by Viktor IVANCIC
My father was a meek person, he had a warm smile; he was a man of good will, always. He gave a Christian-Catholic character to our life; every Sunday a mass was served for the family, while daddy frequently ministered by the altar as well...(Mirjana Seka Psenicnik, daughter of Ante Pavelic [Ustashe leader in WWII; Ustashe were Croatian fascists who collaborated with the Nazis in WWII], in Novi List, June 1992).
Personally, I have nothing against maudlin babbling of Mrs. Seka Psenicnik, her poking through her childhood ("an Ustashe woman since birth") and tumultuous youth, even when she with nostalgia concludes that her father "was definitely not a war criminal", but was actually "framed by the Communists", while daddy was actually a "humane and liberal person". Mrs. Mirjana's fangs become relevant in somewhat wider (and longer) sense only when she displays her inherited "warm smile" outside the stuffy atmosphere of her salon. "In NDH no one was executed for being a Jew, Serb or a Gypsy, but exclusively for being an enemy of the Croat state," the good daughter says, failing to express any moral or any other sort of doubt in the patriotic-hygienic habits of her loved ones: "Simply, we should not have negotiated with them; you cannot talk to them; there's evidence of that today; simply, we had to kill them all. That is why the concentration camp Jasenovac was established, and terrorists and enemies of our state were held there... I think that daddy was successful... If it weren't for daddy and the NDH [Ustashe ruled Croat puppet state in WWII], we would not have Croatia today."
Today, therefore regardless of Mrs. Psenicnik, daddy, other relatives, and numerous friends and fans, we do have Croatia. As a side dish, we also have definite "enemies of the Croat state", who do not even have to be "Jews, Serbs, or Gypsies". Of course, it does not hurt if they indeed are just that - Jews, Serbs or Gypsies - so that we can easier understand the nature and cause of their enmity, and at the same time focus on (usually) the only evidence of their anti-state activities. Recently, the former have especially been in demand.
A whole series of unequivocal anti-Semitic messages, with emphasis on the Jewish origin of the perpetrators of "political crimes" and their participation in the global Jewish conspiracy, which has recently spread over the pages of newspapers in Croatia, isn't so unusual in itself. However, the silence with which these outbursts have been greeted is indeed worthy of our attention. The echo of that silence already warns that this is a habitual act, as when we instinctively hold our nose in presence of a too strong a stink, and reveals something totally different from ordinary insensitivity or apathy. That silence is more terrifying and destructive than the matching songs of professional nationalists. Namely, can we in advance know that it is possible to take shelter from reality and avoid harm, "give up futile work", and dedicate oneself to, for example, music and mysticism, and be totally sure that we won't be (again) somewhere ambushed by "superb piano playing" or butchers God fearing ministration at the altar?
The series was initiated by the bard of Croatian journalistic converts, Josip Jovic, offering in Danas the briefest and most rigid comment on the meeting of Croat and Serb intellectuals at Mimara Museum: "The fact that Belgrade and Zagreb Jews talk about Serb-Croat 'brotherhood and unity' really makes no sense!". The author does not specify who these Jews at Mimara's were, but an overwhelming majority at the meeting, whether someone likes it or not, consisted or "pure blooded" Croats and Serbs. There is no doubt of that. Therefore, Jovic has a very simple message. Jews have no business mixing with Croats and Serbs, even with Croat and Serb traitors. Or, even simpler - if the Croat participants at the meeting are enemies of their own homeland - and Jovic very clearly suggests that they are - then their enmity is much more acceptable, and even much easier explained, if they become "Jews from Zagreb". Jovic's logical construction puts a sign of equality between Jews and traitors, which finishes the job; wet palms can be rubbed together and every additional discussion "really makes no sense".
