In the wake of widespread public response to Marko Perković Thompon’s recent performance at the Zagreb Hippodrome, debates about the origin, meaning, and purpose of the phrase “For the Homeland – Ready” were reignited. Thompson and his audience “traditionally” opened the song “Bojna Čavoglave” with this phrase. In response to criticism over the controversial salute, Thompson’s manager, former head of the Police Academy Zdravko Barišić, gave an interview to Večernji list on July 10, in which he attempted to explain its use (available here, archived here), and his statement was widely circulated in the media (examples: here, here, here, here). Specifically, Barišić stated:
“‘For the Homeland – Ready’ should not be an issue. Let the media organize programs where this is analyzed. That’s passé, the greeting goes far back in history, Pavelić didn’t invent it. Marko has never seen either a Ustaša or a Partisan; he was born much later. If you must know, it’s a salute used by legitimate units in the Homeland War.”
However, judging by numerous original documents from the NDH period and statements by Ustaša leaders themselves, it remains clear that the author of the “For the Homeland – Ready” greeting was indeed Ante Pavelić, later Poglavnik and ally of Hitler and Mussolini. Although all of the sources listed below have long been publicly available, Barišić’s statement illustrates the frequent presence of inaccurate interpretations in public discourse regarding the origin of this greeting. Given the authority of the person who made the claim, it risks being further perpetuated. For this reason, it is necessary to once again review several important facts regarding “For the Homeland – Ready.”
To begin with, an article published in November 1968 in Hrvatska straža – the publication of the Croatian Liberation Movement in Europe – which was republished in 2017 by Index.hr (available here, archived here), includes a conversation with Ante Pavelić conducted in Argentina in the summer of 1957. The conversation focused precisely on Pavelić’s memories and reflections regarding the “For the Homeland – Ready” greeting. The text clearly shows Pavelić’s detailed explanation of the circumstances under which the greeting was created—according to his own admission, he personally coined it. The full text appears in the following photograph.
According to the research of historian Bogdan Krizman (1913–1994), one of the most prolific Croatian authors on the Ustaša movement, the earliest recorded use of the salute—consistently referred to by him as the “Ustaša salute”[1] —dates to October 1932. At that time, Pavelić wrote a text for the publication Gričone of the earliest Ustaša newsletters, edited by prominent youth member Mijo Bzik (1907–1945). The article, titled “Ustaše, our fate has chosen us,”
[2] was a reaction to the failed armed uprising known as the Velebit or Lika Uprising.
In addition to calling for the continued execution of similar uprisings aimed at overthrowing the Yugoslav state and “everything that stands in the way” of the Croatian people—uprisings for which no “Croatian son” should find it “difficult to grab a machine gun, a bomb, or a sharp dagger”—Pavelić concludes his appeal with the very sentence “For the homeland – ready!”, a phrase he would go on to use repeatedly in many of his later writings, including his reaction to the assassination of King Aleksandar.[3] From 1934 onward, other Ustaša members and sympathizers began using the phrase as well. It appears in correspondence related to the Lipari camp, described as the “sacred slogan of the Ustaše.”[4] In a manifesto from November 3, 1934, describing how a true Ustaša should behave, the sentence “For the Homeland – Ready – that is the sole meaning of Ustaša life and work”[5] appears. Pavelić continued to define it in this tone even while imprisoned, concluding a January 3, 1935 address with: “[L]et us be true Ustaše, and always worthy of our great slogan For the Homeland – Ready!”[6]
Interpretation of the phrase as an explicitly Ustaša greeting was also present during WWII. An article in the supplement „Naš rad- Tjednik Ustaške mladeži“, published within the newspaper Hrvatski branik during November and December 1941, titled “Explanation of the Ustaša Salute for Ustaša Heroes,” provides a thorough breakdown of the meaning and symbolism of each word in the phrase as seen in the following photograph. [7]
