Nazi-sympathizing Croatian singer Thompson sells 500,000 tickets for July concert

A Croatian singer known for pro-Nazi sympathies has sold more than 500,000 tickets for an outdoor concert in July, the platform selling tickets says.

Folk-rock icon Marko Perkovic, known by his stage name Thompson, has previously been banned from giving concerts in several European countries because of his sympathies with Croatia’s World War II pro-Nazi Ustasha regime.

“On Saturday, July 5, over half a million people at the (Zagreb) hippodrome will enjoy a spectacle” by Thompson, the Entrio ticket platform says on Facebook.

It says tickets for the event, to be held in the country’s capital of 3.8 million people, were sold out a week after going on sale.

Ustasha symbols are often displayed at Thompson concerts and some fans use the Nazi salute to accompany one of his most popular songs.

But the 58-year-old singer, who became popular during Croatia’s war of independence in the 1990s because of his patriotic songs, insists there is “nothing controversial” about the song.

Croatia’s pro-Nazi past has become less taboo in the country in recent years, and critics accuse authorities of failing to sanction the use of Ustasha symbols.

The Ustasha persecuted and killed hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, anti-fascist Croatians, Roma and others in concentration camps during World War II.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish human rights group, has accused Thompson of glorifying genocide in his lyrics and said the display of Ustasha insignia at his concerts was “neither a coincidence nor a mistake.”