Need help! (SS-Division "Handschar")

[balkanguy44]

Hello! I have found a quite fake looking quote of a guy called Matijas Franja who was the commander of SS-Regiment 28, but his name only appears on Serbian pages. I haven't found it in the book of Mr Lepre (Himmler's Bosnian Division) or any other book. Does anybody have any info for me? Thank you in advance!
Here the quote:"Matias Franja, commander of the 28th commander of that division, was testified before the court in 1945, and later a member of the division’s division. In his testimony, speaking of one of the actions, he said:These people slaughtered everything they were encountering, which did not carry fez. There have been cases where the Bosnian Muslim officers saw people working in the field. They did not know mercy - to satisfy their sadism and Serb hatred, those people were doomed… not to live anymore."
Source: https://mightynose.wordpress.com/2018/0 ... d-pavelic/

[Phil Don]

Hi and welcome on AHF
Franje MATIJAS is the croatian version of Franz MATHEIS ("germanization" of his name) who was Volksdeutscher from Croatia, former officer of the k.u.k. army, former officer of the yugoslavian army and captain in the croatian army who was transfered to Waffen-SS in 1943.

Ph D

[balkanguy44]

Hello
Thank you for the quick response! Do you have any information about him? I couldn’t find anything.

[Phil Don]

You can use the "search" on the top right but here two links

https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic ... s#p2124184
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic ... s#p2050661

regards

[balkanguy44]

Thank you very much! What do you think about this quote?

[Ivan Ž.]

Here the quote:"Matias Franja, commander of the 28th commander of that division, was testified before the court in 1945, and later a member of the division’s division. In his testimony, speaking of one of the actions, he said:These people slaughtered everything they were encountering, which did not carry fez. There have been cases where the Bosnian Muslim officers saw people working in the field. They did not know mercy - to satisfy their sadism and Serb hatred, those people were doomed… not to live anymore."
Source: https://mightynose.wordpress.com/2018/0 ... d-pavelic/

Wow, that is one shockingly badly written text! Really, really bad... In future, I advise avoiding reading such a low (no) quality material.

The quote is badly translated and it is only partially correct.

Matheis actually stated the following (referring to members of the Albanian Battalion of the "Handschar" Division [not Bosnian Muslims!] on their way through Syrmia to Bosnia, 12-15 March 1944): "During this action, the Shqiptar Battalion committed outrageous atrocities. In Sremska Rača, they killed everyone they found. On their way, these men slaughtered everyone they encountered, who didn't wear fez. There was a case when the officer who was at the head of the column saw people working in the field. When he later turned towards them again, he could see that these people, who a moment ago peacefully worked in the field, were no longer alive. The Shqiptarë, having spotted them, simply left the column and slaughtered them." (Franz Matheis, Westertimke, 4 October 1945, Inv. No. 35874)

Ivan

[balkanguy44]

Hello

Thank you, Ivan, for your explanation.

I usually don't read such low quality material but this time I did and I regret it.

BG44

[LeafUpNorth7]

Matheis actually stated the following (referring to members of the Albanian Battalion of the "Handschar" Division [not Bosnian Muslims!] on their way through Syrmia to Bosnia, 12-15 March 1944): "During this action, the Shqiptar Battalion committed outrageous atrocities. In Sremska Rača, they killed everyone they found. On their way, these men slaughtered everyone they encountered, who didn't wear fez. There was a case when the officer who was at the head of the column saw people working in the field. When he later turned towards them again, he could see that these people, who a moment ago peacefully worked in the field, were no longer alive. The Shqiptarë, having spotted them, simply left the column and slaughtered them." (Franz Matheis, Westertimke, 4 October 1945, Inv. No. 35874)

Hello, I am not a regular user of this forum, so I'm sorry if bumping an old thread like this isn't what I'm supposed to do.

I was curious: where did you find that translation? And if it's your own work, then where did you find the original text you're translating from?

I've been trying to track down the origins of this Matheis quote, and this forum seems to be the best place to look.

[Ivan Ž.]

Hello, LeafUpNorth7, and

The source is Arhiv Jugoslavije (Archives of Yugoslavia), fond 110, inv. br. 12596 (originally 35874). As can be seen, Matheis was interrogated in Westertimke (misspelled "Westerminke") on 4 October 1945 by Captain V. Kosović and 2nd Lieutenant M. Šljivić of the (Yugoslav) State Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Committed by the Occupiers and their Collaborators.

Relevant excerpts (pages 1 and 3):

35874 12596.jpg (166.16 KiB) Viewed 751 times

The English translation was mine (it could be improved though). There is also an official German translation (of the Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes), but the friend who sent it to me forgot to mention the source (if he sees this post I'm sure he'll let us know).

It's important to note that Matheis also stated that it was the divisional commander, Sauberzweig, who ordered that no prisoners are to be taken north of the Sava river (Syrmia), deeply upsetting many of his officers, especially the commander of the 27th Regiment, Desiderius Hampel (future divisional commander), who tried to prevent the murders as much as he could. Matheis further stated that "the Albanians, however, could not control themselves, not after scenting blood", and that since they continued acting the same on the other side of the Sava as well (Bosnia), it was soon decided that their battalion was to be removed from the division.

Also note that some of the earliest and equally graphic reports on the atrocities committed by the division during their first actions originate from the SS itself, and were reported on a staff meeting by Himmler's liaison officer, Hermann Fegelein, to Hitler personally. But Hitler showed no interest in hearing about it, calling it trivial (see Hitlers Lagebesprechungen, ed. by Helmut Heiber, p. 560).

Cheers,
Ivan