Byzantine Blog

Since the world decided to mark 150th anniversary of “the greatest inventor since Leonardo da Vinci,” Nikola Tesla, the government of present-day Croatia thought it might be a good idea to quickly rebuild the destroyed house he was born in, the Serbian church Tesla's father was serving in, Tesla's monument and the rest of village Smiljan, where Nikola Tesla spent his early childhood.

Tesla's village, along with the entire region of Serbian Krajina in present-day Croatia was destroyed by Croat Ustashas during the latest pogrom of Serbs, in the nineties, in the operations “Storm” and “Lightning.” This was the second time Tesla's family members, neighbors and villagers have found themselves under ferocious attack by Croat Ustashas.

Before that, in 1941, 530 residents of Tesla's village, all of them Serbs, were slaughtered and the entire village razed to the ground. The bitter reminder of the atrocity still reverberates with survivors of Croatian latest pogrom, in 1992, when up to 500,000 Serbs were ethnically cleansed from Croatia. The exiled government of Serbian Krajina issued a statement on the occasion of celebration of 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, reminding the public of the monstrous history of the region, with inevitable conclusion: “If Tesla happened to be in his village at the time, no force would have saved his life either.”

Ironically, some 300 of the Serbian villages in Krajina (Croatia), including the village of the man who lit up the world with electrical power, were left without electricity for months before the anniversary celebration. Upon realizing the world's eye might turn to Smiljan on the occasion of marking the great inventor's birthday and hoping Tesla's village could become another tourist attraction, Croats quickly rebuilt Tesla's family house, church and around twenty surrounding houses which were blown up with explosives in the latest of Croatia's fascist incarnations. They even asphalted the Smiljan road leading to Tesla's house in the record 50 days and sprinkled the whole idyllic scene, hiding the ugly face of Croatian hatred and bigotry, with men and women wondering about in pristine national costumes.

Once the stage was set and cameras rolling, it was time for the grand speeches, glorifying Serbian genius and his inventions while insisting on Tesla's “Croat citizenship.” The only problem is that Croatia didn't exist at the time of Tesla's birth as a separate entity -- Nikola Tesla was actually a Serbian with Austrian and, later on, US citizenship. Regardless, Croatian president Stipe Mesic must be credited for public admission of the fact Tesla's house was blown up and his monument destroyed by the Croat forces in the nineties. He failed to mention all the Serbs from the area were either killed or forced to leave (again), or that Croat operation “Storm” represents the single biggest act of ethnic cleansing in Europe since World War II, but some degree of honesty must be better than none.

Croatia's Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, the same man who, few years back declared Croats are “proud of the operation 'Storm',” is now rushing to announce they are “proud Serbia and Croatia are sharing this celebration.” For a country that really doesn't have much to be proud of, Croatia certainly seems to be bursting with pride.

The lovely and wonderfully touching speeches that emphasized Tesla's power to unite Serbian and Croat nation make one wonder why can't we all just love one another. But as long as Croatia is standing in line to sue Serbia for “genocide” (?!), after committing not one, but two overwhelmingly documented genocides of Serbs in 50 years without ever facing justice for either, and as long as it refuses to allow over 200,000 Serbian refugees it cleansed in the 90's to return to their homes (even if blown up), the mere fact Tesla existed and some Croats appreciate him too (although outside of their country, since Tesla, after all, was a Serb), can't even begin to heal anything.