Formation of the 373rd Infantry Division. With Croatian checkerboards on German helmets and tunics, young Croats (former Home Guards), members of the newly-formed German-Croatian division, later nicknamed "Tiger", pledge allegiance to Adolf Hitler, during their training in Döllersheim. As was the tradition throughout Europe (including the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), during the oath, the Christian recruits hold up three fingers, a symbol of the Holy Trinity (the Western Christians kept their thumb or all three fingers separated, while the Eastern Christians kept them together). (Ironically, this centuries-old Christian gesture – which was removed from the military and state traditions in Yugoslavia after the Communists came to power, and was completely forgotten by the people over time – is an object of contempt for a large number of Croats today, as an [alleged] enemy chauvinistic salute. Namely, thanks to the ignorance and recklessness of Serbian politician Vuk Drašković, who [mistakenly] promoted the western version of the gesture as a Serbian national salute for political purposes, shortly before the beginning of a new civil war [1991] and the final breakup of Yugoslavia, the gesture of raising three fingers separated – which until only a few decades ago was used exclusively during the pledge of allegiance, and by the Western Christians – was soon accepted as a national salute by numerous uninformed, mainly quasi- or non-Orthodox Serbs, and [mis]used as such during and after the war, and hated by equally uninformed, mainly quasi- or non-Catholic Croats. Drašković later stated that he started using the gesture as a salute inspired by the "Takovo Uprising" painting by Paja Jovanović, which depicts Prince Miloš and Serbian leaders raising [according to his understanding] three fingers separated, as a sign of rebellion; in that painting – which depicts national leaders taking an oath before the cross and the flag – the prince, the priest and the majority of the gathered people actually keep their fingers together, apart from a few who keep them slightly separated or hold a sabre in their hand, and the civilians who wave their fezzes, celebrating the uprising.)
Text: Ivan Ž.
Photographer: unknown.
Date: spring 1943.
Location: Döllersheim (district of Zwettl), Germany.
Original caption: unknown.
File source: "Signal" 10/1943 (p. 11).
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Formiranje 373. pešadijske divizije. Sa hrvatskim šahovnicama na nemačkim šlemovima i bluzama, mladi Hrvati (bivši domobrani), pripadnici novoformirane nemačko-hrvatske divizije, kasnije nazvane "Tigar", polažu zakletvu Adolfu Hitleru, za vreme obuke u Delershajmu. Kao što je bila tradicija širom Evrope (uključujući i Kraljevinu Jugoslaviju), regruti-hrišćani tokom zakletve drže podignuta tri prsta, simbol Svete Trojice (zapadni hrišćani su palac ili sva tri prsta držali rastavljene, dok su ih istočni hrišćani držali skupljene). (Igrom ironije, ovaj vekovima stari hrišćanski gest – koji je u Jugoslaviji po dolasku komunista na vlast izbačen iz vojne i državne tradicije, i u narodu vremenom bio potpuno zaboravljen – danas kod velikog broja Hrvata izaziva prezir, kao [navodni] neprijateljski šovinistički pozdrav. Naime, zahvaljujući neznanju i nepromišljenosti srpskog političara Vuka Draškovića, koji je [greškom] u političke svrhe promovisao zapadnjačku varijantu gesta kao srpski nacionalni pozdrav, neposredno pred početak novog građanskog rata [1991] i konačnog raspada Jugoslavije, gest podizanja tri rastavljena prsta – koji je do pre samo nekoliko decenija korišćen isključivo tokom čina zakletve, i to od strane zapadnih hrišćana – ubrzo je prihvaćen kao nacionalni pozdrav od strane mnogobrojnih neupućenih, većinom kvazi- ili nepravoslavnih Srba, i kao takav bio [zlo]upotrebljavan tokom i nakon rata, i omrznut od strane jednako neupućenih, većinom kvazi- ili nekatoličkih Hrvata. Drašković je kasnije izjavio da je gest počeo da koristi kao pozdrav inspirisan slikom "Takovski ustanak" Paje Jovanovića, koja prikazuje knjaza Miloša i srpske glavešine sa [prema njegovom shvatanju] podignuta tri rastavljena prsta, u znak pobune; na pomenutoj slici – koja prikazuje zakletvu narodnih starešina pred krstom i zastavom – knjaz, sveštenik i većina okupljenih ljudi prste zapravo drže skupljene, osim nekolicine koji su ih blago rastavili ili u ruci drže sablju, i civila koji mašu fesovima, slaveći ustanak.)
Tekst: Ivan Ž.
Fotograf: nepoznat.
Datum: proleće 1943.
Mesto: Delershajm (okrug Cvetl), Nemačka.
Originalni natpis: nepoznat.
Izvor fajla: "Signal" 10/1943 (str. 11).
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