ARBUTINA: IF THIS TREND CONTINUES, CROATIA WILL BE LEFT WITHOUT A SINGLE ANTI-FASCIST MONUMENT

BELGRADE, AUGUST 21 /SRNA/ - The decision to relocate a monument to Partisans and victims of fascist terror from the school grounds in Privlaka near Zadar is a continuation of a policy that has been pursued in Croatia since 1991, so the country could eventually be left without a single anti-fascist monument, Bojan Arbutina, director of the Museum of Genocide Victims in Belgrade, said.

Commenting on the decision by the Privlaka municipal authorities and school board to move the memorial plaque and monument dedicated to anti-fascists to a cemetery, over, as they explained, "equipping the school grounds with facilities appropriate for children", Arbutina told SRNA that the move was another example of the systematic removal of anti-fascist monuments in Croatia.

"This is a continuation of Croatia's policy of remembrance from 1991 to the present day. If this trend continues, Croatia will in the near future be left without a single anti-fascist monument. To make the paradox even greater, one of the constitutional foundations of Croatia is its commitment to anti-fascism and its legacy," Arbutina said.

He pointed out that, for precisely this reason, the systematic removal of anti-fascist monuments represents a serious problem, primarily in political, social and cultural terms.

"Given that Croatia's public space is becoming increasingly tolerant of Ustasha symbols, the problem is taking on new dimensions," Arbutina said.

He assessed that ideological battles are clearly being fought in Croatia over which narrative will dominate the public space, adding that the case of the monument in Privlaka provides further confirmation of this.

Arbutina stressed that, in addition to that monument, several other anti-fascist memorials across Croatia have been damaged or destroyed this year.

He recalled that in Budići near Pakrac, a memorial plaque dedicated to the formation of the 12th Slavonian Proletarian Shock Brigade was stolen from a monument and the five-pointed star was removed, while in Crljenci near Požega, a marble plaque bearing the names of victims of the Ustasha genocide was taken away.

"In Gornji Grahovljani, a red metal star was removed, while in Sloboština near Požega, a memorial plaque at the site of the genocidal crime of August 1942 was vandalised again this year. At that time, 1,368 members of the Serb people members were killed," Arbutina said.

He added that at Slana Cove on the island of Pag, a memorial plaque dedicated to the victims of the Ustasha death camps at Slana and Metajna was vandalised for the fourth time at the beginning of this month.

"According to the documentation of Alliance of Anti-Fascist Fighters and Anti-Fascists of the Republic of Croatia, 2,964 anti-fascist monuments were destroyed, damaged or removed between 1990 and 2000 alone. If we add the period from 2000 to the present, the number is certainly higher," Arbutina pointed out.

He said that the monument in Privlaka, which was removed from the school grounds, is dedicated to local residents who were killed during the Second World War.

Arbutina explained that the monument commemorates a total of 48 Privlaka residents, 41 of whom were killed or died while serving in the National Liberation War /NOB/, adding that all of them were Croats and that the average age of the fallen soldiers was 23.

"Today, more than 80 years after the end of the Second World War, someone in Croatia wants to erase the achievements of their ancestors who gave their lives fighting against the occupiers and the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/, as well as to bring the defeated movement, the genocidal state and ideology, and their leaders back into the public space," Arbutina said.