Customer Reviews

Genocide in Bosnia: The Policy of "Ethnic Cleansing" (Eastern European Studies, No. 1)

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Cigar's work describes in detail the genocide perpetrated in Bosnia against non-Serbs. Cigar demonstrates, through analysis and concrete sources, that genocide does not just happen spontaneously - but is the final outcome of a nationalist manifesto adopted and promoted by Serbia's intelligencia, its media and subsequently carried out in the Bosnian theatre of war. The result, as Cigar convincingly shows, is the systematic attempt to exterminate and "cleanse" the target ethnic group from militarily conquered territories. Taking the international community to task for failing to act decisively to avert ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, Cigar also examines possible future implications of policies of appeasement and complicity in the face of genocide and territorial expansionism.

This book will most certainly be criticized as anathema by pro-Serbian propagandists. But Cigar's conclusions, supported by a methodical and critical examination of events leading up to ! and during the conflict in Bosnia, appear to be beyond logical and impartial repudiation.

This book reveals the gruesome atrocities that were committed in Bosnia during the Bosnian war. Many people assume that it was a civil war, when in fact it was a genocide. It has been corroborated that Serbians started the war in an attempt to annihilate non-Serbs and create a "Great Serbia", comprising of serbs only. Other reviewers who have criticized the book are clearly oblivious to the following facts: of the 300.000 victims in Bosnia- 85% were Muslims; 90% of all war crimes in Bosnia were committed by Serbs ( Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, Arkan and numerous others). On that account, we can conclude that Serbs are the perpetrators and Muslims are the victims. This is a fact of life. I highly recommend this book to people who want to know the truth about the war in Bosnia.

Rigorous and thoroughly documented analysis, demonstrating the planned and systematic nature of `ethnic cleansing'. Especially valuable on the ideological preparation for this policy in Serbia, analysing the responsibility of senior academics and churchmen. (This short review is from "Books on Bosnia" published by The Bosnian Institute)

This is a best book on war in Bosnia by foreign writer that I have found to date. It is certainly not biased as Mr. Cigar is christian and Bosniaks are muslims. It is a powerful account of events that happened there and recommended reading for everyone interested in Balkans!

This book is a searing and courageous account of the genocide in Bosnia, told by one of the world's experts on the Balkan tragedy, meticulously documented. Of special importance is the author's use of the primary texts (in Serbo-Croatian) that formed the basis for the ideology of genocide--for justifying and motivating "ethnic cleansing." Cigar's analysis of how radical Serb nationalists found a platform for their extreme racist and religiously intolerant views in the official publications of the Serbian Orthodox Church is stunning. It constitutes a truly trenchant and groundbreaking analysis of how the hate speech of a few became the world view of a large portion of Serbian society. Essential reading for anyone concerned about Bosnia, Kosovo, human rights, and the issue of genocide. The presentation and analysis of the participation of radical Croat leaders and forces in the genocide is equally compelling.

Cigar's "Genocide in Bosnia" is a commendable analysis of the political developments, primarily in Serbia, which eventually made possible the atrocities committed in Bosnia, and of the equivocation and general impotence of Western Europe and America in the early phases of the war. Cigar unambiguously takes the view that genocide was in fact committed in Bosnia, first and primarily by the Serbian forces and later by the Croats, and he backs up this argument with a great deal of meticulous research. Cigar's crucial point is that creating the political atmosphere which made it possible for a large number of people to accept what were generally genocidal actions was a top-down process, initiated and fomented by political leaders such as Milosevic (and later Croatia's Tudjman) who found that vitriolic and virulent nationalism was useful means to cement their hold on power. This, of course, flies in the face of the oft-repeated view of conflict fueled by irrational "ancient ethnic hatreds" proffered by spineless politicians and Balkan "experts." The truth was (and is) that the dubious concept of historical memory was simply a political tool to generate and maintain mass support. Perhaps Cigar can be criticized for having an excessively pro-Muslim bias, but regardless of what one thinks of individual Muslims political or military leaders, the Bosnian Muslims, and all of those (Muslim, Croat or Serb) who wanted a unified multiethnic Bosnia, were by far the primary victims of the war. My principal criticism is that Cigar overplays the extent of opposition and criticism to the Croat-Muslim conflict and official Croatian policy toward Bosnia in general among certain groups and institutions in Croatia (while at the same time downplaying such opposition in Serbia). Particularly questionable is Cigar's example of the Catholic Church as a source of opposition to Tudjman's policies in Croatia. While many in the Church hierarchy did make guarded public protests, much of the Church's rank-and-file passively or actively supported Tudjman's nationalist policies (this was very much the case in Herzegovina). Also, the last few chapters, in which Cigar discusses prospects for the future and dwells on junctions where different policy actions could have been taken are both dated (the book was published in 1995 before the key turning points in both Croatia and Bosnia that year) and engage in too much pointless speculation.

