ORIGINAL SOLDIER PERSONAL CARD OF THE ARMY OF REPUBLIC SERBIAN - KRAJINA
PERSONAL CARD ISSUED IN THE CENTER OF MILITARY COMMAND OF THE REPUBLIC SERBIAN KRAJINA , KNIN .
ISSUED IN 1991/92 WHEN WAR IN CROATIA JUST STARTED.
UNUSED.
RARE AND VERY COLLECTABLE MILITARY ITEM !!!
*****
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) (Serbian: Republika Srpska
Krajina, RSK; Република Српска Крајина, РСК; sometimes
translated as Republic of Serb Krajina) was a self-proclaimed Serbian-dominated entity within Croatia.
Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. During its
existence, from 1991 to 1994, it was a separatist
government that fought for full independence
for Serbian minority in Croatia from Socialist Croatia and then
from Croatia
once the countries' borders were recognized by foreign states in August
of 1991. The self-governing government
of Krajina had de facto control over central parts of the
territory while control of the outskirts changed with success and
failures of the military activities. In 1992, the Serb Krajina
government signed a demilitarization agreement and removed all of the
heavy artillery that was brought in by Yugoslav People's Army at the start
of the conflict, in exchange the area became a United Nations Protected demilitarized zone. The territory was
legally protected by United Nations Protection Force
and the Military of Serbian Krajina
(without the heavy artillery) until 1995.
Its main portion was overrun by Croatian forces in 1995; a rump
remained in
eastern Slavonia under
United Nations (UN) administration until its peaceful
reincorporation into Croatia in 1998. "Krajina" is an old
Serbian and
Croatian word for "frontier". At this time, a Serb Krajina
has a
Serbian Krajina
Government in exile. The government in exile has no power over the
region in Croatia and has very little or no power over the citizens in diaspora.
Etymology
The name Krajina was adopted from the Military Frontier that was carved out of parts of the crown
lands of Croatia
and Slavonia by Austria between 1553–1578 as a means of defending against
the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. Many Croats, Serbs and Vlachs immigrated from nearby parts of Ottoman
Empire (Ottoman Bosnia and Serbia) into the region and helped bolster
and replenish the numbers of Croats as
well as the garrisoned German troops in the fight against the Ottomans.
The Austrians controlled the Frontier from military headquarters in
Vienna and did not make it a crown
land, though it had some special rights in order to encourage
settlement in an otherwise deserted, war-ravaged territory. The
abolition of the military rule took place between 1869 and 1871. In
order to attract Serbs to be part of Croatia on the 11th of May, 1867
the Sabor solemnly declared that "the Triune Kingdom recognizes the
Serbian/Vlach people living in it as a nation identical and equal with
the Croatian nation." After that, the Military Frontier was
reincorporated in Croatia
in 1881.
Following World War I, the regions formerly part of the
Military Frontier became part of Kingdom of Yugoslavia where it was in the Sava
Banovina with most of old Croatia-Slavonia. Between the two world
wars the Serbs of the Croatian and Slavonian Krajinas, as well as the Bosnian Krajina and other regions west
of Serbia,
organized a notable political party, the Independent Democratic Party
under Svetozar Pribićević. In the new state
there existed much tension between the Croats and Serbs over differing
political visions, with the campaign for Croatian autonomy culminating
in the assassination of their leader Stjepan Radić in the parliament and repression by the Serb
dominated security structures.
Between 1939–1941, in an attempt to resolve the Croat-Serb political
and social antagonism in the first Yugoslavia, an autonomous Banovina of Croatia was created incorporating (amongst
other territories) much of the former Military Frontier as well as parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1941, the axis
powers invaded Yugoslavia and in the aftermath the Independent State of Croatia
(which included whole of today's Bosnia and Herzegovina and parts of
Serbia (Eastern Syrmia) as well) was declared. The Ustaše
(who were allegedly behind the assassination of the Serbian king of Yugoslavia) were installed by the Germans as rulers
of the new country and promptly pursued a genocidal policy of
persecution of Serbs, Jews and Croats (from opposition groups) leading
to hundreds of thousands being killed. During this period, Croats
coalesced around the ruling authorities or the communist anti-fascist Partisans. Serbs from around the Knin area
tended to join the chetniks, whilst Serbs from the Banija and Slavonia
regions tended to join the Partisans.
