ZAGREB, April 4, 2018 – The Serbian Defence Ministry believes that the original archival material of the Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945) must remain in Serbia’s possession and that its copies may be issued in line with agreements entered into by the Serbian government and the country’s security protocols and interests, the Belgrade-based Politika daily reported on Wednesday.
The Serbian news agency Tanjug said the paper had received the defence ministry’s position on the matter after Croatian authorities requested that the original archival material of the World War II Ustasha regime be returned to Croatia through the Commission for Succession to the former Yugoslavia.
The Serbian government on 1 April 2010 formed a cross-departmental task force to implement Annex D to the Succession Agreement, entrusting it with preparing proposals for a government coordinating body dealing with requests by successor-states regarding the State Archive of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), the Serbian ministry recalled.
“The coordinating body has so far not requested the Defence Ministry to state its official position on Croatia’s request seeking the archival material on the NDH, and the Military Archive consequently did not state its position on the matter,” the Serbian ministry told the paper, adding that Annex D to the Succession Agreement pertaining to archives defined principles in line with which successor-states may request archival material, and that their possible application referred also to the NDH archival fund.
Politika reports that the Military Archive keeps archival material related to the NDH and that 555 boxes of archival material have been analysed and accompanying documentation made.
Sources at the Serbian Defence Ministry confirmed that physical and legal persons from Croatia had researched parts of that archival material in recent years.
