Today, thousands protested in Sarajevo against an event mourning the deaths of the leaders of the Croatian WWII Nazi puppet state.
Sarajevo once again proved to be the beating heart of resistance in Bosnia and the wider Balkan region (🧵below) rs.n1info.com/English/NEWS/a…
Sarajevo once again proved to be the beating heart of resistance in Bosnia and the wider Balkan region (🧵below) rs.n1info.com/English/NEWS/a…
Background: The Nazis set up one of the most sophisticated satellite states through Ante Pavelic and the Croatian Ustasha party. When the Yugoslav partisans won WWII, the Ustasha, their armed forces, and affiliated civilians wanted to evade reprisals from the victorious Partisans
Their plan was to surrender to the British Army in Austria (even though the British had largely collaborated with the Partisans), banking on anti-communist sentiments in the West and offering to help them unseat the Yugoslav communists in the future.
Churchill was initially willing to accept their surrender. When thousands appeared on the border, it was clear that it would be impossible. The handed them over to the Partisans. The exact number of those killed is a highly politicized issue, and ranges from 20,000 to 250,000.
As in other parts of Europe, the issue of locals/civilians collaborating with Nazis remains a sensitive topic. While many willingly assisted the pro-Nazi regimes in their countries, many others were either left with no other option or coerced into it. Did they deserve to die?
But the event organized by the Church today was not *only* about the innocent civilians. I have personally been to the annual mass supported by the same Church leaders in honor of Ante Pavelic, the Croatian fascist dictator, in Zagreb.
After the fall of Yugoslavia, those who felt the Croatian national identity was subdued by the communist regime honored the Nazi period as a time of "true Croatian patriotism." During the war in the 1990s, some soldiers and commanders adopted the symbols of the Nazi puppet state.
The Croatian Nazi puppet state was much bigger than today's Croatia. It swallowed most of Bosnia and stretched all the way to Belgrade/Zemun in modern Serbia. The local populations still talk about how they were terrorized, particularly in Jasenovac, a brutal concentration camp.
I happened to have written an op-ed on the phenomenon of turning Nazis into heroes in other parts of Europe, 75 years after the end of WWII (shameless plug, I know, but it saves me from adding another 10 tweets to this thread) haaretz.com/world-news/.pr…
A part of the leadership in Croatia today, a significant part of its Church, a part of its veterans, and a part of its population think that the Nazi puppet state was OK. They're the ones who supported today's mass. This revisionist form of Croatian patriotism is also relevant...
... to current debates re Bosnia. The abovementioned groups 1) think parts of Bosnia, if not all of it, belong to Croatia 2) claim Bosnia is a state led by "jihadists" since it has a significant Muslim population 3) actively try to subvert the existence of a multiethnic Bosnia.
Back to my initial tweet: A cult WWII movie, called "Walter Defends Sarajevo," depicts the local resistance to the Nazi occupation. The Nazis are told about a mysterious "Walter" who is behind these groups. At the end of the movie, the Nazis find out that Walter is a metaphor...
... for Sarajevo. The city is the resistance, and just like during WWII, or during the brutal 4-year siege during the war in the 1990s, and today, Sarajevans won't let their city be co-opted by those who wish it ill. That's what today was about.