At the end of the war, the communist dominated Partisans
prevailed and the region was part of the People's
Republic of Croatia until 7 April 1963, when the federal republic
changed its name to the Socialist Republic of Croatia.
The autonomous political organisations of the region were also
suppressed by Tito (along with others such as the Croatian Spring); however, the Yugoslav constitutions of
1965 and 1974 did give substantial rights to national minorities
including the Serbs in SR Croatia.
The Serbian "Krajina" entity to emerge upon Croatia's declaration of
independence in 1991 would include three kinds of territories:
- a large section of the historical Military Frontier, in areas with a
minority of Serbian population;
- areas such as parts of northern Dalmatia, that were never part of
the Frontier but had a majority or a plurality of Serbian population,
including the self-proclaimed entity's capital, Knin;
- areas that bordered with Serbia and where Serbs are significant
minority (Baranja,
Vukovar).
Large sections of the historical Military Frontier were outside of
the Republic of Serb Krajina and contained a largely Croat population
including much of Lika, the area centred around the city of Bjelovar,
central and south-eastern Slavonia.
Creation
Serb-populated areas in Croatia (according to the 1981 census)
The Serb-populated regions in Croatia were of central concern to the
Serbian popular movement of the late 1980s, led respectively by Slobodan Milošević. The incidents started
in 1988 and turned into full-scale Serbian political rallies in 1989.
The Croatian pro-independence victory in 1990 made matters more tense,
especially since the country's Serbian minority was supported both
politically and militarily by the Yugoslav People's Army, especially
Serbian President Milošević. At the time, Serbs comprised about 12.2% of
Croatia's population: 581,663 people declared themselves Serbs in the
census of 1991.
Serbs became increasingly opposed to the policies of Franjo Tuđman,
elected president of Croatia in April 1990, due to his overt desire for
the creation of an independent Croatia. On May 30, 1990 the Serb Democratic Party of Jovan
Rašković broke all ties to the Croatian parliament. The following June
in Knin, the Serbs-led by the Serb Democratic Party-proclaimed
the creation of the Association of Municipalities of Northern Dalmatia
and Lika. In August 1990, the Serbs began what became known as the Log Revolution, where barricades of logs were placed
across roads throughout the South as an expression of their secession
from Croatia. This effectively cut Croatia in two, separating the
coastal region of Dalmatia from the rest of the country. The Croatian constitution was passed in
December, 1990 putting Serbs in a minority category along with other
ethnic groups such as Italians, Hungarians, and others. Some would later
justify their claim to an independent Serb state by arguing that the
new constitution contradicted the Constitution
of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, because in their
view, Croatia was still legally governed by the Socialist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia. This was contradicted by the increased signs
of fragmentation within the Yugoslav republics. Croatian leaders
officially insisted on the goal of an independent Croatia as a member of
Yugoslav confederation of independent states.
Serbs in Croatia had established a Serbian National Council in July
1990 to coordinate opposition to Croatian independence. Their position
was that if Croatia could secede from Yugoslavia, then the Serbs could
secede from Croatia. Milan
Babić, a dentist from the southern town of Knin, was
elected president. At his ICTY trial in 2004, he claimed that
"during the events [of 1990-1992], and in particular at the beginning
of his political career, he was strongly influenced and misled by
Serbian propaganda, which repeatedly referred to the imminent threat of a
Croatian genocide perpetrated on the Serbs in Croatia, thus creating an
atmosphere of hatred and fear of Croats."[3]
The rebel Croatian Serbs established a number of paramilitary
militias under the leadership of Milan Martić, the police chief in Knin.
An
ID issued by the Republic of Serbian
Krajina government in 1997.
