Media in Croatia again refer to Nikola Tesla as "Croatian"

If you wanna get technical he was born in Austro-Hungarian empire because Croatia as a country did not exist. He is as Serb as it gets, it's comical that Croatians try to spread lies about him being a croat. Coming from a mixed family myself Croatian Mother and a Serbian father, living in Canada I honestly prefer to be around Serbs, they have less hatred and mind their own business Croatians on the other hand, not so much

To really get technical, Sinisa, he was born in part of Austro-Hungary called Krajina that was disbanded in 1881 and integrated into Croatian province of Austria Hungary.
So, at the time of his birth not only country Croatia did not exist, but his birthplace was not in province of Croatia, but rather Krajina.

If Tesla were really a Croat, they wouldn't have destroyed his family home in the 1940s and again in the 1990s.

What do you do when all of your natioal heroes are Nazi quisling collaborators? You steal from others. When Tesla was born tjere was no "croatia", he was as much Croat as Constatine the Great was Serbian for being born in Nis.

I wonder if Tesla was Croatian when the üstashe vassals killed every last Tesla from the area. Go ahead find his remaining family, they are in Belgrade not in Croatia.

"Nikola Tesla is probably the only Serb, whose last name doesn't end with -ich or -vich."

Wrong, there are many Serbs whose names end differently. You have actor Rade Serbedzija, who is a Croatian Serb (and his name practically spells out he is Serb). There are many others who end with an -a. Also, you have the name Samardzija, which is Serbian. There is Savo Heleta, a Bosnian Serb who wrote how he and his family survived in Muslim-controlled Goradze. They were starved and threatened by Bosniaks and eventually had to cross a river in the middle of winter to escape.
Also "Tesla" is close to "Teslic" which is a Serb-majority city in Bosnia-Herzegovina. And going back in the past, you find it more and more purely Serb.
And what about Gavrilo Princip, whose name ends in a P?
Funny how people like you don't say he's not a Serbs because his name is not ended in an -ic.

Tesla is Croatian
(gggg, 31 May 2016 17:37)

And as we all know, Croats are actually Persians, so that makes Tesla Iranian, which explains why the US confiscated all his papers after his death in order to prevent his scientific discoveries from falling into the hands of Islamic terrorists.

Nikola Tesla is probably the only Serb, whose last name doesn't end with -ich or -vich.
While there are e lot of Croats whose last name don't end with -ich or-vich.
I remember the famous Croatian basketball team "Jugoplastica",several players of Croat ethnicity were Radja,Kukoc,Tabak etc while Perasovich was serb...
Now Tesla without -ich or -vich is Serb according to Serbs.
I am pretty sure that if Tesla would have been a drug dealer, Serbs would have said that he is Croat because his last name doesn't sound as authentic Serb one....

Ummm no! He should be referred to as a 'Croatian-Serb' if not Serbian altogether. For example... "we Croatians burned down the house where the Croatian-Serb Nikola Tesla was born during our ethnic cleansing campaign".
By the way, that telegram that was sent to a Croatian politician somehow wasn't seen by anyone else and magically disappeared.

Nikola Tesla is probably the only Serb, whose last name doesn't end with -ich or -vich.
While there are e lot of Croats whose last name don't end with -ich or-vich.
I remember the famous Croatian basketball team "Jugoplastica",several players of Croat ethnicity were Radja,Kukoc,Tabak etc while Perasovich was serb...
Now Tesla without -ich or -vich is Serb according to Serbs.
I am pretty sure that if Tesla would have been a drug dealer, Serbs would have said that he is Croat because his last name doesn't sound as authentic Serb one....
(Teoeor Muzaka 1389, 31 May 2016 16:38) what are you talking about ? most croats and serbs do have ic as their last name and many don't from them both ....mine does not have ic either.....go away you make no sense....

