After he made during the summer the most visited concert in the world, where half a million Croats shouted the Ustasha salute "Za dom spremni", Marko Perkovic Thompson announced a mini-tour of Croatia, which will begin at the Zagreb Arena on December 27. This could be Thompson's last concert in Zagreb ever - if this Ustasha salute, taken from the NDH, is heard from his stage.
Croats have massively embarrassed themselves by enjoying Thompson and the Ustašluk, at least from the left-wing perspective of the public in this country and the European Union. After the July fair, which was reported by all the world's media as a "neo-fascist Croatian Woodstock", many blamed the first man of the city for not trying to stop this mega-concert.
This is exactly why the mayor of Zagreb, Tomislav Tomašević, a member of the Green-Left party, is trying in every way possible to stand in Thompson's way this fall.
First, he made a decision to ban public gatherings in Zagreb that are larger than 100.000 visitors, and then the Zagreb City Assembly banned the Ustasha chant itself in all buildings owned by the city or under the administration of the City. It is the cry "Za dom spemni", which is part of the musician's permanent repertoire.
It all depends on one sentence.
It turned out that Thompson scheduled the December 27th concert before these decisions came into force, but that's why after them he tried to book the Zagreb Arena a day later, as the tickets for the first day probably sold out. Because the capacity of this space is "only" 22.000 seats, and it "can provide" incomparably more fans. This attempt was not granted to him.
"When, after the summer concert, many criticized Tomašević that he should have prevented the gathering at the hippodrome, the mayor said that there was no reason to ban Thompson's concert at the time," explains Croatian historian Hrvoje Klasić for "Vreme". "Now, when the right-wing rhetoric has seriously taken off, Tomašević still decided to contribute to the fight against Ustasha slogans and extreme right-wing behavior in general."
The mayor of Zagreb made it clear to Thompson that he would not be able to hold a second concert if he shouted "Ready for home" at the first one. The musician responded angrily to this. He officially returned the song "Bojna Čavoglava" to the repertoire, which begins with this greeting.
He also told the city authorities that he considered on several occasions to give up performing this song at his performances. However, he believes that the song "raised the morale of the Croatian defenders during the war", and that now it should only be performed on some significant dates, such as "National Day, Victory Day, that is, when important dates from Croatian history and the Homeland War are approaching".
"That's how a kind of war between the two of them began," concludes Klasić. "There will certainly be shouts at the first concert, which is why Thompson won't even be able to perform on the second day."
How "Za dom spremni" was created
The famous phrase "Ready for home" has a double connotation in Hvatska. This was a military salute during World War II used by the Ustasha movement, and was considered the Ustasha equivalent of the Nazi salute "Zig Heil". The Ustaše, that is, the Croatian revolutionary organization, ruled the Independent State of Croatia, which was under the influence of Germany and Italy.
Slavko Kvaternik, Supreme Commander of the Croatian Home Guard and Ante Pavelić's deputy, also used the greeting when he announced the establishment of the state on Radio Zagreb. He ended the statement with "God and Croats! Ready for home!"
Many people used this cry during the nineties in the so-called Homeland War. That is why, explains the historian Klasić, the cry among young Croats is not related to the Ustaše but to the period of the country's independence from Yugoslavia, and therefore the building of the nation.
"Although for Thompson, the Ustasha rallying cry has a lot to do with the NDH, young Croats associate it en masse with patriotism and perhaps a right-wing view of the world, but not with the Ustasha from the Second World War," he adds. "He struck a chord of patriotism in those children, which is combined with faith, and which mourns the victims of the wars of the 1990s."
What will the Croats decide?
Thompson's team has already announced that it is preparing a lawsuit, and the Zagreb city administration has gathered a team of lawyers specifically for these needs.
"Apparently, the lawsuit will probably end up in the Supreme Court of Croatia, and then the court will finally have to decide once and for all - whether this rallying cry is officially banned or not. It will be a turning point in a way for Thompson, but also for the whole country," says the historian.
The Constitutional Court of Croatia has already said once that "Za dom spremni" is an Ustasha salute and is not acceptable. However, the Council's recommendations for dealing with the past leave room for double interpretations. Thus, in practice, individuals often put those recommendations above the Constitution, and the courts in Croatia refer to the Chamber in practice. Thus, the greeting was also heard in the Croatian Parliament and was not sanctioned.
Croatia has almost elected a new president of the Constitutional Court. The election of Fran Stančić was not without controversy, since the decision was made in a truncated composition, as even five of the thirteen constitutional judges demonstratively left the session immediately after the adoption of the agenda.
Although Stančić comes from the right-wing quota, he clearly said in the pre-election interview that the Ustasha salute is unacceptable for him and that there are no double connotations in which it can be used. That is why there are indications that the Constitutional Court will still react to the violation of its decisions.
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