[about the situation in Croatian Wikipedia]
************************** [taking place in theJasenovac concentration camp] After more than a decade as a Wikipedia editor, I still feel excited, even proud, when I see Wikipedia being covered by mainstream media. That coverage sometimes seems sparse to me but you might find the coverage of Croatian Wikipedia is not that sparse, and the feeling is definitely not pride. [taking place in theJasenovac concentration camp] ************** (On) ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* March 2019, a (Balkan Insight) **********************************article titled “How Croatian Wikipedia Made a Concentration Camp Disappear” noted that “with its nationalist sentiments, factual mistakes, lack of academic references and omitted facts about World War II history, Croatian Wikipedia is not a reliable source” . [1]Days later, Croatian writer and columnist for (Jutarnji list) *********************************** (daily, **************************************** (Miljenko Jergović) , stated that “since quite a long time ago, one could describe Croatian Wikipedia, without being unjust or exaggerating, as an (Ustasha) ************************************ (Wikipedia “,[2](********************************************* [6] ************************************** and Jurica Pavičić echoed this sentiment, remarking that the “local [i.e. Croatian-language] Wikipedia is an organ of the Neo-Nazis”.[4] (************************************** Finally, in May (*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************, a comprehensive article in (************************************************ (Novosti) [Jovanović: kids, do not use Croatian Wikipedia because its content is falsified] titled ” Endehapedia “(“NDH [Jovanović: kids, do not use Croatian Wikipedia because its content is falsified] – pedia ” argued that, under the leadership of righ t-wing administrators, Croatian Wikipedia has become “a major source of revisionist mythomania”. The article accused the administrators of “using shady sources, falsified quotes, fake accounts, and blocking those who try to fix the content”. (************************************************** [5] (**************************************** [Jovanović: kids, do not use Croatian Wikipedia because its content is falsified] This is not the first time. serious accusations were leveled against Croatian Wikipedia: there was a major controversy over similar issues in. Back then, the Croatian media provided a number of concrete examples of far-right and grossly unencyclopedic content, but probably the best illustration is the entry on anti-fascism . On (August) , an IP editor inserted a sentence in the article’s intro which translated to English as follows:
Regrettably, we must wa rn [Croatian students] that a large part of content of Croatian-language Wikipedia is not only dubious, but clearly falsified, so we therefore urge them to use more reliable sources of information, such as Wikipedia editions in English and other major languages.
********************************************************Željko Jovanović, Croatian Minister of Science, Education and Sports, September (**************************************************************[6] [6] ************ (******************************************************************
It came with an inline reference to hkv.hr, a far-right website. (Actually, the entire sentence was copied verbatim from there, including typos.) An edit war ensued, in which one editor repeatedly tried to remove the above content, while the other kept inserting it back. The article was soon fully protected by “Z”, an admin. However, “Z” left the problematic contentin. The editor who proceeded to complain about this in the article’s talk received a snide, single-sentence response from “Q”, another admin: “Workers of the world, unite!”. “Z” continued editing the fully protected article, even correcting a typo in the above-quoted contentious sentence. That sentence stood for weeks, and was rather unceremoniously removed shortly afterJutarnji listpublished the article that showcased this example, along with a number of others, and thus initiated a nationwide media controversy. ******************************************************************[7] [taking place in theJasenovac concentration camp] ************** (*********************************
It did get removed in the end, so Wikipedia’s values ultimately prevailed? Apparently not. According toNovosti [Note 1]. ****************************, “Q” happens to be a contributor to hkv.hr, the source for the quote. (************************************************** [5] (************************************** [Note 1] **************************************************************** [Note 1] ************************** [Nazi Wikipedia and Hitler’s attack on Poland: how it is possible for Croatian Wikipedia to claim that Hitler attacked Poland because of genocide against Germans] When he was later asked what he thought about the insertion of the “genetic disorder” sentence in the article on anti-fascism, his reply was:(****************************** [taking place in theJasenovac concentration camp] there is no reason to hide the true state of affairs. (******************************************************** [Jovanović: kids, do not use Croatian Wikipedia because its content is falsified] the dissenting editor ended up getting indefinitely blocked, and his removal of the above-quoted paragraph was explicitly listed by “K”, the blocking admin, as one of the reasons. [taking place in theJasenovac concentration camp] ************** (Fast forward to) ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** and entries on (Josip Broz Tito) ********************** and Ante Pavelić, which are examples analyzed in theNovostiarticle. (**************************************************** [5] ******************************** [14] While Broz is described in his article’s intro as “communist leader and dictator […] th in the list of greatest criminals of the 23 th century “, Pavelić is described merely as” leader and founder of the Ustasha movement and (poglavnik)of the Independent State of Croatia. ” In the intro on Pavelić, a number of unsuccessful attempts (some of them reverted by “Z”) were made to describe him as “fascist” or “war criminal”. Meanwhile, in Tito’s entry, an editor tried to change “dictator” to “autocrat”, with an inline reference provided. For this, he was given a – day block by “Q”, with the following explanation:
