Arkan - a hero?

Yesterday evening I went to my favourite bar in Belgrade;  Salvador Dali. It’s a cool place with many regulars. The barlist includes together with cocktails reasonably priced rakija (brandy) like Sljivovica (plum), Kaisija (peach), Dunja (quince) and several others from different fruits. I am always welcomed as one of the local guys – maybe I am about to become one? After ordering my Sljivovica I came to mention I had visited the grave of Arkan. I felt immediately that this was a touchy topic.

With skeptical lowered eyebrows I was told that he was no hero. The things he did in Bosnia, Kroatia and Kosovo disqualified him from such a status. They stressed that if I wanted to find real heroes I had to look further back to the Second World War. The ones of you who have read the last post about Ceca already know that he was running dodgy business in Belgrade.

Zeljko Raznatovic ran away already at the age of nine taking part in petty crimes. His international career started at the age of 20, when he immigrated to Western Europe and started his career as a bankrobber. He operated in countries as Belgium, Netherlands and Sweden. Despite being a hardhead he should also have been a charming man. His love-affairs in Sweden may have witnessed about this.

In autumn 1990 he formed the Srpska dobrovoljacka garda (Serb Volunteer Guard), later known as Arkan’s Tigers. For a while they kept a tiger-cub as their mascot. This militia was mostly recruited from The Red Stars hard-line supporters of Delije Sever and may have counted as much as 10 000 members. They were first deployed in Krajina in Croatia and later in Slavonia and the siege of Vukovar. His men were also involved at places like Bijeljina, Zvornik and Brcko. And later they also should have been engaged in Kosovo.

I’ve met many Serbs which consider Arkan a great hero. After he was shot in January 2000 it’s said that nobody has seen the dead body and the myth tells a tale about him living in Moscow, fraternizing the widow of Slobodan Milosevic. That is, if the latter really are dead.  Urban myth is running hot in this part of the World…

When the former bank robber and paramilitary leader were buried, approximately 20 000 people followed him to the grave.  And from the pictures you can see for yourself how he wants, and are permitted, to be remembered. The grave is placed on the outskirt of Novo Groblje, the main cemetery in Belgrade. The reason might have been that the government wanted to avoid a cult in conneciton to his grave. The praise of Arkan can be seen as similar to the one for Milosevic; praise for a man who fought for the Serbs when they felt forced in a corner. Outer enemies unite at home.

The two guys I conversated Yesterday had a different approach. They did disapprove of the looting and murder which took place in the path of The Tigers. It’s well known that the payment for the paramilitary units was what they could carry with them from the areas they raided. Many went ravaging during the weekend. They got out of Belgrade and headed drunk to Bosnia and didn’t behave as gentlemen’s at all. I was asked if I would excuse anyone other places for behaving like this. And off course this is no proper conduct, even in war.

One of the guys recalled growing up in downtown Belgrade. When they saw the Tigers shield painted on a wall they knew who was running the business. One of his friends kept the hood of a car in his living room, tightened to the wall. It used to be attached to a wrecked car owned by none less than Arkan. Kept like a relic.

Soon after this the other guy left the place with a disgruntled look on his face. We agreed to talk about girls next time.