Portrait of Josip Broz Tito
Head of former Communist Yugoslavia
Painting in oil: Charles Billich
I have never come across a child, a grandchild, a brother, sister or spouse of a WWII Nazi war criminal who defended the actions of that war criminal who contributed to the horror the world knows as the Holocaust, or mocked their victims or the victims’ right to justice. To defend or justify such actions means absolute disregard and belittling of the victims, and is inhumane, to say the least. And to make a mockery of a mention of totalitarian regimes’ crimes is gut-wrenchingly appalling.
A process of serious and overdue reckoning with communist crimes in former Yugoslavia, which have been swept under the carpet for too long in the name of ‘antifascism’, has last week, 23 August, included commemorations at various mass graves in Croatia, filled with innocent Croats murdered by Josip Broz Tito’s communist totalitarian regime. Similar commemorations have been held in Croatia since 2011, remembering victims of both WWII Ustashe regime (allied at the time with Nazi Germany) and Partisans (Josip Broz Tito’s communists, leaning at the time to Russia’s Stalin and during the war gained support from the Allied forces).
Tomislav Karamarko
Photo: Anadolija
On the occasion of commemorating victims of all totalitarian regimes Tomislav Karamarko, leader of the largest parliamentary opposition party – Croatian Democratic Union /HDZ – said to journalists:
“That which is a tragedy, an absurdity in Croatia, is that we look at totalitarianisms with different diopters. Not we from HDZ, of course, but a part of the governing nomenclature of the left political structure, who call themselves socialists. That’s no left political option but nostalgia for Yugoslavia and the evidence of that is seen in their determined and hard protection of the person and the actions of the big criminal Josip Broz Tito. Even today, they would like to name streets and town squares after him and place busts of him in their offices.”
In this, Karamarko concluded, the Croatian victims are not recognised. “Today, we speak with sorrow and grief about the fact that in Croatia we cannot talk normally and freely about communist crimes. There are more than 900 mass graves (pits) in Croatia, in Slovenia there are 600 and in Bosnia and Herzegovina there are over 200 pits filled with Croatian bones and skeletons. We cannot speak about that because he who has the command responsibility for those crimes (Josip Broz Tito) still has his name on hundreds of streets and Croatian town squares,” said Karamarko.
Speaking as member of a panel commemorating the victims of totalitarian regimes in Dubrovnik during the week Karamarko announced that if HDZ wins government at the next elections in Croatia they would implement a partial lustration (removing individuals who held high positions in communist Yugoslavia from high public office in Croatia). He also said that he would remove Tito from town squares and streets and that they would revise the school textbooks to reflect Tito’s person and his actions and speak more openly about the post-WWII crimes committed by Tito’s Partisans.
What a great day for Croatia that would be! Croatia simply cannot move forward into true democracy until human rights to justice for all victims is achieved – no matter which side of politics perpetrated crimes against innocent people.
Sasa Broz
But wouldn’t you know it: out comes Tito’s granddaughter Sasa Broz! She reacts with derision and irony, mocking Karamarko and his announcements as to how he will deal with the crimes of communism, headed by her grandfather Josip Broz Tito.
Obviously, in this, mocking the multitudes of victims her grandfather sent to death.
She wrote on her Facebook timeline (ad this was picked up by the Croatian media): “Bravo for Karamarko, he is my new idol! It’s really not an easy job finding an adequate ‘medicine’ for our sick society. I knew my Prince would ride in one day, with warm deer glance, in a protective demeanour toward the Croatian nation. May you (Karamarko) live for a 1000 years!… Once the Croats are free from my grandfather’s damned soul I will vote in favour of all streets and town squares that held my grandfather’s name be renamed into the serene and noble Tomislav Karamarko Square – AMEN!…”
The depravity in this reaction by Tito’s granddaughter Sasa Broz is a reflection of what humiliation victims of communist crimes have to endure.
Tito consolidated his power in 1945, after WWII ended, by purging his government of non-communists and by holding fraudulent elections that legitimated the discarding of the Serb-led Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed under a new constitution in November 1945. Josip Broz Tito led the command of the murder of more than half a million Croats. Tito was no different to Stalin or Hitler – murder of innocent masses because of their anti-communist political orientation came easy.
