The latest smear

 

Dear Petar,

Regarding the latest smear from the Lituchy camp to Dr. Trifkovic and copied to others, I think it is appropriate to set the record straight on at least some of the accusations:

1.    There is no dispute between you and me. I love you like a brother. You have been there to support me and my work for almost six years and called to check on me at times when I was dealing with incredible pain, especially the pain of working with the Jasenovac testimony and not being able to take a warm shower without thinking of those poor Jews and Serbs who were transfered from the Italian zone and tied up in the freezing rain to die as icicles or be hungry without wondering how those poor Serbs and Jews could survive hunger pains for months or years and eat without feeling guilty to have food. When my friends here didn't understand my commitment, you were always there for me, and nothing could change my feelings for you. To compare a (nonexistent) dispute with you "on the one hand" to one with Lituchy "on the other" is blasphemous.

2.    While Mr. Yelesiyevich claims to be "intimately acquainted with the details of the law suit," he seems to have been sadly misinformed, and I hope his research is more careful in other respects. Certainly, he should understand that the law provides for a process in which to "prove" allegations, and identifying the Jasenovac book as "pirated" is completely inappropriate. At the end of this litigation, we will see what is indeed "pirated."

3.    Since the Jewish Federaton in Belgrade was misinformed as to the nature of the settlement and tricked (with a breach of any confidentiality agreement) into not discussing the Mosic affair, we will wait to see further developments. Mr. Yelesiyevich's letter to the Federation contained many inaccuracies--such as

(a.) the book was "unauthorized," when the only person to "authorize" the publication was Dr. Klein, the main organizer and host of the conference (I have his declaration);

(b.)  that Mr. Almuli offered a "bribe" to Mosic (he infact offered money for "permission" to include the papers in this and future editions so as to maintain a complete record); Mr. Almuli is a journalist who has spent decades on Holocaust studies and now in his 86th year still fights to tell the truth about genocide in Independent Croatia and has studied carefully the legal documents in this case;

(c.)  that we have "lost" the case (Mr. Yelesiyevich seems to assume himself judge and jury; the case is far from over, and your settlement clears the way for me to fight my way, unemcumbered by your lawyers);

(d.)  that the book will "vanish"--a most disturbing suggestion (the book is in Yad Vashem, Hebrew University, and many other university, public, church and synagogue libraries and with Survivors and researchers, and undistributed books are in protected storage);

(e.) that JRI will produce a "definitive version" this April (It can hardly be complete as most of those few who signed "non-exclusive" permission to JRI have withdrawn even that and filed for copyrights, and a long list of people will certainly be missing from JRI's book, IF it ever appears;

(f.) the book "distorted and misrepresented" presenters (evidently, Mr. Yelesiyevich does not understand the difference between a transcript of proceedings and an analytical work);

(g.) that the book bears a "fraudulent" copyright (again, refer to Dr. Klein's declaration);

(h.) that Milan Bulajic is inaccurately identified as an organizer of the conference (see page 165 of the book on which Dr. Klein identifies him (Lituchy is identiifed as a "coordinator," and he identified himself as an "assistant coordinator" in a Jan. 18, 1998 letter but apparently has now promoted himself to the "organizer"; and

(i.) that we "forged" signatures (see the investigative report of the Survivors' Association; the letter of Tisma, Danon, Erlih, and Svarc; the letters of Danon, Erlih, and Svarc, etc.

4. The allegation that you "admitted wrongdoing" is over the top, but I certainly hope, if Lituchy did get the $10,000 instead of his lawyers, that he hangs on to it as part of payment to me when I win the multi-million $ libel suit I have filed against him. Mr. Lituchy's "generous" settlement terms did not come close to attoning for the mental stress, health problems, money, and time he has cost so many with his second lawsuit against those who try to tell the truth about Jasenovac. Further, to set the record straight, I don't have a lawyer because I won't be held hostage by a Lituchy suit (such as the 1st one against 4 good men) in which I have to capitulate because I can't pay tens of thousands to an attorney. Further, the suggestion that "no judge wants to deal with a pro se defendant who refused good settlement terms" ignores the foundation of the justice system in which ALL litigants are entitled to pursue truth and justice. In fact, I would encourage anyone else against whom a frivolous lawsuit is filed to go "pro se."

