Činjenice o Bleiburgu
Facts about Bleiburg

Summary/Abstract: This overview, based on the relevant scientific literature, provides the most basic data and facts about the mass crime which is referred to under the general term Bleiburg in the historiographical literature. It was a pre-planned and systematically executed crime of horrific proportions in which at least 80,000 people were brutally executed without any court procedure or base in law. The Bleiburg massacre is only a part of the systematic reprisals, of the violence and terror of the Yugoslav communists which were keen on eliminating the greatest possible number of their real and potential political enemies during their struggle for the establishment of absolute power and the implementation of their revolution. Mass extrajudicial executions, such as similar events that took place throughout Yugoslavia, were and integral part of such a policy. It was a coldly calculated and preconceived act that was primarily ideologically motivated. Allegations on the excessive nature of the crime and revenge as the main motivation cannot withstand critical historiographical examination. The historical facts on Bleiburg should not be seen through the prism of political manipulations and abuses of these facts. No crime of this magnitude was spared of its fair share of abuse and mythomania. The question on the manner and form of commemorations and other manifestations of public memory as well as the political messages are irrelevant in this context. Forms and contents of such kind can be criticized, but to negate and challenge the crime itself, to question the fundamental human and civilizational right of victims to remember – that is beyond all reason and moral considerations.

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