Ustasha – Croatia, the War, and the Future

Croatia: Still Trapped In Communist 1945 Despite 1990’s Victorious War of Independence

April 29, 2023 by inavukic 14 Comments

Croatian patriot wearing “For Home Ready” (Za Dom Spremni) jacket. Photo: Pixsell

One thing about Croatia that is crystal clear is that former communists and those carrying their flag to this day cannot forgive the Croatian people for fighting for and defending their absolute right for self-determination and freedom from communist Yugoslavia. That fact was evident in 1945 and decades that followed, with communist purges and mass murders of Croatian patriots and that fact is evident today, with laws passed during communist Yugoslavia still remaining in force, many without changes that reflect the values of the 1990’s Homeland War, which established the independent Croatia during 1990’s.

Walk into the Croatian Parliament today, observe and listen. You will end up thinking that the terrible war of aggression against Croatia did not happen. That the War did not obligate the independent Croatia and its people with the task of distancing from communist Yugoslavia and the totalitarian regime to the full extent so that Croatia could prosper as a true democracy.

It’s quite tragic, really.

32 years after breaking away from communist Yugoslavia there are a lot of people in Croatia who are very patriotic, but there are also a lot of other people caught in the situation where they force upon this independent nation communist values. The latter, tragically for Croatia, have occupied most of the positions of power who disregard, even punish the values of the patriots. Something like what used to happen during the times when Croatia was a part of communist Yugoslavia. The latter will hide behind the so-called European values of which they obviously know little, or simply ignore and breach them hoping nobody is looking from the outside.

It’s impossible to escape the sense of widespread melancholy and disappointment that pervade across Croatia. It is also impossible to escape the sense of a dying nation where rivers of young are emigrating, where those remaining either live in hope that things will get better or seem content should the status quo remain because they, themselves are OK if they do not rock the boat or complain.

I’m finding the experience as surreal as the independent from communist Yugoslavia country that truly isn’t.

No package of “de-communisation” laws has been passed in the past thirty years since seceding from former Yugoslavia at great human life cost by the Croatian parliament. On the contrary, the left-leaning parliamentarians would like to make us believe that nostalgia for communist Yugoslavia defines the nation and that those wanting to uphold and nurture the values of the war of independence are in the minority. Banning of all totalitarian regimes’ symbols has not occurred. Indeed, the former communists and lovers of Yugoslavia, those that deserted the fight for independence and defence of Croatia against brutal Serb and Yugoslav Army aggression in 1990’s, appear bolder in their communist propaganda than ever. They continue behaving as if they and not the real victors – Croatian patriots – won the war of independence and created the independent state in whose parliament they now sit.

This political turmoil that is increasingly taking hold on the streets in Croatia can perhaps be best portrayed through a day of the sitting of Croatian parliament.

Instead of drawing up a new law that reflects the needs and obligations of independent Croatia the Croatian Parliament 21^st April 2023, in a rushed procedure, voted to amend the Law on Offences Against Public Order and Peace, which foresees a drastic increase in fines for the offences, up to the cruel and oppressive four thousand euros. The law thus amended was the law that was enacted in 1977, in communist Yugoslavia, that is biased and discriminatory against patriotic Croatian behaviour, that has not been adapted fully to reflect the values of Croatia’s independence or the values declared by the European Parliament and Commission regarding condemnation of all totalitarian regimes, including the communist one.

This law before the Croatian parliament last Friday as far as I can see has no definitions of the offences it seeks to punish severely and so, just like it happened during communist Yugoslavia any policeman, anybody that has the authority to arrest, take away the freedom of the individual, can decide what is and what is not an offence under the said law! This has also been complained against by some right-wing opposition members of parliament.

While the law itself does not define the offences, which fact in itself is of totalitarian rather than democratic nature, it’s infringements would come from applying offences of this category under other laws in Croatia. And so, given that the patriotic salute “Za Dom Spremni” (For Home Ready) has been banned by other legislation as hate speech or disturbing the peace, while the communist red star and slogans have not, the Croatian media has created the atmosphere where the Croatian patriotic slogans are the ones that will attract the largest fines under this new legislative amendment, perhaps even imprisonment.