5. Regarding the allegation that I "created a scene" at St. Sava's church last Saturday, for the record, I was showing on my computer a 10-minute video of Jasenovac survivors to 6-7 friends (among them a man whose grandmother perished in Jasenovac and had asked to see the video) when a certain Barry supporter appeared in the otherwise empty room upstairs in the hall and demanded to know why I was there (in "her" church), accused me of being sued by CUNY/Kingsborough college (I told her I was not sued but that Barry had sued Kingsborough), and demanded to know who invited me. As I recall, most of those present plead guilty, after which she attacked them and demanded to know whether they were members of "her" church. I told her I had devoted most of my time over the five-plus years to telling the truth without ever soliciting or accepting money and that I have always before been welcomed by Serbs. She proceeded to insult further the others and me and claimed to be the largest donor to "her" church. Downstairs, she continued to desparage us and approached me again as I was leaving, at which time I told her she was most "inappropriate." Outside, as I left, she followed me and again asked me why I was there and (as the priest had called the donors to the church "angels") asked me if I were an "angel." I responded that I never took money from poor Serbs in a pyramid scheme and enriched myself with their loss, so perhaps I was an "angel."

6. As for according "respect" to Mr. Lituchy, as neither Yugoslav Serb nor Jew nor Roma but American of German descent, I am very much aware that I must prove myself and EARN respect through my work. Likewise, I "accord" respect to others based on their character (honesty, strength of endurance, selfless service to others, etc.), their efforts that are not self-aggrandizing whether it be in the fields or the library, and the product of their work. As for permission from Mr. Lituchy, I do not assume that he "owns" the 1997 conference or story of Jasenovac to keep buried or expose as he wishes. As for "abid(ing) by his decisions"--well, malo sutra.

   As for Lituchy winning both lawsuits, he might have managed to wrest JRI from the hands of the original incorporator and gag the defendants while telling all kinds of stories about the affair himself and by costing them tens of thousands in legal fees, and he managed to get a settlement from you (again because of tens of thousands in legal fees but which works well for both of us) on a suit you should never have been on but for which your attorneys failed to file a motion to dismiss you, but this is far from over (unless Lituchy, in addition to other things, resigns from JRI and gives it back to the original incorporator--as the Survivors have made clear he does not represent their interests and, therefore, should not solicit money in their names), and it is absolutely false that "Lituchy won both times." 

7. As for Mr. Yelesiyevich's comments about Mr. Danon, Mr. Erlih, and Mr. Svarc, I will restrain myself and say only that these men, after their incredible suffering at Jasenovac, came to New York to tell their stories (and had to be hungry again as a certain check that was expedited from Canada to feed them was not cashed until a couple of months later) and, after 7.5 years when their stories were finally published, had their stories suppressed by injunction for the past six months. They have every right to want the only complete record of the conference that could ever be produced legally freed from injunction. They and others, knowing that some people would never give their permission to Lituchy after the horrible and costly messes he has caused and that the record of their testimony is satisfactory to them, have withdrawn their permission to Lituchy/JRI. They simply want their testimonies to be distributed instead of sitting in storage and have every right to demand it. Further, as you and I agreed, the most important and precious part of the 1997 conference was the testimony of the Survivors (eight of whom have died since the conference--seven without even seeing the book). We put every word they spoke in addition to every written word they submitted AND the transcripts of Vladimir Bibic's post-conference interviews in the FRONT of the book. While Lituchy claims the survivors were not the focus of the Conference, for us, they WERE. No words of any historian, whether informed or uninformed, could possibly be as important as the testimonies of those brave heroes, and I pray they will live to see their words freed from Lituchy's "gag." 

