Motike]] located near the city. |
||
The book ''[[Magnum Crimen]]'' (''The Great Crime'') written by [[Viktor Novak]] in [[1948]] describes the scene: |
|||
During massacre more of 1,600 Ortodox were killed [http://www.ex-yupress.com/feral/feral240_04_zahtjev_provincijala_kajica_generalnoj_kuriji.pdf]. Soon after this massacre church has started action against [[chaplain]] Filipović and his actions. Finding of the Provinical Definitory has been that he is guilty of joining a military organization against the express prohibition of gvardijan. It is uncertain whether he killed anybody, but because of the religious motivations he caused a great scandal and caused great harm to our church province and because of that he is removed as a brother from the monastic order [http://www.ex-yupress.com/feral/feral240_05_potvrda_kongregacije_generalu_reda.pdf] excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church [http://www.ex-yupress.com/feral/feral240.html]. |
|||
{{cquote|''A brother of the Petrićevac Monastery, Tomislav Filipović, entered the classroom during class with 12 Ustaše, imitating [[Jesus Christ]] and his [[twelve apostles]]. He ordered teacher Dobrila Martinović to bring a Serb child to the front of the class.'' |
|||
During this investigation and latter Miroslav Filipović will say many times that he has not killed and that he has not called for killings [http://www.ex-yupress.com/feral/feral240_07_izjava_filipovica_pod_prisegom.pdf] |
|||
''Suspecting nothing, the teacher called Radojka Glamočanin, a pretty and neat child, the daughter of Đuro Glamočanin, a respected citizen of Drakulić then imprisoned in [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]. The brother gently received the child, lifted her to the lectern and then slowly began to slit her throat in front of the other children, the teacher and the Ustaše. Panic broke out; the horrified children screamed and jumped. The brother calmly and in [[Jesuit]]-like, dignified fashion addressed the Ustaše: "Ustaše, by this in the name of God I baptize these degenerates and you should follow my example. I am the first to accept all sin onto my soul; I will confess you and absolve you of all sin."'' |
|||
In infamous propaganda-documentary book [http://www.ex-yupress.com/feral/feral240.html] ''[[Magnum Crimen]]'' (''The Great Crime'') written by [[Viktor Novak]] in [[1948]] Miroslav Filipović has started massacre with killings of school children after which he has given orders to soldiers to start killing everybody. It is interesting to notice that in book during killings school children are in school but massacre has been during night. |
|||
''The priest then ordered the teacher to take all the Serb children into the schoolyard. He issued the same order to teacher Mara Tunjić in another classroom. In the schoolyard, on the trodden snow, he placed the 12 Ustaše in a circle and then ordered the children to run next to them. As each child passed, an Ustaša would gouge out an eye and push it into the child's slit belly; he would cut off an ear from a second, the nose from a third, a finger from a fourth, the cheeks from a fifth... And so on until all the children collapsed. Then the Ustaše finished them off in the snow.''}} |
|||
A total of 2,730 Serbs, including 500 children, died on that occasion. Another similar bestial killing of children by this man - is witnessed and recorded by Egon Berger, a Jasenovac concentration camp Jewish survivor.<ref>44 mjeseca u Jasenovu by Egon Beger, Nakladni zavod Hrvatske, Zagreb 1966 - page 57<br> ''Svećeničko lice fra Majstorovića, obučenog u elegantno odijelo, našminkanog i napudranog, u zelenom lovačkom šeširu, sa nasladom je posmatralo žrtve. Prišao je djeci, čak ih je i pomilovao po glavi. Društvu se priključio Ljubo Miloš i Ivica Matković. Fra Majstorović reče majkama sada će biti krštenje njihove djece. Oduzeli su majkama djecu, a dijete koje je nosio fra Majstorović u svojoj dječijoj nevinosti milovalo je našminkano lice svoga ubojice. Majke, izbezumljene, uočile su situaciju. Nude svoje živote tražeći milost za mališane. Dvoje djece su metnuli na zemlju, dok je treće bačeno kao lopta u zrak, a fra Majstorović, držeći u ruci bodež okrenut prema gore tri puta je promašio, dok je četvrti put uz šalu i smijeh, dijete ostalo nataknuto na bodež. Majke su se bacale po zemlji čupajući kose a kad su počele strahovito vikati, ustaški stražari 14. osječke satnije odveli su ih i likvidirali. Kad je sve troje djece tako svirepo stradalo, tri dvonožne zvijeri su međusobno davali novac, jer izgleda da su se kladili tko će prije nataknuti dijete na bodež.''</ref>. |
|||
Due to his possible crimes against Serbian population, Germans occupiers has wanted to send Miroslav to court but he has been protected by Ustaše which has send him to Jasenovac camp. |
|||
Filipović was forbidden from performing duties as a priest on [[April 4]], [[1942]].<ref name="Krišto">Krišto, Jure. ''Katolička crkva i Nezavisna Država Hrvatska 1941-1945'', Zagreb, 1998. pg. 223</ref> However, he was not excommunicated nor did he suffer any other repercussions by any of his superiors. He was only removed from the Franciscan order over six months later, on [[October 22]], [[1942]], when he received his new assignment.<ref name="Krišto" /> |
|||
Due to his malicious crimes against Serbian population, Miroslav was court-martialled by the German occupiers, not only due to a simple despise of the crime, but primarily in order to avoid provoking strong resistance on the behalf of the Croatian and Serbian civilians, of which many joined the partisan forces due to the harsh and barbaric nature of the Ustaše crimes. Miroslav was imprisoned, according to the Yugoslav state-commission, and sent to Jasenovac where he was a "free inmate" and "informer" who assisted the Ustaše soldiers. |