One must conclude that communist sympathisers have on purpose excluded symbols from communist Yugoslavia as offences against public peace and simply kept those that relate to Croatian patriotism. The amendments to the law proposed by the current government and communist or left-leaning politicians are a brutal slap in the face to patriots and those who sacrificed their lives for Croatian independence.

It is yet to be seen whether such brutality will be tolerated or whether the newly enacted penalties under this law will be tolerated. They divide a nation even deeper than what it already is, evidently in the odious environment where many in power appear to subscribe to the destructive social and political currents where “the kettle calls the pot black” – every day!

The video of the 21 April 2023 sitting of the Croatian Parliament may be accessed via the following link:

Hot discussions, recriminations, insults … hurled from all sides of the House. The reason: unfinished and rushed requirement to vote on this day on Amendments to the Law on Offences Against Public Order and Peace. Such hurling of insults and dissatisfaction are not unusual or concerning in parliaments or congresses around the world, but they painfully stand out as such, heavily laced with depravity, in a country like Croatia that is supposed to be anti-communist and pro independence from any totalitarian communist regime.

Amidst the heated discussions and hurling of personal insults in the Croatian Parliament on Friday 21 April 2023, the Speaker of the Parliament, Gordan Jandrokovic had the gall to say:

” …So, I think that discussing this topic in this way is not useful because the citizens are watching us. If you really care about the history being revalued in an adequate way to condemn really all totalitarian regimes, the Ustasha regime as well as communist Yugoslavia. We can do it in a different way, not like this…” (at 3hr 57 min of the video at link above).

Hence, confirming that the amendments he and his HDZ government are pushing through parliament have nothing to do with Croatia that was created as independent among the 1990’s War of Independence. It aims to maintain 1945 status when the communist regime overthrew the Ustasha! Utterly unacceptable and disgusting in today’s world where there are no Ustashas apart from the manufactured ones existing in the communist propaganda mindset, and certainly, as the communists were rejected by the very victory of the bloody War of Independence.

Nino Raspudic said: „This is a very dangerous thing, an introduction to future totalitarianism and repression…if we are talking here about European values then it is clear that we must condemn all totalitarian regimes from the past (WWII) … Croatia had from 1945 had the rule of those who came by force … let’s be consistent in the condemnation of all totalitarian regimes…”

Zeljko Sacic said: “…this proposal for this Act is deeply, deeply in breach of the Constitution, is unlawful, it breaches the principles of rule of law, jeopardises our citizens legal safety. Why? Because in its Article 5 it states that anyone who in a public place displays or reproduces songs, compositions, texts, wears or displays symbols, pictures, drawings, disturbs public peace may be penalised with a fine from 700 to 4000 euro plus 30 days imprisonment… the thing is that this Act is extremely undefined, it is contradictory to the principles of law that tell us that there is no infringement if it is not defined by law (that seeks topenaliseoffences) … we need to first define what are those symbols, what are those pictures … like civilised European countries have…and then we can debate what exactly we can penalise… this way we are only undermining citizen’s legal safety …this way we are handing over to the police and the state attorney the penal procedure … do not agree to that.”

Ruzica Vukovac said: “ …the threat of draconic penalties to those who in their own way express patriotism, are, and nobody can dispute it, a relic from the past, relic of a society from which this nation has exited with a bloody fight against the aggressor. The people have exited from communism and one mindedness, but our leaders evidently have not. How could they when that war had nothing to do with them and they did not feel it on their skin. Our leaders today are from the shadows, they watched the outcome of the war and planned this what we have today. Occupied all positions of power and then, in a peaceful way, slowly destroy the national marrow of a nation of people. From today I will be coming to St Marks Square, to my workplace, with anxiety because it will not surprise me if someone’s move results in the erasure of the first white square on the coat of arms on the roof of St Mark’s church.”