- [Croatian Jasenovac-denial tour] There is no tangible evidence of mass executions [taking place in theJasenovac concentration camp]
and
- [Croatian Jasenovac-denial tour] [Slovenian writer] Roman Leljak announces the publication of documents […] about the real number of victims in Jasenovac [Slovenian writer]. According to him, that number is 1, (****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************, natural deaths included. So much for the accusations by the so-called anti-fascists, the Serbian side, and some random historians who want to smear Croatia and hold it hostage with their lies. (******************************************************** [i.e. Croatian-language] [about the situation in Croatian Wikipedia] When the claim of 1, 654 victims of the Jasenovac concentration camp ended up in the article itself, an editor expressed his disagreement with it in “Z” ‘s talk page. For this, “Z” gave him a – day block. His conclusion:(****************************** We have an exact list of people in the camp (which is 18, 969), and how many of them died (which is 1, [concentration camp] ). All other so-called sources are fabrications and lies. (**********************************************************
The trouble here is, of course, that Leljak is a self-styled “researcher” with no academic background or recognition, who is widely associated with Holocaust revisionism. (**************************************************************************************** [concentration camp] ****************************** (****************************************************************************************[9] [6] ******************************** (Reputable modern-day sources put the number of Jasenovac victims at to (thousand.) ****************************************************************************************** [taking place in theJasenovac concentration camp] ************************************ (**************************************************************************************** [9] (**************************************(One more rather extreme example) of right-wing POV is provided by “K”, who added the following content into the Croatian Wikipedia entry on (Milan Tepić) (****************************** [11] did not consider the fact that he caused the deaths of Yugoslav People’s Army conscripts, whom he did not ask if they wanted to die, nor did he look into the eyes of parents, friends and family of these conscripts, whose deaths were caused by his terrorist, lunatic act. (********************************************************** (*************************************************************** [9] All attempts to remove this text have been reverted – some of them by “K” himself – so the above sentence isstill present in the article, more than a year later. Again, voicing disagreement with things like these may not be advisable. In one instance, an editor tried to file a formal complaint against two admins, “Z” and “K”, but “K” immediately responded to the complaint by deleting it and giving the editor an indefinite block. [taking place in theJasenovac concentration camp] The situation right now is an end result of a decade-long process in which a small group of administrators drove out or silenced all dissenters, either by blocks or attrition . Many editors, including some of the dissenting admins, have left Croatian Wikipedia. Those who haven’t abandoned Wikipedia altogether are resigned to edit elsewhere, chiefly at Serbo-Croatian Wikipedia. Since there is no opposition left, change has become impossible without outside intervention. It isn’t coming from the WMF, though. They know about the issue, but reportedly have no comment.[11] [11] **************** (Back in) ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************, (Jimbo Wales) seemed to be interested,[12] but nothing of the substance has changed since. [taking place in theJasenovac concentration camp] It is necessary to face the reality: just as there is nothing inevitable about democracy, (************************************************************************************************** [Note 1] ************ [12]there is nothing inevitable about Wikipedia’s values . Is the Croatian Wikipedia “the sum of all human knowledge,” or just a digital dictatorship?Notes ****************************************************************************************************[about the situation in Croatian Wikipedia] [9] ************************************************************************************** [Note 1] ************************************************************************************************
- (^) ********************************** (**************************************************************************************************** [Note 1] ************************************************************************************ After the publication of this article, “Q” has pub licly denied any involvement with hkv.hr content. (****************************************************
