Croatian Home Guard (Independent State of Croatia) - Home Guard in Modern Croatia

Home Guard in Modern Croatia

As Croatia gained independence during the Yugoslav wars, the new government under the presidency of Franjo Tuđman began the process of re-building the historical Home Guards.

Instead of treacherous quislings, or at best, a ridiculously inefficient formation, as they were portrayed by the previous communist regime, they are hailed as a symbol of Croatian statehood and military virtue, drawing on the history of the Imperial Croatian Home Guard. The very name "Home Guard" is taken as a symbol of a true Croatian soldier not being involved in any aggressive war or attacking someone else's country. For many modern Croatian nationalists, this is part of a more positive appraisal of the new Home Guards, by which World War II Home Guards presumably did not participate in the war's worst excesses.

The rehabilitation of Home Guards is only reflected in surviving Home Guards receiving pensions and other state benefits. Home Guards disabled during the war received state recognition in 1992 equivalent to Partisan veterans. The Home Guard has also received recognition from the government in helping to establish the democratic Republic of Croatia. There has been no official historical revisionism of their role in World War II, and the measure of providing pensions is viewed just as a social security measure because most of the surviving members could not provide for themselves under the communist rule, not being able to gain employment, etc.

The local-based Croatian Army regiments were named the Home Guard Regiments (Domobranska pukovnija). They were first created on 24 December 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence, and ceased to exist in a 2003 reorganization.