He not only led the command for mass murders on Croatian soil after WWII, he sent his communist secret police army (UDBA) across the world to hunt down Croats who lived abroad, were anti-communists and wanted a free Croatia one day. Currently, two Croats (Josip Perkovic and Zdravko Mustac), operatives of “Tito’s communist exterminations”/Yugoslav Secret Police/UDBA, are before German courts in relation to murder of a Croat national that occurred in early 1980’s. Multitudes of assassinations of Croats by UDBA across the world remain undealt with and many like the Croatian Six in Australia were framed by UDBA (reportedly in collaboration with members of local authorities) for crimes of terrorism they never engaged in… In commenting on the Yugoslav UDBA infiltrating the Australian Federal Police and ASIO in the case of Croatian Six and the current events in the Middle East, Australian journalist Hamish McDonald has aptly concluded his recent article: “…What a heritage to take into the new war on terror. Their political masters have long just hoped it would fade into oblivion, but ASIO and the AFP could look at their files to see to what extent, consciously or not, they were manipulated by the UDBa into a great injustice”.
And Tito had fooled so very many. And Tito had charmed his way into the high society of the world, held a hero for breaking away from Stalin in 1948 and, yet, at all times he was a criminal with evidently insatiable thirst for the blood of all who stood in his way of totalitarian communist rule. The victims of his communist purges cannot rest or stand still until he is placed where he belongs – into the halls of shame and darkness. Perhaps his granddaughter Sasa knows this and has decided to employ mockery and irony as tools of attack against those, such as Tomislav Karamarko, who appear set on escalating justice for victims of communist crimes under her grandfather’s commands and tutelage. How utterly twisted and wicked. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zbg); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)
RSS - Posts
Reblogged this on Ann Novek–With the Sky as the Ceiling and the Heart Outdoors.
Thank you for the reblog, Ann
:))))
Titp was a legend he achieved 40 years straight of the standard of living improving for pretty well everyone. Free travel everywhere and pretty damn good social services. . .
And yes he was a bit over the top when dealing with Nazi sympathizers but hey overall one of the great world leaders
Sonny, Sorry to rock your boat, Tito was a parasite fed off Western Dollars and Pounds – without those and his rotten communist plan he would nowhere. Nobody criticises his dealings with Nazi sympathisers but his false accusations against hundreds of thousands of innocent people as being Nazi sympathises is a matter which cannot be condoned, not even by people who may think of him the way you seem to. Cheers
Well written, Ina, with compassion, passion and truth. Yes!
Thank you, John
There is a guy in Toronto trying to organize monument to the victims of communism in Zagreb. Unfortunately he is getting no support from almost everyone – people in the Diaspora and from the Homeland.
We like to whine, but we do not like to take concrete action. Everyone complains about how it is am impossible endeavour. I say we make it possible.
By our lack of initiative we keep letting the communists win.
As Karamarko said, Zeljko, the reds in power are once again instilling fear into people, people are impoverished, unemployed, scared…getting a job without political connections or family connections is almost impossible in Croatia – just as it was under communists: you were OK if you whistled to their yune and all the best positions were taken by communists or their sympathizers. Perhaps now that Karamarko has made it “official” that fear about talking of communist crimes exists and hence needs to be gotten rid of, there will be more action.
So how do we get the project for a Victims of Communism memorial moving forward?
Lobbying and representations, however I believe this lot in government won’t be sympathetic – they unveiled a couple of slabs of concrete as monument last year just as some kind of show of will, but now I read that even president Josipovic has stated in public this week that justice for crimes of all totalitarian regimes must be pursued, so unless he was paying lip service to the presidential elections coming soon things might get easier… the state has to release “land” or spot for monuments and I think it will come but not overnight, sadly
Ina – I am not talking about the government – I am talking about getting THE PEOPLE motivated into action. Why do we always expect the government to take action and do something?
