Croatia launches probe over sugar packets bearing Hitler likeness
Investigation begun following request by Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem.
By Amiram BarkatAuthorities in Croatia began an investigation Monday into the production and distribution of sugar packets bearing the likeness of Adolf Hitler and Holocaust jokes, following a request by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem.
"The local district attorney in [the town of] Pozega has opened an investigation and is currently looking into the matter," said Martina Mihordin, of the State Prosecutor's office.
The Novi List daily newspaper reported officials at a small factory in Pozega have confirmed the sugar packs were produced on their premises.
The newspaper noted that the packets have become very popular in local cafes and restaurants.
The incident is an embarrassment to the Croatian government, which has been keen to play down the country's past links with the Third Reich.
Croatia's Ustasha regime sided with the Nazis in World War II and enforced ethnic laws under which thousands of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies, as well as anti-fascist Croats, were killed in local concentration camps between 1941 and 1945.
The Wiesenthal Center director, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, expressed his "revulsion and disgust that such an item could be produced these days in a country in which the Holocaust not only took place, but was for the most part carried out by local Nazi collaborators."
"If nothing else, this is a disgusting expression of nostalgia for the Third Reich and a period during which Jews, Serbs and Gypsies were mass-murdered [in Croatia]," he said.
Zuroff urged Croatia to force the factory owners to recall the sugar packets immediately, in line with a law against racial, religious or ethnic hatred.
Under President Franjo Tudjman, who governed Croatia from its 1991 independence until his death, in 1999, some of the Ustasha symbols were tolerated and their crimes often dismissed in public, which strained relations with Israel.
Subsequent Croatian leaders, who set the country on the road to EU membership, apologized for the Ustasha crimes.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
Istik, you could not have have been more self-righteous. First of all, NONE of the south-slavic people fought the Turks as hard, and suffered as much in doing so as the Croats. Secondly, it was Pro-Communist/anti-fascist Croats which stared the Partizans, Serbs joined later. Before that, Serbs were ruled by Cetniks, who were AXIS. And the Serbs exterminated 95% of the Jewish population in Belgrade. And the Partizani weren't innocent, because in the Bleiburg massacre, 250,000 Croats were murdered, and countless more on the Bleiburg "Death Marches". Please, the only reason Nazism is UNIQUELY discussed in Croatia, is because Serbs needed something to point their finger at as an excuse for aggression when Croatia declared independence. Here, we are worried about Croatian "Fascists", who is the most politically liberal Country of all of the Ex-Yugo nations. At the same times, the most popular leader in Serbia (winning 30% of the vote) is Volislav Seselj, a CETNIK in HAGUE.
Why are no symbols from the Bohlshevick revolution banned or called disgusting? 30 MILLION Christians were massacred by the Bohlshevick's while Synagog's were left untouched. Most leaders of that revolution were of Jewish heritage and changed their names to hide that fact. The early Zionists began the problem that became WWII. Germany and other Baltic states were not going to let that Holocaust come to them. Even today some Baltic states want to raise statues of tribute to the SS soldiers whom they saw as saviors from the Zionist Holocaust. Why should the world not allow Islamic States when there is a Jewish State? Theocracy is Theocracy and those who live in those forms of religious governance do not live in democracies, no matter how many elections are held.
What has occured recently in Croatia simply signifies that post-World War Two generations did not learn well the lessons of their hard history (national, as well as all-European). And the roots of what has caused that war and genocide are still deep in the mentality of people living there.
vittorio, I couldn't have stated it better! Some of my X colleagues which some what sided with the likes of the BNP against Muslims, Blacks and other minorities have many friends in Croatia. The Croats (not all of course) not only slaughtered Serbs and abused Muslims in their country but also used the 2nd World War as an excuse to vent out their hatred of the foreigners within them. Funny enough it is the serbs who defended Europe from the Turks and even though lost in Kosovo in one of the greatest battles of the Crusades they have managed to stand their ground in Serbia. They Partizan serbs were and are our Allies against their tormented brothers in Croatia who seem to apreciate Facism more than Mussolini did, this in effect is the sole difference between Italian and Serb Catholism and Croat Catholism. The Italians did make the Jews 2nd class citisens but refrained from handing them over for extermination until Mussolini fell while the Croats did the job themselves!
Shmadinejad-like state cannot become memberof EU
I suggest that since the spring and summer holidays are coming, we refrain from traveling and visiting Croatia, as a friendly reminder. Oh I am sure the croatian people will understand the hint. Then when they do what people must do, we shall visit Dubrovnik and Split again. It is a really nice country.
Poland is investigating. Groatia is investing. French Jews leaving. We maybe in trouble again. No country took us before why should they do it now. There must be an Israel.