LETTERS
Stanisa R. Vlahovic, Dr Michael Smith, B. M. Reed, Miss M. M. Sibthorp, 0. R. Beckett, Canon John Ecclestone, the Rev. T. Towers, Michael Omolewa, T. A. Wain- wright, Peter Croft, R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr, C. D. Crosthwaite, P. J. Barnwell, W. S. Brownlie, Ludovic Kennedy.
Enter Tito's policeman
Sir: We congratulate you on your excellent article 'Enter Tito's policeman' (21 Febru- ary). To the credit of your esteemed paper and your gallant contributor Mr Tibor Szamuely, the truth about Yugoslavia has emerged from the obscurity into which it has been confined by distorted reporting by many writers in the West, and by a con- spiracy of silence about the crimes of Yugo- slav communists.
Yes indeed, we are completely in agree-. ment with Mr Szamuely that—whatever the material achievements of the Yugoslav com- munist regime—their monstrous crime at Kocevje and Maribor will remain as an eternal monument of shame of Titoist rule. It will rank in history with Katyn, Auschwitz and Buchenwald if not taking a honourable place among them. The second great credit of your paper and of your correspondent Mr T. Szamuely, is your brave stand for human rights. Many Yugoslays living abroad have been denied these rights by the murderous policy of the Yugoslav government through its secret police operating in western Europe. The policy of murder has been employed as a 'protection' of Yugoslav workers in western Europe lest they should be contaminated with liberal ideas in their contact with Yugoslav refugees living in the West, and to combat the western influence in general; hence the need in Yugoslavia to have a policeman for Prime Minister.
`Pendennis' in the Observer of 22 Feb- ruary in disputing your correspondent's argu- ments tells us that: 'the charges are abso- lutely denied by many reputable and well informed non-Communist experts on the Yugoslav situation, both in Belgrade and in London'. As to Pendennis's statement this Committee would like to say that the sur- vivors—mentioned by your correspondent— from the massacre at Kocevje should be given an opportunity to testify before the world. One of the survivors from the blood bath of Kocevje will be my younger brother who was seventeen years old at the time. There will also appear a dozen of the sur- vivors to tell their story. When we hear them, then let the reputable experts of Pendennis appear to face the survivors, of course in- cluding Pendennis and Mitja the murderer. And there are also two written books about this tragedy, one of them by the survivor Mr M. Minich from Chicago. He has produced a voluminous book The Scattered Bones (Rasute Kosti) in the Serbo-Croat language. And Pendennis should have consulted this document.
Stanisa R. Vlahovic Executive Chairman, Action Committee for Protection of Life and Human Rights of the Yugoslav Political Refugees, 29 Middleton Hall Road, Kings Norton, Birmingham 30
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