Armada mural in Rijeka: Jasenovac song played at opening

At the opening of a mural by the supporters’ group Armada in Rijeka’s Vezica district, the song “Jasenovac i Gradiska Stara” was played. It celebrates Ustasha crimes against Serbs and salutes the leader of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), Ante Pavelic. The lyrics speak of killing Serbs, so the news from Kvarner matters in Serbia too, and the question of whether Croatian police will react has so far gone unanswered.

What happened in Vezica?

The mural was unveiled on Saturday, October 17, in Kvaternik Street. A crowd gathered, and the unveiling was accompanied by flares, smoke canisters, music and light effects. The author is the Rijeka artist Vito Trkulja, and the wall shows a double-headed eagle, the Croatian coat of arms and the emblems of HNK Rijeka.

Rijeka’s daily Novi list presented the event as a celebration of Rijeka’s identity and of love for the city and the football club, and its report does not mention the song. It can be heard on a video of the opening published by the Croatian portal Index, which shows a group of people gathered in front of the new mural. It is not known who played the song, or whether Armada has made a statement.

What does the song “Jasenovac i Gradiska Stara” say?

The lyrics glorify crimes against Serbs, name the Ustasha commanders Maks Luburic and Jure Francetic, and salute Ante Pavelic. The opening lines link Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska, camps where tens of thousands of people were killed, with Luburic. The song goes on to sing of killing Serbs and throwing their bodies into the Neretva, calls for the return of the Black Legion, and celebrates members and leaders of the Ustasha movement.

What did Thompson say about this song?

In late 2003, Index published an audio recording of the song performed by the singer Marko Perkovic Thompson. He first claimed he did not remember performing the disputed song and suggested the recording might have been doctored. In early January 2004, he admitted on his official website: “I am not the author of those songs, but I sang them,” adding that he had performed them on Croatian squares and in halls.

In February 2004, Thompson was questioned in an informative interview by Zagreb police, to establish possible elements of a criminal offense. In 2020, in an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he said he had not recorded the song, and said of its content: “That song is a hoax and, in its content, completely contrary to my worldview and the ideology I belong to.”

Will police react?

Index sent the Primorje-Gorski Kotar Police Administration an inquiry about the event and about possible police action over the public playing of a song that glorifies the crimes of the Ustasha regime. No reply had been published by the time of its report.

RTRS linked the story in its headline to the scandal in Split, which we covered on October 19: “Split: Lekic Surrenders, 23 Suspected Over Nazi Chants.” Whether there will be any action in Rijeka depends on the police administration’s reply, which is not known at the time of writing.