Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Za dom spremni

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Za dom spremni

Za dom spremni! (lit. "For home (land) - ready!") was a salute used during World War II by the Ustaše movement. It was the Ustaše equivalent of the fascist or Nazi salute "Sieg heil".

Contents

Usage during World War II

During World War II, the salute was used by the Ustaše as their official salute. On 10 April 1941 Slavko Kvaternik, commander-in-chief of the Croatian Armed Forces and deputy of Poglavnik Ante Pavelić, proclaimed the establishment of NDH on Radio Zagreb, and ended the statement with Bog i Hrvati! Za dom spremni!.

During this time salute was used in various ways, for example as "Za poglavnika i za dom spremni!" (For Poglavnik and homeland ready) and in form of a question and answer: "Za dom?! - Spremni", "Za koga?! - Za poglavnika" ("For homeland?! - Ready!", "For whom?! For Poglavnik!"). There was also usage of Za Boga i poglavnika svoga - Uvijek spremni! ("For God and Our Poglavnik - Always Ready!") on various flags of NDH.

Usage after breakup of Yugoslavia

The salute was used in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Croatian War of Independence and Bosnian War. Croatian Defence Forces, the paramilitary arm of the right-wing Croatian Party of Rights, used it as their official salute and included it in their logo. This salute was an official slogan of the party's branch in Bosnia, Croatian Party of Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina, until April 2012, when it was replaced by Semper fidelis.

Croatian singer Thompson used that salute at the beginning of his wartime song Bojna Čavoglave and in the song Golubovi bijeli. In the song Srce vatreno by Nered and Zapresic Boys the salute was also used in the middle of the song, but was later replaced with U boj.

In 2011, a court in Knin dismissed the case against a craftsman who sold souvenirs which contained the salute Za dom spremni. The court ruled that accused didn't wear clothing or souvenirs with slogan that encourage national, racial or religious hatred, but instead he was selling them. While the former is punishable by law, the latter is not. The court ruling cited that "Za dom spremni is an old Croatian salute known throughout history" as a part of the defense statement, however, it didn't state any opinion on that subject.

In 2013, Croatian international football player Josip Šimunić led the chant four times with the crowd in Zagreb after Croatia beat Iceland to qualify for the 2014 World Cup finals. He was subsequently banned for ten matches and fined by FIFA, which barred him from participating in the 2014 World Cup finals. Simunic denied supporting "any form of intolerance or bigotry."

Historian Hrvoje Klasić from the Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences stated that "Za dom spremni" as a phrase has not been documented in any historical document prior to the 1940 formation of the so-called Independent State of Croatia. Klasić also claims that that "U boj u boj za narod svoj" is a line from the song written by the Serbian writer Jovan Jovanović Zmaj.

Za dom

The words Za dom ("For home" or "For homeland") were used in the 19th century by count Josip Jelačić. When he went into battle, he would say "For home!" and the army would reply "ready to die!".

The words Za dom were also used in Pavao Ritter Vitezović's 1684 work Odiljenje sigetsko about the Siege of Szigetvár, in the opera Nikola Šubić Zrinjski composed by Ivan Zajc in 1876, and several songs published in the mid-19th century issues of the Danica, the literary magazine published with the early Narodne novine.

The phrase Za dom was documented as a salute in a 1939 issue of a Varaždin weekly Hrvatsko jedinstvo.

References

Za dom spremni Wikipedia