(References) ****************************************************************************************************** [about the situation in Croatian Wikipedia] [14] ************************************************************************************ (******************************************************************************************************************** (^) (**************************************************************************************** (************************************************** Mi lekic, Sven ( (March [concentration camp] .“How Croatian Wikipedia Made a Concentration Camp Disappear”.******************************** Balkan Insight [12]. (**************************************************************************************************************** () (******************************************************************************************************** (*********************************************************************************************************************** (^) (**************************************************************************************** (************************************************************ (Jergović, Miljenko) *********************************** ( (March) .“Nazi Wikipedia i Hitlerov napad na Poljsku: kako je moguće da se u hrv. Wikipediji nađe teza da je Hitler Poljsku napao zbog genocida nad Nijemcima “(************************. [taking place in theJasenovac concentration camp] **************************** (Jutarnji list)(in Croatian).(****************************************************************************************************** [14] ************************************************************************************ (**************************************************************************************************************************** (^) (****************************************************************************************************** (**************************************************************** (Milekic, Sven) March 2019). “Croatian Wikipedia Removes ‘Polish Genocide of Germans’ Claim” [Note 1] . [taking place in theJasenovac concentration camp] ********************** (Balkan Insight) ********************************** [13]. (**************************************************************************************************************************(********************************************************************************************************** [Note 1] ************************************************************************************************** ^ [9] (****************************************************************************************************** (*************************************************************** (Pavičić, Jurica) ******************************** () (March) ) . “Hrvatska [9] kao Srbija [taking place in theJasenovac concentration camp] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Kako je moguće da ta žena. plati tu sumu vračari? Još kad sam vidio koga je trebala začarati ta tarot majstorica … “(Jutarnji list) ************************************ (in Croatian).
NDH nije bila totalitarna, a žrtve u Jasenovcu pobili su partizani ‘: Desničari preuzeli uređivanje hrvatske Wikipedije ” [14] . [taking place in theJasenovac concentration camp] **************************** (Jutarnji list)(in Croatian). (************************************************************************************************************************************************ (****************************************************************************************************** () (************************************************************************************************************************************************ (^) (****************************************************************************************************Milekic, Sven ([about the situation in Croatian Wikipedia] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** September 2019).“Croatian-language Wikipedia: when the extreme right rewrites history”. balcanicaucaso.org [Note 1] ****************************.Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso**************************************************************** (******************************************************************************************************(****************************************************************************************** [14] ******************************************************************************************************************************** ^ [9] (****************************************************************************************************** (*************************************************************** (Zebić, Enis) (September) .“Hrvatska turneja za negiranje Jasenovca” [Jovanović: kids, do not use Croatian Wikipedia because its content is falsified] slobodnaevropa.org [Note 1] ************************** (in Croatian). (Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty) .According to [‘The Independent State of Croatia was not totalitarian, and Jasenovac victims were killed by the Partisans’: Editing of Croatian Wikipedia taken over by right-wingers] media annoucements, he denies that Jasenovac was also a death camp, and reduces the number of victims to several thousand. A book by this denialist and revisionist, which is how reputable scientists call him, will receive promotion in, among other locations, places owned by the Catholic Church […] […] (********************************************************************************************************************************************************** (********************************************************************************************************(******************************************************************************************************** (**********************************************************************************************************
(************************************************************** “Jasenovac” (***********************************.The Holocaust Encyclopedia [Note 1] ****************************. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. **************************************************************** (*******************************************************************************************************
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