Tread Carefullly Because You Tread Upon My Grave

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 I am off to Croatia on holiday in a few weeks time and was reminded of that old fashioned phrase, "Don't mention the war". My father, who was a Roman Catholic, and also had close links, during his time at The Air Ministry, with the Polish Air Force always loathed the Croats for reasons, as a child, that I never understood.
 Now I'm sure after recent events we are all better informed of what has happened in the Balkans but those students of history will know that it has been the powder keg in Europe for more than a century.
 It is only in recent years that I have studied this area and now know that his views derived not only from Croatia's support for the Nazis during WW2 Croatia in WW2 but also because of of the appalling atrocities that they committed against the Serbs and their other enemies during this period.
 During the recent Balkan conflict it suited the West to align itself with Croatia and all of those ethnic groups who were anti-Serbian largely because of Serbia's historical, religious and cultural links with Russia. There is no doubt that during that bloody conflict that some Serbs were guilty of atrocoties and war crimes but equally so were many Bosnians and Croats.
 On Boxing day a few years ago after watching Birmingham City F. C. play Middlesborough I stayed in a guest house run by a Serbian lady whose husband and son had been killed in Belgrade on a bridge by American bombing. Visiting relations they were totally innocent victims of the U.S.A's policy of bombing anything and anyone in the world who is against their interests. She was one of the kindest persons that I have ever met and went out of her way to assist me and took me on a tour of the Black Country to buy a hugely discounted television set which I am still using. I wont mention her name or even the very nice guest house which she runs because the world is full of crazy people.
 I shall tread carefully in Croatia where I'm sure many of the young people will be very pleasant but to the older Croations I shall not mention the war!