evolution and use of the Croatian coat of arms, The

Canadian Slavonic Papers, Sep-Dec 1996 by Stan Granic

As can be seen, both the amendment of 25 July 1990 and the constitution of 22 December 1990 referred to the checkered emblem as "the historical Croatian coat of arms," just as did the constitution of the previous Socialist Republic of Croatia. Notably absent from the coat of arms were any ideological or political symbols, such as the communist red star.

The final design adopted by the Republic of Croatia included a crown with five points which formed a soft arc joining the left and right upper corners of the shield. In this crown five smaller coats of arms of Croatian lands are arranged from left to right in the following manner: the oldest known coat of arms of Croatia, followed by the coat of arms of the former Republic of Dubrovnik and the regional coats of arms of Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia (plate 1).55

As this brief, and by no means exhaustive, survey of the appearance and use of the Croatian checkered coat of arms indicates, this particular emblem has been in use for almost half a millennium. The discovery of the stone relief found in the Cathedral of Senj, and positively dated at 1491, predates the establishment of the Ustasa movement by 438 years and their actual seizure of power in Croatia by 450 years. For this reason, the contention of Serbian rebels, which has been accepted by many journalists and historians, that this coat of arms is an "Ustasa" and "fascist" symbol is obviously false. This coat of arms could be considered an "Ustasa" or "fascist" symbol only if it was originally designed and invented by either the Ustase or Nazis. Clearly, this is not the case. In fact, this emblem was employed centuries before the rise of modern Croatian nationalism and during the forty-five years of Communist Party rule. During the entire existence of the People's, later Socialist Republic of Croatia, this emblem appeared on government buildings throughout the republic, including the city of Knin.

This coat of arms appeared on the official seal of the Croatian parliament as early as 1527, when Croatian nobles elected Ferdinand I Habsburg King of Croatia. Its appearance was recurrent on coins minted by the Habsburg monarchy and was recognized by the constitutional agreement between Hungary and Croatia in the 1868 Nagodba. It remained in official use to the end of the AustroHungarian Empire when it became part of the state emblem of Royalist Yugoslavia under the Serbian ruling house of Karadjordjevic.

With the Ustasa establishment of the Independent State of Croatia a completely unprecedented event occurred. The rulers of this regime used the historical Croatian coat of arms, but added to it their ideological symbol "U." In effect the Ustase desecrated the coat of arms by placing their symbol above the emblem. Similarly, the Communist Party, during its forty-five year rule, defiled the same coat of arms by placing symbols, such as the five-pointed communist star on the emblem. Both the Ustase and the Communist Party are guilty of imposing their ideological symbols on the Croatian coat of arms. This is the reason that the multi-party Croatian parliament of post-communist Yugoslavia eliminated the red star from the coat of arms and flag.