This book dissects meticulously various reasons & aspects of the bosnian deluge. All in all, it's an indispensable reading. BUT, it oversimplifies one aspect of war: Croat-Muslim conflict. An uninformed reader may get the impression that Croats tried to cleanse Muslims from Central Bosnia and Herzegovina. Numbers speak the opposite: 1. Intercommunal fighting ethnically "cleansed" 150,000 Croats from Muslim-held areas & 50,000 Muslims from Croat-held areas. 2. Civilian victims of coldly calculated massacres: circa 200 Muslims and 600 Croats. 3. In Central Bosnia, Croatian forces ( HVO) fought ( successfully ) an uphill battle-they were outnumbered 12/1 by Muslim soldiers. *This* story was presented one-sidedly & schematically via accepted stereotypes ( poor Muslims, who as if by magic earned the name Bosnians, are purely & undisputably the sole victims ). Yet, they were as yet unrecognized aggressors & butchers as well.

The truth in every war has two sides, two stories. This book is half of truth about war in Bosnia.

Mr. Cigar's book is very detailed, but very aimed. Instead of treating history as methodical science, he narrates, uses media-created phrases and simplifies the situation. "Genocide in Bosnia" did not start in 1991. It started in the 14th century and went on. Serbina nationalism of the 90's is the result of a preverted rule by Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslavian communist leader, the never "set" scores of World War 2 (when Islamic and Croatian Nazis exterminated 700,000 Serbs) and a populist Nazi-Communist Slobodan Milosevic. It is indeed true that Serbs have commited horrible crims in Bosnia. What Cigar forgets to mention is that the Serbina leadership of Bosnia was the most sober in the Bosnian parliament and was illegaly (against the Bosnian consitution) over-voted. The "ethnic" model in Bosnia was promoted by all three factiona nd at not time did a single side want a genuine compromise. It came down to a war and death. Serbs cleansed Drina valley and Banja Luka area, while Muslims (poor vistims in Cigar's book) wiped out Serbian and Croatian populations of Sarajevo and central Bosnia. All in all, a lot of information, but little knowledge and science.

Dr. Cigar's work is fraught with misinformation and outright propaganda. His work is based on so-called evidence of genocide which comes exclusively from Croatian and Bosnian Muslim sources - both groups with a vested interest in seeing the Serbian communities of Croatia and Bosnia destroyed. Cigar's greatest error is a glaring sin of omission. He fails to examine the crimes committed by Bosnian Croatian forces against Muslims and Serbs. He fails to examine the real causes of the civil war but rather merely paraphrases the standard Muslim-Croat propagnda line that the Serbs launched a war of conquest from Serbia proper. Today, with almost two years of peace in the Balkans, we see that in fact, the one million Serbs of Bosnia who fought to secede from this fabricated state, are the ones who fought the war - not Serbs from Serbia. They desire to live in a land which respects their culture, heritage and religion and that means living in a state not dominated by their enemies. The fact that the forward is written by Stjepan Mestrovic, a Croatian nationalist who detests Serbs, reduces the work immediately to little more than a pro-Croat propaganda work.