“Био сам и видео!” – “I Was There and I Saw!” – an extremely rare publication by a collaborator with the German occupation, opposing the partisans who attempted to hide in the forests and flee from the Nazi enemy. Serbia, early 1940s. In Serbian. Extremely rare.
An illustrated anti-partisan booklet in Serbian from the World War II era, written by a collaborator with the German occupation, who recounts the “nightmare” he experienced while cooperating with the partisans. The title – Био сам и видео! – translates as “I Was There and I Saw!”, meaning: “I experienced it firsthand and I’m warning others.”
In his account, he describes hunger, disease, cold, and physical suffering in the forests—which, he claims, were bearable. But the psychological torment and the cruelty of the partisan commanders, he says, were unbearable: punishments and humiliations at the hands of brutal officers and commissars, systematic violence—including a soldier murdering his own brother over food; internal revenge killings; executions in the name of “revolutionary justice, ” and more. He tells of partisans brutally killing women and children simply for being related to suspected traitors. In contrast to the partisans’ cruelty, he claims that the Germans never harmed innocent civilians. The narrative climaxes with an incident in which partisans murdered the wife of a fighter who had deserted, solely because she was related to him—while, according to the writer, the Germans had protected her and never harmed her while she was in their custody. The clear message: “The Germans are more humane than the partisans.” He concludes with a declaration that he will never return to the forest—not for any so-called ‘liberation, ’ nor for any other cause—because ‘I was there and I saw!’ And that was enough for a lifetime!”
Extremely rare. Not listed in the WorldCat global library catalog.
[4] pages. Good condition.