In August 1990, a referendum was held in the Krajina on the question
of Serb "sovereignty and autonomy" in Croatia. The resolution was
confined exclusively to Serbs so it passed by a majority of 99.7%. As
expected, it was declared illegal and invalid by the Croatian
government, who stated that Serbs had no constitutional right to break
away from Croatian legal territory.
Babić's administration announced the creation of a Serbian
Autonomous Oblast of Krajina (or SAO Krajina) on 21 December
1990. On 16 March 1991 another referendum was held which asked "Are you
in favour of the SAO Krajina joining the Republic of Serbia and staying
in Yugoslavia with Serbia, Montenegro and others who wish to preserve
Yugoslavia?". With 99.8% voting in favour, the referendum was approved
and the Krajina assembly declared that "the territory of the SAO Krajina
is a constitutive part of the unified state territory of the Republic
of Serbia".[4]
On 1 April 1991, it declared that it would secede from Croatia. Other
Serb-dominated communities in eastern Croatia announced that they would
also join SAO Krajina and ceased paying taxes to the Zagreb
government, and began implementing its own currency system, army
regiments, and postal service.
Croatia held a referendum on independence on 19 May 1991, in which
the electorate—minus many Serbs, who chose to boycott it—voted
overwhelmingly for independence with the option of confederate union
with other Yugoslav states. On 25 June 1991, Croatia and Slovenia both
declared their independence from Yugoslavia. As the JNA attempted
unsuccessfully to suppress Slovenia's independence in the short Slovenian War, clashes between rebelled Croatian
Serbs and Croatian security forces broke out almost immediately,
leaving dozens dead on both sides. Serbs calling themselves Chetniks[5]
were supported by the remnants of the JNA (whose members were now only
from Serbia and Montenegro), which provided them military arms. Many
Croatians fled their homes in fear, or were forced out by the rebel
Serbs. The European Union and United Nations attempted to broker ceasefires and peace
settlements, but all to no avail.
Around August 1991, the leadership of the Serbian Krajina, and that
of Serbia, allegedly agreed to embark on a campaign which the ICTY
prosecutors described as a "joint criminal enterprise" whose purpose
"was the forcible removal of the majority of the Croat and other
non-Serb population from approximately one-third of the territory of the
Republic of Croatia, an area he planned to become part of a new
Serb-dominated state."[6]
The leaders are documented to have included Milan Babić, and other
rebelled Croatian Serbs' figures such as Milan Martić, the Serbian
militia leader Vojislav Šešelj and Yugoslav Army commanders
including General Ratko Mladić, who was at the time the commander of JNA
forces in Croatia.
According to testimony given by Babić in his subsequent war crimes
trial, during the summer of 1991 the Serbian secret police—under
Milošević's command—set up "a parallel structure of state security and
the police of Krajina and units commanded by the state security of
Serbia". Shadowy groups of paramilitaries with names such as the "Vukovi
sa Vucjaka" ("Wolves from Vucjak") and the "Beli Orlovi" ("White
Eagles"), funded by the Serbian secret
police, were also a key component of this structure.[7]
A wider-scale war was launched in August 1991. Over the following
months, a large area of territory, amounting to a third of Croatia, was
controlled by the rebel Serbs. The Croatian population suffered heavily,
fleeing or evicted with numerous killings, leading to ethnic cleansing.[8]
The bulk of the fighting occurred between August and December 1991 when
approximately 80,000 Croats were expelled (and some were killed).[9]
Many more died and or were displaced in fighting in eastern Slavonia
(this territory along the Croatian/Serbian border was not part of the
Krajina, and it was the JNA that was the principal actor in that part of
the conflict). The Gospić massacre was one of the war crimes committed by
Croatian military against the Serbian civilians.
On 19 December 1991, the SAO Krajina proclaimed itself the Republic
of Serbian Krajina. On 26 February 1992, the SAO Western Slavonia and
SAO Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem were added to the RSK, which
initially had only encompassed the territories within the SAO Krajina.
