Zuroff: To Pristina, fascists are national heroes, the Srebrenica Resolution changed nothing

Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, assessed that the initiative by the authorities in Pristina to turn the house of Nazi collaborator Xhafer Deva into a "New Regional Cultural Center" shows that fascists can be national heroes to them.

"Deva is their hero. This indicates exactly what kind of people are in the government in Pristina. These are people who think that fascists can be national heroes," said Zuroff to Kosovo online.

Zuroff stated that such an initiative is unacceptable.

"I don't think Deva's house should be renovated and turned into a cultural center unless people in Kosovo think fascism is culture," Zuroff added.

According to him, there is clear evidence that Deva was a Nazi collaborator and one of the founders of the SS Skender division.

"What we know about Deva is that he was Minister of Internal Affairs until November 1943. Later, he took command of the new government. We know that on February 4, 1944, 68 people were killed on suspicion of being anti-fascists. That's one thing. Also, he helped recruit for the SS Skenderbeg Albanian mountain division. And who do you think they fought against? Do you think they fought against the Nazis? They fought for the Nazis," Zuroff said.

He added that this information is not a secret, nor is the fact that he was a CIA agent.

"The CIA recruited him. America had nothing stopping it from using such people," Zuroff explained.

Commenting on the 29th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, which is commemorated tomorrow, the first after the adoption of the Resolution in the UN General Assembly, Zuroff says this document does not have the power to change views regarding the qualification of the crimes of July 1995.

He adds that the Resolution has changed absolutely nothing except showing the political background of UN decisions.

"The Resolution has shown nothing except that the UN is absolutely corruptible and useless organization. They made another stupidity by allowing the initiative of the resolution to pass and produce new lies. People who voted in the General Assembly are not historians; they do not know history. It's all politics," Zuroff said.
Zuroff, when asked if he fears he could himself be punished for denying the term genocide for the events in Srebrenica, responded:

"Fear? Whom? Listen, if 33,000 people from Srebrenica went missing and only 8,000 were killed. Young boys, children, women, and elderly. Everyone was allowed to leave unharmed. That's not genocide. And anyone who calls it genocide is playing politics. They use politics to try to score political points. It's worthless," Zuroff concluded.