Croats

“Neo-fascist Croatian tree” or patriotic, anti-iste?

Mega-Giga last month by the ultra-national singer Thompson-Sental name of Mark Perkovich-clearly exposed the polarized divisions deep in Croatian society.

He focused on the wildly different interpretations of the country’s struggle for independence in the 1990s, and the history of the independent Croatian state (NDH), two era of the puppet era of World War II.

No one will say that the concert was something else as huge. Tompson’s leadership claimed that more than half a million tickets were sold to the Zagreb’s racetrack. The actual attendance was much lower – but still in hundreds of thousands.

This huge crowd enthusiastically joined when Thompson launched his number in the opening of the battalion. On their cry “za dom” (“For the Motherland”) the audience growled back “Spremni!” (“Ready!”). Deputies from the HDZ ruling party were among those who chanted.

This singing resented opposition parties and organizations working for human rights, ethnic and regional reconciliation. They point out that “za dom, spremni” arose with the anti-Semitic, Nazi Drace Organization during World War II-and that the Croatian Constitutional Court ruled that the phrase “is a salute to the Croatian Independent State (which) is not in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Charter.”

“It opened a box of Pandora,” says Tenan Bandeglov of Documenta, the Center for Combating the Past, an organization that focuses on reconciliation, using the actual approach to World War II, and before the recent war of independence.

“Now you have politicians in parliament that shout” Za Dom, Spremni “. On the streets, children sing not only this song, but also other Thompson songs singing mass crimes in World War II,” she says.

“The government creates an atmosphere when it is a positive thing. It creates a wave of nationalism that can explode in physical violence.”

The government actually humiliated singing at the concert. Prime Minister Andrei Pleskovich called it “part of the repertoire of Thompson” and posed for photography with the singer the day before Zagreb’s concert.

Conservative commentator Matthew Stachan believes that Tompson’s time, who acts as a soldier during the Independence War, gives him the right to use “za dom, spremni” in his work.

“This is a real resonance of freedom from aggression,” he says.

“Many journalists in the West say it is a Croatian version of Hill Hitler, but it would be better to describe it as a Croatian version (Ukrainian national salute)” Glory to Ukraine “.

“Both have risen into the context of World War II – which has become a war for many small countries that wanted their own independent states,” says Mr. Stachan.

“The symbols change their meaning- and just like” Glory to Ukraine “,” Za Dom, Spremni “also means something else. Today it is a nationalist slogan against the establishment. This is against the Croatian political-relevant post-communist political elite. The youth wants to shout as what is increased.”

Such an interpretation does not express ice with the youth human rights initiative (YiHR), a regional organization that works for reconciliation among young generations in Western Balkans.

“This is obviously a fascist slogan,” says Yihr director in Croatia Mario Mazich.

“Being a state -member of the EU, Croatia should be an example for the rest of the region, but it has not been engaged in the past. This is identified with the lost side in the Second World War, does not admit that it waged an unfair war in Bosnia and refusing to acknowledge systematic crimes against Serb.”

Thompson staged another huge show in the country in early August, the mainstay of the Croatian Serbs during the War for Independence. This performance was part of the celebrations for the 30th anniversary of the Storm Operation -the military battle that ended the Croatian war for independence from Yugoslavia in the 1990s, but also supplanted hundreds of thousands of Serbs.

In recent years, the government has started to enable the victims of Serbs. But reconciliation now has less priority than promoting nationalist sentiment, with a military parade in Zagreb this year.

“All these things have become more noticeable because the UK left the European Union that when it comes to anti-fascist values, it cannot only be Germany to protect them,” says TVrtko historian.

Mr. Jacob thinks that it is convenient for a government that does not seem to have many problems facing modern Croatia.

“In the summer of 2025, we are not talking about problems with our tourism, climate change, non-existent industry, higher education album about the demographic catastrophe,” he says.

“Instead, we talk about the military parade and two Thompson concerts.”