Srecko Jurdana, one of the creators of Croatian political paranoia and professional discoverer of international conspiracies, went a step further. In Slobodna Dalmacija, he established that "it is ludicrous" to refer to the organizer of the abovementioned meeting "as a Croat", also because he "systematically attacked the Croat state and Croat people for 'rebirth of fascism', from the point of view of uncontrollably radical Judaism, thereby sticking a knife in the back of his alleged homeland". The "point of view of uncontrollably radical Judaism" makes sense because the mentioned traitor "has at his disposal significant funds from abroad provided by the Jewish banking lobby". Jurdana had a chance to confirm that this was true when some ten months ago, in Washington, D.C., he made inquiries regarding the possibility of "getting funding for an independent patriotic publication" from the Fund for Assistance in Development of Democracy and Freedom of Press in Countries Freeing Themselves of Totalitarianism. He did not get the sought assistance only because, naturally, the head of the mentioned Fund was - a Jew. Jurdana, however, does not explain, why he sought help from "funds controlled by Jewish banking lobby", which otherwise stimulates "uncontrollable radical Judaism" and thereby encourages sticking of a knife in the soft back of Croatia.
Attacking the head of the Jewish community in Zagreb, who shocked the sensitive Croat public by saying that Ivan Mestrovic was an American citizen, certain Frane Glavina from the Croatian State Archives, on the other hand, refers (again in Danas) to the Association of Yugoslav Emigrants as "a center of greater Serbian propaganda in the Jewish world," because "in Zagreb, Dr. Matic frequently leaves the impression that he is only an instrument of that center". That "impression" also comes from the fact that "Mr. Matic was raised in the atmosphere of rigid Serb Orthodox Christianity, rather than that of the Jewish Talmud." Glavina, naturally, has a concrete proposal for the final solution. "If Jews in Israel and Jews in Croatia want to bring the two countries and two peoples closer then, for starters, they should change the atmosphere in their community and appoint people who would act in that spirit." What spirit? "Perhaps, that would be someone's moral obligation to lay a wreath at an anniversary of Cardinal Stepnac's death on his grave!" And who needs that? "Stepinac does not need that, but we, the living, do..."
Former state prosecutor Zeljko Olujic, the man who has trouble with speech because he almost always froths at the mouth, on the other hand, executed Danijel Ivin in Slobodna Dalmacija. Danijel Ivin is "a gentleman who spent tens of years working for Israel, and now is terribly concerned because of the renaming of Victims of Fascism Square." What is Olujic talking about? "There was no fascism in Zagreb. We had Ustashe. They had a very strict nationalist regime. Most of them hated fascists [Italian fascists] because they were forced to cede to them big parts of Croatia. And most of Ustashe were from Dalmacija, Lika and other ceded territories,". The conclusion: "There could be no victims of fascism in Zagreb."(!)
Later in his rabid stupidarium Olujic delivers a harsh rebuke to the Jews, because "we do not owe anything to the Jews, least of all because we are fascists" and "because the so-called Holocaust is not the beginning of the world". This mention of the so-called Holocaust is especially impressive given that, according to the theory proposed by the former prosecutor - "the real origin of the Holocaust is that they (Jews) simply drove some nations crazy with their theft and insults, so that they finally got men like Hitler and Mussolini". A message of those who, as Jews, had the gall to discuss the former Victims of Fascism Square is very clear: "Today Croatia does not feel guilty, and Mr. Ivin could prompt an increase in anti-Semitism with his activities and thereby endanger his co-nationals. Fortunately, given the current frame of mind of Croats, this would not happen soon, but there is still a great danger for the conscience of Mr. Ivin."