Best,

wanda

 

Jasenovac concentration camp (Letter No 2)

 DEFENDING THE TRUTH ABOUT JASENOVAC CONCENTRATION CAMP IN THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF CROATIA

 

(Letter No. 2)

 

 

This letter is written and addressed to you by three Jewish survivors of the death camp Jasenovac in the Nazi Independent State of Croatia during the Second World War who are still alive in Serbia:

 

Cadik Danon,

the architect, who escaped from the Jasenovac concentration camp in 1942

 

Bozo Svarc

the retired colonel of the Yugoslav Army, who escaped from the Jasenovac concentration camp in the same year

 

and

 

Josif Erlih

the retired major of the Yugoslav Army, who was held in Jasenovac to the very bitter end and participated in the break out on 22 of April 1945 when the Croat fascist guards started slaughtering all remaining prisoners

 

 

 

 

LITUCHY HARRASING JEWISH SURVIVORS

 

 

            Mr Barry Lituchy offered a distorted picture of the meeting of the Jewish Federation in Serbia which considered the proposal of 25 survivors to remove from his post Mr Aleksandar Mosic because he took part in the lawsuit against the creators of the Proceedings of the First International Conference on Jasenovac in 1997. His whole letter sent on 26 of February was devoted to this question.

            He said that "the motion to sanction certain members of the Jasenovac Research Institute and to endorse and distribute the unauthorised and enjoined book was completely defeated" without mentioning that the case was dropped only after defective information was provided to the meeting and that Mr. Makara, the Federation and our group of survivors were told that the plaintiffs would not sign unless the Federation drops the case.

            Mr. Lituchy said also that our letter to Mr. Mosic that was discussed at the meeting of the Executive Committee of Federation was a "bogus letter of slander ostensibly signed by 25 Jewish Holocaust Survivors" and that it contained many "scurrilous and libellous allegations."

            This "bogus" letter was signed by the three of us Jasenovac survivors and 22 others:

Andreja Preger, PhD, outstanding pianist and retired professor at the Academy of Music in Belgrade. He joined the partisans, while his father and uncle were killed at the very entrance of the Jasenovac camp;

Jasa Almuli, past President of the Jewish Community in Belgrade and Honorary Chairman of the Belgrade Chapter of Holocaust survivors and war veterans. He video taped 170 testimonies of survivors in Yugoslavia and Greece and published two books on the Holocaust;

Hana Atijas Vlacic from Sarajevo, who survived Croat Ustasha prison and German camps and now lives in Australia;

Eva Timar, a chemical engineer who survived Auschwitz;

Eva Cavcic, PhD, who survived several Hungarian and German prisons and after the war became a chemical scientist;

Luci Mevarah Petrovicsurvived by escaping to Albania under the Italian control and was over 30 years the secretary of the Federation of the Jewish Communities in former Yugoslavia;

Haim Mile Pinkas, a successful businessman from Belgrade who survived in Italian interment and recently financed the publication of books countering testimonies of Yugoslav survivors (published by the Jewish Historic Museum in Belgrade);

Moric Levi, who with his close family hid in Belgrade and Serbia during the occupation;

Boza Rafajlovic who, after escaping from Italian internment, joined Tito's partisans and, as an outstanding journalist, covered most visits of the late Yugoslav president to non-aligned countries;

Ana Somlo, journalist and writer, Editor in Chief of the magazine "Most" published for the Yugoslav immigrants in Israel;

Ivan Ninic, a publisher and designer from Novi Sad living now in Israel with his wife Ana Somlo;

Rafael Abravanel, jumped out from the train transporting Jewish victims from the town of Pirot in Serbia to Treblinka and reached Palestine before the end of the war. He lives in the kibbutz Shaar Haamakim near Haifa;

Greta Davidovic Terzic, MD, survived thanks to interment in Italian controlled territory and lives now in France;

Flora Sokolovic, who was hiding with her mother and granny in the house of Serbian friends during three years in Belgrade;

Vida Jankovic, PhD, retired professor of English at the University of Belgrade where she was during the occupation;

Sarina Lili Alkalaj, who fled from Belgrade to Pirot and later escaped from the death train to Macedonia and Albania and joined the partisans;

Dr. Marko Anaf, was hiding for three years in an attic bunker with his mother in her house in Belgrade and was professor of biology at the Medical School of the University of Belgrade;

Matilda Baruh, was hiding during the occupation in Belgrade together with her brother and mother;

Natalija Danon, the Serbian widow of the general Misha Danon who escaped from the Jasenovac camp;

Lily Alpar, was hiding in Budapest;

Djordje Alpar, her husband, was first hiding in Dalmatia and afterwards joined Tito's partisans;

Dragutin Mladenovic, also a Serb and friend of our community and husband of the late Ljiljana Ivanisevic, who as a child was imprisoned in the Jasenovac camp. He expressed his desire to join our action and we consented.

