ZAGREB, April 25, 2018 – The Austrian Ministry of the Interior is considering adopting a law to ban Croatian Ustasha insignia and symbols at a memorial ceremony in Bleiburg, Austrian media said on Tuesday.
Thousands of Croats gather in Bleiburg field every May to pay tribute to civilians and soldiers of the defeated Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia (NDH) who surrendered there to victorious forces at the end of World War II. The Croatian parliament sponsors this ceremony, at which individuals displayed Ustasha insignia in the past.
The existing Austrian law bans only insignia and symbols relating to Austria’s national socialist past. “We are looking into legal possibilities about insignia and symbols,” Alexander Marakovits, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, told APA news agency.
Peter Kaiser, governor of the southern region of Carinthia where Bleiburg is situated, has called for the ban on displaying fascist and Nazi symbols to be extended to include symbols of the Ustasha regime.
Kaiser, a member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO), asked the chancellor and the foreign minister to intervene with the Croatian authorities. “We should get in touch with the Croatian leadership and demand a clear rejection of all fascist activities as part of the gathering in Bleiburg field,” APA quoted him as saying.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, of the Austrian People’s Party (OVP), said that the memorial ceremony in Bleiburg was “a church event” which neither he nor the governor of Carinthia could ban. He, however, stressed that the authorities would react in case of violation of the law.
The Ministry of the Interior issued a statement calling for restraint in displaying fascist symbols. “We have to distinguish between commemorating the dead and using symbols reminiscent of totalitarian regimes,” it said.
On Monday, several members of the European Parliament from the OVP, SPO and NEOS demanded stopping “right-wing radical provocations” at the memorial ceremony in Bleiburg. “Nazi symbols have no place in Austria and Europe today,” MEP Othmar Karas (OVP) said, while MEPs Angelika Mlinar (NEOS) and Josef Weidenholzer (SPO) demanded that religious gatherings should not be abused.
Austrian media say that the memorial ceremony is organised by the Croatian Bishops’ Conference and the Bleiburg Guard of Honour, while the Croatian government finances the lease of the private land where it takes place. They note that every year the ceremony is attended by representatives of the Croatian state leadership.
