Croatian right-wing singer performs pro-Nazi salute with hundreds of thousands of fans

Fans of Croatian nationalist singer Marko Perkovic Thompson gather at the Zagreb hippodrome during a concert by the singer, who is known for his sympathies for the country’s World War II Nazi-allied regime, to an expected by a crowd of some 450,000 people, in Zagreb, on July 5, 2025. (DAMIR SENCAR / AFP)

(JTA) — The Croatian singer Marko Perkovic, who is known for his far-right sympathies, led nearly half a million concertgoers in a pro-Nazi salute in Zagreb on Saturday night.

During the concert — billed as the largest in Croatia’s history — Perkovic played one of his most popular songs which begins with the pro-Nazi “For the homeland — Ready!” salute.

The salute is a remnant of the Ustaše regime, the Nazi puppet government formally known as the Independent State of Croatia. The brutal regime housed dozens of concentration camps during World War II and was responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews and Roma, as well as Croatians who opposed their rule.

In recent decades, Croatian nationalists have adopted the symbols of the Ustaše regime to promote their vision of Croatian ethnic identity. The symbols have become increasingly mainstream despite efforts by Croatian Jews to press for increased penalties for such displays.

In what some in Croatia interpreted as a lack of concern about promoting Ustaše sympathizers, Croatia’s prime minister, Andrej Plenković, attended Thompson’s rehearsal with his family.

While making the Ustaše salute is a misdemeanor in Croatia, courts have ruled that Perkovic — who performs under the name Thompson — can use it as part of his act. Perkovic has said both the song and the salute channel sentiments about the ethnic war against Serbia in the 1990s, after Croatia declared its independence from the former Yugoslavia.

As Perkovic came onto the stage, the singer told the crowd that “with this concert we will show our unity,” according to Euro News. He continued, “I want to send a message to all of Europe to return to its tradition, to its Christian roots.”

Croatian authorities said they could prosecute some in attendance for their displays. A Croatian handball star was dropped from his team after attending the concert, the Croatian state television station HRT reported.

The concert drew criticism from some Croatian officials, including former Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, who accused the authorities and media of indulging the right-wing singer.

“Not only are the state and the city serving one man but the television stations are as well,” Kosor wrote on X. “There’s palpable excitement while in the centre of Zagreb, fans are already singing songs from the time of the criminal state. The media are not reporting on this.”

Croatian Ombudsperson Tena Simonovic Einwalter also condemned authorities for failing to publicly denounce the incidents, according to Balkan Insight.

“This indicates that, over the years, and even before this concert, a sufficiently clear message has not been sent that all expressions of hatred and glorification of the darkest periods of the past are unacceptable and illegal,” Simonovic Einwalter said.

And former Serbian liberal leader Boris Tadić also decried the concert in a post on X, saying that it was a “great shame for Croatia.”

“Thompson’s concert tonight in Zagreb is a great shame for Croatia, but also for the European Union. It is eerie that today in the 21st century concerts are being organized on the soil of Europe that glorify the Quisling fascist hordes and the killing of members of one nation – in this case Serbian,” the post read.

“It is especially devastating to see how many young people came to the concert of the man who greets the audience with the Ustasha salute and how many of them follow the black shirt iconography of the Ustasha movement from World War II,” the post continued.

During World War II, some 80% of Croatian Jews were murdered, one of the highest percentages of any country in Europe.