MALAGURSKI: GOOD TIME TO REVERSE NEGATIVE IMAGE OF SERBS AND INFORM THE WORLD ON JASENOVAC

BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 17 /SRNA/ – On the occasion of the premiere of his new documentary film Born from Persecution, Serbian-Canadian director Boris Malagurski told SRNA that this is a good time to reverse the effects of negative propaganda and the media image of Serbs in the West and to inform the world public about the suppressed truth about the Jasenovac concentration camp.

Malagurski said that now is the right time to present a truth that has long been covered up because pressure from Western media and politics is considerably weaker than it was in the 1990s, while Washington - Banja Luka relations are also thawing and reseting.

"This film is not an attempt to comprehensively cover everything contained in this subject. My motivation was to provoke foreign audiences, primarily Western audiences, who are very poorly informed, and encourage them to investigate a part of the Holocaust and genocide during the Second World War that has remained completely neglected," Malagurski stated.

NEW FORMAT FOR NEW TIMES AND NEW AUDIENCE

Unlike Malagurski's previous feature-length productions, the new documentary is approximately 25 minutes long and was made in the form of an explainer video.

This format makes it possible to present key and disturbing historical facts about the suffering of the Serb people in a simple, engaging and easily understandable way. Following YouTube, shorter video clips are planned for social networks including Instagram, Facebook and X.

Malagurski said that he deliberately focuses on the most striking moments in the film and does not go into the most horrific details of Ustasha's torture of victims at Jasenovac, because otherwise modern platforms' algorithms would ban the video.

According to him, it is incredible that many people around the world have heard of the Auschwitz or Dachau camps but have not heard of Jasenovac - a prison camp that, he says, horrified even the Nazis.

"However, when I mention just a few details to foreigners about the monstrous ways in which the Ustasha were killing Serbs, Jews, Roma and others, they cannot believe that a human being could be capable of such things. The Nazis killed on an industrial scale, while the Ustasha took pleasure in the suffering of the victims themselves," Malagurski said.

WORLD EXPERTS ON SUPPRESSED GENOCIDE

The film features prominent Israeli experts in key roles, including one of the world's leading historians and a leading authority on the Holocaust, Professor Gideon Greif, who has devoted his academic work to detailed research into the atrocities committed in death camps. The film also features prominent Israeli scholar and expert on Arab culture Mordechai Kedar.

"They are outstanding experts who have managed to explain this very difficult and complex subject in a scientifically grounded yet accessible and engaging way. I believe it is important to explain the history of both the Serb and Jewish peoples," Malagurski said.

He pointed to a historical parallel between the Serb and Jewish peoples, who, following terrible suffering during World War II, are still fighting for their survival today.

"Even today, among those who criticize Israel, there is not enough understanding and knowledge about the history of that region. Just as Republika Srpska was the result of the Serb people's struggle for freedom and survival, Israel is likewise the result of the Jewish people's struggle to live on their own land," Malagurski said.

He said that Serbs - Jews relations, particularly those in Israel, have never been better.

"This demonstrates an understanding not only of our past, but also of the security challenges we have been facing," Malagurski added.

The film director said that the fantastic diplomatic offensive by the Republika Srpska leadership had resulted in thawing the relations with Washington, and assessed that it was changing the very nature of those relations and represented a "masterclass in diplomacy".

"This happened in a short period because, on the one hand, doors opened for this possibility, and on the other, those open doors were used fantastically, meaning that they stepped through them with full force and achieved incredible results, from having a leadership that was on the blacklist and under sanctions to having the son of the US president visit Banja Luka," Malagurski said.

VICTORY OVER 1990s PROPAGANDA

Malagurski said that optimism is also encouraged by the fact that the "old guard" of Western politicians who built their careers on the wars in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s has left the political arena, particularly the Defensive-Patriotic War, including former US President Joseph Biden, who called Serbs fascists.

He noted that there has also been a radical change in the way people obtain information today.

"In the 1990s, the narrative was strictly controlled through mainstream media such as CNN, whereas today people get their information through social media, which are still free and open. In this way, with a shorter and dynamic documentary that conveys major historical truths in a simple manner, we can reach Americans and Western Europeans more efficiently than ever before," Malagurski said.

The film Born from Persecution / The Truth about Jasenovac is available on Boris Malagurski's official YouTube channel.