Sandra Bencic said: “ …with this Act regardless of the raised fines the proper framework is not provided regarding the promotion of national socialism, Nazism and Ustasha …in this discussion in parliament we see that we still have political parties that hold that this is normal… advocating for and promotion fascism, national socialism and Ustasha as well as Chetniks we need to stop here and now … ask the government to amend the criminal acts law …to sanction the promotion of Ustasha ideology …”

Marko Milanovic Litre said: “…regretfully, we have not heard from Sndra Bencic a condemnation of the communist regime and the burden from the past we have from Yugoslavia which is today still felt by many families … we are not even going to hear about this from Bencinc because she promotes those ideas that were forced against Croats, but that is not important to her, only one side of the story…Colleague Bencic you should be ashamed for attacking here a general of the victorious army and you colleagues from HDZ think that is funny, you have not stood up to protest…you congratulate Bencic, I’m pleased to see that you have shown which values you promote…”

Marija Selak Raspudic said: “ In keeping with accentuation of European values I think that those among us who stand, the ones who would like to see Milka Planinc returned and whose PR professionals consider the murder of priests as good old times are truly the last people who could lecture anyone about the European values and the condemnation of totalitarian regimes’ deeds … our party MOST has condemned all totalitarian regimes.”

Clearly, independent from communist Yugoslavia Croatia is not independent. The Communist versus Ustasha battles continue as they did during World War Two as if Ustashas did not cease to exist as independence fighting force in 1945! As if 1990’s War of Independence did not occur in the 1990’s, with enormous costs to Croatia. Ideological battles – communist Yugoslavia versus independent and democratic Croatia – pervade the Croatian Parliament 32 years post secession from communist Yugoslavia! The Amendments to the Law of Offences Against Public Order and Peace were passed in parliamentary voting regardless of the protests from the opposition. What a tragedy for Croatian nation! Ina Vukic

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Communist Yugoslavia, Communists, Croatia, Croatian Parliament, Croatian war of independence, decommunisation, Law Against Offences Public Order ndPeace, political crisis, Political turmoil, totalitarian regimes, transitioning from communism, Ustasha

Croatia: Yugoslav Communists Lying About Croatian Independence Movements

April 17, 2021 by inavukic 6 Comments

Zoran Milanovic (L) Stjepan Mesic (R) Photos: Screenshots

You simply know that your country’s president is a devastating and appalling waste of space when it comes to honouring the people’s wish for independence from communist Yugoslavia and your people’s fight for that independence by the persons he chooses to represent him at various events, who are equally a waste of space. During the past week Croatia’s President Zoran Milanovic sent as his representative the former President of Croatia, the former President of communist Yugoslavia (Stjepan Mesic) to the commemoration of victims of the Danica camp in WWII Croatia (where communists and Serbs say 5,000 people perished but any history written by Yugoslav communists cannot be trusted, even though only one victim is one too many)! That message says a great deal. Milanovic knows that Stjepan Mesic is the leader of the pack when it comes to liars and that he was a war profiteer, scavenging away into his own pockets bundles of funds donated by the Croatian diaspora for humanitarian needs of victims of the 1990’s Serb aggression against Croatia and for defence of Croatia. Part of evidence for the latter has certainly surfaced in a civil court case in the city of Split between 2017 – 2019.

But despite the evidence and testimonies presented in that court that strongly indicate that Stjepan Mesic did engage in criminal activities of war-profiteering, none of that evidence or indications seem to have been referred to or directed to the office of public prosecutor by the court in Split. But then again, Croatia is no full democracy. It still protects communist thieves and liars that define Croatia on basis of corruption.

And so, Mesic said at Danica site last week: “I hope that the Ustasha movement will stop one day, and then it will stop if we remember these events which are facts, which cannot be changed, because in history only what happened, happened.”

Then he went on to say: “The state government should first of all stop financing those who falsify history, such as those who claim that the Jasenovac camp continued to function after 1945: This is a notorious lie.”

Had Mesic, forgetful of his own previous statements, not here labeled himself as a notorious liar, one might be tempted to believe him but it is terribly difficult to believe him when he, himself, is one of those leading people of former Yugoslavia who revealed to the world that Jasenovac camp did remain open after WWII ended and in there innocent Croatian people who fought for independent Croatia were murdered and exterminated at the hands of Yugoslav communists. Now he wants people who promote that fact to be cut off from financial help! He obviously forgets what he says from day to day. Not because of some problem with Alzheimer’s disease but because he is a person that will say and do anything in order to promote the criminal regime of former communist Yugoslavia, or, if circumstance so demands – “suck up” to the other political side for personal gain.

