SS war crimes in Croatia Sept 1943

David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 13 Jul 2004 05:49

This letter, written 26 Sept by Croatian Colonel Stjepan Pericic, describes some criminal behavior by an SS formation in his area of responsibility, in the vicinity of Osekovo. The letter appears as Document D-578, taken from the Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression volumes, Supplement A: Closing Address, Closing Arguments, Closing Statements; Documents Introduced in Evidence By British and American Prosecutors, US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia:1947, pp. 889-91.

Copy

St. Qu. the 9/26/1943. to 974/43 Secret.

1st Mountain Brigade Op. No. 1577/Secret. Kutina the 9/17/1943.

Ref: Day's report Op. No. 1534/Secret of the 9/16/43.

187th Reserve Division.

On the 9/16/1943, an SS unit of 80 men marched from Popovaca to Osekovo for the compulsory purchase of cattle. I was not notified by anybody about the arrival of this unit in the technical operational area of the 1st Mountain Brigade and about the activity of this unit in the area, for which I alone am responsible.

A short time after their arrival in Osekovo this unit was attacked by partisans. Under the pressure of the numerically superior partisans, this unit had to retreat in the direction of the railway station, which they succeeded in doing, but they had four men seriously and several lightly wounded, among them the unit commander. One man was missing and they also lost an armored car. The unit commander then reported from Popovaca by telephone that, when he had to retreat, he had killed all persons who were in the open because he had no chance to distinguish between the loyal population and the partisans. He himself said that he killed about 100 persons in this incident.

On the occasion of my inspection of Popovaca on the 16.9.43, the officials of the railway station of Popovaca reported to me that they were tortured by the members of this SS unit and pulled about by the arms; they called them all saboteurs and did not allow them to go on to the platform so that it was impossible for them to do their work. At the same time, the officials told me that they could not put up with this and that they would be forced to leave their jobs if an end were not put to this soon, because under such circumstances they are not able to carry out the job entrusted to them, for which they are responsible to the authorities.

In the above mentioned day's report, it is announced that the raid on this SS unit is due mainly to the fact that I received no notification of the arrival of this unit in my operational area. If I had been notified of this, I could have organized the whole task in such a manner that a surprise attack by the bands would have been impossible.

The behavior of this unit towards the railway officials and the killing of the population in the area of Osekovo without distinction is in any case making a very unfavorable impression on the population.

In order to keep respect for the members of the German guarding forces at the desired level, and so that proof is given of the complete cooperation between the allied German and Croatian armed forces, I request that on the occasion of this incident an investigation be begun with all urgency and that the guilty ones be made to answer for it. At the same time I request that steps be taken to notify me in good time of the entry of all units and I request that all service offices be instructed to cooperate with me if they enter my operational area.

Brigade Commander, Pericic Colonel.

Certified Copy. [Signature Illegible] Captain.

ninoo · Post by **ninoo** » 14 Jul 2004 01:48

Hi David,

Is the formation that the document talk was 'Prinz Eugen' division? I read in some books and articles that they were known for their's brutality. Some SS agencies like Einsatzgruppe hated their's methods and one of their's leader once talk a rude thing to the second commander of the division in the face of a Croatian Minister. Even Himmler furious with their's action against a Moslem town which could endanger his plan to build 'Handzar'.

Best Regards

Bless the people who like to help others

David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 14 Jul 2004 02:40

ninoo -- You asked:

Is the formation that the document talk was 'Prinz Eugen' division?

Unfortunately, the formation wasn't identified in the letter of Colonel Pericic.

Roo Boy · Post by **Roo Boy** » 14 Jul 2004 07:24

David, do you have a copy of the letter written by Colonel Pericic ? If so would you be able to send me a copy of it.
Thanks, Damian

David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 14 Jul 2004 08:20

Roo Boy -- I just have the text copy reproduced here, not a facsimile. You can download this text copy by just clicking on the File menu and saving the page as text, or by copying and pasting to a blank text or Word document.

Mark V. · Post by **Mark V.** » 14 Jul 2004 14:32

Very interesting report, David. Thanks for posting it.

If the unit was indeed a Waffen-SS unit, then given the time and location, it could have only have been a company from division Nordland.

cheers

ninoo · Post by **ninoo** » 15 Jul 2004 02:34

Hi

Mark V. wrote

If the unit was indeed a Waffen-SS unit, then given the time and location, it could have only have been a company from division Nordland.

