The Thompson Letters
Marko Perković Thompson's reservation on a spot in the news agenda in advance of his Split concert next week has only been made firmer by Efraim Zuroff, the Jerusalem director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, who intervened in the scandal again with an open letter to the singer published in last week's edition of Globus.
In the letter (English translation), Zuroff refers to the numerous responses responses he has received from Thompson's supporters, 'reasonably intelligent people who are convinced that you are neither a fascist nor an anti-Semite' and who 'claim that your sole motivation is pure and noble Croatian patriotism and love of family and the Catholic Church.' He calls on Thompson yet again to clarify his position regarding the Independent State of Croatia (NDH):
'It is precisely because your patriotic credentials are absolutely impeccable that you must be among those who clearly and unequivocally reject the legacy of the NDH and the Ustashe. This will send a clear message to Croatians of all ages that one is not betraying his or her country by condemning the atrocities committed by the NDH and that one can be the most noble patriot by building a homeland which will be a model democracy which accepts minorities and fosters tolerance among different ethnic groups.'
Maybe Zuroff's next letter will be going out to Jadranka Kolarević, the member of HRT's programming council who vigorously defended the broadcaster's decision to show the concert (one of Zuroff's causes for complaint in his original statement on the matter) at the last council meeting (to the discomfort of the council president Zdenko Ljevak):
'Zuroff is forgetting at the same time that his country's army kills Palestinians on their own land almost every day, devastates Lebanon [...] Why did he not protest when the Četniks entered Vukovar? [...] Zuroff is forgetting that the creator of the idea of camps in the NDH was Eugen Dido Kvaternik, a Jew on his mother's side, that the wife of the Poglavnik [Leader] was of Jewish origin, that of 42 NDH generals 8 of them were Jews, that the NDH's artillery commander was a Jew, that Hitler's main investigator for the Near East was a Jew, that in 1945 of the 6 officers at the talks in Bleiburg only three had pure Croatian surnames, while it has been proved for one of the other three that he was a pure Jew.'
posted by Catherine @ 9:22 pm
3 comments
3 Comments:
katastrofa!
Actually its not a bad idea for Thompson to make himself clear for once and for all. He can even let it drop and say he will never comment on the political again.
If he did this in the right way I'd give the man a break. Its not so much his (real) views or the views of some of those that go to his concerts that bother me. After all he's a nobody really. The boot boys will always be a minority.
What bothers me is that mainstream Croatia supports him (and the current perception included) wholeheartedly. If he did distance himself, I'd feel as if that patriotism he (and other Croats) like to talk about is as harmless and genuine as he / they claim.
Good that he cancelled the Bosnia concert though. I wonder if he'd ever consider playing in Serbia :)
What about the jews at a football match a few months ago which torched a Croatian flag in the stands... go torch yourselves and mind your own business if you want to complain about Thompson.
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