In 2017, Stjepan Mesic stated publicly: “Don’t be fooled, Jasenovac worked two years after the war. There are many Croats buried deep there. We will now ask for those graves to be dug up, and you will see that they are Home Guards and Ustashas. We will have to bring a world commission to see that. Tito knew that it was a forgery … in order to get bigger reparations. He was never in Jasenovac,” said Mesic, who called Jasenovac a labor camp, not a concentration camp as others have painted it.

If Croatia’s Stjepan Mesic, President Zoran Milanovic, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic – none of whom ever fought for Croatian independence and democracy but in one way or another fought against it, and still do, ensuring they hold well-paid positions they do not deserve nor have the skills to perform at successfully – think and say that Ustasha movement still exists in Croatia and its diaspora, they would in certain ways be right! Of course, the WWII Ustasha movement as per organised political force does not exist and it hasn’t existed for many decades as a formal movement since it was disbanded soon after WWII ended. What does exist today is the independence of Croatia ideology and “movement”, which, of course has, in that sense, close similarities to what the Ustasha movement was for Croatia during WWII. Independence from Yugoslavia. Mesic knows that and that is what bothers him as it does all his communist Yugoslavia “pals”! He has always worked towards running down and crushing the glory of Croatian people’s victory during 1990’s in succeeding to free themselves from the chains of communist Yugoslavia. When he became President in 2000, one of his first moves was to retire some 20 Generals of the Croatian Army and Croatian Defence Council – to cut them down, to cut down as much as he could the independence movement even though Croatia had already won its independence. But it still had a job to finish during peace time: to lustrate Croatia of communists in power.

Ah, someone might say: but WWII Ustasha movement had Racial laws in place and many victims were generated because of it! It did! But so did almost all other countries throughout the world at one stage or another. Just check the facts of 20^th century history, and before, you will find even today the remnants of such utterly depraved laws and practices; Camps, Reservations, stolen land, stolen generations, mass graves, “Whites Only”, … The world is full of destitution and dead bodies because of it. The important thing in my mind is that every era bought its own way of achieving national goals, and many were not pretty nor justifiable, but in the historical context they fit into the order things were done by all our ancestors. Not that this justifies historical deeds that ruined lives, but it does serve as a platform upon which we learn lessons of a better future.

What is happening in Croatia, though, is that former communist operatives are using examples of historical crimes, alleged crimes and fabricated crimes to cover up and bury the glorious efforts for independence and self-determination. They will not succeed if people at large have anything to do with it. WWII Croatia and its Ustasha movement fought for independence from Yugoslavia and in that the occupying German forces were a propping hand, however critical of that we may be; in 1990’s Croatian people fought for independence from Yugoslavia on their own. And that is the beauty of it. That is what communists like Stjepan Mesic are trying hard to dishonour. They will not succeed. The word Ustasha in essence means “rise against oppression”. Stjepan Mesic doesn’t like that. Well, tough luck for that decrepit man of “politics”, the movement of rising against the very idea of Yugoslavia is here to stay. Even in peace time. Why? Because it was oppression itself, it was criminal and murderous, it was garbage! It only served best those in Communist Party positions, the rest just lived day by day or fled out of that existential misery. It is to be hoped that Croatia will not end up like Yugoslavia even if there are no serious signs of lustration on the horizon yet to stop such misfortune. Lustrating former communists in authority or high positions within former Yugoslavia would, of course, be the ideal answer to all the problems afflicting Croatia negatively on the path of full democracy. Failing that there is always the heart that cries out for independence and truth to rely upon. Ina Vukic

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Communist Yugoslavia, Croatia, Croatia World War Two, Croatian independence, Danica camp, Jasenovac camp, lustration, Stjepan Mesic, transitioning from communism to democracy, Ustasha, Zoran Milanovic

Stand Down Croatia’s Ombudswoman

December 6, 2018 by inavukic 14 Comments

Lora Vidovic
Croatia’s Ombudswoman

In normal or functioning democracies the Ombudsman cannot investigate politics, let alone create its platforms or incite hatred based on politics and Croatia’s Ombudswoman Lora Vidovic is doing exactly that!

Croatia’s ombudswoman Lora Vidovic published a report on 19 November in which she accused a number of state institutions of endangering the fundamental values of the Constitution and allowing hate speech by being ineffective and tolerating revisionism and the use of explicit Nazi-era symbols

“Symbols and slogans of countries of the Axis forces are written or stencilled on bus stops, walls, stadiums and posters, but also on monuments to the NOB (National Liberation Struggle in World War Two),” said Lora Vidovic’s report.