Balkan madness.
The man spends his life making the world a better place for all of humanity, and we keep fighting over which one of our countries he favored.
(Vojvodina, 31 May 2016 20:57)
=====================
A sanatised way of putting it. We are not arguing about which country he favoured because Croatia didn't even exist then. We are trying to stop Croats claiming him because clearly he was a Serb and they are trying to lay claim to him. He doesn't have a drop of Croatian blood in him.
Would you like us to keep quiet and just let them get away with it? Ah yes, I think you would.

If Croats held Krajina since the dawn of time why did Dalmatians speak Italian as their first language up until the late 1950s? Surely they would have spoken Croatian. Perhpas the Roman Emperor Diocletian was also a Croat?

The only thing Croats produce is pure 100% BS.

Funny how the greatest Croats always end up being ethnic Serbs. No wonder Croats are obsessed with Serbs.

No. Banovic.
Country he was born was Austria Hungary, and it was not even Croatian province, but Krajina, that didn't have much to do with Zagreb at that time (until 1881).
But, I see your point.
Is Albert Einstein American? Or Jew? Or maybe German, since he was born in Germany?
If your first answer was German, by the place of his birth, then you can say that Tesla was Croatian. Only difference is that Einstein was born in what was then and now is Germany, while Tesla was born in what wasn't Croatia then, but it is today.

Balkan madness.
The man spends his life making the world a better place for all of humanity, and we keep fighting over which one of our countries he favored.

Tesla was an Albanian Vlach ....claim all you want claimers
(PyrrosUZ, 31 May 2016 19:54)

Dude, everyone knows he's a Portuguese Corsican. Where did you ever hear he was an Albanian Vlach?

Tesla was born in Lika which the last time I checked is in Croatia. Who cares if he is Orthodox, Buddhist or Muslim, at the end of the day he is considered Croatian. Just as the great Donald Trump is considered American and not Scottish.
(Slap, 1 June 2016 13:50)

Last time I checked you have been to be a stupid person. When Telsa was born Croatia did not exist. Stop looking at Wikipedia as an accurate source.

When you don't have prominent and famous people of your own, claim someone elses.

The Croatian media refer to Nikola Tesla as Croatian because he was born in Croatia. It's true that Croatia was part of Austria-Hungary at the time but it's also true they were politically autonomous with their own parliament. Therefore, Nikola Tesla born a Croatian and is an ethnic Serb. Ivo Andric is bosnian and an ethnic Croat. Later in life he lived in Belgrade and considered himself to be Serbian, listing his nationality as Serbian on his passport. People get way to hung up on this stuff. A while back the Croatian president said everyone living in Croatia were Croatians just with different ethnic backgrounds. The same can be said of Serbia or any country.

Well his father was a prist rite? No Croatian prist have children rite? Wich makes him pravoslav

Funny how people like you don't say he's not a Serbs because his name is not ended in an -ic.
(ida, 31 May 2016 21:04)
=========================
They don't have anyone they can be proud of so they are forced to take ours. If Novak Djokovic wasn't alive today they would claim him too. That wasn't even Croatia back then. It was Austor-Hungarian Empire so maybe the Austrians and Hungarians will start claiming him too.
The fact that his father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest means nothing to desperados like the Croats.

I can promise you that Croatians don't fuss over silly nonsense like this.
(TOMISLAV, 1 June 2016 05:28)

No you just fuss over signs in Cyrillic, licence plates from Belgrade, the number of people killed in Ustashe death camps, the way in which Operation Storm is celebrated, the amount of landmarks named after Tito versus the number of landmarks that should be named after Tudjman, the ethnicity of Rudjer Boskovic, and the nature of fascist slogans chanted at football matches. It's bad enough actual Croats haven't done much for humanity but now you actually claim ethnic Serbs to be your own in between pushing for either their assimilation or their expulsion.

He was born in Austo-Hungarian empire and he was never Croatian citizen. He was American scientist of Serbian origin, as he said by himself. Any discussion is pointless.

