Exploring the Podcast: Outside the Balkans – Looking In

The podcast Outside the Balkans – Looking In is authored by Michelle Glavic, and is available here on Spotify. The author’s descriptions of the podcasts in the series are below.

Introducing the podcast Michelle says “I am trying to make sense of the Balkans – my ancestors’ home which three of my four grandparents hail from. I am now studying the topic at the post-graduate level. I enjoy sharing my findings with you. I can best be described as an anti-fascist and socialist.

smrt fasizmu – death to fascism.
“Those who do not move, do not notice their chains” – Rosa Luxemburg

Yugoslav Partisanka – Female Partisan Fighters

This week’s episode is based on a single source; Jelena Batinic’s academic book entitled Women and Yugoslav Partisans: A history of WWII Resistance which looks at the role of female Partisan fighters or Partisanka. By the end of the war, two million women were involved in the Partisan movement. The vast majority were involved in rear support and in medical capacities, while, 100 000 fought in combat – a level of female military involvement that is unprecedented and unrepeated in that region.

Croatias’s Pro-Ustasha (pro-fascism) Problem and the West’s Apathy

All paths of Croatia’s current-day extremely troubling pro-Ustasha sentiment lead back to Croatian President Franjo Tudjman (which the Zagreb International Airport is named for!) and his myths. There were tons of photos I could have used for this episode’s picture. I could have easily used a shot of Thompson fans. This one however is a scene from Bleiburg- one of Europe’s largest fascist gatherings in Europe. It features men wearing Ustasha hats and holding the leader of the Ustasha Ante Pavelic’s portrait in reverence.

Dara of Jasenovac: Western Public Sphere’s Genocide Denial, Revisionism and Toxic Collective Remembering

In this episode I discuss the toxic revisionist reactions of the film by well-known American media outlets – LA Times and Variety – who both commit genocide denial by denying the suffering of non-Jewish victims who composed the vast majority of the victims.

Jasenovac, The Genocide of the Serbs (WWII), Toxic Collective Remembering, Revisionism and Genocide Denial

I am studying this topic at the post-graduate level. I believe this information (the vast majority is from academic books and articles) should be accessible to the general public. 60+ sources were utilized to create this episode.

The consensus (according to the USHMM, Yad Vashem and Rory Yeomans) states that 300,000-500,000+ Serbs were exterminated by Croatian Ustasha in the NDH (Nezavisna Dr ava Hrvatska) or “Independent State of Croatia.” In addition 26,000-40,000 Roma and over 30,000 Jews were killed as well as tens of thousands of anti-fascists (dissidents.)

Interview with Gregory Elich- author of Strange Liberators

In 1999, Gregory Elich (pronounced Ilich) visited the former Yugoslavia, two months after NATO bombings on the country. He went on to publish his findings in his book entitled “Strange Liberators.” In this episode, you will discover that the 78 day consecutive bombing campaign was not a “humanitarian intervention” against the “radical Serbs” which was presented on TV screens and magazine covers in the Western world. Rather, the bombings were used to pummel the region into neo-liberal vassalship while creating an excuse for NATO’s continued existence after the disintegration of the USSR. This episode discusses the Croatian torture camp Lora, the bombings on Serbia (the former Yugoslavia), the KLA terrorist organization and China’s recent economic involvement in the region. Warning this episode deals with mature content.

Episode 1: Croatian Ustasha Catholic Priest Karlo Petranovic

This is the bizarre true story of the time my dad interviewed a low ranking Ustasha (Croatian fascist) war criminal in the early 1990s who had been living in my home town. I try to tie the pieces together. This is the remarkable true story of one of the many Ustasha and Nazi war criminals who escaped justice. Special thanks to my dad who conducted this interview many years ago.