Paravac will travel to the Auschwitz commemoration in line with a decision adopted by the Bosnian presidency, but the largest part of the Bosnian public sees the attendance of Paravac, whose father was a Chetnik, as a blow not only to Bosnia-Herzegovina but also to all victims of fascism.
In addition, Paravac, who has always proudly pointed out the fact that his father was a Chetnik, claims that the Chetnik movement was actually an anti-fascist movement.
Three other Bosnian representatives, advisors to the other two Presidency members, will travel with Paravac. However, the delegation will not include partisans, the anti-fascist fighters in Bosnia during the Second World War.
After partisans won the war in 1945, the Chetnik movement was declared criminal. Its leader Draza Mihajlovic went into hiding for some time in eastern Bosnia, but in 1946, the Communists caught him and executed him as a war criminal. The Chetnik movement basically teamed up with the Germans in the region of Serbia, while in Bosnia-Herzegovina and a little bit in Croatia it went sort of back and forth, many times collaborating with Italians.
The president of the association of anti-fascist fighters in Bosnia, Jure Galic, was quoted by today's press as saying that even if he was invited to join the delegation for the Auschwitz commemoration, he would not like to be together with sympathisers of the Chetnik movement.
The head of the Jewish community in Bosnia, Jakob Finci, commented resignedly that this situation mirrored the current state of affairs in Bosnia.
Paravac is the nominal head of state, and in this capacity he is authorised to represent his country, but the question poses itself why and how he was appointed to that post, Finci added.