The predominantly hostile reception in major Western countries given to the Serbian film “Dara from Jasenovac” (which may be viewed here in the original version, at least until it is removed from the internet for “violating community standards,” as the version with English-language subtitles was recently) should be a wake-up call to Serbs. The film was not produced for the purpose of winning an Oscar but in order to belatedly (the tardiness was a mere 80 years) tell the story of the holocaust in the Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia. After the Oscar candidacy was announced but before any of the movie critics in the West had an opportunity to see the film or assess its artistic worth, “Los Angeles Times,” “Variety,” and a number of other publications denounced it as a projection of Serbian nationalistic phantasies. It is in that context that Israeli historian Prof. Gideon Greiff’s interview on Israeli TV about the Croatian-run Jasenovac concentration camp is of particular significance.
