Last week I was reminded
once again that history does not have to repeat itself exactly
to send some very nasty reminders of the past. On May 26, 1941,
shortly after the fall of Yugoslavia to the Nazis and the subsequent
establishment of the "Independent State of Croatia" (NDH)
under the rule of the local fascist movement, the Ustashe, hundreds
of students were ordered to carry out exercises at Maksimir Stadium,
the largest in Croatia and the current home of soccer powerhouse
Dynamo Zagreb.
There, the Ustashe under Zdenko Blazekovic attempted to separate
the Serb and Jewish students from their Croatian counterparts,
as a prelude to the implementation of their genocidal program against
these two minorities. Indeed, on the next day, the first group
of Jewish students was deported to Ustashe concentration camps
where all of them were killed.
This past week, Ustashe symbols were once again proudly displayed
at Maksimir Stadium, only this time the occasion was not a roundup
of Serbs and Jews, but rather a rock concert by popular Croatian
singer "Thompson" (Marko Perkovic).
If Thompson's songs were odes to tolerance for minorities and
calls for brotherhood among different nationalities and ethnic
groups, I am certain that almost none of those attending the concert
would have showed up with Ustashe uniforms, symbols, and banners,
but his ultranationalist orientation is unmistakeable.
Thus, for example, he acheived notoreity two years ago by singing
a song entitled "Jasenovac/Stara Gradiska," which expressed
nostalgia for those two infamous Croatian concentration camps in
which at least 90,000 innocent Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and anti-fascist
Croatians were murdered by the Ustashe with nary a Nazi in sight.
THE LYRICS of the song leave little to the imagination: Jasenovac
and Stara Gradiska That's the house of Maks' [Luburic, a notorious
Ustashe murderer] butchers...
O Neretva [river] flow downhill And carry the Serbs into the blue
Adriatic [Sea]....
I am Ustashe and so was my father Father left the craft to his
son....
Lady Sinjska [a Slavic godess], if you can, take away [anti-fascist
and current President of Croatia] Stipe [Mesic] and bring back
our [ultranationalist former President] Franjo [Tudjman]....
Send our greetings to [World War II Ustashe leader] Ante Pavelic.
In other words, Thompson's concerts are the perfect occasion for
a proud display of extremist Croatian nationalism, which mixes
nostalgia for the Ustashe with adulation for for more recent heroes
such as Croatian general Ante Gotovina, wanted in The Hague for
war crimes during the 1991 war and until recently a fugitive from
justice.
Add fascist salutes and cries of "Za dom spremni" (ready-for
the homeland), the patriotic slogan popularized by the Ustashe,
and it is clear why such scenes arouse discomfort, if not genuine
fear, among Croatia's minorities, especially Serbs and Jews. Even
worse, among the 60,000 people in attendance were members of parliament,
government officials and numerous local celebrities. The Minister
of Science, Education and Sports, Dragan Primorac, showed up for
the concert on its original date which was rained out, but could
not attend the rescheduled event the next day.
UNDER THESE circumstances, the question is whether the scenes
last week at Maksimir Stadium reflect an urgent danger of of the
return of fascism in Croatia or are perhaps the last-gasp backlash
of an insignificant extremist group with little political power,
still smarting from the arrest and transfer to The Hague of local
right-wing hero General Gotovina and fearful of their country's
future admission to the European Union?
Following the publication in the local media of a letter I sent
to President Mesic to protest the widespread display of Ustashe
symbols at the concert, I received numerous messages from Croatians
all over the world who sought to convince me that Thompson was
neither a fascist nor an anti-Semite, but rather a wholesome patriot
full of love for his country.
They wrote of his support for family values, disabled veterans
from Croatia's last war and other worthy causes. But what they
failed to grasp is that if one equates Croatian patriotism with
the Ustashe, then the message being transmitted is not noble love
of homeland, but rather the blatant racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia
which spawned Jasenovac and the mass murder of minorities and political
opponents.
On May 26, 1941, quite a few of the Croatian students at Maksimir
Stadium, led by the Communists among them, foiled the Ustashe's
plan to separate the Serbs and Jews from the rest of the students
by going over to stand with the members of the minority groups.
In the end, that noble gesture did not save those targeted by the
Ustashe for annihilation, but it does send the right signals to
contemporary Croatian society.
The question is whether the tens of thousands who came to the
same stadium last week to hear Thompson will ultimately appreciate
and internalize that critical message.
jpost.com
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