7. SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen"

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David Thompson
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Re: 7. SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen"

#31

Post by David Thompson » 18 Jun 2021, 19:56

Several posts, directing the discussion to the accuracy of characterization about the ages of division members, was removed as superfluous.

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G. Trifkovic
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Re: 7. SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen"

#32

Post by G. Trifkovic » 19 Jun 2021, 17:47

Hi Sid,

you wrote:
Hi Guys,

The actual number of deaths in Yugoslavia is debatable. Immediately after the war Tito's government claimed 1,700,000 had died. They never lowered this because compensation from Germany was pro rata.

However, fifty years later, after the break up of Yugoslavia, Serb and Croat historians did separate studies and arrived at similar totals of a few tens of thousands over the million mark for total Yugoslav dead. However, they couldn't as closely agree as to which communities they mostly came from.

I suspect it would be difficult to extract the specific figures for the Prinz Eugen Division from the prevailing confusion.

Cheers,

Sid.
and also
G. Trifkovic,

I have checked my notes from about 1996 and have the following:

"THE COST TO YUGOSLAVIA.

In May, 1945, Tito announced Yugoslav war losses as 1,700,000. At that early stage no proper statistical analysis could have been done and this total can have been no more than a very general estimate. As the number of casualties was directly related to the amount of reparations Yugoslavia could expect from Germany, Austria and Italy, there was no incentive to revise this total downwards in later years and, although never justified in detail, it was generally accepted by default. However, since Tito's death, several better sourced calculations have been made, the two most detailed of which, (one Serb, one Croat) estimate total deaths at 1,027,000 and 1,014,000.
"

Unfortunately my notes do not include the sources. I was working in the British Library at the time, so I presume the sources were in its book stock. However, as I do not read Serbo-Croat I also presume they were secondary, English-language, sources.

I am sorry I cannot be more specific.

Cheers,

Sid.

P.S. I have just Googled "1,027,000 1,014,000" and the names Bogoljub Kočović and Vladimir Žerjavić came up. I presume that they were my original sources.

P.P.S. A breakdown by Yugoslav nationality of both their statistics can be found on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_ ... javi%C4%87

Regarding this thread, they estimate local ethnic German fatalities at 26,000 and 28,000 respectively. The Prinz Eugen Division at full strength was apparently about 21,000 men.
; the record should be set straight regarding Žerjavić and Kočović: both published their works already in the mid-1980s while Yugoslavia was still "on" and reached remarkably similar conclusions (see the table from the above-cited Wikipedia article).

Best,

G.
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Sid Guttridge
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Re: 7. SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen"

#33

Post by Sid Guttridge » 19 Jun 2021, 18:20

Hi G. Trifkovic,

True.

I should have posted "after Tito's death", (as in my original 1990s notes), not "after the break up of Yugoslavia", (as in my more recent post).

I only dug out my old notes after you asked about sources.

Cheers,

Sid.

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