The Serb Army of Krajina (Српска Војска Крајине / Srpska
Vojska Krajine ; abbreviated СВК / SVK) (or the Republic of
Serbian Krajina Army) was officially formed on 19 March 1992. The
RSK occupied an area of some 17,028 km² at its greatest extent. Croatia
then was beginning to form an army and their main defenders, the local
police, were overpowered by the JNA military who supported rebelled
Croatian Serbs. The RSK was located entirely inland, but they soon
started advancing deeper into Croatian territory.[8]
They shelled the Croatian coastal town of Zadar
killing over 80 people in nearby areas and damaging the Maslenica bridge
that connected northern and southern Croatia. They also tried to
overtake Šibenik, but the defenders successfully repelled the
attack by JNA. The main city theatre was also bombed by JNA forces.[10]
The city of Vukovar, however, was completely devastated by JNA
attacks.[11]
The city of Vukovar that warded off JNA attacks for months eventually
fell. 2,000 defenders of Vukovar and civilians were killed, 800 went
missing and 22,000 were forced into exile.[12][13]
The wounded were taken from Vukovar Hospital to Ovcara near Vukovar
where they were executed.[14]
1992 ceasefire
War in former Yugoslavia, 1993
A ceasefire agreement was signed by Presidents Tuđman and Milošević
in January 1992, paving the way for the implementation of a United
Nations peace plan put forward by Cyrus
Vance. Under the Vance
Plan, four United Nations Protected Areas (UNPAs) were established
in Croatian territory which was claimed by RSK. The Vance Plan called
for the withdrawal of the JNA from Croatia and for the return of
refugees to their homes in the UNPAs. The JNA officially withdrew from
Croatia in May 1992 but much of its weaponry and many of its personnel
remained in the Serb-held areas and were turned over to the RSK's
security forces. Refugees were not allowed to return to their homes and
many of the remaining Croats and other nationalities left in the RSK
were expelled or killed in the following months.[11][15]
On 21 February 1992, the creation of the United Nations Protection Force
(UNPROFOR) was authorised by the UN Security Council for an
initial period of a year, to provide security to the UNPAs.
The agreement effectively froze the front lines for the next three
years. Croatia and the RSK had effectively fought each other to a
standstill. The Republic of Serbian Krajina was not recognised de jure
by any other country or international organisation. Nevertheless it
gained support from Serbia's allies, Greece, Russia,
and Romania.
With the creation of new Croatian counties on 30 December 1992, the Croatian
government also set aside two autonomous regions (kotar) for
ethnic Serbs in the areas of Krajina. However, Serbs considered this too
late, as it was not the amount of autonomy they wanted, and by now they
had declared de facto independence.
UNPROFOR was deployed throughout the region to maintain the
ceasefire, although in practice its light armament and restricted rules
of engagement meant that it was little more than an observer force. It
proved wholly unable to ensure that refugees returned to the RSK.
Indeed, the rebel Croatian Serb authorities continued to make efforts to
ensure that they could never return, destroying villages and
cultural and religious monuments to erase the previous existence of the
Croatian inhabitants of the Krajina.[11]
Milan Babić later testified that this policy was driven from Belgrade
through the Serbian secret police—and ultimately Milošević—who he
claimed were in control of all the administrative institutions and armed
forces in the Krajina.[16]
This would certainly explain why the Yugoslav National Army took the
side of the rebelled Croatian Serbs in spite of its claims to be acting
as a "peacekeeping" force. Milošević denied this, claiming that Babić
had made it up "out of fear".
Decline
The partial implementation of the Vance Plan drove a wedge between
the governments of the RSK and Serbia, the RSK's principal backer and
supplier of fuel, arms and money. Milan Babić strongly opposed the Vance
Plan but was overruled by the RSK's assembly.[11]
On 26 February 1992, Babić was deposed and replaced as President of
the RSK by Goran Hadžić, a Milošević loyalist. Babić
remained involved in RSK politics but as a considerably weaker figure.
The position of the RSK eroded steadily over the following three
years. On the surface, the RSK had all the trappings of a state: army,
parliament, president, government and ministries, currency and stamps.
However its economy was wholly dependent on support from the rump
Yugoslavia, which had the effect of importing that country's hyperinflation.