 

These persons signed or endorsed by emails our letter urging Mr. Mosic to disassociate himself from the court action against the creators of the book of the Proceedings of the Jasenovac conference. The letter with their signatures is kept by Mrs. Luci Mevorah Petrovic, retired Secretary of the Jewish Federation. Her address is Kicevska 1a, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.

 

            Thus far about the "bogus" character of our letter.

            As for the allegation of Mr. Lituchy that it contains "scurrilous and libelous allegations" we shall reproduce here the letter, and you judge for yourself.

 

______________________________________________________________

Mr. Aleksandar Mosic

Ilije Garasanina 33

B e l g r a d e

 

            We Jews who sign this Letter and who survived the camp of Jasenovac and the Nazi genocide during World War Two are calling on you Mr Mosic to withdraw your lawsuit against Petar Makara and Wanda Schindley, lodged because of alleged breach of your copyright of your paper in the Proceedings of the First International Conference on Jasenovac, held in New York in 1997.

            The lawsuit of 5^th of August 2005 lodged by you together with Barry Lituchy, Joe Friendly, Memory Films Productions and the Jasenovac Research Institute (JRI), under the control of Barry Lituchy, halted in 2005.the distribution of this book and caused damage to the spreading of the truth about Jasenovac. According to the initial request of the plaintiffs, the already distributed copies of the books should be retrieved. Now they ask for the permanent injunction of the undistributed copies and high payments for damages by the defendants to the plaintiffs. This means that some people in the world would make profit from the Jasenovac victims. The lawsuit is already filling the pockets of lawyers with money which should be dedicated to the cause of Jasenovac.

            This book on Jasenovac was sent to Yad Vashem and Hebrew University in Jerusalem, which both thanked the editors. The book was also sent to many public libraries, universities and schools and Holocaust Centres. One thousand copies of the book were printed, and they were mostly donated without charge. The price of the book was set at $20.00, although it has 400 pages and hard cover, in order to make it accessible to as wide a range of readers as possible.

            We do not wish to enter into details of the legal aspects of he court proceedings regarding this book. However, we can’t accept the assertions of the plaintiffs that the publishing of this book interfered with their plans to publish it. They did not do it during a full seven years, and now when others published the book, they are preventing its distribution. We think that it hurts the memory of Jasenovac victims and victims in all the other camps where Jews, Serbs and Roma were destroyed. We were informed that the accused creators of he book did not use the video series of the plaintiffs and that they used papers submitted and raw footage which was given to them for use without any restrictions by the videographer Vladimir Bibic, who declined to join the lawsuit. He considers that his raw footage should be freely accessible to everybody.

            We wish to draw your attention to your actions in his lawsuit as a Jew and President of the Memorial Commission of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia and Montenegro. In the Conference of 1997, you delivered a short report on the archive and memorial material in the Jewish Historic Museum in Belgrade. You handed your report paper to the organizers of the conference with the assumption that they could use it without restrictions. Only in 2005 did you protect it with copyright in the USA. Is it morally correct to request copyright for data derived from the Jewish Historic Museum in Belgrade, which among the duties has the preservation and spreading of information on crimes committed against Jews during World War Two? You joined the lawsuit against the creators of the book, affirming that your copyright was breached as they did not ask you for permission to publish your report in the book.

            And we ask you now: When did we Jewish survivors of Serbia and Yugoslavia cover our reports on the Shoa with copyrights and limit the spreading of what we remember and tell? We believe that you made a mistake by registering subsequently your report of 1997 and joining the lawsuit. You had to bear in mind that you were President of the Memorial Commission of the Jewish Federation in Serbia and Montenegro. Instead of spreading the truth about Jasenovac, you are curtailing it.

            We have some additional questions. Do you receive any payment, and how much, as Editor in Chief of the Newsletter of the Jasenovac Research Institute? If you receive it, we ask you if you really think that it is in order to get financial reward from the source whose money is ear marked for the research of crimes committed against our nation.

