Right-wing MP posts message on VE Day, draws widespread condemnation

The end of World War II is celebrated in Europe as the Victory in Europe Day, or VE Day, marking Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender to the Allies on May 8, 1945.

May 8 is also celebrated in Croatia as the day when the capital Zagreb was liberated, when the anti-fascist largely communist Partisan forces entered the city, which was until then the capital of the Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a puppet state led by the Croatian Ustasha regime. In her post, Esih described the anniversary as “the fall of Zagreb.”

“Today, on May 8, is the anniversary of Yugoslav Army’s advance into the deserted city of Zagreb. The event was symbolised by bloodshed and plunder, and the Yugoslav occupation of Croatia was also marked by the taking down of Croatian flag and hoisting of the Yugoslav flag; the ban on the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the restoration of the Yugoslav Academy, abolition of Croatian language studies, instead of which a ‘national language’ was studied at the (Zagreb) university. The Society of Writers of Croatia replaced the Croatian Writers' Society, while the radio played songs about Tito and Stalin instead of the Croatian national anthem,” Esih wrote on her Facebook account.

Her post resulted in a barrage of criticism from other MPs, with the liberal Croatian People Party (HNS), a junior partner in the ruling coalition, calling Esih’s words “disgraceful.”

"It is inconceivable that in 2019 someone is promoting Ustashism, and we in the HNS, as a liberal party advocating an open and tolerant society, condemn this in the strongest of terms," party spokesman Maro Alavanja said. "It is especially scandalous that she is running for the European Parliament, where, I assume, she would promote fascism? That's extremely disgraceful."

MP Arsen Bauk of the largest opposition party, the Social Democrats, said President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic should take a position on Esih's post because Esih had once served as her special envoy, and also called on the leader of the ruling centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, to condemn Esih, since Esih had originally entered parliament on HDZ's slate.

MP Bauk added that some 18,000 Zagreb residents were killed during the WWII Nazi-allied occupation of the city, that 26,000 Zagrebians were killed during the entire war, including 8,000 Jews, and that some 50,000 residents of Zagreb are known to have joined the anti-fascist resistance.

Esih first rose to prominence when President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who had won a closely contested election in late 2014 in a campaign sponsored by major centre-right party HDZ, appointed Esih to be her "special envoy" at the annual Bleiburg commemoration, held every year at the Austrian border village in May 2015.

A professional historian who devoted her career researching Bleiburg and the infamous post-war massacres of Ustasha-supporting soldiers and civilians which started there, Esih has since become a far-right firebrand. She got elected to Parliament in September 2016 on the party slate of HDZ at a time when then leader of the party, Tomislav Karamarko, sought to align the party with a number of fringe right-wing and ultra-conservative groups.

Her party today has two MPs in the 151-seat Parliament.

Marking the 74th anniversary of the liberation of Zagreb, a delegation of the Alliance of Associations of Anti-fascist Fighters and Anti-fascists of Croatia (SABA RH) paid their respects and laid wreaths on the Zagreb Mirogoj cemetery at the central memorial dedicated to anti-fascist Partisan fighters.

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