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.

By Grace Gilson, 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.

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Jerry Nadler, the Jewish Democratic congressman from Manhattan, called the gesture antisemitic and said other officials should condemn it. ADL says ‘not a Nazi salute.’

By Philissa Cramer, JTA

When Elon Musk gave his own victory speech following Donald Trump’s inauguration, it was something he did — rather than something he said — which ignited the biggest reaction.

The billionaire, who was Trump’s top donor during the 2024 election, told a crowd in Washington, D.C., “This is what victory feels like.” Then he saluted those in attendance, twice, with a straight-armed salute.

“My heart goes out to you,” Musk then said. “It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured.”

To some of his supporters and fans, the salute appeared to be a gesture of his gratitude that was distorted as clips were shared on social media.

To many others, mostly among his critics but also including some on the far right, it bore an uncanny resemblance to the straight-armed, palm-down salute of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.

“For the record, the distance between Trump declaring that he was saved by God to make America great again & Musk delivering the Hitler salute was less than 4 hours,” tweeted Steve Schmidt, a former Republican operative turned critic of the party with 1.4 million followers on X, the social network Musk owns.

“My first glimpse of the inauguration is Elon Musk grabbing his chest and throwing a seig heil. Not encouraging,” tweeted Mike Rothschild, a writer whose books, including “Jewish Space Lasers,” examine antisemitic conspiracy theories on the far right.

Jerry Nadler, the Jewish Democratic congressman from Manhattan, called the gesture antisemitic and said other officials should condemn it.

“I never imagined we would see the day when what appears to be a Heil Hitler salute would be made behind the Presidential seal,” Nadler tweeted.

“This abhorrent gesture has no place in our society and belongs in the darkest chapters of human history. I urge all of my colleagues to unite in condemning this hateful gesture for what it is: antisemitism.”

Full video:pic.twitter.com/OoJHbegUq7

— Yehuda Teitelbaum (@chalavyishmael) January 20, 2025

Around the same time as Nadler’s tweet, the Anti-Defamation League, the antisemitism watchdog group, issued its own ruling: “not a Nazi salute.”

The ADL has tangled with Musk over hate speech regulation on X; the group’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, has also praised Musk’s business acumen.

“This is a delicate moment. It’s a new day and yet so many are on edge. Our politics are inflamed, and social media only adds to the anxiety. It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge,” the group tweeted .

“In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath,” the ADL added. “This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead.”

CNN stopped its broadcast of Musk’s speech for two anchors to discuss what one called an “odd-looking salute.”

The anchors did not explicitly compare Musk’s gesture to a “Heil Hitler” salute. (Trump’s legal team previously sued CNN over its on-air hosts’ comparisons of his rhetoric to that of the Nazis, seeking $475 million in a suit that a Trump-appointed federal judge later dismissed .)

But Kasie Hunt noted that Musk is a supporter of a German far-right party and made the analogy obliquely. “Yes, that salute was evocative of things that we have seen throughout history,” Hunt said.

She also signaled that she believed Musk’s supporters would understand the salute the same way she had, saying, “I think our viewers are smart and they can take a look at that but it’s not something you typically see at American political rallies.”

The Nazi salute was itself borrowed from Italian fascists, who adapted it from the ancient Romans. Musk did not immediately comment on the uproar on his account on X.

The Jewish pro-Trump pundit Batya Ungar-Sargon, who sides with Musk on speech issues but disagrees with him on the value of issuing visas to workers from abroad, said she attributed his gesture to his famous awkwardness.

“As a person with a *strong* track record of criticizing Elon Musk, I feel extremely confident asserting that this was not a Nazi salute,” she tweeted. “Elon Musk is a friend to the Jews. This is a man with Aspergers exuberantly throwing his heart to the crowd. We don’t need to invent outrage.”

Later, she posted again about Musk’s gesture with a reference to a scientific theory under which a hypothetical subject can be seen in multiple ways with equal accuracy.

“Man it’s not even 5pm on Inauguration Day and we already have a Schroedingers Nazi salute,” Ungar-Sargon wrote. “Gonna be a long four years…”

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