WE THE PEOPLE need to take action
We the people are not taking action and that is why we have what we have. We have what we deserve to have.
Yes, Zeljko, I know what you mean but still the government issues licenses, permits for land use etc and in Croatia you still have the situation where there are too many town squares or streets carrying Tito’s name, you have huge monuments across the country built by Tito’s regime to the communist Partisan WWII battles and “victories”…you have the situation that Franjo Tudjman has been given a small park away from city centre in Zagreb to be honoured with his name and yet thanks to his leadership Croatia seceded from communist Yugoslavia…so what I am saying that once communist crimes are properly dealt with and properly condemned a frame of mind will exist to help the people into action for monuments to victims of communist crimes…in general I agree with you that more action from citizens and groups is needed to push for this…one often hears in cases of communist crimes things like “ah, let’s leave the communists and what they did alone, let’s worry about the economy and creating jobs…” – those who say this are to my view communist sympathiers and they know that once communist crimes are reckoned with then there will be lustration, there will be a fairer job market where getting a job will not depend on who you know and whether you are linked with the politically red etc. So to me dealing with communist crimes also has economic implications in that the work force will eventually get rid of the superiority those from former communist echelons display get regardless of their capacities and professional abilities
Sasa Broz is a granddaughter of a man who faked out Moscow and Washington and London and Paris. Berlin tried to wipe him off of the face of the earth. Bad choice. Tito was taking care of himself at the expense of his followers. He was a cult of personality. Unfortunately, Croatians like a person to take of their problems. The day that Croatians can take care of themselves without the dependency of a person is the day Croatia grows up. I don’t see that happening in my life time. Grow up Croatia!! Man up!!! Be all you can be without being dependent. Start now!!! I’ll see you next month one more time for the last time.
It’s taken a long time to get to this point – to speak publicly of Tito as criminal, Steve and I think it is a brave thing to do. Putting Tito where he belongs is not just about him or his communist party it’s also about setting a fair platform (through lustration) where people can compete for jobs on merit and not political affiliation with the “reds” etc. We know communism was a beast: it murdered multitudes and it chased multitudes away from Croatia. It’s hard to get away from the beast without a fight and that has been happening on many levels in the past twenty or so years.
While I agree with what you’re saying, you have to take into account that many, many Croatians have basically grown up in communism. What communism has taught people (e.g. to rely on others, mostly the government to fix their problems) are the values that are passed onto others. There are plenty of individuals who want to see change, but until we get leaders (most importantly government) that know how to teach people about democracy and their rights and responsibilities within a democracy, we won’t see full-scale change. It needs to start at exposing communism for what it is and openly discouraging nepotism, corruption and dependence.
Indeed, Kat, a big task but, oh, so rewarding. Well said
The apple doesn’t always fall that far from the tree. Sad.
My thought too, Eric. Sad but true. It takes a “big” person to acknowledge the truth, however unpleasant it may be, and move on contributing positively
Sasa ,after all she is Tito’s grand daughter.
It seems to much to expect an improvement down the generations line, Jalal – shame
We have words for what she said but they are not appropriate for your page so I will be a gentleman and not write them. What it would have meant for her to have stood with my mother by my sister’s grave in far away Muskogee and whispered “I’m sorry.” I would think ever so much better of her if Saša would offer to do that now with me. Just the offer would be a kindness. I do wish that should Saša make further public remarks concerning her grandfather, that her remarks be somehow genuinely conciliatory.
It takes a big person to utter conciliatory words, David, and by the look of things Sasa is not one of those. She would have done much good for the victims had she kept quiet since she is incapable of compassion with the victims her grandfather sent to their death. Perhaps she will change but I for one am not holding my breath.
