storm - Hrvatski memorijalno-dokumentacijski centar Domovinskog ...

Of course, this does not disprove the fact that the property of Croatian citizens, ethnic
Serbs, in the liberated territory was mainly torched by individuals on the Croatian side.
No dialogue can be established, and no badly needed peace reinforced in this area by
denying the committed criminal off ences or by blaming only one side for them, and by
drawing specifi c events out of the context of the historic process. Truth is also the only
right avenue for the future of our children, because we can only expect new suff ering if
everybody does not understand that crime cannot be justifi ed by anything. At the same
time, resorting to half-truths or unverifi ed information and, thereby, the imposition
of a conclusion that Storm was a “criminal scheme”, forcing upon Croatia a new guilt
complex, are also unacceptable. Many examples support the claim that Storm was not
intended to expel and exterminate the Serbs, and that Croatian soldiers were ordered
to abide by the rules of international law of war. Th ey include the testimony of a bedridden
old woman, recorded in the already mentioned HHO book (p. 29), saved thanks
to the determined insistence of a Croatian soldier (probably a commanding offi cer),
who had her put on a truck and taken to Knin, although his fellow-soldier suggested
he should “leave her or kill her”. Although the story also shows that some individuals
had no intention of respecting the international law of war, it actually confi rms - by the
order to the superior to his subordinate to “look aft er the old woman as if she were his
the driver’s father, 63, stayed behind: the man took a gun in order to fi ght as long as he could, then set his
house on fi re and fl ed only then (Vreme weekly; 14 August 1995, p. 4)... As we pulled back to Srb and Drvar,
we passed through empty villages. Th ere were no dead or wounded civilians or soldiers, just empty houses
and livestock. Occasionally explosions were heard - the Serbs had blown up some facilities lest they should
fall into the hands of the Croats - hospitals, post offi ces, storage facilities with weapons they could not take
along... Th e refugee column was far ahead of us... (testimony of M.Č., 32, from Obrovac, wounded during
retreat at Srb and transferred for treatment to the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade; recorded in the
double issue of the “independent political daily” Naša borba, 193-194, of 12-13 August, p. 9). Statements
by other Serbian refugees also show that buildings and other facilities were set to fi re, “in order not to leave
them to the Croats”. Th us, before leaving Donji Lapac the Serbs set fi re to the Kamensko Hotel, the police
station and “at least an additional 3-4 buildings” (HHO, Th e Military Operation ‘Storm’ and Its Aft ermath;
Zagreb, 2001, 25, notes 23, 34). Another distressing testimony, one of the many by Serbs who fl ed the socalled
RSK during Storm, by a women called Jagoda, 45-year-old mother of two minor children, bears witness
to the suff ering of the people led by their leaders into exile, to the tribulations of civilians and burning
homes before the arrival of the Croatian troops in the formerly occupied areas... Wherever we went, there
was just wasteland... Homes were burning by the roadside (Th e Women of Krajina, 127-128). Testimony of
Neda, born in 1954: ... Podgorje is about a mile away from the municipality of Krnjak; nobody had told us
anything, but I saw the village burning and women running away. Panic set in, we didn’t know what to do...
Somebody shouted ‘let’s move’, and just as we sat down I saw a house burning. Groups of Muslims appeared,
torched homes, and people began to fl ee again. I took my gun along, because everybody did. People fl ed into
the maize fi eld, and terrible slaughter followed... (Th e Women of Krajina, 262-263). Testimony of Desanka,
55: In the evening, at about 8 p.m. (on 5 August), my husband went to bed, and I followed him. Th e people
from the civil defence came and told us to go to the factory, the “assembly point”. I called my husband. - He
said he could not go. I grabbed a bag and fi led it with the bare necessities. I also took a hunting gun, but no
documents, because I thought we would be coming back... We assembled in the factory, about thirty of us,
infi rm people; everything was already burning, in fl ames. One of the factory managers called a driver and
gave us a bus to take us away, We drove through the burning village. Th e driver drove with lights off (Th e
Women of Krajina; 282-283).
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