Wikipedia talk:Requests for mediation/Draza Mihailovic/Archive11

Legacy (Edited version)
Historians vary in their assessments of Mihilaović. Tomasevich (1975) suggests one main cause of his defeat was his failure to grow professionally, politically or ideologically as his responsibilities increased, rendering him unable to face both the exceptional circumstances of the war and the complex situation of the Chetniks. Tomasevich also criticizes Mihailović's loss of the Allies' support through the Chetniks' collaboration with the Axis, as well as his doctrine of "passive resistance" which was perceived as idleness, stating "of generalship in the general there was precious little." Pavlowitch (2007) also points to Mihilaović's failure to grow and evolve during the conflict and describes him as a man "generally out of his depth" Roberts (1987) asserts that Mihailović's policies were "basically static", that he "gambled all in the faith of an Allied victory," and that ultimately he was unable to control the Chentiks, who, "although hostile to the Germans and the Italians ... allowed themselves to drift into a policy of accommodations with both in the face of what they considered the greatest danger."

Political views of Mihailović cover a wide range. After the war, Mihailović's wartime role was viewed in the light of his movement's collaboration, particularly in Yugoslavia where he was considered a collaborator convicted of high treason. Charles de Gaulle considered Mihailović a "pure hero", while Winston Churchill stated he considered intelligence reports had shown that Mihailović had engaged "...in active collaboration with the Germans". In the United States, due to the efforts of Major Richard L. Felman and his friends, President Harry S. Truman, on the recommendation of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, posthumously awarded Mihailović the Legion of Merit for the rescue of American airmen by the Chetniks. The award and the story of the rescue was classified secret by the State Department so as not to offend the Yugoslav government.


 * "General Dragoljub Mihailovich distinguished himself in an outstanding manner as Commander-in-Chief of the Yugoslavian Army Forces and later as Minister of War by organizing and leading important resistance forces against the enemy which occupied Yugoslavia, from December 1941 to December 1944. Through the undaunted efforts of his troops, many United States airmen were rescued and returned safely to friendly control. General Mihailovich and his forces, although lacking adequate supplies, and fighting under extreme hardships, contributed materially to the Allied cause, and were instrumental in obtaining a final Allied victory." (March 29, 1948, Harry S. Truman)

Almost sixty years after his death, on 29 March 2005, Draža Mihailović's daughter, Gordana, was presented with the posthumous decoration by president George W. Bush. The decision was controversial: in Croatia Zoran Pusić, head of the Civil Committee for Human Rights, protested against the decision and stated that Mihailović was directly responsible for the war crimes committed by the Chetniks.

With the breakup of Yugoslavia and the renewal of ethnic nationalism, the historical perception of Mihailović's collaboration has been challenged by parts of the public in Serbia and other ethnic Serb-populated regions of Yugoslavia. In the 1980s, political and economic problems within Yugoslavia undermined faith in the communist regime, and historians in SR Serbia began a re-evaluation of current historiography and a rehabilitation of Mihailović and the Chetniks. In the 1990s, during the Yugoslav Wars, several Serbian nationalist groups began calling themselves "Chetniks", while Serb paramilitaries often self-identified with them and were referred to as such. Vojislav Šešelj's Serbian Radical Party formed the White Eagles, a paramilitary group considered responsible for war crimes and ethnic cleansing, which identified with the Chetniks. Vuk Drašković's Serbian Renewal Movement was closely associated with the Serbian Guard, which was also associated with Chetniks and monarchism. Reunions of Chetnik survivors and nostalgics and of Mihailović admirers have been held in Serbia By the late 20th and early 21st century, Serbian history textbooks and academic works characterized Milhailović and the Chetniks as "fighters for a just cause", and Chetnik massacres of civilians and commission of war crimes were ignored or barely mentioned. In 2004 Mihailovic was officially rehabilitated in Serbia by an act of the Serbian Parliament.