Don't know for sure but I bet Tesla was less hung up on his ethnicity then Serbs and Croats are today and more on using his genius to help humanity.

Whether Serb, Croation, American, Austro-hungarian or alien, he was a remarkable person and should be celebrated by all humanity.

If all Balkanites were a just little like him then the Balkans would be a wonderful place.

But since poor Serbia has nobody to be proud of, so they had to claim an American citizen as theirs.
(icj1, 4 June 2016 05:47

You sound foolish and you ridiculing someone else is too funny.

You can't alter someone's DNA and it is a fact Tesla was born of Serbian parents regardless of place of birth or citizenship.

Tesla is Croatian

He asked for Тамо далеко to be played on his funeral and you Croats only live to hate Serbs for some reason.

If Tesla were really a Croat, they wouldn't have destroyed his family home in the 1940s and again in the 1990s.
(Navi, 31 May 2016 16:36)

Funny, I was there during the war and his family home was still standing :) Maybe you've seen something different in your wisdom.

Serb by ethnicity, Croat by nationality, inventor who improved the lives of millions doesn't matter what he is. Too bad Serb media is so hung up on Croatia and all things Croatian.

"The media in Croatia have once again referred to Nikola Tesla as being Croatian, Tanjug is reporting on Tuesday."

Only for a news agency like Tanjug obsessed with Croatia, the above is "news".

The facts that are indisputable are that Tesla was an Austrian and and American citizen.

Now, if Croatia wants to call him Croatian, Serbia wants to call him Serb, America wants to call him American, or Japan wants to call him Japanese, or country X wants to call him X, they can all do it and there is not much Tanjug can do so don't sweat over it and move on with life :)

Nikola Tesla is probably the only Serb, whose last name doesn't end with -ich or -vich.
While there are e lot of Croats whose last name don't end with -ich or-vich.
I remember the famous Croatian basketball team "Jugoplastica",several players of Croat ethnicity were Radja,Kukoc,Tabak etc while Perasovich was serb...
Now Tesla without -ich or -vich is Serb according to Serbs.
I am pretty sure that if Tesla would have been a drug dealer, Serbs would have said that he is Croat because his last name doesn't sound as authentic Serb one....
(Teoeor Muzaka 1389, 31 May 2016

To Muzaka,
Tesla father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest,so he Serbian,as well is passport was from Serbia when he went to USA.
P's I know many Serb's surname that don't end in vic.eg Vlado Divac,Vidimir Stimac, Mateje Kezman.All great Serb sportsmen!The list goes on.

Here are some more Serbs whose names don't end in -ic. Also it should be remembered that there were alternative ends of Serbs acquiring a surname and that some Serbs changed their name to escape retribution of the Turks. For example one Serb learned that two brothers in his ancestry, had killed a Turkish tax collect, so they fled to Herzegovina and changed their name - to a non-Serb one.
But fact is if a person calls themselves a Serb and knows their roots - as many Serbs do for generations going back hundreds of years - that you can be almost guaranteed they are Serb. Nikola Tesla descended from a long line of men who were Serbian Orthodox Priest or served in the military front. NO ONE but ethnic Serbs were SO devoted as to become priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church for generation after generation. Even his mother's father was a Serbian Orthodox priest.

These are other Serbs with a non -ic ending to their names:

Mitar Mrkela, retired football player born in Belgrade, and his son Andrej Mrkela, who is a football player
Žarko Čabarkapa, former basketball player born in Zrenjanin
Rukavina - surname for both Serbs and Croats, including many who were killed in Jasenovac
Vojin G. Oklobdzija, professor and engineer in the U.S., but from Belgrade

