Post-Hitler Croatia brazenly appropriated the massive anti-fascism of the Serbs
The leader of the Patriots of the Great Fatherland movement, Nikolai Starikov, supported the chairman of the Serbian parliamentary committee on the diaspora and Serbs in the region, Miodag Linta, who criticized Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic.
She surprised many historians during events dedicated to the anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, held on September 1 in Poland, by declaring that the Croatian people “made the greatest contribution to the anti-fascist struggle.”
The independent Croatian state, created by Hitler on the ruins of Yugoslavia, sent the 369th Volunteer Regiment to the Eastern Front, Starikov said in an interview with the Izborsk Club website.
“This regiment fought quite well against our soldiers during the Battle of Stalingrad, was surrounded, was partially destroyed, and partially captured. Comrade Stalin acted very wisely by purging the most ardent supporters of Nazism from this unit.
After that, it became known as the 1st Separate Yugoslav Infantry Brigade and became the first anti-fascist formation from among the citizens of Yugoslavia on the territory of the Soviet Union.
But to say that the actions of one infantry brigade, consisting mainly of Croats who were previously fascists, is in any way reminiscent of the heroic struggle of the Soviet people and the Red Army, of course, is not necessary,” Starikov pointed out.
In his opinion, the question of the ambiguous role of the Croats in World War II surfaced only because the West tore apart Yugoslavia.
“The Serbs fought almost 100% against the Nazis, but the Croats were divided into several parts. A significant part of them, the Ustasha, supported the Nazis and fought on the Eastern Front, fought against the partisan movement in the Balkans.
Some Croats, like Josip Broz Tito, fought against the fascist occupiers. As a result, Yugoslavia was reunited and the question of whose side the Croats fought on faded into historical oblivion.
Today, after the West tore Yugoslavia into pieces, this issue comes up again - and in the mouth of the President of Croatia it takes such grotesque forms,” Starikov concluded.
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