The revised image of Mihailović is not shared in non-Serbian post-Yugoslav nations. In Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina analogies are drawn between war crimes committed during World War II and those of the Yugoslav wars, and Mihailović is "seen as a war criminal responsible for ethnic cleansing and genocidal massacres." The differences were illustrated in 2004, when a Serbian basketball player, Milan Gurović, who has a tattoo of Mihailović on his left arm, was banned by the Croatian Ministry of the Interior Zlatko Mehun from traveling to Croatia for refusing to cover the tatoo, as its display was deemed equivalent to "provoking hatred or violence because of racial background, national identity or religious affiliation." Serbian press and politicians reacted to the ban with surprise and indignation, while in Croatia the decision was seen as "wise and a means of protecting the player himself against his own stupidity." In 2009, a Serb group based in Chicago offered a reward of $100,000.00 for help finding Mihailovic's grave. A commission formed by the Serbian government began an investigation, and in 2010 suggested Mihailovic may have been interred at Ada Ciganlija.

Current tasks
While we are waiting for any final comments on the "Legacy" section, I've selected another section for review. I thought we should now probably go in chronological order (and start at the beginning). Sunray (talk) 16:19, 25 June 2010 (UTC)


 * I've archived old discussion and made a clean copy of the edited version of the "Legacy" section for participants to take a last look at. If there are no further suggested changes in the next couple of days, I will add it as a subpage. Meanwhile, are there any suggested changes to the "Early life..." section?

Legacy section - revised
Historians vary in their assessments of Mihilaović. Tomasevich (1975) suggests one main cause of his defeat was his failure to grow professionally, politically or ideologically as his responsibilities increased, rendering him unable to face both the exceptional circumstances of the war and the complex situation of the Chetniks. Tomasevich also criticizes Mihailović's loss of the Allies' support through the Chetniks' collaboration with the Axis, as well as his doctrine of "passive resistance" which was perceived as idleness, stating "of generalship in the general there was precious little." Pavlowitch (2007) also points to Mihilaović's failure to grow and evolve during the conflict and describes him as a man "generally out of his depth" Roberts (1987) asserts that Mihailović's policies were "basically static", that he "gambled all in the faith of an Allied victory," and that ultimately he was unable to control the Chentiks, who, "although hostile to the Germans and the Italians ... allowed themselves to drift into a policy of accommodations with both in the face of what they considered the greatest danger."

Political views of Mihailović cover a wide range. After the war, Mihailović's wartime role was viewed in the light of his movement's collaboration, particularly in Yugoslavia where he was considered a collaborator convicted of high treason. Charles de Gaulle considered Mihailović a "pure hero", while Winston Churchill stated he considered intelligence reports had shown that Mihailović had engaged "...in active collaboration with the Germans". In the United States, due to the efforts of Major Richard L. Felman and his friends, President Harry S. Truman, on the recommendation of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, posthumously awarded Mihailović the Legion of Merit for the rescue of American airmen by the Chetniks. The award and the story of the rescue was classified secret by the State Department so as not to offend the Yugoslav government.


 * "General Dragoljub Mihailovich distinguished himself in an outstanding manner as Commander-in-Chief of the Yugoslavian Army Forces and later as Minister of War by organizing and leading important resistance forces against the enemy which occupied Yugoslavia, from December 1941 to December 1944. Through the undaunted efforts of his troops, many United States airmen were rescued and returned safely to friendly control. General Mihailovich and his forces, although lacking adequate supplies, and fighting under extreme hardships, contributed materially to the Allied cause, and were instrumental in obtaining a final Allied victory." (March 29, 1948, Harry S. Truman)

Almost sixty years after his death, on 29 March 2005, Draža Mihailović's daughter, Gordana, was presented with the posthumous decoration by president George W. Bush. The decision was controversial: in Croatia Zoran Pusić, head of the Civil Committee for Human Rights, protested against the decision and stated that Mihailović was directly responsible for the war crimes committed by the Chetniks.