            We were informed by the Belgrade-based Association of the former concentration camp inmates that you not only joined the lawsuit against the creators of the book on the First International Conference on Jasenovac but that you undertook an action to dissuade the Jasenovac survivors from giving support to the accused. You visited Mara Vejnovic while she was ill, without announcement, and talked her into withdrawing the support she gave to the editors of the book. However, she informed the Association of former camp inmates about it and, assisted by them, she cancelled what you extracted from her.

            We appeal to you as a long-time Jewish activist to reconsider your actions in this case and to inform us and the court in New York about the withdrawal of your suit. The accused creators of the Proceedings informed us that you should also give them permanent permission to use your report and that they will pay you for it. If you stick to your suit, we intend to inform the Jewish public opinion of our country about your actions and to request from the President and the Executive Committee of our Federation to decide whether you could continue to hold the position of President of the Memorial Commission.

            In addressing you, we are motivated by the need of our small and vulnerable community to preserve its aims and traditions: mutual solidarity of its members and solidarity with Jews in the world and Israel; defence and spreading of the truth about the Holocaust, the struggle against anti-Semitism, preservation of the Jewish identity, and much more. Your suit because of some copyright does not fit into these objectives. However, we believe that you would like to remain an activist of our community with the head raised high.

            The following persons who know the subject of this court litigation agreed with and supported the content of this letter and signed it:

 

(The letter ended with list of names and signatures which we already quoted) 

______________________________________________________________

 

            This letter to Mr. Mosic represented our effort to save the Jasenovac book and induce him to return to his previous honourable role in our Federation. Our effort failed, and he stuck to some interests tied up with his loyalty to Mr. Lituchy.

            We are outraged by Lituchy's writing. We wander how dare he try to discredit and harass the Jewish survivors in Serbia.

            We learned that Mr. Lituchy was dismissed by Kingsborough College where he was a lecturer without a PhD. We hope that this will be the beginning of his downfall from the mountain of abuses, harassment, and intimidation which he climbed to reach and preserve the top position of CEO of Jasenovac Research Institute. We agree that he should leave this position and hand over the JRI to its founders and honest Jewish, Serbian and American researchers.

Jasenovac concentration camp (Letter No. 1)

 

 

DEFENDING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE JASENOVAC CONCENTRATION CAMP IN THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF CROATIA

 

 (Letter No. 1)

 

 

This letter is written and addressed to you by three Jewish survivors of the death camp Jasenovac in the Nazi Independent State of Croatia during the Second World War who are still alive in Serbia:

 

Cadik Danon,

the architect, who escaped from the Jasenovac concentration camp in 1942

 

Bozo Svarc

the retired colonel of the Yugoslav Army, who escaped from the Jasenovac concentration camp in the same year

 

and

 

Josif Erlih

the retired major of the Yugoslav Army, who was held in Jasenovac to the very bitter end and participated in the break out on 22 of April 1945 when the Croat fascist guards started slaughtering all remaining prisoners

 

 

                                         

 

DECEIT AND BLACKMAIL

 

            We wish to advise you with some delay about the deliberation of the Executive Committee of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia and Monte Negro on the motion of our group 25 survivors condemning the participation of Mr. Aleksandar Mosic in the lawsuit against the creators of the Proceedings of he First International Conference on Jasenovac, held in New York in October 1997.  We asked the Executive Committee to remove Mr Mosic from his position of Chairman of the Memorial Commission of the Federation if he does not withdrew his suit based on the inclusion in the book of his paper submitted at the Conference without his prior permission. 

            The delay with which we are advising you that the Executive Committee of the Federation doped this case was due to a deception performed by Mr Mosic and a blackmail by him and three other plaintiffs: Jasenovac Research Institute headed by Mr Barry Lituchy, Memory Films Production of Mr Joseph Friendly and Mr. Antun Miletic, a historian from Croatia living in Serbia.  

            During the discussion on our motion Mr Mosic produced a document showing that the accused creator of the Proceedings Mr Petar Makara settled. Mr Mosic created the impression among the members of the EC that the lawsuit is finished and that three are no reasons to continue the deliberations about Mr Mosic's action.

            However, Mr Mosic provided only half of the information. He did not reveal to the EC that the second accused, Mrs Wanda Schindley, did not settle and that the court action (trial) in fact continues.