The comments section of this website is so sad and pathetic. You really consider this topic newsworthy? @Sinisa, I can promise you that Croatians don't fuss over silly nonsense like this. It's the Serbs that somehow have an inflated sense of self-worth even though their country is as insignificant as it gets right now. You're still running on the fumes of Yugoslavia, which was fueled by Croatian and Slovenian capital and know-how. Now be nice or we won't let you into the EU. Maybe you can form your own union with Belarus and Moldova, countries you are on par with. With regards to Tesla he was born and raised in Croatia. He can be called Croatia and Serbian alike, just like people from America come from all backgrounds and can be called Americans. If the Serbs living in Croatia can't consider themselves Croatian as well as Serbian, then they are a fifth column and should leave. But they won't because who wants to live in Serbia? Not even Syrian refugees want to settle there. If Tesla can't be referred to as Croatian in the media without you people whining, then no one can be refereed to as American, Canadian, etc.. other than the Indians. Of course, whining is the only thing you people can do nowadays considering how decrepit and powerless your country is. So have fun complaining on your message boards while the rest of Europe is forgetting you even exist.

Bob

Nikola Tesla's house and his fathers Orthodox Church (his father was a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church and his mother the daughter of another Serbian priest)were destroyed by Croats in 1941 and rebuilt by the Communist regime. The rebuilt house and Church were destroyed again by Croats in the 1990s and once again rebuilt, this time by the Zagreb Croats as part of a Tesla Theme Park. Had the Croats got hold of Tesla in 1941 they would have slaughtered him and not glorify him. see pictures here http://www.teslasociety.com/birthplace.htm

Tesla-great scientists to be so clever must be Croatian

Tesla was born in Lika which the last time I checked is in Croatia. Who cares if he is Orthodox, Buddhist or Muslim, at the end of the day he is considered Croatian. Just as the great Donald Trump is considered American and not Scottish.

For the sake of the truth Tesla was American with Serbian or Croatian origine.
It doesn't matter,because America made Tesla famous not Serbia.
If he would have live in Serbia he would have ended up some low pay teacher.
We Albanians are proud of John Belushi but let's be honest, if he would have live in Albania he would have been low pay actor in Korçë.
The same for Ferid Murad(who btw is Christian evangelist)
They become who they were because they were lucky enough to live in USA-the land of opportunities.

Yes we are proud that they were born in Serbia,Croatia or Albania,but they were Americans and they become successful in America,not in Balkans.

Don't let he church pinch his urn.

Tesla was a scientist and a technologist - not a religious nutter.

Tesla cooperated Soviet Russia very closely. He has visited this country at least twice. He is the main suspect of the TUnguss meteorite. And during his lifetime he was always mentioned as a Serb.

He is ethnically serb but born in croatia.He is croatian by birth. The problem is that your ethnicity is always at the forefront in the Balkans.
(rrudi, 1 June 2016 10:12)

No that only happens in some countries. Constantine the Great was born near present day Nis, but no one in Serbia claims he's a Serb because Serbia didn't exist then. Just like Croatia didn't exist when Tesla was born. He's an ethnic Serb from Austria-Hungary.

From Teoeor Mazuka 1389: "Nikola Tesla is probably the only Serb, whose last name doesn't end with -ich or -vich.
While there are e lot of Croats whose last name don't end with -ich or-vich.
I remember the famous Croatian basketball team "Jugoplastica",several players of Croat ethnicity were Radja,Kukoc,Tabak etc while Perasovich was serb...
Now Tesla without -ich or -vich is Serb according to Serbs.
I am pretty sure that if Tesla would have been a drug dealer, Serbs would have said that he is Croat because his last name doesn't sound as authentic Serb one...."

I guess according to your logic Vojislav Seselj isn't Serbian either, right? Please answer.

I guess according to your logic Vojislav Seselj isn't Serbian either, right? Please answer.
(njegos, 1 June 2016 16:53) One legged Njegos he isn't his ancestors are registered in Catholic Church records in Slavonia. Heck he fell off the turnip wagon and hit his head. Now he is totally wacko he now naturally organically fits in with Serbs. Our loss is your gain LOL.