With the breakup of Yugoslavia and the renewal of ethnic nationalism, the historical perception of Mihailović's collaboration has been challenged by parts of the public in Serbia and other ethnic Serb-populated regions of Yugoslavia. In the 1980s, political and economic problems within Yugoslavia undermined faith in the communist regime, and historians in SR Serbia began a re-evaluation of current historiography and a rehabilitation of Mihailović and the Chetniks. In the 1990s, during the Yugoslav Wars, several Serbian nationalist groups began calling themselves "Chetniks", while Serb paramilitaries often self-identified with them and were referred to as such. Vojislav Šešelj's Serbian Radical Party formed the White Eagles, a paramilitary group considered responsible for war crimes and ethnic cleansing, which identified with the Chetniks. Vuk Drašković's Serbian Renewal Movement was closely associated with the Serbian Guard, which was also associated with Chetniks and monarchism. Reunions of Chetnik survivors and nostalgics and of Mihailović admirers have been held in Serbia By the late 20th and early 21st century, Serbian history textbooks and academic works characterized Milhailović and the Chetniks as "fighters for a just cause", and Chetnik massacres of civilians and commission of war crimes were ignored or barely mentioned. In 2004 Mihailovic was officially rehabilitated in Serbia by an act of the Serbian Parliament.

The revised image of Mihailović is not shared in non-Serbian post-Yugoslav nations. In Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina analogies are drawn between war crimes committed during World War II and those of the Yugoslav wars, and Mihailović is "seen as a war criminal responsible for ethnic cleansing and genocidal massacres." The differences were illustrated in 2004, when a Serbian basketball player, Milan Gurović, who has a tattoo of Mihailović on his left arm, was banned by the Croatian Ministry of the Interior Zlatko Mehun from traveling to Croatia for refusing to cover the tatoo, as its display was deemed equivalent to "provoking hatred or violence because of racial background, national identity or religious affiliation." Serbian press and politicians reacted to the ban with surprise and indignation, while in Croatia the decision was seen as "wise and a means of protecting the player himself against his own stupidity." In 2009, a Serb group based in Chicago offered a reward of $100,000.00 for help finding Mihailovic's grave. A commission formed by the Serbian government began an investigation, and in 2010 suggested Mihailovic may have been interred at Ada Ciganlija.

Problems
I generally re-edited the section, fixing grammar and the like, but I also made a few changes which could be opposed. The main point of view which I rewrote is the rather sneaky "weaving-in" of the personal wish/idea that the perception of Mihailović's collaboration is exclusively Yugoslav or communist or "titoist" or whatever. This is nonsense. I repeat: all sources listing Mihailović's collaboration are non-Yugoslav. From 1945 up to the present noone (and particularly not official state policies) opposed the fact that Mihailović engaged in collaboration (and anyway how could they, with all the facts). The only place and time where this is the case is Serbia, 1987-present.

For example: Somebody inserted "the Titoists' account" in the fourth paragraph, creating "...the Titoists' account historical perception of Mihailović" sentence. Needless to say that's deliberate "POV-ization" of the text. Even if we disregard the bad grammar, 1) again, there is nothing at all to suggest the perception of Mihailović as a person who engaged in collaboration was strictly communist or Yugoslav or "Titoist" or whatever, 2) "Titoism" is a form of socialism, and not a term to be used as a synonym of "supporters of Tito". -- DIREKTOR  ( TALK ) 15:58, 2 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Considering that the view of Mihailovic as a collaborator (i.e. a traitor) is a common thing everywhere outside Serbia is nonsense. If anything, the most common - and correct, I think - view is that the Chetniks were crap as a movement (or at least were an incoherent excuse for a movement), not that Mihailovic betrayed anyone or anything. Jean-Jacques Georges (talk) 14:15, 5 July 2010 (UTC)