The FBI and the Missing Tesla Papers Page 455

Chapter 48

There were three major reasons why the federal government was interested in protecting the Tesla papers: (1) Tesla's announcements of his creation of secret weaponry, e.g., the "death ray"; (2) the advent of World War II and the quite understandable suspicion associated with the event; (3) the inventor's heritage, and thereby his connection to a state (Yugoslavia) which, although occupied by the Nazis at the time of Tesla's death, was in the process of adopting a communistic form of government.

Background: As a Serbian raised in Croatia, Tesla grew up with mixed alliances. The Croats and the Serbs had been warring factions for over a thousand years (see Chapter 49 on his heritage below). Therefore, the move to unify these, and other small states into one Yugoslavia, was fraught with ambivalent emotions for all concerned. Having been elevated by King Alexander to "Grand Office of the Order of St. Sava" in Serbia in 1893 (Electrical Engineer, 2/1/18921893, p. 125), Tesla was raised to the level of a national hero within the Slavic countries. Therefore, anyone in a blood relationship with the grand wizard could be considered practically of royal stock. For this and other reasons, Tesla's Yugoslavian nephew, Sava Kosanovich, rose to become representative of the newly forming country to the "Eastern European Planning Board" which met in Czechoslovakia (letter from J. Edgar Hoover, 1/21/1943). Kosanovich, as Tesla, wanted a unified country, but their orientations were different.

In 1941, the Nazi Germans continued their policy of intimidation and deception by trying to force a treaty with King Peter of Serbia. Backed by popular support, Peter refused to agree to an alliance and thereby suffered a fatal blow as Germany masterminded a brutal invasion involving troops from Bulgaria, Italy and Hungary and also 300 Luftwaffe bombers (Cheney, 1981, p. 258). Although history has clearly shown that dealing with Hitler was a no-win situation, few countries, during those years, were militarily or morally strong enough to oppose the "murdering butchers." The Serbian spirit, however, was strong. As a religious people who had fought many evil dictators over the centuries, they reacted strongly against injustice. Peter, as the personification of this spirit, took a stand, and paid the price; but so did his people.