Well, Ombudswoman – monuments to NOB need to be torn down. The communist Liberation struggle of WWII did not seek to liberate Croatia from oppressive Yugoslavia, it fought to keep Croatia within Yugoslavia!

Swastikas and ‘U’ symbols of the Ustasha can be seen throughout Croatia, as can the Ustasha salute ‘For the home, ready’. Those symbols also mark and accompany insulting commentaries on internet portals and social networks that foment humiliation and hate of the Roma, Serbs, Jews and others, Vidovic stated.

The Ombudswoman particularly highlighted the supposedly increasingly frequent forms of historical revisionism and its promoters:

“In the recent years, books and articles have been written and published, public forums held, documentaries filmed and TV shows broadcast denying or diminishing the criminal character of the NDH (Independent State of Croatia state in WW2). Such views are aired not only in nationalist media, but also in the official publications of the Catholic Church, and have found their way into the leading media outlets, including the public TV,” she said.

The focus of the document, however, is on the attitude of the authorities, mainly the government, led by the conservative Croatian Democratic Union. She accuses the authorities of being ambivalent towards WWII.

“Given that the official reactions are inconsistent or often absent, the impression is that the authorities tacitly tolerate [the issue], which creates an atmosphere in the society that encourages the strengthening of revisionist attitudes,” said the report.

It is alarmingly concerning that Vidovic is still in her position as Ombudswoman in Croatia!

This odious, politically charged and offensive diatribe is actually directed against those who seek truth, not the government. It is designed to further silence those seeking processing of communist Yugoslavia crimes and continued corrupt practices in public administration. Vidovic politically charged report is an insult to democracy. Democracy seeks the truth, no matter how ugly or pretty it may be. It seeks to respect all manner of reaching the truth. Vidovic has made no attempt to process and give due weight to citizens’ complaints and pursuits to decommunise and democratise Croatia. Instead, she makes up stories and claims of neofascism, neonacism and hate speech supposedly being rife in the country. She has chosen to concern herself as ombudswoman to matters pertaining to the WWII Independent State of Croatia but not to those of communist Yugoslavia from which Croatia seceded in the early 1990’s! Ombudswoman Vidovic, evidently disregards the rights of all citizens to seek out the historical truth which impacts upon their lives.

From the Croatian ombudsman’s website we read that the ombudswoman’s role is to “… examine citizens’ complaints pertaining to the work of the state bodies, bodies of local and regional self-government units, legal persons vested with public authority and, in accordance with special laws, of the legal and natural persons.” She has done absolutely nothing, or very little indeed, about complaints regarding the lack of progress in cleaning the state-machinery from communist Yugoslavia public administration habits such as nepotism and corruption, lack of transparency in public administration, expenditure etc.

Her bias favouring the former communist regime is alarmingly stark and utterly unacceptable for a country that paid with rivers blood and obliterating destruction for a chance at democracy!

It is by no accident that soon after the Croatian Ombudswoman Lora Vidovic published this politically vitriolic study noticeably designed to aid the continued justification of unjustifiable communist crimes perpetrated against Croatians in former communist Yugoslavia during and post World War Two that a group of rowdy so-called antifascists on November 30th disrupted (fortunately unsuccessfully) at the City Library in the coastal city of Sibenik a promotion of Igor Vukic’s book ‘Labour Camp Jasenovac’. The book airs factual fresh findings on the World War II camp that throw a somewhat different light on that camp than the one concocted by the communists after WWII.

Instead of supporting revision of history that is based on facts, Vidovic calls it fascism.

“In recent years, books and articles have been written and published, public forums held, documentaries filmed and TV shows broadcast denying or diminishing the criminal character of the NDH (WWII Independent State of Croatia),” she added.