From Minister Frank: "Your wrong..... The surname Seselj is actually a Croatian surname originating from Hercegovina. Their are 200 families with that surname in Croatia all Catholics while in Serbia there are no more than 5. Just because one d**khead from the SRS has that surname it doesn't mean it is Serbian. Do your homework before posting a comment. Prove me wrong !!!"

LOL! Hey Minister, it is a well known fact that the Ustasha Minister of Educatiion, Mile Budek, put forth the edict to kill 1/3 of Serbs living in Croatia, exile 1/3 and convert 1/3 to the catholic religion. Thousands of Serbs were converted. There are Croats with surnames of Kovacevich which is a name that goes back centuries in Montenegro. Same with Kosanovich in Lika. And I could name many, many more. Your little diatribe above is a joke. You say prove you wrong, how about you proving that you're right. BTW, minister, are you any relation to Minister Budek mentioned earlier? Nice blood lines.

Poor Croats, nobody to be proud of so they have to claim one of ours.
When did Tesla ever say he was Croatian?
(Peggy, 3 June 2016 17:36)

It sounds like the same applies to Serbia following your logic. Tesla chose to become an American citizen, not a Serbian one. Serbia contributed nothing to make Tesla one of the greatest inventors. But since poor Serbia has nobody to be proud of, so they had to claim an American citizen as theirs.

Dear, there are different grounds for considering somebody as Croat, Serb, American, or whatever. That could be based on different factors such as family origin, place of birth, citizenship, naturalization, religion, etc. Just because Serbia uses one factor and Croatia uses another one does not make Serbia's position incorrect and Croatia's correct or vice versa.

From icj "...praying God could never produce torque in an electric motor. He realised that what could do that was electromagnetic induction."

HAHAHAHA! I know that I said that I wouldn't waste anymore time on the clown of b92, icj, but I just couldn't resist commenting on this one. On the topic of Croats claiming that Nikola Tesla is a Croatian, our friend icj, after failing to defend his/her outrageous comments with Peggy stated the above. This is a perfect example of how icj goes completely off topic when challenged to defend his/her ridiculous statements. In this case, on a topic on nationality, our friend icj somehow winds up talking about electric motors and electromagnetic induction. HAHAHHA!!!! Too funny. I just had to comment. This time icj, you've taken your absurdity to a new level. What will you say next? HAHAHAHA!!!!

@njegos

Your wrong..... The surname Seselj is actually a Croatian surname originating from Hercegovina. Their are 200 families with that surname in Croatia all Catholics while in Serbia there are no more than 5. Just because one d**khead from the SRS has that surname it doesn't mean it is Serbian. Do your homework before posting a comment. Prove me wrong !!!

Looks like those gravestones in that link of the Tesla family are inscribed in Cyrillic ( surprisingly intact ). That puts the question of what ethnicity/nationality they were to bed once and for all !! QED.

Even Tesla said it himself, he is Croatian with serbian origins. Croatian!
So stop with this Serbia bullshit, according to them everything is Serbian, even the good himself.
Even the name Nikola is a Croatian name. What other proof do you need, serbia can only say he has origins, but he was not Serbian!

Tesla was an Albanian Vlach ....claim all you want claimers

He is ethnically serb but born in croatia.He is croatian by birth. The problem is that your ethnicity is always at the forefront in the Balkans.If you are born,educated and live in the country of your birth that becomes your country,nationality.In Bosnia all people should be Bosnian Citizens first and ethnic religeous matters are secondary.This is logical anything else is primitive and facist thinking.sjnpp3t

They don't have anyone they can be proud of so they are forced to take ours.
(Peggy, 1 June 2016 02:56)

The Americans did not take Tesla. It was Tesla who chose to be an American citizen rather than a Serbian one.
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I wasn't talking about Americans. I was talking about Croats. Do pay attention.