1992 RSK 5,000,000 Dinar banknote
In July 1992 the RSK issued its own currency, the Krajina
dinar (HRKR), in parallel with the Yugoslav dinar. This was followed by the "October dinar"
(HRKO), first issued on 1 October 1993 and equal to 1,000,000 Reformed
Dinar, and the "1994 dinar", first issued on 1 January 1994, and equal
to 1,000,000,000 October dinar.
The economic situation soon became disastrous. By 1994, only 36,000
of the RSK's 430,000 citizens were employed. The war had severed the
RSK's trade links with the rest of Croatia, leaving its few industries
idle. With few natural resources of its own it had to import most of the
goods and fuel it required. Agriculture was devastated, and operated at
little more than a subsistence level.[2]
Professionals went to Serbia or elsewhere to escape the republic's
economic hardships. To make matters worse, the RSK's government was
grossly corrupt and the region became a haven for black marketeering and
other criminal activity. It was clear by the mid-1990s that without a
peace deal or support from Yugoslavia the RSK was not economically
viable.[17]
This was especially evident in Belgrade, where the RSK had become an
unwanted economic and political burden for Milošević. Much to his
frustration, the rebel Croatian Serbs rebuffed his government's demands
to settle the conflict.[11]
The RSK's weakness also adversely affected its armed forces, the Vojska Srpske Krajine (VSK).
Since the 1992 ceasefire agreement, Croatia had spent heavily on
importing weapons and training its armed forces with assistance from
American contractors. In contrast, the VSK had grown steadily weaker,
with its soldiers poorly motivated, trained and equipped.[11][18]
There were only about 55,000 of them to cover a front of some 600 km in
Croatia plus 100 km along the border with the Bihać
pocket in Bosnia. With 16,000 stationed in eastern Slavonia, only about
39,000 were left to defend the main part of the RSK. Overall, only
30,000 were capable of full mobilization, yet they faced a far stronger
Croatian army. Also, political divisions between Hadžić and Babić
occasionally led to physical and sometimes even armed confrontations
between their supporters; Babić himself was assaulted and beaten in an
incident in Benkovac.[19][20]
In January 1993 the revitalized Croatian army attacked the Serbian
positions around Maslenica in southern Croatia which curtailed
their access to the sea via Novigrad. In a second offensive in
September 1993 the Croatian army overran the Medak pocket in the southern Krajina in a push
to regain Serb-held Croatian territory. This action was halted by
international diplomacy but although the rebel Croatian Serbs brought
reinforcements forward fairly quickly, the strength of the Croatian
forces proved superior. Hadžić sent an urgent request to Belgrade for
reinforcements, arms and equipment. In response, around 4,000
paramilitaries under the command of Vojislav Šešelj (the White Eagles) and "Arkan" (the Serb Volunteer Guard) arrived to bolster the VSK.
They found the RSK government and military in a chaotic state.[citation needed]
Operation Storm
August 4th order by the RSK Supreme Defence Council ordering evacuation
of civilians from towns along the front line in the Knin area.
Following the rejection by both sides of the Z-4 plan
for reintegration, the RSK's end came in 1995, when Croatian forces
gained control of SAO Western Slavonia in Operation Flash (May) followed by the biggest part of
occupied Croatia in Operation Storm (August). The Krajina Serb Supreme Defence
Council met under president Milan Martić to discuss the situation. A decision was
reached at 16:45 to "start evacuating the population unfit for military
service from the municipalities of Knin, Benkovac,
Obrovac,
Drniš
and Gračac."
The RSK was disbanded and most of the Serb population fled.[11][21]
Only 5,000 to 6,000 people remained, mostly the elderly.[22]
Historian Ivo Goldstein wrote, "The reasons for the Serb
exodus are complex. Some had to leave because the Serb army forced them
to, while others feared the revenge of the Croatian army and whose
homes they had mostly looted".[22]
Most of the refugees ended in Serbia, Bosnia and eastern Slavonia.