The removal of all remnants of the Yugoslav repressive apparatus, the secret police to start with, for the political and media scenes is a prerequisite to true democratic state and to turning Croatia into some kind of normal and sustainable state. By this we do not mean just the arrests of “little old men” like Josip Manolic and Josip Boljkovac – although the farce in arresting Boljkovac and taking him to trial only to show to Germany that Croatia too can process the alleged communist criminals, had landed a shockingly political court judgment of the communist system found guilty of murder rather than the people who operated it. Before anything else it’s essential for Croatia to rid itself of all those who are associated with the post-WWII murders, purges, tortures and now enjoy some kind of a “respectable” social status and are given media spaces to keep putting out their views, keeping progress in Croatia back. It’s a terrible state of affairs to see that clicks that came out of that totalitarian regime still do a lot of moving and shaking in Croatian media and the political scene.
So, it’s not good if Karamarko wants to stay just at removing Tito from town squares and streets. It’s a matter of social hygiene that all equal crimes perpetrated by any side be treated equally. Also, it’s a matter of basic democratic hygiene that those who were operatives of the communist secret police and high level Communist Party operatives be denied every access to working in places from which they’re able to obstruct the democratic process. These places are primarily public service, NGO’s, and media. This has been done in Germany, the Baltic countries, Czech Republic, Poland, and elsewhere and it has proven essential for the development of democracy.
I so agree with you, Blago. For me an important part of democratic process that is likely to change with lustration is that the work-force in Croatia will have a chance of being built up with capable people rather than the stagnation we see because majority of jobs are dished out to those related to or those who wave the political flag of former communists, actually current communists. It’s a hard job but it must be done
Lustration should have occurred early on rather waiting so long after the formation of independent Croatia. This failure although possibly justifiable in some parts because public administration needed knowledge that certain people had has allowed the ex-communists to spread their wings and the left wing politics that still hold the flag for Tito to secure a footing and keep Tito’s name on squares and streets.
If we look at the past couple of years we would see that persons who behave the same way as Sasa Broz when it comes to victims of crimes of a totalitarian regime would be in jail for hate speech and inciting hatred against victims had the victims been those of communist camp.
Well spotted, Marcel
Reblogged this on idealisticrebel.
Thank you for the reblog, Barbara
…”My Prince”… disgusting 🙁
You are such a fantastic writer!
Thank you, Milly – ELW Essence 🙂
A very interesting post, Ina. I would think that Sasa would be embarrassed about her grandfather’s crimes, but as you stated It takes a big person to utter conciliatory words… and by the look of things Sasa is not one of those.
Very sad and difficult to understand how someone could have such a cold heart (or even no heart).
.
Yes, Carol, it is hard to understand even if one accepts that she is defending her grandfather – seems to me a nasty piece of work 🙁
What a gift Ina to be be able to put your view across so effectively and eloquently. I wouldn’t begin to claim to fully understand the politics behind your argument nor do I know of the main players (beyond the legacy of Tito) but I completly understand your demand to expose the truth. In order for any nation to move forward it must understand and deal with the past. If you are attracting foreigners like me to read your blog posts you can be certain articles like this will go a long way to exposing the truth – good luck.
Thank you, Scott, truth of the past and present is so very important and yes without it the future would always be difficult and filled with uneasy questions or delusions, which stifle progress in one way or another
how horrible and lacking in self, historical and community awareness
Horrible reaction, indeed, psychologistmimi – not much sensitivity for vioctims there
I visited Yugoslavia in 1972, and the people were sad and morose and hostile towards strangers. Living under Tito, I could understand their unhappiness.
Know exactly what you mean “English Professor”- thank you on comment
always interesting to read <3
Thank you, Risty
However strong the feeling one has for a grandfather who was ever nice to you, there can be no ignoring the fact that crimes were committed against people under his regime and that he had a hand in them. That acceptance cannot diminish the love you feel for the grandfather.
So true, David – while the love for grandfather comes naturally, acceptance of his hand in terrible crimes does not and she would do much better to keep quiet rather than mock. She cannot change the reality of his crimes just as no one can change the love she has for her grandfather.
I have never read as much holier than thou sanctimonious unsubstantiated over exagerative garbage as i have read on this web site. You cant lay blame with Tito the nationalistic crimes of retribution that occurred in Bleiburg/Krzni Put (‘ way of the cross ‘) at the kaotic closing days of WW2. & ” half a million Croatian victims of “communism” “, …DELETED … Well done Ina. I bet this post of mine wont be allowed to see the day of light.