            In addition to revealing the terms of the settlement to which Mr Makara agreed, Mr Mosic produced at the meeting a second document in which the four plaintiffs declare that they still did not sign the settlement and that they will not do it until the Jewish Federation does not stop deliberating the case against Mr Mosic.

            Such a blackmail tied our hands. It prevented us from asking immediately a renewal of the deliberations and informing the public about what happened. We knew that Mr Makara did not settle because the fate of he book became indifferent to him.  He was forced to do it in order to safeguard the family savings for the education of their two sons. Mr Makara has spent in total $40,000 of which $10,000 for the printing of the book, $20,000 for his lawyer ad legal fees and had to disburse additional $10.000 to Mr Lituchy's lawyer under the terms of the settlement.  We did not want to spoil his chances to keep the remaining family savings and decided to wait until the court meeting on 2nd of March convoked for possible settlements. The time gap of 9 days between 21 of February when Mr Makara signed the settlement and the 2nd of March was created because Mr Makara's lawyer, Mr MIchael D. Assaf*, did not secure that the other side signs simultaneously with Mr Makara. They used the nine days to prepare and perform the blackmail. The Lituchy's camp signed only on the very eve of the court meeting, on March 2nd. 

            With Mr Makara out of the denger, we are now free to tell what has happened and resume our action to save the book.  The most remarkable fact is that Mrs Wanda Schindley informed the President of the Jewish Federation Mr Aca Singer, the same night after the failed meeting of the Executive Committee, that she did not settle and that she will continue her fight for the free distribution of the Proceedings of the Jasenovac conference. 

 

Her letter reads as follows:

______________________________________________________________

 

Mr. Aca Singer

President of the Jewish Federation in Belgrade

 

Dear Mr. Singer,

            I have been advised of the meeting in which discussion of Mr. Mosic's participation in the lawsuit against the proceedings book of the 1997 conference in New York was cancelled because Petar Makara settled. Please know that Mr. Makara settled independently, but I will continue to fight for the free distribution of the conference book as a historical record of the conference. The book in question is under temporary injunction until the matter can be resolved through settlement or litigation; however, I will never settle and allow the book to be "banned." The book contains every word spoken at the conference and in post-conference interviews or submitted in writing from the twelve brave survivors who attended the conference and represents hundreds of hours of volunteer work and thousands of dollars in contributions.

            Eight of those who spoke at the conference died since the conference: Delibasic in August of 1998; Huber in February of 1999; Sajer in November of 2001; Petrovic in February of 2003; Ivanisevic in August of 2003; and Sabolic, Despot, and Vejnovic in 2005. I feel an obligation to those survivors and the dear heroes Mr. Danon, Mr. Erlih, and Mr. Svarc to continue this fight to preserve the book at all costs to memorialise forever their testimonies at the conference. 

            The people who worked on and contributed to this book wish to contribute voluntarily and would not think of making a profit or taking money for work on Jasenovac or any Holocaust studies.

            Please consider this case because I can hardly imagine that Mr Mosic who, by his action, is suppressing the spreading of the truth about the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, and Roma in Jasenovac would lead by this example. I ask the Federation to continue deliberating, and I am willing to defend each of the charges against the conference book. I will not settle until the conference book is freed from injunction and can be reprinted and further distributed and will spend the rest of my life working on the tragic history of the Second World War, a history that is, I believe, extremely relevant in today's world.

            Best regards,

            Wanda Schindley, PhD    

 _____________________________________________________________

 

            Wanda Schindley persisted in her brave position at the court meeting on the 2nd of March. She declared that she would accept the settlement only if Mr Lituchy apologises to all against whom he sued, leaves the Jasenovac Research Institute and returnees it to its founders.  

            Mr Makara also wrote to Mr Singer the same evening of 26 of February declaring that he did not sent any letter to the Jewish Federation and did not authorise any person to reveal publicly the terms of his settlement, and that such revelation represents a grave infringement. 

            Now we felt free to continue our action against the people who prevented the free distribution of a unique book in English on the horrors of Jasenovac and created the danger of its permanent banning.

 

*Michael D. Assaf

MAssaf@OAlaw.com

O’Connell and Aronowitz

54 State Street

Albany, NY 12207-2501