|||
== Commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp == |
== Commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp == |
||
| Line 25: | Line 30: | ||
He purported to continue in his role as a member of the religious order while commanding the camp, earning him the epithet "Fra Sotona" ("Father [[Satan]]") among the inmates. He wore friar's robes when giving confession and murdering prisoners in the camp. |
He purported to continue in his role as a member of the religious order while commanding the camp, earning him the epithet "Fra Sotona" ("Father [[Satan]]") among the inmates. He wore friar's robes when giving confession and murdering prisoners in the camp. |
||
Jasenovac concentration camp survivor Dr. Nikola Nikolić, spoke about his first meeting with Filipović (source ''Magnum Crimen'' by Viktor Novak) in this way: |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
{{cquote|''His voice had an almost feminine quality which was in contrast with his physical stature and the coarseness of his face... I was hardly seated, and as I sank into my sad thoughts, I heard the orders "Fall in - Fall in!"...'' |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
''An old man called Ilija, an Ustaša, appeared in the threshold of the hut, a revolver in one hand and in the other, a lash ... Before us passed six men, their hands tied before their backs with chains. The Ustaše had their revolvers loaded and aimed. "Fra Sotona" (Filipović) walked over and approached our group. "Where is our new doctor?" I knew he meant me. "He is here," someone replied. He came a little nearer, looking at me with an insolent, ironic, bizarre manner. "Come here, doctor," he said, "to the front row, so that you will be able to see our surgery being performed without anesthetic. All our patients are quite satisfied. No sighs, nor groans can be heard. Over there are the head and neck specialists, and we have need of no more than two instruments for our operations."'' |
|||
''And Fra Sotona caressed his revolver with one hand and his knife with the other ... Looking at these victims who, in a few moments would be in another world, fear written on each face, no one could penetrate the depth of their moral abyss. They silently watched the gathering crowd of more pitiful people, more condemned people like themselves. Fra Filipović approached a group of them. Two shots rang out, two victims collapsed, who began to twitch with pain, blood surging from their heads intermingling with the brain of one or the eyes of the other. "Finish off the rest!" cried Filipović to the executioner as he put his revolver away.''}} |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
He admitted to have killed some 100 inmates himself, an estimation which was shown as incorrect (low) by witnesses interviewed by the Yugoslav State Commission for the Investigation of Crimes of the Occupation Forces and their Collaborators'.<br> |
He admitted to have killed some 100 inmates himself, an estimation which was shown as incorrect (low) by witnesses interviewed by the Yugoslav State Commission for the Investigation of Crimes of the Occupation Forces and their Collaborators'.<br> |
||
Additionally, the commission states that many of the inmates killed by Majstorović were killed "with his bare hands". <br> |
Additionally, the commission states that many of the inmates killed by Majstorović were killed "with his bare hands". <br> |
||
| Line 35: | Line 48: | ||
''I saw when Majstorović and Stojčić amused themselves by killing three gypsies, ordering the first to kill the second with a sledgehammer, the third to kill the first, and then they liquidated the last one.''}} |
''I saw when Majstorović and Stojčić amused themselves by killing three gypsies, ordering the first to kill the second with a sledgehammer, the third to kill the first, and then they liquidated the last one.''}} |
||
In November 1942 then notorius Miroslav Filipović during discussion with priest Branimir Župančić has recognized his Jasenovac crimes and explained his first extermination camp killings, but he has again declared himself innocent of Drakulići massacre [http://www.ex-yupress.com/feral/feral240_08_izjava_zupancica_o_susretu_s_filipovicem.pdf] |
|||
== Post-war == |
== Post-war == |
||
After the war, he was put on trial for [[war crimes]], where he claimed a personal daily kill tally of at least one hundred people |
After the war, he was put on trial for [[war crimes]], where he claimed a personal daily kill tally of at least one hundred people, including children. It is unclear whether this referred to the four months of his commandment of Jasenovac, or to the entire course of his involvement in the war (around four years). In the former case, that would amount to twelve thousand victims; while in the latter case it is likely hyperbole because it would imply he single-handedly killed 146,000 people, which is highly improbable. |
||
Filipović/Majstorović was [[death penalty|sentenced to death]]. He was [[hanging|hanged]] wearing the friar's robes he often wore in the camp |
Filipović/Majstorović was [[death penalty|sentenced to death]]. He was [[hanging|hanged]] wearing the friar's robes he often wore in the camp. |
||
==References== |
==References== |
||
Revision as of 21:43, 25 July 2008
Miroslav Filipović (1915 - 1946) was a Franciscan friar from Bosnia and Herzegovina who, among other posts, commanded the Jasenovac concentration camp in Yugoslavia during World War II. As an extreme Croatian nationalist and fascist, Miroslav Majstorović (as he would become known) combined his religion with his extremist political ideology.
