On the basis of everything that has happened in the past and is happening today, it is clear that the Croats and Serbs will never find a language of understanding for as long as the Croatian state and national policy is based upon Croatian state and historic right and on the institution of the Croatian "political" people. History has shown that those social and political forces in Croatia which were capable of rejecting the postulates of the feudal society, should be able to reach understanding with the Serbs and even to avoid all, otherwise inevitable, controversies. The best evidence for this can be found in the common demarches of the Croatian and Serbian politicians during the existence and activities of the Croato-Serbian coalition between 1905 and 1918. Those social groups and political parties of the Croats which had desisted from the fiction that on the Croatian state territory there is only one - Croatian "political" people, not only reconciled themselves with the Serbs but together with them moved into a common national-political action which in 1918 resulted in the creation of a common state. As opposed to them, the groups of the Croat society and political parties which persistently, and even rigidly, held on to the Croat state and historic right, which were intransigent in their attitude that in Croatia there is only the Croatian "political" people and that the Serbs, in fact "Orthodox Croats", are only a part of this "political" people, were continually at odds, virtually at war with the Serbs, prepared to use even the most brutal means in order to bring them around to the policy which they preached. Such were Rightist followers of Ante Starcevic and Eugen Kvaternik, Franko-furtimists of Josip Frank, and ustashas of Ante Pavelic, and today are the HDZ followers of Franjo Tudjman and many other actual politicians in Croatia.

If we are aware of everything that has been said above, are we entitled to wonder why Yugoslavia disintegrated and why a war took place between the Croats and the Serbs on the soil of the former Republic of Croatia? Is it not pure hypocrisy to ask who is guilty of this war? All these questions are superfluous when we know that inside the Socialist Republic of Croatia, from one day to the next, from one week to the next, from one year to the next, within the League of Communists of Croatia and under its sponsorship, progressed and developed those social and political forces which based their ideas on the Croatian state and historic right. As these forces grew and took strength - so weakened and gradually disappeared all the links between the Croats and the Serbs. It was only a question of the day when a complete break in mutual relations would happen. In the statements of the Croatian politicians who had come to the fore after the defeat of communists, there were many words and gestures which made the Serbs from Croatia, and from the whole of Yugoslavia, understand that bad times were coming, that the events from recent history would happen again. As the history of the Serbs in Croatia was poorly studied, or wrongly learned, which again is not by chance, there were few among them who were able to explain the causes of the evil which was approaching. Everything became clear the day when the Serbs in Croatia, on December 22, 1990, were transformed in the Sabor of Croatia from a constitutive people into a national minority. Then it became clear to everybody that the new government in Croatia had taken the road which was followed by Ante Pavelic and all his predecessors, who conducted their policies on the basis of the Croatian state and historic right, who with the institution of "political" people intended to create an ethnically pure and on various forged papers based dream of a great, united in Catholicism Croatian state.

Because it was believed, and it is still being believed in Croatia that the "Croatian idea" can be achieved only through the annihilation of Serbs, they found themselves the target of extremist and bigoted Croats recruited from different social strata. These blows succeeding with minor or greater interruptions for several hundred years, until this day are being carried out with always the same idea: on the basis of the Croatian state and historic right to create an ethnically pure and great unified Catholic Croatian state. This alone can explain anti-Serbian demonstrations in Zagreb in 1895, 1899 and 1902, the Zagreb anti-Serbian treason trial 1908-1909, pogroms against the Serbs in 1914-1915, and genocide against them in 1941-1945. This alone can explain the secession of Croatia and the destruction of Yugoslavia in 1991, as well as the intention for Croatia to defend itself on the Drina. The transformation of the Serbs in Croatia, according to the Croatian constitution of December 1990, from a constitutive people to a national minority, is the fruit of the policy which is based on the idea of only one - Croatian, "political" people. The result of such a policy is the complete ousting of Cyrillic script and the change of the name of the official language in Croatia, which from Croatian or Serbian has become Croatian only. For these reasons the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Art became the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Art. The blasting and setting fire to Serbian homes, issuance or denial of nationality certificates, signing of the declaration of loyalty, eviction from homes, dismissal from jobs, murdering and forcible emigration are all in the service of the "Croatian idea" whose source is in the state and historical right of Croatia.

All Serbs, not only those from the area of the former Socialist Republic of Croatia, must once and for all understand and remember where the causes lie of the evil which happens in their "life together" with Croats. Unless they understand and remember this, the danger is that they should again, inadvertently and irresponsibly, run into a new state community with the Croats. Until such time as the Croats will rid themselves of the vestiges of the feudal society, until they once and for good reject the policy based on Croatian state and historic right, until they accept modern civic political principles, they will not be a suitable partner to live together with any people. This has already been experienced at their own expense by the Hungarians, Italians and Serbs. This will for sure be soon also experienced by the Moslems, regardless of the fact that in the last century, Ante Starcevic proclaimed them to be "the flower of the Croatian people". The Croats should be allowed, in their own ethnic area and without doing any harm to anybody, to give free rein to their desires and all their ambitions. When this happens, if it ever does, which will be seen by the coming generations, then another thought may be given to a possible new "life together" with those people.

The aim of this work is to set out in main outlines the key moments which contributed to the engendering of genocidal ideas and to draw attention to their variegated expressions. Such a knowledge, as important as it may be for a scholarly understanding of the past, may also be very useful in recognizing genocidal thoughts and their possible expressions in the future.

At the end of this contribution to the history of the idea of genocide against the Serbs in Croatia, I feel the need to point out that it is not a simple and easy matter to write about this theme. Born in a far distant past, developed over centuries until the present day, the idea of genocide may be followed only by a comparative study of the history of Croats and Serbs in Croatia. As the comparative study is only at its incipience, difficulties are enormous and multifold. This is perhaps the reason why this pioneering work is probably not without its faults.