ABSTRACT
In the chapter, “Jasenovac” and “Bleiburg” are seen as two topos of Croatian history and national memory. Their causal relationship is pointed out, as well as the fact of manipulation of “Jasenovac” and “Bleiburg” in public and historiography in the last quarter of a century. Particular attention is paid to the manipulation and abuse of “Jasenovac” from the 1990s to the present day, which is partly based on the minimization and denial of genocidal Ustaša crimes. The abuse of “Bleiburg,” which served political propaganda much more than the deserved reverence for the innocent Bleiburg victims, began among Croatian emigrants and spread to Croatia in the 1990s. The central part of the article provides biographical profiles and descriptions of the activities of war criminals who performed various duties in the Ustaša camp Jasenovac. The ten cases of extreme war criminals described had their epilogue at (or immediately after) Bleiburg and the “Way of the Cross.” But many others, some from the top of the command hierarchy, managed to escape. On the other hand, there were also many innocent people who died at Bleiburg.
