Croatian ultranationalist mega-gig exposes a divided society

“Neo-Fascist Croatian Woodstock” or patriotic, fun anti-setting?

Last month, a mega-gig of the ultra-nationalist singer Thompson-stage name of Marko Perkovic-dramatically displayed the polarized divisions deep in Croatian society.

It illuminates the spotlights of wild different interpretations of both the struggle of the country for independence in the 1990s and the history of the independent state of Croatia (NDH), a Nazi Marionette State from World War II.

No one would argue that the concert is something but huge. Thompson’s management claims that more than half a million tickets have been sold for the Hepodrome Zagreb show. The actual visit was significantly smaller – but still in the hundreds of thousands.

This huge crowd enthusiastically joined when Thompson started in his initial number, Battalion čavoglave. For his cry of “Dom Home” (“For Homeland”), the audience roared “Spremni!” (“Ready!”). MPs from the HDZ ruling party were among those who chanted together.

This chanting outraged opposition parties and organizations working for human rights and ethnic and regional reconciliation. They point out that the “Dom Home, Spring” is descended from the Anti-Semitic, Ustasha Authorized Organization during World War II-and that the Constitutional Court of Croatia has ruled that the phrase is “Ustasha, congratulates the independent state of Croatia (which is not in accordance with the constitution of the Republic Crossing.”

“This has opened Pandora’s box,” says Documenta Tena Banjogo, a center for dealing with the past, an organization that focuses on reconciliation, taking a factual approach to both World War II and the more independence war.

“You already have politicians in parliament who shout” Za Dom, Spremni. “On the streets, children sing not only this song, but also other songs that Thompson uses to sing that glorify the 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 could explode in physical violence.”

In fact, the government has downplayed the chanting of the concert. Prime Minister Andrei Plenkovic described him as “part of Thompson’s repertoire” and posed for a photo with the singer the day before Zagreb’s concert.

The conservative commentator Mathiata Stahan believes that the time of Thompson, serving as a soldier during the War of Independence, gives him the right to use a “domestic home, sprign” in his work.

“It’s an authentic freedom protest against aggression,” he says.

“Many journalists in the West say this is the Croatian version of Hyle Hitler – but it would be best to describe it as the Croatian version of (Ukrainian national greeting)” Glory Ukrainian. ”

“Both rose to the context of World War II – which was a war for many small nations that wanted their own independent countries,” says G -n štahan.

“Symbols change their meaning-and just like” glory Ukraine “,” Dom Home, Spiration “also means something different. Today it is a nationalist slogan for establishing. It is against the Croatian politically correct post-communist political elite. Young people want to call him as something that is subversive.”

This interpretation does not reduce ice with the Youth Human Rights Initiative (YiHR), a regional organization that works for reconciliation among the younger generations of the Western Balkans.

“Obviously, a fascist slogan,” says YiHR director in Croatia Mario Mother.

“As an EU Member State, Croatia must be an example of the rest of the region, but has not dealt with the past. He identifies with the loser country during World War II, does not admit that he has fought an unfair war in Bosnia and refuses to acknowledge systematic crimes against the Serbs.”

Thompson organized another huge show in early August in Krajin, the Croatian Serbs Fortress during the War of Independence. This performance was part of the festivities for the 30th anniversary of Operation Storm, the military battle that ended the Croatia Independence War from Yugoslavia in the 1990s, but which also displaced hundreds of thousands of Serbs.

In recent years, the government has begun to include remembered victims of Serbs. But reconciliation now seems to have a more priority than promoting nationalist sentiment, with a military parade in Zagreb, the exhibition of this year’s events.

“All these things have become more visible, as the United Kingdom left the European Union-because when it comes to anti-fascist values, it cannot only depend on Germany to protect them,” says the historian TVRTKO Yakovina.

Jakovina believes that this is convenient for a government that does not seem to have no answers to the numerous challenges to modern Croatia.

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

“Instead, we’re talking about the military parade and two Thompson concerts.”