Greek Volunteer Guard

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The Greek Volunteer Guard ( Serbian Грчка Добровољачка Гарда Grčka Dobrovoljacka Garda , just ГДГ / GDG; Greek Ελληνική Εθελοντική Φρουρά shortly ΕΕΦ) was a paramilitary volunteer corps that in 1992 Bosnia war on the side of the army of Republika Srpska fought. Their headquarters were in Vlasenica near Tuzla . It consisted of around 100 Greek mercenaries and volunteers , some of whom are also said to have been members of the Greek neo-Nazi party Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) . In spring 1995 the Greek Volunteer Guard was integrated into the 5th Drina Corps of the Army of the Republika Srpske and was on site with the corps before and during the Srebrenica massacre .

history

background

During the Bosnian war, the government supported Greece , the Greek Orthodox Church and the Greek media more or less openly the Serbian side, which they saw as orthodox brothers. The Greek media reported from the Serb-controlled parts of Bosnia and the TV station MEGA broadcast the capture of the Srebrenica enclave by Serbian troops. In September 1995 five members of the GFG were awarded the Order of the White Eagle by the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić .

In addition to the Greek Volunteer Guard, a total of around 4,000 foreign fighters of the Orthodox faith fought alongside their Serbian fellow believers in the Bosnian War. During the siege of Sarajevo in 1992 Romanian and Ukrainian volunteers and from 1993 to 1994 also Russian volunteers fought under the command of Alexander Shkrabov . About 700 Russians alone fought for the Bosnian Serb army, so that two army units were formed. The most effective military unit were the Tsarist Wolves under the command of Alexander Mukharev , with a company of Cossacks under Alexander Zagrebov . Another Russian unit was founded in September 1992 at Višegrad by Valery Vlasenko and also one by Alexander Alexandrov .

Involvement in war crimes

In spring 1995 the Greek Volunteer Guard was integrated into the 5th Drina Corps of the Army of the Republika Srpske and was on site with the corps before and during the Srebrenica massacre . At the instigation of Ratko Mladić , relatives hoisted a Greek flag over the city. Triggered by media interest on the tenth anniversary of the massacre in 2005, 163 academics and journalists denounced the solidarity expressed in the Greek public with the Milošević regime and demanded an apology from the Greek state to the victims of the massacre and their families. The investigation into the involvement of the Greek Volunteer Guard in the massacre and the signaled cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia remained without consequence. To date, no Greek government has condemned the events in Srebrenica or initiated criminal investigations against those involved.

Uniformity

Members of the GFG carried the usually camo - combat uniforms of the army of Republika Srpska with the appropriate insignia . They also wore a black armband with the GFG badge on their left arm .

Known relatives

  • Kyriakos Katharios , published the book "Το ταξίδι του εθελοντή" (The Voluntary Journey) in 2001 (new edition 2007) and gives regular interviews about the unit

Web links

literature

  • Takis Michas: Unholy Alliance: Greece and Milošević's Serbia (=  Eastern Europe Series . Band 15 ). Texas A&M University Press, 2002, ISBN 1-58544-183-X .
  • Michael Martens: Unwanted poking around in old stories . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 3 , January 4, 2007, p. 3 ( faz.net ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Holm Sundhaussen : Yugoslavia and its successor states 1943–2011: An unusual history of the ordinary . Böhlau Verlag Vienna, 2014, ISBN 978-3-205-79609-1 , p. 366 , footnote 717 .
  2. ↑ a b Daniela Mehler: Srebrenica and the problem of the one truth . In: European memory as intertwined memory: polyphonic and multi-layered interpretations of the past beyond the nation (=  forms of memory ). tape 55 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014, ISBN 978-3-8470-0052-5 , Greece - no state handling of perpetrator memory, p. 214 .
  3. ↑ Takis Michas: Unholy Alliance: Greece and Milošević's Serbia (=  Eastern Europe Series . Volume 15 ). Texas A&M University Press, 2002, ISBN 978-1-58544-183-9 , pp. 18 .
  4. ↑ Dr. Nigel Thomas, Krunoslav Mikulan: The Yugoslav Wars . tape 2 : Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia (1992-2001). Osprey Publishing Ltd., Oxford 2006, ISBN 978-1-84176-964-6 , pp. 13 .
  5. ↑ NIOD: Srebrenica. Reconstruction, background, consequences and analyzes of the fall of a 'safe' area. 2002, p. 2787  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.srebrenica.nl  
  6. ↑ Steve Iatrou "Greek volunteers fought alongside Bosnian Serbs" , OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 136, July 14, 1995, HR-Net (Hellenic Resources Network). Accessed July 31, 2010
  7. ↑ Helena Smith: Greece faces shame of role in Serb massacre. The Observer, January 5, 2003
  8. ↑ See photos at Οι άνθρωποι από την Ελλάδα. Retrieved July 1, 2017 . and Srebrenica - Η πέμπτη μεγάλη έρευνα για τη Σρεμπρένιτσα και την ελ. Retrieved July 1, 2017 .