Sort of related: I just finished reading the book
Slovenia 1945.
It's mostly about the massacre of 50,000 Slovenes by other Slovenes and "Yugoslavs" in 1945.
In short, there were Partisans and Domobranci ("home guard"). The Partisans were sort of Communist and anti-Nazi, and the Domobranci were more Catholic and anti-Communist (as well as anti-Fascist, but they ended up taking support from the fascists!).
The whole thing was totally ridiculous, and 10's of thousands died hideously at the hands of their own neighbors - and sometimes even family. Families were divided, where one son was a Partisan and the other was Domobranci.
Of course, the British were involved, and the government at the time turned a blind eye to what they were doing, which was sending Domobranci from the refugee camp in Austria back into Slovenia where they were tortured, executed, and sometimes left wounded to slowly die in huge pits of dead and dying Slovenes. This happened because Tito was in power, Yugoslavia was then Communist, the Partisans wanted revenge, and the British government wanted to support Tito for political reasons - as usual.
What really boggled my mind was that the British
soldiers knew what they were doing, and they gave the Domobranci Slovenes plenty of clues, and even chances to escape. When they were being hauled back to be killed, some Domobranci jumped off trucks and ran for their lives, and the Brits let them go. But in many cases, the Domobranci actually KNEW that they could escape, but decided that they would go to die with their comrades... even if they had families to think about. I guess that's the glory and trauma of war for you...
Even today, there is a sort of divide where many think the Partisans were great, but not the Domobranci. It took decades before anybody could even talk about it, and even then, it's still kind of a "don't ask, don't tell" type of thing.
Both sides committed atrocities, and both sides defended their homeland, and both sides ended up screwing over themselves and the other side. The Domobranci were considered Nazi collaborators, and yet the Partisans who were so against them tortured and murdered their own countrymen in a way that would make any Nazi proud. It was nuts...
And nobody seems to realize that that's exactly the point: when psychos role in, it's divide and conquer.
It's a very good book, although tough to read.
And it's all happening again today in different countries. Will we never learn?
