MASSACRE OF SERBS

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 May 1941, Page 7

MASSACRE OF SERBS

50,000 PEOPLE EXECUTED GERMAN SAVAGERY REPORTED [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] LONDON, May 19. Germans, Hungarians, and Bulgarians in Jugoslavia are competing in a cold-blooded massacre aiming at the extermination of the Serbs, says the Istanbul correspondent of . “The Times.” Since the invasion it is conservatively estimated that there have been 50,000 victims of mass executions. At Vrsac, a priest and 29 others were hanged, and at Alibunar a professor and 70 students were shot. The correspondent says that this is typical of happenings in practically every Serbian town and village. Priests are a special object of the invaders’ hatred. The Patriarch Gayrilo was brought to Belgrade. His clerical robes were removed and he was confined in his underclothes on the ground floor of a building where he was in view of passers-by.

Eighty thousand Serbs have been expelled from territory which has now been allocated to Hungary. Thousands more have been expelled from Serbia and Macedonia by the Bulgarians. Husbands are separated from wives and mothers from children.

In spite of this deliberate attempt at extermination, the Serbs maintain their offensive spirit. Between 50,000 and 60,000 Serbs commanded by officers of the Jugoslav‘Army, continue guerrilla warfare in the mountains of Bosnia and Montenegro, and also round Kragujevac.

CROATIA’S KING NOMINATED. "LONDON, May 18. The King of Italy has designated his nephew, the Duke of Spbleto, as King of Croatia. The Rome radio announced that, under economic, military and territorial agreements signed between M. Pavelic and Mussolini, Croatia has agreed not to fortify the J coastline, not to establish military or air bases, and not to construct a fleet. Under the frontier agreement, Italy takes the port of Susak, while the port of Sebenict will be the limit of the Croatian coast.

The German News Agency stated that the administration of Italianoccupied Jugoslavia is being carried out by civil commissioners, under the direction of the High Command. The Italian language must be used in the law courts. The Berlin radio announced that the German language is now compulsory in Greek schools. -‘QUISLINcFTIONOURED. LONDON. May 19. The notorious Croatian terrorist and arch-Quisling, Dr. Pavelic, who is being entertained with great pomp in Rome, ceremonially offered the crown of Croatia to King Victoi’ Emmanuel. He has been installed in a luxurious villa hitherto reserved for Italy’s most distinguished foreign guests. This is a big contrast to the quarters he had on his last visit to Italy, when he was thrown into prison at Turin. Dr. Pavelic was the man who engineered the assassination of King Alexander at Marseilles in March, 1934. Even now, in France, he is under sentence of death. Rome was gaily decorated to-day in honour of the man who plotted the murder of his king. What are described as commercial relations have been established between Germany ' and the new State. German, Croatian, and Italian representatives comprise the permanent frontier commission which has been set up in Vienna. Under the new administration lockouts and strikes are prohibited, production being under State control. There is no news of legislation to protect the workers or to improve their conditions. Meanwhile, the systematic Axis plan to loot Croatia continues.

BULGARIAN LEADER RESIGNS

LONDON, May 17. The Sofia correspondent of the British United Press states that the President of the Bulgarian National Assembly (M. Loofetoff), has resigned. ISLANDERS’ PLIGHT. (Rccd. May 20, 11 a.m.) LONDON, May 19. Reports from Chios depict an unbearable situation, says “The Times’s” Istanbul correspondent. The islanders are starving because the Germans requisitioned all livestock. Bread is unprocurable. The invaders also requisitioned beds, bed linen and blankets. Doors of houses must be left open at night. Despite the German warning that the islanders must not leave under pain of death, many are secretly reacning Turkey.