From Partisans with love, or not: The Western Allies' perceptions of Yugoslav WWII resistance
From Partisans with love, or not: The Western Allies' perceptions of Yugoslav WWII resistance

Summary/Abstract: This paper reconstructs written memoirs by members of Allied forces who encountered in Yugoslavia during the Second World War Partisan forces, having spent some time with them either as official emissaries of US and British government or as members of SOE and USS, or as medical staff, downed members of the Air Forces or former POWs who happened to be rescued by them. Their wartime reports were instrumental in policy decision-making by the Allied Forces. Also, they are very valuable as first-hand witness statements that should be used not only by historians but also by new post-Yugoslav political and intellectual elites in contemporary interpretations on Second World War. These interpretations, motivated by desire to construct new national identities often neglects or directly negates the Partisans. The author proposes a different approach, based on respect that many Allied forces war comrades demonstrate towards their Yugoslav fellows.

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