Aha...The crimes of the Waffen-SS units in Yugoslavia (aside from the natives Waffen SS) always made me interest. Did you know about the spesific crimes that bring SS-Brifu Juergen Wagner lost his life in Yugoslavia after the war? I heard that his 'Nederland' Brigade made some crimes in Yugoslavia when they were send to the country with 'Nordland'. However, excluding the word of a veteran of the formation about hanging partisan that they capture that I found in Edwin Meisma's wfss-nl site, I didn't know spesific cases of the war crimes that involved this unit.

Best Regards

Bless the people who like to help others

Panzermahn · Post by **Panzermahn** » 15 Jul 2004 14:31

Hi Ninoo,

You're forgetting that brutality perpetrated by the Prinz Eugen are actually resulted from the heinous and barbaric crimes pepertrated on German soldiers by the partisans..

Allen Milcic · Post by **Allen Milcic** » 15 Jul 2004 14:43

Joachim Chan wrote:Hi Ninoo,

You're forgetting that brutality perpetrated by the Prinz Eugen are actually resulted from the heinous and barbaric crimes pepertrated on German soldiers by the partisans..

Crimes committed by one side are not an excuse for the excesses of others; I am also curious if you can possibly support your assertion with anything approaching a primary source.

Allen/

Panzermahn · Post by **Panzermahn** » 15 Jul 2004 15:14

Hi Allen,

sources is from books David Irving's Hitler's War and some footnotes from Antony Beevor's Berlin.

By the way, what you said are correct but it is Tito's partisans who started war crimes to invite German reprisals which would certainly alienate the occupied population and caused them to join the partisans..

A crafty and an asymmetric warfare practised by the partisans..

David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 15 Jul 2004 16:29

Joachim -- You said:

brutality perpetrated by the Prinz Eugen are actually resulted from the heinous and barbaric crimes pepertrated on German soldiers by the partisans.

You were asked for sources and you replied:

sources is from books David Irving's Hitler's War and some footnotes from Antony Beevor's Berlin.

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Allen Milcic · Post by **Allen Milcic** » 15 Jul 2004 19:36

Joachim Chan wrote:Hi Allen,

sources is from books David Irving's Hitler's War and some footnotes from Antony Beevor's Berlin.

By the way, what you said are correct but it is Tito's partisans who started war crimes to invite German reprisals which would certainly alienate the occupied population and caused them to join the partisans..

A crafty and an asymmetric warfare practised by the partisans..

In what way is David Irving qualified to make statements regarding the Second World War in Yugoslavia? Reading his CV, I do not see that he has any personal experience or education on the topic, and he has not, aparently, devoted any time to researching primary source documentation from any archives in the area.

In what way does Anthony Beevor's 'Berlin' address the extremely convoluted war(s) on the territories of Yugoslavia from 1941-45?

Allen/

Allen Milcic · Post by **Allen Milcic** » 15 Jul 2004 19:49

Hi David:

With regards to the report of Colonel Pericic, the village of Osekovo is located halfway between the towns of Kutina and Petrinja, approximately 50-60 km east-southeast of Zagreb in Croatia Proper. To the best of my knowledge, the 'Prinz Eugen' SS Division did not operate in this area at any time during WW2, so Mark V's suggestion that the SS unit in question could have been part of the "Nordland" Division certainly holds water. It could also, however, have been a unit of the SS police, as Colonel Pericic does not state it was necessarily a 'Waffen SS' unit.

Best regards,
Allen/

David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 15 Jul 2004 20:43

Thanks, Allen, for the helpful clarification.

Allen Milcic · Post by **Allen Milcic** » 15 Jul 2004 22:23

David Thompson wrote:Thanks, Allen, for the helpful clarification.

No problem David. With further regards to the SS Police in the NDH:

An agreement was signed between the Independant State of Croatia and Germany on 15. July, 1943, by which a German-Croatian Police Force (Deutsch-Kroatische Polizei), under German Police & SS command, was to be raised and organized within the NDH (with German officers/NCO's and Croatian volunteer rank-and-file). The Commander of the force was SS Major-General Konstantine Kammerhofer. The SS Police in Croatia was intended for "internal security duties", and participated in anti-Partizan sweeps as well as in providing security for various installations and railway/roadway links within the NDH. The first regiment (of the eventual 5 regiments + 15 independent battalions) was already active in the general area of the Osekovo incident by September 1943.

Regards,
Allen/