Enter John Pomfret and the Washington Post on March 26. Mr. Pomfret had developed a reputation as a leading fascist finder in Croatia and as one not above producing outright fiction to smear Tudjman and the Croatian government. Pomfret's article dwelled on resurgent fascism in Croatia and intentionally mislead his readers about Branko Lustig's comments which compared the Serbian brutality at the Croatian city of Vukovar in 1991 to the Nazis in Warsaw. The article went on to repeat the myriad myths of Nazi street names and noted: "On Zagreb's streets, and in cities and towns throughout the republic, newsstands hawk Ustashe paraphernalia --- swastikas, the Fascist coat-of-arms and other trinkets."

At that time in the United States, swastika graffiti could be found throughout the country. Nazi memorabilia md books were hawked at "militaria" shows and gun shows weekly. Young "skinhead" neo-Nazis and motorcycle gangs all proudly displayed Nazi insignia. Interestingly, neither this author or any of the assembled diplomats, officials, or leaders of the Jewish community, saw any such objects in Zagreb.

Finally, resorting to outright invention, Pomfret wrote: "The 70-year old president [Tudjman] left the movie theater without commenting." Despite the fact that thoudands saw and heard Tudjman's speech and it was quoted dozens of newspapers, the Washington Post saw no need to withdraw the story. Branko Lustig later wrote:

Though denied any recognition for my achievements by the regime in the former Yugoslavia, the current government headed by President Tudjman has taken an active role in publicizing and commending my work, and personally initiated a premier of Schindler's List in Zagreb and made firm and moving statements afterwards.

Noting that Tudjman had been praised by the President of the Zagreb Jewish Community, the Anti-Difamation League, the Chief Rabbi of the Aish HaTorah College, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Commitee, Lustig commented on the fascist finders:

The dissemmation of this kind of misinformation will only erode the growing positive relations between the Croatian government and Croatia's Jewish population. I believe that is more important to investigate who is behind these accusations and allegations, and to uncover their motivations to arrest and destroy the existing collaborative efforts between the Croatian government and its Jewish community.

There was no need to investigate who was behind the myth making. Fascist finding and myth making had become a journalistic past time for some reporters. Their motivations were known only to themselves.

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