Totenbuch der Donauschwaben

[Action Alert]

http://www.totenbuch-donauschwaben.at/en/history.htm

The genocide of the Germans in Yugoslavia between 1944 and1948

The German citizens who remained in the former communist Yugoslavia suffered inhuman and brutal outrage towards the end of World War II. Responsible for these criminal actions were partisans and in particular the Tito regime. Contrary to prevailing human rights these citizens were deprived of civil rights, ejected out of house and home, put in concentration camps, condemned to forced labour and in large numbers surrendered to death by shooting, abuse, epidemic diseases and starvation.

The Danube-Swabians descend from those settlers which were brought to the Pannonian Plains between 1689 and 1787 by the Habsburg Emperors after liberation of Hungary from Turkish rule. The settlers succeeded in turning this devastated land into the "granary" of the Danube Monarchy. After World War I the approximately 1.5 million members of this population were partitioned between the successor states Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia. Towards the end of World War II part of the "510.000 Danube Swabians of Yugoslavia joined the army and a great part had escaped the approaching front line or had been .evacuated. Approximately 195.000 people remained and were consequently subjected to the regime of the partisans. Around 60.000 civil persons were killed by shootings, deportation into the Soviet Union and confinement in concentration- and extermination camps. The survivors found new homes mainly in Germany and Austria.

The stations of the genocide

Confinement in Concentration Camps beginning in the autumn of 1944.
The "ethnic cleansing" of Yugoslavia of its German population was intended at the latest already at the Conference of the anti-fascist council of people's liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) in Jajce (Bosnia, November 1943). The AVNOJ represented a sort of temporary people's representation of the communist partisan movement under the command of Josip Broz - called Tito - who became head of state of Yugoslavia for many years after the war.

The formal decree stipulating expropriation without compensation of all citizens of German origin living in Yugoslavia was issued by the AVNOJ in Belgrade on November 21 of 1944. Provisions of this decree turned in legal proceedings out of court those citizens collectively into enemies of the people.

Consequences of these provisions were:

Shooting campaigns
After beginning of the occupation in October of 1944 until the end of the war local communist groups, the state police (OZNA) and special commands of partisans ("Intelligenzija- Action ") started with shooting or other ways of cruel liquidation of leading and wealthy citizens aged from 16 to 60 years. Between October 1944 and June 1945 approximately 9500 persons fell victims to such actions.

Imprisonment
In October of 1944 imprisonment of the Danube-Swabians started. By August of 1945 all settlements were "cleaned" of their German inhabitants. Only those persons were spared from imprisonment and expropriation which were married to partners of different nationality or belonged to the few who joined the partisans and fought on their side.

Deportation into the Soviet Union
Prior to confining people in concentration camps the partisans complied with a request by Stalin and deported during Christmas of 1944 a total of 8.000 Danube-Swabian women and 4.000 men from the Banat and the Batschka into the Soviet Union (mainly the Donez-plains) where they were forced to labour in coal mines. Up to 1949 at least 2.000 if these victims died of malnutrition and diseases.

Murdering of prisoners of war
Immediately after the end of the war revenge activities of the communist Tito partisans were committed against the Croatian, Slovenian and German prisoners of war, the estimated number of victims being 100.000. During this violent burst of fury and thereafter at least 5.000 Danube-Swabian prisoners of war had lost their lives. Approximately 2.000 members of the "Prinz Eugen-Division" were defenceless prisoners of war after general capitulation and killed by shooting, an action which is incompatible with international conventions which do not allow the execution of prisoners of war.

Total number of victims

Victims of imprisonment in camps:
Of the total of approximately 200.000 German citizens remaining in their home country, 170.000 were confined to concentration camps. 51.000 of these died between November of 1944 and March of 1948 from abuse and starvation as well as diseases like typhoid fever and dysentery. 6.000 of these were children of less than 14 years.

Total losses of civilians:
When adding to the 51.000 victims of concentration camps the 1.500 civilians murdered in ambushes committed by the partisans between July 1941 and October 1944, moreover the 9.500 civilians killed by shootings between October of 1944 and June of 1945, and the 2.000 victims of deportation into the Soviet Union, the total losses amount to 64.000 civilians of Yugoslav-German origin. Consequently one out of 3 people from Danube-Swabia, Lower Styria or Gottschee lost his life during the years between 1944 and 1948.

Total losses including soldiers:
In addition to the 64.000 civilian casualties 28.000 soldiers lost their lives. In total the Yugoslav-Germans commemorate more than 92.000 dead brothers and sisters. This figure has to be considered the lower limit.

These numbers of victims could to a major extent be ascertained by their name and documented by Danube-Swabian organizations and institutions with the assistance of numerous private persons. The Danube-Swabian Association (DAG) has published this documentation in the Internet for making it accessible to all interested persons, particularly to our young generation

http://www.seeingred.com/Copy/2.3_tito_committed.html
http://www.pannoniapress.com/History.html