The fact that his father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest means nothing to desperados like the Croats.
(Peggy, 1 June 2016 02:56)

Well, it did not mean anything to Tesla himself in the first place since he refused to follow his father and become a priest.
-----
You really have to stop drinking or taking drugs. What sort of an answer is that? Nobody said he should've become a priest like his father. Do you have a problem with comprehension? Seems like you do.
The fact that his father was an Orthodox Priest means he was a SERB not Croat. You must be the only idiot here who can't grasp that.

Thankfully, Tesla was smart enough to understand that, regardless of how hard a priest tried, praying God could never produce torque in an electric motor. He realised that what could do that was electromagnetic induction.
(icj1, 2 June 2016 17:25)
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You are seriously in need of help. In your little world this makes sense but it has nothing to do with the article or what I said.

@Sinisa, I can promise you that Croatians don't fuss over silly nonsense like this.
=======================
Claiming a Serb as one of their own IS fussing over this. We are just reacting to Croatian BS.
Poor Croats, nobody to be proud of so they have to claim one of ours.
When did Tesla ever say he was Croatian?

I wasn't talking about Americans. I was talking about Croats. Do pay attention.
(Peggy, 3 June 2016 17:30)

Well, I'm not inside your mind, dear :) You wrote nowhere here that you were talking about Croats - you must have been talking to yourself. Anyway, even now that you are talking about Croats, you still are not making any sense, because Croats have not made Tesla a citizen of Croatia. So not sure what they are taking that is yours!!!
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The fact that his father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest means nothing to desperados like the Croats.
(Peggy, 1 June 2016 02:56)

Well, it did not mean anything to Tesla himself in the first place since he refused to follow his father and become a priest.
(icj1, 2 June 2016 17:25)

You really have to stop drinking or taking drugs. What sort of an answer is that?
(Peggy, 3 June 2016 17:30)

That is an answer to your statement about the importance of Tesla's father being a Serbian Orthodox Priest. Since that was not important to Tesla himself, not sure why it should be important to others!

They don't have anyone they can be proud of so they are forced to take ours.
(Peggy, 1 June 2016 02:56)

The Americans did not take Tesla. It was Tesla who chose to be an American citizen rather than a Serbian one.
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The fact that his father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest means nothing to desperados like the Croats.
(Peggy, 1 June 2016 02:56)

Well, it did not mean anything to Tesla himself in the first place since he refused to follow his father and become a priest.

Thankfully, Tesla was smart enough to understand that, regardless of how hard a priest tried, praying God could never produce torque in an electric motor. He realised that what could do that was electromagnetic induction.

Hey Peggy, my advice to you is to just ignore icj. Factman and I have both tried to engage in meaningful debates before and his/her tactic is to obfuscate and mislead. He/she clearly wouldn't last 10 seconds in a face-to-face debate because he/she would be forced to defend his/her half truths and deceptive comments. Just another Serb-hater who struggles to defend his/her revisionist statements. As you've witnessed he/she then goes completely off topic.

But since poor Serbia has nobody to be proud of, so they had to claim an American citizen as theirs.
(icj1, 4 June 2016 05:47

You sound foolish and you ridiculing someone else is too funny.

You can't alter someone's DNA and it is a fact Tesla was born of Serbian parents regardless of place of birth or citizenship.
(Gerhard, 6 June 2016 15:41)

You can't alter someone's place of birth and it is a fact Tesla was born in Croatia's territory regardless of what nationality his parents were.

So Serbia is no more correct to claim him compared to Croatia. Also Serbia is no less correct to claim him compared to Croatia. I'm not discriminating against Serbia and I'm not discriminating against Croatia. It's other people here that apparently want Serbia to have the exclusive right of claiming him lol

The fact that his father was an Orthodox Priest means he was a SERB not Croat.
(Peggy, 3 June 2016 17:30)

My father is an Orthodox priest too, but I'm not a Serb. You are writing totally non-sense, dear lol
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You must be the only idiot here who can't grasp that.
(Peggy, 3 June 2016 17:30)

I certainly can't grasp the non-sense that you are writing :)
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Thankfully, Tesla was smart enough to understand that, regardless of how hard a priest tried, praying God could never produce torque in an electric motor. He realised that what could do that was electromagnetic induction.
(icj1, 2 June 2016 17:25)

You are seriously in need of help. In your little world this makes sense but it has nothing to do with the article or what I said.
(Peggy, 3 June 2016 17:30)

Well, you implied that somehow Tesla's father being a priest was important, so I replied to that. If that has nothing to do with the article, than it means that what you wrote has nothing to do with the article in the first place. So make sure to write things that are related to the article next time!

