Croatian Singer Marko Perković Sparks Outrage With Pro-Nazi Salute At Massive Concert
In Zagreb, a concert that drew nearly half a million people has turned into a lightning rod for fresh outrage in Europe. Marko Perković, the Croatian right-wing rock star known as Thompson, is no stranger to controversy. But this weekend, he and thousands of his fans didn’t just sing nationalistic war songs — they raised their arms in a salute tied straight back to one of Croatia’s darkest chapters.
Why Is This Salute So Controversial?
It’s impossible to separate the words “For the homeland — Ready!” from Croatia’s Nazi puppet state during WWII. The Ustasha regime ran concentration camps. They murdered tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma and Croats who resisted fascism. It’s chilling history — and yet, for some Croatian nationalists, the phrase still echoes today as a warped symbol of national pride.
Perković knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s used this salute for years, brushing off the Nazi connection by saying it’s about his time fighting in Croatia’s war for independence in the 1990s. Back then, rebel Serbs, backed by Serbia, tried to break away from Croatia and rejoin Belgrade. Perković fought in that war with his Thompson machine gun — the same gun that inspired his stage name.
He’s said before that his music is a “witness of an era.” His fans see him as a keeper of Croatian pride. But plenty of people, inside Croatia and far beyond it, see something more sinister — a dangerous link back to fascist symbols Europe once promised to bury for good.
How Did Croatia And The Region React?
When video surfaced of the packed stadium, arms raised in unison, the backlash was swift. Some Croatian media outlets called the salute exactly what it is — a relic of mass murder and concentration camps. Vecernji List, a leading paper, said the concert’s massive turnout was overshadowed by its embrace of a regime that “signed off on mass executions.”
N1 TV, which covers the Balkans, pointed out that while Germany has spent decades cutting ties with anything Nazi, Croatia still struggles to reckon with its fascist ghosts. In 2025, they said, the country is “nowhere near” that clear break.
Across the border in Serbia, the anger was even sharper. President Aleksandar Vučić slammed the salute and the songs as a celebration of pro-Nazi values. Boris Tadić, Serbia’s former liberal leader, called it a “great shame for Croatia” — and for the EU too. Croatia joined the European Union in 2013. Critics say scenes like this undermine everything the EU says it stands for.
Despite Croatian laws banning the salute, courts keep ruling that Perković can use it in his lyrics. That loophole has made him untouchable at home — but not abroad. Some European cities have barred him from performing, worried that wherever he goes, the far right follows.
What Happens Next?
Police called Perković’s concert the biggest ever held in Croatia. They brought in thousands of officers. They managed the crowds. They kept order. But they didn’t stop the salute. There were no major incidents, no arrests over the Nazi gesture. Just a stadium full of people chanting words many in Europe thought they’d never hear again at this scale.
So while Marko Perković stands on stage calling his songs patriotic, the rest of Europe is left asking — what does it say when the past keeps showing up, arm in arm, with the present?
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