Her report says nothing about continued celebrations of the murderous communist Yugoslavia totalitarian regime! She claims that the government’s inaction on matters of WWII is not in line with the European Parliament Resolution on the Rise of Neo-Fascist Violence in Europe, which urges EU member states to take immediate measures to condemn and suppress all forms of hate speech and denial of the Holocaust, including the minimisation of Nazi crimes. Conveniently, Vidovic omitted to mention the EU resolutions and declarations for the condemnation of all totalitarian regimes, including the communist one – to which she evidently subscribes even in this day when Croatia’s past must be reconciled with facts in order to grow a healthy democracy!
Vidovic made a lame and twisted attempt to explain that her analysis of the current state in Croatia did not equate WWII Ustashe with the Homeland War veterans! “There are those who think that my analysis tramples upon the Homeland War and the bones of killed defenders. No! Homeland War was legitimate, liberating, and entirely different from Ustashe battles in the WWII Independent State of Croatia…today’s Croatia is different to the fascist Independent State of Croatia (WWII),” she stated.

One cannot but look with horror that Vidovic wants to criminalise the very muse that carried the Homeland War veterans through vicious aggression to independence – “For Home Ready” greeting!

Whether one accepts it on not, and taking aside the horrible crimes committed by all sides in WWII, the WWII Ustashe did take upon themselves the legitimate battles of liberating Croatia from the oppressive, dictatorial Serb-led Kingdom of Yugoslavia. That legitimacy stands on its own merit just as the Homeland War does.

A question begs an answer. How is the communist totalitarian regime to be condemned if its ugly truth is hidden and omitted from public dialogue that seeks progress? Regardless of Vidovic’s views, tearing apart the inherited communist regime’s processes still heavily present in public administration, such dialogue is not revisionism – it is a necessity of the truth. The office of the Ombudswoman should be the first institution in the land to respect and give due credence to both sides of such a public discourse and intentions. It is the last institution that should enter into the suffocation of one side of such a debate by conjuring up cruel innuendoes and utterly vicious claims.

The prerequisite for office of Ombudsman/woman should be objectivity and independence. Lora Vidovic displays neither! Democracy simply cannot grow in Croatia when its institution that’s supposed to “watch” over government or public administration is headed by a person (Vidovic) who seeks the outlawing of greetings such as “For Home(land) Ready” used by Croatians seeking independence during WWII and during 1990’s Homeland War as well as being prominent throughout Croatian history for centuries and fails to seek the outlawing of Yugoslavia’s “Red Star” and other symbols of communism, oppression and murder. This is blatant and purposeful denial of rights to all Croatians who fought, lost lives and continue the good fight for independence, self-preservation and democracy.

Living in democracies outside Croatia we have long known that the establishment and strengthening of institutional means for the defence of citizens against the State’s arbitrary power, and redress for the injustices of its action or omission, are closely related to the advent of democracy. The figure of the ombudsman is a paradigmatic example, understood as a guarantee of individual freedom, provider of justice or public advocate. By its nature, its powers and its action, from the beginning it played in democracies an essential role in promoting the culture of human rights and, hence, in consolidating the democratic rule of law that is in its genesis. Croatia’s Ombudswoman has taken upon herself to spread her “protective” wings over those nurturing the justification of communist crimes and corrupt public administration, while ignoring or persecuting those who pursue condemnation of those crimes and who pursue advancement of democratic processes in public administration.

It is true that today thousands and thousands of Croatian men and women still feel the pain of wounds resulting from the violent and inhuman Serb aggression when Croatia sought independence from communist Yugoslavia. Human rights institutions, such as Ombudsman, have not developed strategies and actions that mitigate the adverse effects of this terrible past, taking into account the respect for historical memory, thus bequeathing a whole perspective of future. Established trust between citizens and the State is undoubtedly one of the fundamental democratic community pillars. Instead of respecting, promoting and defending the most basic of human rights – the right to truth – without compromise, Vidovic has decided to compromise the truth, even to conceal it or make up a truth. She attacks individual incidents in “social media” or other media that lend themselves to keeping the ugly communist truth displayed, seeking lustration and cleaning up Croatia from detrimental communist Yugoslavia heritage in public administration and life!

How can anyone in Croatia bear now to put their hands up and say something is wrong and senior people are doing the wrong thing if this is what happens to those who seek decommunisation. Vidovic would simply label them as fascists! She is not the only one, regretfully! Achieving full democracy and human rights remains a battle pursued only by the brave ones, despite and in spite of the Lora Vidovic’s of this world. Ina Vukic