Damir O. Rados

EXCLUSIVE HISTORICAL MATERIAL

March 3rd, 2025

INTRODUCTION TO McADAMS WHITE PAPER ON ANDRIJA ARTUKOVIC

From June, 1975

        It is often and universally said that the first casualty of war is the truth. It is also said that history repeats itself, thus allowing the newer generations to benefit from the past records, but a warning corollary stoically demonstrates that lessons learned over time are often superimposed by interests of powerful leaders, established institutions and, indeed, powerful and self-interest driven nations.

Thus, to the detriment of truth, in the world of self  proclaimed morality, and self righteousness, distortions become a part of the media, rationalizations flourish in the well paid academia... and ultimately, the victims, accused of being the culprits, often remain labeled  as  “the damned“....

Fifty years ago, the Croatian Information Service (CIS), a pro-bono information agency, released a background report on the case of Dr. Andrija Artukovic (CIS Series’s 4, July 1975). The report was written by CIS co-founder and contributor C. Michael McAdams and was titled, “Whitepaper on Dr. Andrija Artukovic“.

Artukovic was a cabinet member in the wartime Independent State of Croatia and following its 1945 collapse to Yugoslav communist forces had emigrated to the United States. In 1951 Yugoslavia sought his extradition from the U.S. charging him with war crimes. In 1959 the U.S. District Court denied Yugoslavia's request for its “failure to provide sufficient competent evidence“ to support that request.

In the early 1970's the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) amplified its efforts to remove individuals suspected of war crimes from the WWII period from the U.S. The Artukovic case was a top priority. The CIS publication of the Whitepaper on Artukovic was its contribution to a factual exposition of the issues of the Artukovic case.

The DOJ eventually prevailed, but it took another 11 years and ended with Artukovic's extradition to Yugoslavia in February 1986. Within four months, the communist authorities put the 86 year old on trial, convicted him, and sentenced him to death. 

What was supposed to be a war crimes trial turned out to be the typically staged communist farce where everything had been decided in advance. Artukovic was allowed to have defense lawyers but they were not allowed to present neither witnesses nor evidence on their client's behalf. In addition, Communist prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence in their possession which under Yugoslav law they were supposed to hand over to the defense. Some of this evidence was also in the possession of the DOJ.

Artukovic died in January 1988, before the execution could be carried out. The Artukovic family was denied access to his remains for burial. 

Within several weeks of Artukovic's death, Dr. Milan Bulajic, the former legal adviser to the Yugoslav Federal Secretariat for Foreign Affairs, stated publicly that Artukovic had been “convicted of crimes he did not commit“ and at another point, “for crimes that did not happen“.

In 1990, the Washington Post reported that the DOJ had opened an investigation of its handling of the evidence in the Artukovic extradition. 

In 1993, journalist Robert Kaplan in his book, “Balkan Ghosts“ described the Artukovic trial as “a poorly managed, Stalinist-style show trial“. Many years have passed but stirrings of interest in this dormant case have recently appeared. 

In July 2023 former Croatian defense attorney for Artukovic, Silvije Degen promoted his biographical account “Attorney, Witness of the Times. “ In it he describes the atmosphere under communism. “It was a classical political trial. Under that system, you had everything in that system, the political considerations, the death sentence....“

Last December, publicist Milan Pavkovic published a book of documents from the 1986 trial, “Andrija Artukovic, Documents of the Arrest, Trial and Judgment“  and promises more documents to come. 

The reissuing of the McAdams Whitepaper on Dr. Andrija Artukovic provides a foundation from which fresh eyes can look at an old case free of the political straight-jacket in which it has been encased for decades. 

 Damir O. Rados

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