Some of those who remained were murdered, tortured and forcibly expelled
by the Croatian Army and police.[21]
Croatia celebrates this victory on 5 August as Victory Day. There was also widespread
arson committed by the Croatian soldiers, judged by the ICTY to be an
action organised to prevent the Serbs from returning.[23]
A number of Croatian army officers (such as general Ante
Gotovina) were indicted by the ICTY in the Hague for command
responsibility for the atrocities committed by Croatian soldiers against
the civilian Serb population.[23]
The parts of the former RSK in eastern Croatia (along the Danube)
remained in place as the Republic
of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia (previously the SAO Eastern
Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, or sometimes called Sremsko-Baranjska
Oblast). The national and local authorities signed the Erdut
Agreement in 1995, sponsored by the United Nations, that set up a
transitional period during which the UNTAES peacekeepers would oversee a peaceful
reintegration of this territory into Croatia. This process was completed
in 1998. After the peaceful reintegration Croatian islands of Šarengrad and Vukovar remained under Serbian military control. In 2004,
Serbian military was withdrawn from the islands and replaced with
Serbian police. Thus, the islands remain an open question.[24]
Demographics
According to the indictment of prosecutor Carla Del Ponte against Slobodan Milošević at the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the Croat and
non-Serb population from the 1991 census was approximately as follows:[25]
Thus Serbs comprised 67%, 60% and 32% of the population of SAO
Krajina, SAO Western Slavonia, and SAO SBWS respectively in 1991.
According to data set forth at the meeting of the Government of the
RSK in July 1992, its ethnic composition was 88% Serbs, 7% Croats, 5%
others.[19]
War crimes
[edit] Croats
Several Croatian military leaders were indicted by the ICTY of various war crimes, including
persecution, murder, plunder and planning the ethnic cleansing.
- Ante Gotovina is charged with ranking responsibility for
the murder of about 150 Serbs and persecution and deportation of
thousands.[26]
- Mladen Markač and Ivan
Čermak are charged with planning, establishing, implementing and/or
participating "in a joint criminal enterprise, the common purpose and
objectives of which were the permanent removal of the Serb population
from the Krajina region, by force, fear or threat of force, persecution,
forced displacement, transfer and deportation, appropriation and
destruction of property and other means, which constituted or involved
the commission of crimes".[27][28]
Serbs
Several members of the RSK leadership ended up being indicted of war
crimes by the ICTY.[29]
- Milan Babić, president of the RSK, was sentenced to 13 years
for persecution on political, racial and religious grounds as a crime
against humanity, to which he pleaded guilty. He was found dead in his ICTY prison cell on 6 March 2006, having
apparently committed suicide.[30]
- Milan Martić, president of the RSK, was
sentenced to 35 years in prison for multiple war crimes, including
persecution, torture, deportation, and attacks on civilians.[31]
- Goran Hadžić is still at large as of August
2009[update].[32]
- Jovica Stanišić, head of Serbia's State
Security Service, and Franko Simatović, a commander of the State Security
Service, are indicted on several accounts of persecution as a crime
against humanity and murder.[33]
- Momčilo Perišić, Chief of the General Staff
of the Yugoslav Army, is awaiting trial on counts of murder.[34]
- Veselin Šljivančanin, Lieutenant
Colonel of the Yugoslav Army, convicted of his role in the Vukovar massacre.[35]
Legal status
During its existence, this entity did not achieve international
recognition. In January 1992, the Badinter commission concluded that Yugoslavia was "in
dissolution" and that the republics - including Croatia - should be
recognized as independent states when they asked so.[36][37]
They also assigned these republics territorial integrity. For most of
the world this was a reason to recognize Croatia. However, Serbia did
not accept the conclusions of the commission in that period and
recognized Croatia only after Croatian military actions (Oluja and
Bljesak) and Dayton agreement.
Government in exile
There exists a self-proclaimed government in exile for the Republic
of Serbian Krajina. This government existed for a short time period
after Operation Storm, but was reconstituted in 2005. This
self-proclaimed government has changed the official name of the Republic
of Serbian Krajina to Republic of Serb-Krajina.
On 12 September 2008, government of Republic of Serb-Krajina in exile
recognized
Abkhazia and South Ossetia[38]..
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