Pre-1942
He was born Miroslav Filipović, and became part of the Franciscan order in 1938 at the monastery in Petrićevac (near Banja Luka), when he took on the name "Tomislav" as his religious name. In January 1942, he had completed his theological exams in Sarajevo and was subsequently assigned as a chaplain in the Rama-Šćit region (northern Herzegovina). However, he returned to Petrićevac and instead of going to Rama, he signed up to become a military chaplain for the Ustaše, the Croatian fascist/nazi organization that controlled the so-called Nazi-puppet Independent State of Croatia.
The puppet state was formed after the destruction of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Wehrmacht in 1941, and most of its military subsequently took part in warfare on the WW2 Yugoslav front of WW2, against the Yugoslav Partisans.
Ustaše chaplain
Chaplain Filipović was assigned to the 2nd Poglavnik Bodyguard Brigade (an Ustaše military formation) in Banja Luka. On 7 February, 1942, they raided the Serb Orthodox villages of Drakulići, Šargovac and Motike located near the city.
The book Magnum Crimen (The Great Crime) written by Viktor Novak in 1948 describes the scene:
A brother of the Petrićevac Monastery, Tomislav Filipović, entered the classroom during class with 12 Ustaše, imitating Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles. He ordered teacher Dobrila Martinović to bring a Serb child to the front of the class.
Suspecting nothing, the teacher called Radojka Glamočanin, a pretty and neat child, the daughter of Đuro Glamočanin, a respected citizen of Drakulić then imprisoned in Germany. The brother gently received the child, lifted her to the lectern and then slowly began to slit her throat in front of the other children, the teacher and the Ustaše. Panic broke out; the horrified children screamed and jumped. The brother calmly and in Jesuit-like, dignified fashion addressed the Ustaše: "Ustaše, by this in the name of God I baptize these degenerates and you should follow my example. I am the first to accept all sin onto my soul; I will confess you and absolve you of all sin."
The priest then ordered the teacher to take all the Serb children into the schoolyard. He issued the same order to teacher Mara Tunjić in another classroom. In the schoolyard, on the trodden snow, he placed the 12 Ustaše in a circle and then ordered the children to run next to them. As each child passed, an Ustaša would gouge out an eye and push it into the child's slit belly; he would cut off an ear from a second, the nose from a third, a finger from a fourth, the cheeks from a fifth... And so on until all the children collapsed. Then the Ustaše finished them off in the snow.
A total of 2,730 Serbs, including 500 children, died on that occasion. Another similar bestial killing of children by this man - is witnessed and recorded by Egon Berger, a Jasenovac concentration camp Jewish survivor.[1].
Filipović was forbidden from performing duties as a priest on April 4, 1942.[2] However, he was not excommunicated nor did he suffer any other repercussions by any of his superiors. He was only removed from the Franciscan order over six months later, on October 22, 1942, when he received his new assignment.[2]
Due to his malicious crimes against Serbian population, Miroslav was court-martialled by the German occupiers, not only due to a simple despise of the crime, but primarily in order to avoid provoking strong resistance on the behalf of the Croatian and Serbian civilians, of which many joined the partisan forces due to the harsh and barbaric nature of the Ustaše crimes. Miroslav was imprisoned, according to the Yugoslav state-commission, and sent to Jasenovac where he was a "free inmate" and "informer" who assisted the Ustaše soldiers.
Commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp
Filipović progressed in the Ustaša ranks and went by the name "Miroslav Majstorović". He became the commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp in autumn 1942. In the four months of Filipović/Majstorović's reign as camp commander, countless Serbs, Jews, Croats and Gypsies were tortured and executed.
