Member of the European Parliament and President of the SD party, Tanja Fajon, is obviously also making waves in Croatia with the story of the Moskovič’s villa. This is, of course, not surprising, as the European Jewish Association recently called on the party to return the said villa to its original owners, but Fajon refers to the legislation that was in force at the tame and the related legal documents as the reason why they will not return it. “The leftist whose party demanded a ban on Thompson’s concert is sitting in a villa they stole from the Jews!” the Croatian journalist Velimir Bujanec criticised Fajon.
Journalist Velimir Bujanec further stated that the editorial office received a letter from the European Jewish Association, addressed to the president of the Social Democrats (SD), Tanja Fajon. The reason why the Jewish Association wrote to her is the villa, located on Levstikova 15, where the SD party is based. “This is a villa which was taken away from the prominent Jewish family Moskovič. The owner of the villa, Felix Moskovič, was sent to the infamous Auschwitz camp by the Nazis in 1943, and unfortunately, he never returned.”
According to the Croatian journalist, the document, signed by Rabbi and chairman of the Association, Menachem Margolin, shows that the villa was taken away in controversial circumstances and then nationalised in order to house the high-ranking officials of the former communist regime in Tito’s Yugoslavia. The European Jewish Association is demanding the return of the confiscated villa and is calling on the party to redress the historical injustices against the Moskovič family, victims of the Holocaust, as well as millions of other Jews.
They banned Thompson, but they sit in a stolen villa. Bujanec pointed out that the biggest paradox of the whole situation is the hypocrisy of MEP and president of the Social Democrats, Tanja Fajon, who was one of the main opponents of the Croatian musician Marko Perković Thompson, which meant that he was unable to perform at a concert in Maribor. “They advocated for this, even though it is clear that this is a party which has its headquarters in a villa that was taken away from the Jews who were killed in a Nazi concentration camp,” he was critical.
The journalist Bujanec further stated that the Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša is striving to correct the historical injustices committed against the Jews and opposes all totalitarian regimes. “At the time, Janša, as the leader of the opposition, emphasised that Thompson has every right to organise a concert in Maribor, which put him at the centre of the SD party’s attacks. Slovenian President Borut Pahor also comes from the ranks of Tanja Fajon’s SD party, and he has excellent relations with many Croatian politicians, including some who support Thompson, but they have done nothing to protect his right to work abroad.”
As is well known, the Jewish community emphasises that it is true that the takeover of the Villa Moskovič was carried out legally, but only according to the principles of revolutionary law of post-war Yugoslavia, which, of course, does not match today’s view of justice. The Social Democrats, led by Tanja Fajon, do not want to return the villa, and in this case, are referring to the law that was in force in post-war Yugoslavia, as they themselves received the villa at the time, due to a gift contract. It is also worth mentioning that even under the legislation, which was in force in Yugoslavia, the villa should have been owned by the state and not by private interests, which is what the party is. Despite the fact that Fajon is known to have good connections in Brussels, she obviously cannot stop the truth from spreading.
Sara Kovač