It is essential to note that although fragments resembling “For the Homeland – Ready” appear in some older historical or literary texts — some of which Pavelić himself mentions in the Hrvatska straža article — this specific formulation does not exist prior to the pre-war Ustaša movement. None of those earlier fragments functioned as a greeting. The Ustaša officials, on the other hand, used it specifically as a salute, and its usage during the NDH period was widespread and ceremonial. What follows is merely a cross-section of numerous instances in which it appeared—always in the form of a salute or a rallying cry, more rarely at the beginning and more often at the end of a text. [8]
On April 4, 1941, at 11:20 PM, during preparations for taking power in the puppet state, Radio Station Velebit—defined as “the station of the Main Ustaša Headquarters”—began broadcasting in Florence, opening with the words: “For the Homeland – Ready! For the Homeland – Ready! For the Homeland – Ready! This is the radio station of the Main Ustaša Headquarters! This is the radio station of the Main Ustaša Headquarters! This is the radio station of the Main Ustaša Headquarters! For the Homeland – Ready! For the Homeland – Ready! For the Homeland – Ready!“. [9] The next day, Pavelić gave his first address on the station, ending with: “Long live the Independent State of Croatia! Long live the Croatian people! Long live the Ustaša army, long live the great and mighty friendly armies! For the Homeland – Ready!“. [10] The establishment of Ustaša rule and the NDH is commonly dated to April 10, 1941, marked by Colonel Slavko Kvaternik’s proclamation, which ended with “God and Croats; For the Homeland – Ready.”.[11] Pavelić’s first address upon arriving in Zagreb, when he formally assumed the office of Poglavnik, ended with the same salute.[12]
The salute was used to conclude numerous laws, bans, warnings, and threats against targeted groups—such as Serbs and Jews. [13]
It was also used to conclude documentation related to deportations to Ustaše camps.[14]
It is present in the decisions regarding the awarding of high military honors of the Ustaše army, for example, for service on the Eastern Front.[15]
Its use was encouraged “for educational purposes,” as well as in the Church.[16]
It was printed on the title pages of elementary school textbooks[17], while their contents included Pavelić’s texts such as the one ending with the words:”Just as in a working beehive every bee works for the progress of the entire hive, so must each of us always be: For the Homeland – Ready!”[18]. With statements describing Pavelić as “the guardian angel of the Croatian people and a noble avenger who is a terror to the enemies of the Croatian nation,” these same textbook texts concluded with the words: “He is ours, and we are his, and always with him – For the Homeland! Ready!”[19]
It appeared in the header of the propaganda youth newspaper Hrvatski domobran, where its meaning was once defined as a fundamental moral principle of the Ustaše.[20]
Pavelić continued to use it in exile as a kind of personal motto, even in private correspondence.[21]
After the war, even some Ustaša exile groups began discussing whether the greeting should be abandoned due to its strong connection with WWII and the defeat of the Ustaša regime.[22] However, the early 1990s—when, as Barišić claims, it was used by “legitimate units in the Homeland War”—saw its reemergence in Croatia. Yet its revival did not distance it from Ustaša ideology. In publicly available footage from the time, prominent HOS members using the greeting also chanted “Who are we? – Ustaše,” and some commanders addressed their troops as “Ustaša sons.”.[23] Dobroslav Paraga, president of the reestablished HSP, was welcomed at party rallies with songs about Ustaša commanders and hailed as the “future Poglavnik of the Independent State of Croatia.”[24] Marko Perković Thompson himself, as an HSP activist in the 1990s, publicly expressed admiration for the Ustaša movement, its leaders, and stated in a 1996 boasted in the media about acquaintances with pro-Ustaša émigré circles, including some retired Ustaše and Pavelić’s daughter. He emphasized that he had received as gifts pictures of Pavelić, Jure Francetić, and Rafael Boban, and that in the future he expected to receive Pavelić’s novel Liepa plavka signed by him, as well as the “original Poglavnik’s flag.”[25]
While Thompson’s more recent statements may not be as overtly sympathetic to the Ustaša narrative, his and his team’s reluctance to clearly distance themselves from it—including accepting the factual origins of the greeting—demonstrates the need for continued presentation of historical evidence.
