Croatia
Croatia is a parliamentary democracy with a powerful presidency. Franjo
Tudjman, elected in 1992 for a five-year term, serves as head of state and
commander of the armed forces. His party, the Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica
(HDZ, Croatian Democratic Union), holds the majority of seats in both houses
of parliament and has ruled since independence in 1991. The enormous constitutional
powers of the presidency, the overwhelming dominance of one political party,
and the continuing concentration of power within the central government
tend to stifle the expression of diverse views.
Since the collapse of the Yugoslav federation and the onset of inter-ethnic
warfare in the early 1990s, there has been a government policy of rehabilitation
of the Independent State of Croatia. One aspect of this policy has been
the plan to convert the Jasenovac concentration camp memorial into a memorial
for "all Croatian war victims", including Ustasa member and other
military and civilian victims of the Second World War. In November 1996,
Miomir Zuzul, Croatian ambassador to the USA, claimed that this plan had
been abandoned.
The economy is slowly changing to a market-based, free enterprise system.
Agriculture is mostly in private hands. Family-owned small enterprises are
multiplying, but industry is still largely state-owned. Inflation, currently
at an annual rate of 3.5 per cent, is under control but monetary stability
has been paid for by high, and growing, unemployment.
There is no significant tradition of grassroots antisemitism in the former
Yugoslav federation. In the 1930s and during the Second World War, antisemitism,
especially of the racial variety, remained a Nazi "import" that
never became deeply rooted in the country. Under the pro-Nazi Ustasa regime
in the Independent State of Croatia many thousands of Serbs, Jews and Roma
perished in concentration camps.
In his book "Wanderings of Historical Truth", published in the
late 1980s, President Tudjman claimed, inter alia , that figures
for the number of Jews who had died in the Holocaust had been exaggerated.
He later apologized to western Jewish organizations for these remarks.
The government continued to commit, or allow, serious abuses of human
rights, in particular with regard to the treatment of ethnic Serbs from
the reclaimed areas (former sectors north, south and west), most of whom
fled to Serbia-Montenegro or Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Many cases of abuse from 1995, the victims of which were almost exclusively
ethnic Serbs, also remain unresolved. The government sought to legalize
and institutionalize the population changes resulting from its armed offensives
of 1995 rather than engage in confidence-building measures that would welcome
back Serb refugees.
While, overall, Roma continued to face societal discrimination and official
inaction when complaints were filed, some progress was made in education
and cultural awareness. In its June report to the Council of Europe, the
government noted the publication of several studies on the subject of Roma
education, and the ministry of education established a summer school for
Roma children.
The Hrvatski Oslobodilacki Pokret (HOP, Croatian Liberation Movement)
remained active on the fringe of Croatian politics. Originally founded in
Argentina in 1956 by Ante Pavelic, leader of the Ustasa movement and the
Nazi puppet Independent State of Croatia, in 1993 the party was registered
in Croatia and unsuccessfully took part in parliamentary elections in 1995.
Its current leader is Srecko Psenicnik, Pavelic's son-in-law. Psenicnik
is also the editor of "Independent State of Croatia", the party's
monthly newspaper, which was founded in Canada in 1960 and moved to Zagreb
in 1996.
On a visit to Dubrovnik during the summer, Ivo Rojnica was received by the
city's mayor. In 1941 Rojnica was the local Ustasa leader who implemented
the racial orders, aimed primarily against Jews and Serbs.
On 3 April, Dr Marko Sapunar lectured to first-year students in the journalism department of Zagreb's faculty of political sciences on the subject of Mile Budak, who signed the racial laws that were enacted immediately following the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia in April 1941. Sapunar stressed the injustice supposedly being done to that "honourable man" and called for 10 April, the day of the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia, to be made into a national holiday.
On 28 December, the thirty-seventh anniversary of the death of the Ustasa leader, Ante Pavelic, two priests, Vjekoslav Lasic and Luka Prcela, held masses for Pavelic (Lasic in Zagreb, Prcela in Luka), glorifying both the Ustasa leader and the Independent State of Croatia. The Catholic church reacted only mildly to these events.
In December the Croatian media-radio, television and newspapers-covered positively the occasion of the 190th anniversary of the foundation of the Jewish community of Zagreb. President Tudjman himself attended the gala concert held on the occasion. In a survey carried out by the daily newspaper Vjesnik , August Kovacec and Viktor Zmegac, two well-known professors at the University of Zagreb, described the anniversary as one of the most important events of Croatian life in 1996.
Antisemitism remains a marginal problem although there is continuing
concern about the rehabilitation of the wartime Independent State of Croatia
and its leadership. It is also a matter of concern that the Catholic church,
while officially displaying a favourable attitude to the Jewish population,
has taken no action against isolated priests who praise the Ustasa regime.
© JPR 1997