On Sunday, Milorad Pupovac laid a wreath in the Danube in Vukovar for all the civilian victims of the war. However, he was unable to do so, and Sandra Benčić stepped in to lay a wreath instead. This move was intended to acknowledge and regret the suffering of all those who experienced the war and call for punishment for those responsible in order to build lasting peace.
However, their actions were criticized by Most, who accused Benčić of nurturing a typical Yugoslav complex and being a bigger Pupovac than Pupovac himself. They believed that Benčić’s action represented external humanism that is more dehumanizing than callousness because it serves to give a sense of superiority to the one making the gesture.
According to them, recognizing the suffering and sacrifice of Croatia for the victory in the defensive war should come before recognizing the suffering of the Serbs. They also criticized the timing of Benčić’s action, saying it was extremely inappropriate to throw a wreath on that day without acknowledging the specific civilian victims that the official Column of Remembrance does not recognize.
Overall, they labeled Benčić’s move as a quasi-leftist move that offends all citizens of Croatia and serves as an expressed form of callousness. They concluded by stating that Pupovac is bigger than Pupovac himself for making such a gesture.
