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Serious accusations brought against Dr. Bulajic, Petar Makara and Wanda
Schindley
Dear friends, For many years I have been trying not to be part of any polemic or bickering within our list, for I usually consider it a waste of time and energy. But the seriousness of the allegations, against people that deserve only our respect and gratitude for their outstanding efforts and achievements, has prompted me to break my own rule of conduct and raise serious concerns related to the posting in question. First of all, we should never let this site be used for personal gains or power struggles. Secondly, and more importantly, it should not be used to demonize the Serbs and Serb supporters. Especially those that have passed the test of loyalty through their work, such as Wanda Schindley . Let us use common sense, logic and facts. Common sense: If used, would direct us not to spread such serious allegations before we hear both sides of the suit; which leads to the simple conclusion that our list is not the place for accusations of forgery, but courts are. You can view all the documents filed at www.srpska-mreza.com/LS/served Logic: How feasible is it that Petar Makara and
Dr. Bulajic, two people of proven high moral values and unprecedented
dedication to the Serbian cause, would degrade themselves to forge documents?
Facts: As one of the many board members that have resigned from JRI, I am well informed about the events that led to the unfortunate situation. The story is too tragic, ugly and long so whoever wants more details can contact me directly by e-mail. However, it is crucial that you are all aware that this is the second time the same person, one Barry Lituchy, has pursued legal action in relation to Jasenovac. The first time, the people accused of stealing organization JRI from BL were again: Dr. Milan Bulajic and Petar Makara, Dusan Dragic; as well as Robert Okleas, the very founder of JRI . The amount sought for was 8.5million dollars!!! In order to settle out of court, each one of them spent a lot of money for the lawyers and even had to sign some kind of declaration that they will never talk about that law suit again! Therein lies the explanation for their silence! Of course, BL takes advantage of that fact in order to crucify them in any way possible; and being the way he is, seems to take enormous satisfaction in doing it! He is acting as if he is trying to triumph over our worst enemy! Countless people went through the same cycle in dealing with Barry Lituchy: First: He mesmerizes you. He is very charming and eloquent, when he needs something from you. Then: He asks you to help with money/work. Until finally: He dumps and sues you if you disagree or stand up to him. The examples are many, but the most illustrative one concerns the Okleas brothers. Just look at Bob Okleas' letter that is in the attachment. Was that Barry's way of thanking Bob and his brother for the hard work they put in and the hard earned money they donated to create and cover the operational costs of, the Jasenovac Research Institute? Who is BL fighting against this time? Dr. Milan
Bulajic, behind whom stand: 64 books and articles he has written, and a list
of innumerous conferences and panels that he has organized and/or participated
in all related to genocide, mostly regarding Jasenovac. Simply put, Dr.
Bulajic has devoted his life to the Jasenovac cause, bringing those horrible
atrocities to light; and there is no one else in the world who has done more for
it. No amount of name calling or lies can
diminish these achievements, or call them into question. Wanda Schindley, the owner of Dullas Publishing - which has already
published the book Witness to
Jasenovac's Hell by Mr. Ilija Ivanovic
back in 2002, became involved
in Jasenovac research in June of 2000 while visiting
Petar Makara, a man who has dedicated 15 years of his life to create and maintain one of the most informative - if not the most informative - web site about the Balkans ( please visit www.srpska-mreza.com/History ). Most of us get our information from this site, which boasts more than 2,000 pages of information. Petar has helped many of us, and every non-Serb, that needed any information or update in order to write an article, publish a book, research a paper! He has never said no to anybody, even at the times when he had his own personal or family problems to deal with. Serbian people came always first. I have never come across anybody like him. On the other side we have PhD student Barry Lituchy, who admitted publicly that he realized the importance of Jasenovac only in 1995; who, after successfully purging the board twice, is now finally at the head of JRI. (Again, anyone who is interested, I have e-mails that will give you more details about his tactics, as I have witnessed his tricks in getting rid of Dr.Bulajic, Petar, Tika Jankovic, D.Dragic, myself and others .) He claims to be dedicated to the Jasenovac cause; yet at the same time, he is suing Wanda Schindley and Petar Makara , demanding that the distribution of the book Jasenovac Proceedings of the First International Conference and Exhibit of the Jasenovac Consentration Camps published by Dallas Publishing be forbidden; all copies already distributed be collected and handed over to JRI; and is again asking for a lot of money ( 150.000 US $). At the same time, although they are in the possession of all the information from the above named conference, he and/or JRI have never published those proceedings until this very day, i.e, 8 years after the conference! In the meantime 7 of the survivors who gave their testimonies at that conference have since died without getting the moral satisfaction that their stories were finally told to the world! That is shameful and scandalous! What else can I say? We often hear the _expression_ trigger happy. For Barry Lituchy one can easily say court happy. That is why I have spoken about the facts only, as I am careful not to speak my whole mind, although I find that quite frustrating. But I do not intend to waste my time on somebody like BL. I am old enough to have learned by now that you can never win a pissing contest with a skunk as an old saying goes. The fact remains that this law suit is the NEW SHAME that the Serbian people will be tarred with: "Jasenovac Research Institute" bans a book on Jasenovac. Bloody Ustasha butchers will have
great fun reading this farce. The Jasenovac victims deserve better. Nobody can put himself above them. Nothing matters more than the victims, not anybodys glory, nor money, nor ego trip!!! It doesnt matter that there might be more eloquent ways to write a story. What matters is that the story be told. Not just once, or twice, but 700,000 times. BL and company can tell it again and again who is stopping them? On the contrary, I challenge him to do so! And I am sure we will all promote and help the distribution of their highly academic work, as we have always done for all the other worthy books. But why take back what is already out there opening eyes, starting discussions and bringing light to Jasenovac? Why the step backwards? What is there to gain by stopping the distribution, thus decreasing the amount and variety of available information? Too much energy and money has already been wasted on this frivolous court case. Let us all find way to stop it before it goes any farther, and thus allow everybody involved to go back to productive work. Snezana Vitorovich |
