The Unholy Mosque

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   THE UNHOLY MOSQUE

In April of 1941 Yugoslavia was invaded by the fascist forces of Germany and Italy.

The invaders established the Independent State of Croatia, which grew
to encompass most of Croatia proper as well as the whole of Bosnia and
Herzegovina.

The Independent State of Croatia was ruled by Dr. Ante Pavlevic and his
fascist Ustase party. The Ustase adopted many of the goals and
objectives of Hitler's Nazis and soon a well-coordinated, systematic
campaign of extermination began.

The targets of this genocide included the Jews, who's homes were marked
with a Z for "Zidov". Zidov is an impolite word for Jew in the Croatian
language, roughly equivalent to k-ke in English.

Yugoslavia had been one of the centers of the Sephardic Jewish people.
Sarajevo was known as the most Jewish city in the region before the
war, but lost 12,000 of its Jewish citizens to the genocide.

Also targetted, with a special enthusiasm, were the Serbs. Although
official Ustase policy dictated they should try to convert the Serbs to
Roman Catholicism, most generals opted to slaughter them instead. Even
the most biased estimates suggest tens of thousands of Serbs were
killed and more reliable tallies are much higher.

In the beginning, Bosniaks too were slated for genocide as is
demonstrated in official Ustase records and several massacres of
Bosniaks in towns along the Una river, which borders Croatia.

However - Croatians, a majority of whom considered Bosniaks to be
Croatian Muslims, protested and the Ustase government of Ante Pavlevic
bowed to public pressure and opted instead to try to win over the
Bosniaks.

Although many Bosniaks played significant roles in the resistance
against fascism and several dozen were awarded medals of Righteousness
from the Yad Vashem society in Israel, it was sadly not a difficult
task for the Ustase to win most Bosniaks over.

Several massacres of Bosniaks by Serbian Royalist Cetniks in eastern
Bosnia and Herzegovina and a sincere fear of extermination at the hands
of all sides combined with a hatred of Serbs and a sense of comradery
with Croatia to ensure most Bosniaks who joined the war joined the
Ustase.

In Croatia, a city museum was converted into a mosque to accommodate
the country's native Muslim population as well as Bosniak soldiers
brought in from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The mosque became a political forum
favoring Ante Pavlevic, the Ustase, and their fascist objectives. The
Islamic faith was used to justify the extermination of Jews and
Orthodox Christians, often at the hands of individuals only vaguely
familiar with the belief system.

"Prayers" at the mosque were led by Croatian and Bosniak Imams, as well
as visiting Arab religious leaders, and also by representatives of the
Roman Catholic church in Croatia.

As the children of Jews and Serbs were beaten, tortured, starved and
killed at concentration and death camps across the country, the
children of Croatian Muslims and Bosniaks were indoctrinated with the
ideals of fascism in an unholy mosque.

The Ustase ensured the mosque became the focal point for Zagreb's
Islamic community by enforcing strict bans on holding prayers in
private homes or at community centers, where the Croatian Islamic
community often gathered due to the absense of a mosque in the capital
city.

Propaganda was produced and distributed to passers-by from the steps of
the mosque. Information brochures detailed the superiority of the
Croatian, and consequently Bosniak, "race". They detailed the reasons
why only Roman Catholics and Muslims were the children of God, as well
as the various diseases and illnesses carried and spread by Jews and
Serbs.

This unholy mosque is, sadly, an example of what is happening in many
countries around the world where fascist, hateful, and unIslamic ideas
are being spread in the very houses of worship meant to focus members
of the faith on living good lives that respect the straight path
dictated in the Qur'an.

It is an example of what can happen when temporary political beliefs
are allowed to hijack a permanant religion and a lesson to all those
who would use religion as justification to hate or even kill others.

It is a lesson many Croatians and Bosniaks - and for that matter Jews and Serbs - have still not learned. What will it take?