Customer Reviews

War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration

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Tomasevich did a phenomenal job on a daunting subject: the political and economic history of Yugoslavia during the Second World War, focusing on Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. This massive book will be especially valuable for the chapters on economic activity in the Axis-occupied Independent State of Croatia from 1941 to 1945, material that has rarely been presented in English in such detail (over a hundred pages in the two chapters on this subject). The sections on the many religious groups of Yugoslavia are likewise comprehensive, with a great deal of new information. The bibliography is in itself a triumph of thoroughness.

What makes the book not only useful but remarkable is the author's story of how he conducted his research, interviewing contentious sources and wading through the conflicting evidence on controversial topics such as the numbers of people murdered by the several parties to the conflict (Nazis, Italian Fascists, Ustase, Chetniks, Partisans). His analysis is masterful and sensible.

My only complaint is the book's high price. I can only hope that there will be a paperback edition, as this work is too significant to go out of print.

If the researcher is seeking one book that presents wartime Yugoslavia completely and objectively, this is it. Tomasevich clarifies a complex subject which is frequently one of the least understood aspects of WWII. The book also lays the groundwork for an understanding of post-war unfinished business which continues to plague the region. A necessary component to any library on the Balkans.

This is a welcome work on the history of Jugoslavia under German and Italian occupation, sheding light on some unexpected facets of life during the period in question.

Apparently, despite all the Communist propaganda about the Partisans, they were no more successful in fighting their occupiers than the regular Army in 1941. In fact, they, like the royalst Chetniks, the Croats of the Independent State of Croatia, the Slovenes, the Bosnian Muslims (whom Croats claimed to be their kin) and the Serbs under Nedic were more interested in slaugthering each other above all else.

What is surprising are that,

1. Serbia under German occupation was a pacified country, despite all the traditional hatred between the Germans, and especially the Austrians and the Serbs.
2. That the German occupiers did save a lot of Serbs from the bloodthirsty Croats.
3. That the Italians were as atrocious as the Germans in terms of the burning of villages, looting of livestock and shooting of hostages.
4. That most of the Partisan activities occured in Croatia, though mostly from the Serbs there fighting it out with the Croatian authorities of Pavelic.

What is also surprising, but regrettable is that the author has tried to exculpate the Croatian atrocities against fellow Serbs by blaming them on Pavelic and his followers, that he has all but ignored the atrocities of the Moslems, Serbs and especially the Partisans in the internicine strife.

Tomasevich also sheds light on the pathetic incompetence and fighting quality of the Croats and the Bosnian Moslems, as against the Serbs (historically one of the most martial Slav races), as well as on some obscure units like the Serbian Protection/Volunteer Corps.

All in all, a well researched book on the country at war and under foreign rule, but marred by the author's attempt, as a Croat, to blame all and sundry on Pavelic and his uncritical praise of the Communist.