20 February 2007
In Croatia, packets of sugar bearing the likeness of Adolf Hitler and carrying jokes about the Holocaust have been found in cafes. Officials at the Pinki factory in the eastern town of Pozega are reported to have confirmed the sugar packs were produced on their premises. Police said that following a demand by local prosecution authorities they had opened a probe into the affair. The investigation should conclude on Wednesday when its results are to be made public, police said.
Ties between Israel and Croatia were tarnished in the 1990s during the rule of Croatia's late autocratic leader Franjo Tudjman as he played down the country's role in the killing of Jews during World War II. An estimated 75 per cent of Croatia's 40,000 Jews were killed by the fascist Ustasha regime. Ties started to improve under Tudjman's successor Stipe Mesic, who visited Israel in 2001 and apologized for the massacre of Jews.