He purported to continue in his role as a member of the religious order while commanding the camp, earning him the epithet "Fra Sotona" ("Father Satan") among the inmates. He wore friar's robes when giving confession and murdering prisoners in the camp.
Jasenovac concentration camp survivor Dr. Nikola Nikolić, spoke about his first meeting with Filipović (source Magnum Crimen by Viktor Novak) in this way:
His voice had an almost feminine quality which was in contrast with his physical stature and the coarseness of his face... I was hardly seated, and as I sank into my sad thoughts, I heard the orders "Fall in - Fall in!"...
An old man called Ilija, an Ustaša, appeared in the threshold of the hut, a revolver in one hand and in the other, a lash ... Before us passed six men, their hands tied before their backs with chains. The Ustaše had their revolvers loaded and aimed. "Fra Sotona" (Filipović) walked over and approached our group. "Where is our new doctor?" I knew he meant me. "He is here," someone replied. He came a little nearer, looking at me with an insolent, ironic, bizarre manner. "Come here, doctor," he said, "to the front row, so that you will be able to see our surgery being performed without anesthetic. All our patients are quite satisfied. No sighs, nor groans can be heard. Over there are the head and neck specialists, and we have need of no more than two instruments for our operations."
And Fra Sotona caressed his revolver with one hand and his knife with the other ... Looking at these victims who, in a few moments would be in another world, fear written on each face, no one could penetrate the depth of their moral abyss. They silently watched the gathering crowd of more pitiful people, more condemned people like themselves. Fra Filipović approached a group of them. Two shots rang out, two victims collapsed, who began to twitch with pain, blood surging from their heads intermingling with the brain of one or the eyes of the other. "Finish off the rest!" cried Filipović to the executioner as he put his revolver away.
_used_in_Croatia_-_1941%E2%80%931945.jpg)
Miroslav was singled out as extremely diabolic in Jasenovac for several of his crimes:
He admitted to have killed some 100 inmates himself, an estimation which was shown as incorrect (low) by witnesses interviewed by the Yugoslav State Commission for the Investigation of Crimes of the Occupation Forces and their Collaborators'.
Additionally, the commission states that many of the inmates killed by Majstorović were killed "with his bare hands".
One of the interviewed witnesses, Tomo Karkac, stated as follows:
Very often during my imprisonment in Jasenovac I saw Majstorović shoot prisoners during so-called "public preformances." Majstorović also kept this short rubber hose, which he sometimes held over his victims wounds, saying: "I want to get drunk of communist and Jewish blood." I saw when Majstorović and Stojčić amused themselves by killing three gypsies, ordering the first to kill the second with a sledgehammer, the third to kill the first, and then they liquidated the last one.
Post-war
After the war, he was put on trial for war crimes, where he claimed a personal daily kill tally of at least one hundred people, including children. It is unclear whether this referred to the four months of his commandment of Jasenovac, or to the entire course of his involvement in the war (around four years). In the former case, that would amount to twelve thousand victims; while in the latter case it is likely hyperbole because it would imply he single-handedly killed 146,000 people, which is highly improbable.
Filipović/Majstorović was sentenced to death. He was hanged wearing the friar's robes he often wore in the camp.
References
- ^ 44 mjeseca u Jasenovu by Egon Beger, Nakladni zavod Hrvatske, Zagreb 1966 - page 57
Svećeničko lice fra Majstorovića, obučenog u elegantno odijelo, našminkanog i napudranog, u zelenom lovačkom šeširu, sa nasladom je posmatralo žrtve. Prišao je djeci, čak ih je i pomilovao po glavi. Društvu se priključio Ljubo Miloš i Ivica Matković. Fra Majstorović reče majkama sada će biti krštenje njihove djece. Oduzeli su majkama djecu, a dijete koje je nosio fra Majstorović u svojoj dječijoj nevinosti milovalo je našminkano lice svoga ubojice. Majke, izbezumljene, uočile su situaciju. Nude svoje živote tražeći milost za mališane. Dvoje djece su metnuli na zemlju, dok je treće bačeno kao lopta u zrak, a fra Majstorović, držeći u ruci bodež okrenut prema gore tri puta je promašio, dok je četvrti put uz šalu i smijeh, dijete ostalo nataknuto na bodež. Majke su se bacale po zemlji čupajući kose a kad su počele strahovito vikati, ustaški stražari 14. osječke satnije odveli su ih i likvidirali. Kad je sve troje djece tako svirepo stradalo, tri dvonožne zvijeri su međusobno davali novac, jer izgleda da su se kladili tko će prije nataknuti dijete na bodež. - ^ a b Krišto, Jure. Katolička crkva i Nezavisna Država Hrvatska 1941-1945, Zagreb, 1998. pg. 223
- ^ US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photograph #46725