Serbia's Secret War: Propaganda and the Deceit of History

Philip J. Cohen

Jan 1996 · Texas A&M University Press

About this ebook

An entire piece of Serbian history is missing. And in the middle of the latest Yugoslav war-Europe's worst blood bath since World War II-Serbian politicians, propagandists, and revisionist historians have made a cynical attempt at replacing the missing piece by rewriting the Holocaust record: Serbs were not Nazi collaborators in genocide, but purely victims of the same atrocities that befell the Jews; and Serbian aspirations for a Greater Serbia are not driven by a murderous, nationalistic hatred, but rather are propelled by a victim's desire to lay claim to a safe homeland, a Serbian Promised Land. Thus has the current spilling of blood been justified. Philip J. Cohen argues that the existence of such a propaganda campaign, emanating from Belgrade, began in the earliest days of the post-World War II era and, since then, has been reflected in the world media, as well as in popular commentary and scholarly analysis. More astonishing is that this campaign has been widely successful, particularly in Israel. In attempting to not only establish but also explain the Serbian record during the Nazi occupation, Cohen takes his reader back into nineteenth-century Serbia to uncover the foundation of a political and social system that was partly built on ethnic prejudices and the glorification of violence. The rise of Serbian fascism in the 1930s was therefore inevitable-predetermined by the politics of power- and land-grabbing. Remarkable for its broad portrayal and penetrating examination of the Yugoslav social and political experience, Serbia at War with History draws heavily on documents that have been previously unavailable to the West. Some of the written record has been translated and is published here, in full, for the first time. Destined to be regarded as an important contribution to the field, Cohen's careful study of the Serbian role in the Second World War will dramatically alter how scholars, policy makers, and the general public view the bloodshed in the former Yugoslavia-and how they will come to understand the reasons behind it. Philip J. Cohen, a medical doctor, has done extensive research on history and politics in the Balkans. He is widely published in scholarly journals and books."Dr. Cohen's book is of unique value because it serves two vital purposes: to document the often misunderstood and misrepresented history of Serbian nationalism and Serbian collaboration with the Nazis and to expose some of the myths used by Serbian extremists today in the former Yugoslavia to justify a new round of genocide and `ethnic cleansing.' As a result, it will make the task of revisionists and war criminals all the more difficult.

Ratings and reviews

By reading this book i belive that you are propaganding stories against Serbian people, and that YOU are somekind of neo-Nazi who knows nothing. It is written that Serbs did ethnic cleansing over muslims...If you just looked at any history book you will find that Turks (Muslims) came in Serbia in 1389 and after they terrorised Serbian people for 500 years.Albanians are Serbs that took islam under 500 years of sloter...So you know shit...what Turks did to Serbs....comon Turks way of killing Kaurin(Serb) is by stabing him on a wodden stick(Kolac)..i will say nothing more about that. Now to 20 century. The war criminals Pavelic, Artukovic, and many others made sure that Serb property was seized right down to the gold teeth and wedding rings of concentration camp victims at Jasneovac. As the war was winding down, the Ustashe financial apparatus was gearing up. Top Ustashe were positioned in Rome and Switzerland, bank accounts were opened with the Swiss National Bank. More than 700000 Serbians killed in Jasenovac during WWII.

in Bosnia. Contrary to modern Serbian propaganda, the western press DID NOT blacken them or side against them, at first the atrocities were hidden well, but LATER ON it began to leak out. I watched the action on the nightly news, as the story developed. No one gives a hoot about the Serbs to hate them, they are just some backwater huh? who? for most people till they made their name stink in public. Neither is opposition to them opposition to Orthodoxy, most Europe and America knows nothing much about Orthodoxy, it is just a peculiar minority oddity ancient church another huh? who? NO ONE CARES. Orthodoxy per se is not on hardly anyone's radar until the past couple of years or so, so how can people opposing Serbian evil be fighting Orthodoxy? you Serbs are NOT Orthodox you are frauds, you worship your blood and soil and worldly dreams of ancient glory (bah, a piddling "empire" at that) your ancestors partnered with the Turks against your Orthodox Bulgarian neighbors and helped take down Constantinople itself. The Theotokos warned St. Lazar that he would lose his soul if he won the war, and he worried later according to the hagiography that he should have told his people and given them a choice, they did not go to battle expecting to lose but he had made that decision already. And an angel came and told him, that in heaven the Serbian saints were praying to God to give the victory to the Turks. The Serbian corrupt soul could only survive if, under a foreign heel, its satanic pride was kept in check, and it was forced to pray a lot. You BLASPHEMOUSLY treat holy places in your lands as "Serbian cultural artifacts" rather than outposts of the Kingdom of Heaven and Christ as your overlord, Who you deny with your violent culture and holdover pagan traditions. You Serbian APOSTATES, you name a city after a pagan false god who is satan himself, "Veles" or something like that. I pray that the rest of Orthodoxy gets wise to you and excommunicates your church and forces you to repent. I have seen this creeping pagan game in European and Anglo American culture, I recognize it when I see it elsewhere. I have seen this PROSTITUTION of the faith to the service of the pomps and pride of satan whom you hypocritically swear you renounce when baptized, or swear for the infants being baptized, then raise them to be children of hell like yourselves, I have seen this game in the evangelical and dominionist circles in American Christianity, I fell for it for a while myself been there, done that, REPENTED OF IT. I recognize the same game when you play it. Justina

This book is blatantly racist and anti Serb. To call this a piece of crap would be far more accurate. The book is full of statements from very questionable sources, many important historic facts were conveniently left out. For example The Jasenovac and other death camps. Not to mention the thousands of crimes against humanity that were committed by the fascist Ustashi,Honved,Hanjar and Skenderbeg! Book would be perfect for Ustashi and holocaust deniers

About the author

Philip J. Cohen, a medical doctor, has done extensive research on history and politics in the Balkans. He is widely published in scholarly journals and books."Dr. Cohen's book is of unique value because it serves two vital purposes: to document the often misunderstood and misrepresented history of Serbian nationalism and Serbian collaboration with the Nazis and to expose some of the myths used by Serbian extremists today in the former Yugoslavia to justify a new round of genocide and `ethnic cleansing.' As a result, it will make the task of revisionists and war criminals all the more difficult.