And that is the secret of this new wave of malignant media anti-Semitism. If we poke a bit inside Olujic's logical construct - he reacts to the protest by citizen Ivin because of the renaming of the Victims of Fascism Square by emphasizing his heritage, suggesting that Ivin holds such opinions only because he is a Jew, because if he weren't a Jew it wouldn't occur to him to talk about fascism among Croats (there has never been any and there isn't any now) - and then implies that, protesting like a citizen, while he is actually a Jew (and he even spent ten years working for Israel!), he will prompt anti-Semitism and "endanger fellow Jews". The historical analogy is easy to spot - Jews "drove some nations crazy", so that in return they got guys like Hitler and Mussolini (at that time Pavelic merely ministered at the altar), and therefore are actually to be blamed for their own extermination. Tomorrow, if Jews in Croatia end up having any problems, they will be responsible for them, because they did not keep their mouth shut when they were supposed to, i.e. always. To protest as a citizen, to appropriate the right of citizenship, immediately implies acceptance of responsibility for "strengthening of anti-Semitism in Croatia". Briefly, Jew Daniel Ivin is directly responsibly for Olujic's fascist hysteria!
The same circuitous logic, which is merely expressed by the former prosecutor (definitely the basest of all hunters of unsuitable Jews on duty), is actually inherent in every similar outburst. There is obvious danger of reacting to such messages, because the object of criticism would only additionally "drive the people crazy" and will be blamed for pointing at a confused Croat complex (even though present, or even future is at issue), the complex from which Croats are forced to liberate themselves over and over again, and then various Olujics, Glavinas, Jurdanas and Jovics will surface on the wave of that forced historical frustration to leave tar spots on the gravel. However, they are not the only ones troubled by that frustration, because the same circular logic immediately clears them of any responsibility for their statements and actions. They are innocent children of xenophobia, by definition acquitted of guilt when they attach yellow armbands on others with their newspaper articles.
In the spring of 1990, immediately before the first multiparty elections, the public in this country was shaken by an interview with Ivo Omrcanin published in Slobodni tjednik, the incident which was at the time condemned as the "worst anti-Semitic outburst in Yugoslavia after WWII". The former Pavelic's official said all sorts of things about Jews. That they were responsible for the slaughter of Serbs and the destruction of the Serb Orthodox Church in Glina; that they were responsible for the tragedy in Kerestinec [prison]; that as early as in 1919 they tried to set up a Bolshevik republic in Zagreb; that they organized the arrest and trial of Andrija Artukovic; that the Jewish organization B'nai B'rith actually controls the whole world; that the then president of the Jewish community in Zagreb was a hireling of the American Zionist circles... The journalist who conducted that interview with Omrcanin later, in another publication, apologized to the public and solemnly announced that he was quitting journalism forever. Today, he is one of more prominent authors writing for Danas, the magazine that, together with Slobodna Dalmacija does not fail to point out some of the aspects of the international Zionist conspiracy against Croatia in its every issue, especially in connection with the secretive gentlemen of "Jewish-banking provenance", George Soros, to the extent that even the users of his humanitarian assistance have become willing pawns of "the Zionist international," which has always worked against Croatia, of course...
Anti-Semitic attacks, even in newspapers, are not terribly surprising. They are neither specific for Croatia, nor can automatically be used as evidence that Croatia has openly embraced fascism. However, the shocking aspect of this series of anti-Semitic articles and statements is the lack of any reaction to them. Intellectual stumps of Olujic's type are to be found (as zits) in all European democracies, but it is difficult to imagine the situation in which no one would respond to their attacks, even given the danger that puss from the wounds may explode and besmirch our own reflection in the mirror. Croatian silence indicates that we are at the point where we are prepared to simply accept everything. However, does it pay off to calculate with the threshold of a collective (in)sensitivity, when we, in this region, should have learned better than anyone the lesson that every spoken and written word creates atmosphere for action?
Therefore, this is simply hygiene of public life and later - when the words boil down to their content, and that always unavoidably happens - about the hygiene of life itself. Especially when that life to a large extent depends on the politicians who have delivered all their positive value statements as declarations devoid of all content. Namely, Olujics, Jurdanas, or Jovics, did not name kindergartens after Mile Budak, remove memorials to victims of fascism, pulled martens [kuna, Croatian currency] from their wild past, or tried to convert Jasenovac into a circus. They, just like racists for hire, will always sing loudly, but only once they are convinced that the innkeeper does not object.