Stjepan Mesic Photo: Goran Jakus/PIXSELL

There’s no doubt in my mind that Croatia’s former president Stjepan Mesic would like nothing better than to be able to confirm with facts that today’s modern, democratic and independent Croatia was the sole product of antifascist efforts. He continues with his claptrap, contriving a warped plot, deceitfully attempting to rewrite Croatia’s modern history in favour of his visibly sick, based on falsehoods and morally corrupt ideas. The worst of these, the unforgivable lie, he has been pushing is that Croatian diaspora is pro-fascist or fascist. It’s to be noted that Mesic began this path of vilifying the Croatian diaspora only after members of the diaspora began, publicly, to question Mesic honesty as politician and individual.

While his views or public statements often appear shunned and ridiculed by the public in Croatia, while he seems to have lost just about all of his credibility as a pro-Croatian politician, he pushes on with his antifascist agenda, knowing well that his agenda continues to divide and rattle the society he pretends to protect from bitter political divisiveness.

Mesic appeared 30 May on “24sata TV” program 60 Minutes after many weeks being noticeably absent from the Croatian media (i.e. since the announcement that the corruption watchdog would commence investigations into some Mesic’s activities while president that suggest all may not have been above board. Investigations continue).

During the 60 Minutes interview Mesic said that Tomislav Karamarko (newly elected president of Croatian Democratic Union/HDZ and effectively leader of the opposition) does not understand what had happened after Woorld War II.

“He does not understand there would be no Croatians if all Croatians had joined the Ustashe. It’s only because of the Croatians who had gone to the most correct side, to the side of antifascism, that we have Croatia, some don’t understand that, not even Karamarko who is a historian, he should know that. It’s a fact that NDH (WWII Independent State of Croatia) did not function as a legal state, that was a criminal system. We know that the war has ended, but today we need to be creative to find an exit from this crisis and ensure a better life for the citizens. We must not be divided my the motives that divided our grandfathers and fathers.”

To my knowledge Karamarko has not replied to the above statement. Perhaps Karamarko believes that Mesic should not be taken seriously and, therefore, does not deserve a reply?

But Mesic’s words must not be left unchallenged as they are often far from the truth (or fail to detail the truth) and it is indeed not acceptable that Croatian history is so tampered with.

Disecting Mesic’s sentences, phrases and words from the above TV appearance, giving them the historic truth things are and were (in only a few words) as follows:

1. Croatian grandfathers and fathers during WWII were divided fiercely by their motives (for engaging in war):

• Ustashe wanted an independent Croatia; there were some terrible war criminals among the Ustashe as alliance with Nazi Germany went on the track of exterminating the Jews; A number of the Ustashe war criminals have been convicted for war crimes.
• Partisans (antifascists, communists) wanted Yugoslav federation; there were some terrible war criminals among the Partisans as they set about murdering Croatians (whether Croatian soldiers or civilians) who did not subscribe to their idea of communist Yugoslav federation; There have not yet been any war criminals convicted of these crimes essentially because the winners of WWII, together with the Jewish lobby, maintained (and still do) that murder of these people was in essence justified – even at the time when they raised their arms in the air, waved the white flag of peace!
• Domobrans (Home defenders) defended Croatian state territory. In the latter stage of WWII many were forced to join Ustashe forces and many defected to Partisan forces, while others were imprisoned and executed like animals  by Partisans for no other reason except for being a conscripted soldier, defender of Croatian territory/soil.

2.  After WWII ended:

• Ustashe & Home defenders and civilians fled Croatia, seeking refuge in the West – many tens of thousands were murdered by the Partisans in cold blood, not afforded the right to flee (Bleiburg massacres and Way of the Cross mass murders).
• Hundreds of thousands of Croatians fled Communist Yugoslavia between 1946 and 1962 ( Yugoslav borders were closed so people fled) while 1960’s to 1980’s also saw hundreds of thousands emigrate to the West.
• By late 1980’s Croatian Communist Party had barely 400,000 members, and great many of these were members because without being a Communist party member one’s career prospects in his/her profession were indeed bleak or non-existent.
• By late 1980’s Croatian diaspora population (first, second and third generation émigrés) counted millions.

It is this diaspora that was crucial in Croatia’s successful battles for independence. It is this diaspora that fought for and with Croatia for independence. There were very, very few antifascists living abroad littering diaspora’s love of Croatia; there were Yugoslav antifascist secret police actively trying to discredit the Croatian diaspora with all sorts of criminal innuendo and set ups.

And even though Mesic had often said during the past 20 years that without the help of the Croatian diaspora there would have been no independent Croatia today, he had also, evilly and with lies, relatively recently branded the same diaspora as Ustasha’s (fascists).

It is not the truth that “we have Croatia” because of antifascists as Mesic would like the world to believe. Today’s Croatia is the effort of ALL Croatian sides from WWII and that was the monumental dream and the dream’s realisations of the first president of Croatia, the late dr Franjo Tudjman.

Tudjman headed the outstanding politics of uniting the Croatian people from everywhere and reconciling of all Croatians regardless of any debts of sins from the past.

It is high time that Croatian authorities wake up and finally process WWII communist crimes as a matter of urgency – for justice. Once this is done it should help significantly in silencing antifascists such a Mesic who seem to know no boundaries to deceit and lies.

To add an interpretation to Mesic’s appalling 24sata TV appearance: if all Croatians had been Ustashe in WWII, there would be no Croatians today because they would all have been exterminated by someone other than the antifascists or communists, who murdered just those Croatians who didn’t like antifascism? Antifascists must not be permitted to lay claim on Croatia’s democracy and independence because they, alone, did not make it happen. They NEVER made independence happen for Croatia, they fought against Croatian independence in WWII and after it. Many Croatians during WWII and after WWII despised the Yugoslav communist (antifascist) movement and that is why today’s Croatia stands free and democratic. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)