Well Stipe, you are making progress it seems, not all of your comment has been moderated – yes Tito can be blamed he was the one who signed the forced repatriation deal at the end of WWII when all Croatian refugees found at Bleiburg, waiting to be taken to the promised protection of the “West” were returned to Yugoslavia and most filled and he was at the head of a regime that murdered multitudes after WWII
Signed repatriation papers is not indicative of any prior intent on Tito’s part to harm those n.d.h. returnee’s . There is strong evidence that Tito ordered that NO P.O.W.’s were to be harmed in anyway & Tito further ordered that if any of the P.O.W.’s who were suspected of crimes against humanity, then they were to face proper trial & sentencing according to principles of criminal law. A number of high ranking Serbs in the partizans who illegally ordered reprisal killings against the remnants of the n.d.h. regime were themselves apprehended , put on trial & executed for going against Tito’s orders. Tito was against anything that would have been detrimental to his goals of Brotherhood & Unity between the Serbian & Croatian nations. Anything that is stated from historical sources that state Tito’s intent to harm the Croatian people is pure hear say, conjecture, miss strewed ( words taken out of context) & politically motivated. Now i bet this post of mine will not see the light of day
And, Stipe, there is evidence that he ordered murders, knew about exterminations, planned Brotherhood and Unity at any expense including doing away with those who did not agree with him…suffice to say, I do rely on actual and verifiable evidence and will be writing about it…you simply cannot say it’s hearsay that he wanted to harm people who did bot agree with his goals and politics – after all many of his victims still live to tell the story as well as the multitudes of mass graves containing the remnants of communist purges of which he knew and which he planned
Sorry Ina, there is no evidence, there hasnt been any real evidence or significant evidence since 1945, i respect you for your humanitarian work but your view of history & your political views are inter -wined & skewed.. Both of us want whats best for the Republic of Croatia but i believe you are going down the wrong path concerning these obvious anti Left web sites of yours. Your web sites seem to attract mostly nationalists parading as sanctimonious holer than thou ” patriots/democrats ” and obvious anti-communists of other nationalities. I wouldnt be surprised if this post of mine doesnt see the light of day
Oh Stipe, your comment should see the light of day because it demonstrates what the victims of communist crimes must go through to receive justice. Plenty of evidence for these after WWII – to say the least two men are currently before German courts for such crimes, and I will not mention the hundreds of mass graves uncovered. If you see pursuit of justice for crimes as a political view of the right wing then you must re-examine your conscience and you might come to a conclusion different to what you have now. This website pursues the goals of what the majority of Croatians fought for in the early 1990’s – get rid of communism – nothing skewed or biased about that in my eyes
Boddhisatva
Her heart, while sticking tongue out,
leads a sheltered life,
doesn’t drink, nor dance,
Norfolk, it’s in her dreams.
Shocked by lack of fidelity,
still pure, as she has never…
though the thought comes:
Now free, pretty and young.
Brother nudges open eyes,
Confucian box blown open.
Evident culture gap,
yet she jumps his way.
Cosmic bonding creates a further
life, tantric self-love springs to
relaxed life, freedom to be, to
elongate burdensome boundaries.
Will she head back to marry,
deny uncoiling life, to prove
obedience? Dry flowers yield,
break mid-air as she walks.
🙂
This is frightening and appalling behavior on granddaughter’s part to deride and humiliate those who were subjected to persecution and gas chambers. Thank you for bravely standing up by writing.
The expression “Power to the Pen” comes to mind. 📒🖋✒
She is an utter nuisance to be truthful, Robin. A try-hard in defending the indefensible!
Oh, hard to like someone who isn’t ashamed of atrocities caused by her grandfather. . . I think it would have more impact if she admitted not her actions but his that were wrong. Sad. 😔
Sad indeed
This Bitch needs to be hung from a light pole in the center of the capital. Leave her there until the birds have cleaned her bones then take those bones and throw them in an unmarked grave!
Reblogged this on Truth Troubles.