In conclusion, historical sources and documents indicate that the greeting “For the Homeland – Ready” originated within the Ustaša movement and was shaped personally by Ante Pavelić. Therefore, Zdravko Barišić’s claim does not align with the facts.
[1] Compare: Krizman, Bogdan. Pavelić and the Ustaše (Zagreb: Globus, 1978); Krizman, Bogdan. Pavelić Between Hitler and Mussolini (Zagreb: Globus, 1980); Krizman, Bogdan. The Ustaše and the Third Reich (Zagreb: Globus, 1986).
[2] For the full text, see: Krizman, Bogdan. Pavelić and the Ustaše (Zagreb: Globus, 1978), pp. 97–98.
[3] For the full text, see: ibid., pp. 198–200. 198.-200.
[4] Ibid. 200.
[5] For the complete text, see: ibid., p. 200. 200.
[6] For the complete text, see: ibid., p. 204. 204.
[7] Photograph retrieved from: https://net.hr/danas/vijesti/dragi-ustaski-junaci-ni-masinerija-ndh-azije-nije-pozdrav-pripisivala-ikome-osim-sebi-03195014-b1c2-11eb-8da1-0242ac130019 (accessed July 13, 2025)
[8] For further confirmation of the ubiquity of this salute in official NDH documents, see: Sinovčić, Marko. NDH in the Light of Documents (Zagreb: Vratna gora, 1998).
[9] Krizman, Bogdan. Pavelić and the Ustaše (Zagreb: Globus, 1978), p. 384.
[10] ibid. 385.
[11] ibid. 401.
[12] ibid. 415.
[13] Photographs retrieved from: https://www.wikiwand.com/sh/articles/Za_dom_spremni ; https://www.antifasisticki-vjesnik.org/hr/prenosimo/6/Ubijanje_ustasa_nije_genocid_nad_Hrvatima/331/ ; https://partizansko.info/mostar-u-slikama-oglasi-i-clanci-iz-drugog-svjetskog-rata/ (accessed July 13, 2025)
[14] Photograph retrieved from: https://www.maz.hr/2017/03/21/zds-kratka-povijest-krivotvorenja/ (accessed July 13, 2025)
[15] Photograph retrieved from: https://www.telegram.hr/politika-kriminal/ovih-13-slika-trebale-bi-biti-dovoljan-dokaz-svim-idiotima-koji-zagovaraju-rehabilitaciju-za-dom-spremni/ (accessed July 13, 2025)
[16] Katolički list 48 (November 1941). Photograph retrieved from https://www.wikiwand.com/sh/articles/Za_dom_spremni (accessed July 13, 2025).
[17] Photograph retrieved from https://archive.org/details/citanka_za_cetvrto_godiste_puckih_skola_1942-ndh/page/n1/mode/2up?view=theater (accessed July 13, 2025).
[18] Ibid., p. 91. (accessed July 13, 2025).
[19] Ibid., pp. 148–149. 148.-149. (accessed July 13, 2025).
[20] Photograph retrieved from https://www.antikvarijat-vremeplov.hr/novine-i-casopisi/nova-hrvatska-ndh-novine/hrvatski-domobran-broj-31942-5SaXI5fEs (accessed July 13, 2025).
[21] Photograph retrieved from https://www.telegram.hr/politika-kriminal/ovih-13-slika-trebale-bi-biti-dovoljan-dokaz-svim-idiotima-koji-zagovaraju-rehabilitaciju-za-dom-spremni/ (accessed July 13, 2025).
[22] According to: Ivković, Žarko. “How the Ustaše abandoned the salute ‘Za dom spremni’ as early as 1948.” https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/kako-su-se-ustase-jos-1948-odrekli-pozdrava-za-dom-spremni-1201100 (accessed July 13, 2025).
[23] “Who are they? Ustaše!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I80tbKcCf8 (accessed July 13, 2025).
[24] “Zlatko Pejaković – Evo zore, evo dana (1992).” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSqo4N_tt9g (accessed July 13, 2025).
[25] Complete transcript of the interview available at https://www.portalnovosti.com/thompson-i-ustase/ (accessed July 13, 2025).
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