Nidzo was inspired by Niagara Falls to create the technological, modern world we live in today. He was an American citizen and came here to fulfill his dreams. His remains should either be at Niagra Falls near his monument there, or in Wardenclyfe in Long Island, New York that has just been purchased and is being restored. This will settle the infighting, that is a disgrace to his memory.

The fact that his father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest means nothing to desperados like the Croats.
(Peggy, 1 June 2016 02:56)

Well, it did not mean anything to Tesla himself in the first place since he refused to follow his father and become a priest.

Thankfully, Tesla was smart enough to understand that, regardless of how hard a priest tried, praying God could never produce torque in an electric motor. He realised that what could do that was electromagnetic induction.
(icj1, 2 June 2016 17:25)

HAHAHHA!!!! Too funny.
I just had to comment.
(njegos, 4 June 2016 13:53)

Yup, me too couldn't let it go without having some fun with the priest of our dear Peggy lol

"As you can see and hear, I have remained a Serb on the other side of the sea, where I am conducting interrogations. You must be the same and raise the glory of Serbia in the world with your knowledge and work."
- Tesla's speech begins at High School, Belgrade, Serbia

Tesla's stay in Belgrade left a profound mark, however, despite receiving recognition from the English Association of Engineers and Scientists on September 12, and then the honorary doctorate from Columbia University in late 1892. He was elected a member of the corresponding Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1894 and a full member in 1937.
In an interview given in 1894 to one of the most prestigious literary and cultural magazines of that time, Century Magazine, Nikola Tesla states: "There is no fate in the world sadder and harder than that of the Serbian people. From the culmination of their glory, when the Serbian state covered most of the Balkan Peninsula and certain provinces now belonging to Austria, the Serbian people plunged after the fateful battle of Kosovo into hard slavery in the then overthrown Asian hordes: Europe will never be able to repay the great debt it owes to the Serbian people, who with heavy casualties succumbed to the fight against barbaric intrusion. The Poles, led by Vienna, concluded what the Serbs could not and, like them, they saw their benefits ignored.

In Kosovo, Milos Obilić, the noblest Serbian hero, fell dead on the battlefield after gutting Sultan Murat II when he broke out in the middle of the army. If that were not a historical truth, one would have been tempted to consider this event as a myth, emerging from Greek and Roman cultures. In Milos, we see Mucius Scevola and Leonid, and even more than the two, we see in him a martyr, because he does not die a light death on the battlefield like a Greek hero, but pays for his courageous work in life with terrible martyrdom. No wonder, then, that the poetry of the people is imbued with this spirit of nobility, heroism and generosity... ”

Corretion: **- Tesla's speech begins at University of Belgrade, Serbia**
Continuing: In Kosovo, Milo?s Obilić, the noblest Serbian hero, fell dead on the battlefield after gutting Sultan Murat II when he broke out in the middle of the army. If that were not a historical truth, one would have been tempted to consider this event as a myth, emerging from Greek and Roman cultures. In Milos, we see Mucius Scevola and Leonid, and even more than the two, we see in him a martyr, because he does not die a light death on the battlefield like a Greek hero, but pays for his courageous work in life with terrible martyrdom. No wonder, then, that the poetry of the people is imbued with this spirit of nobility, heroism and generosity... ”
"From that fatal battle until recently, the Serbs knew only one dark night with a star on the horizon, Montenegro. In that darkness there could be no thought or hope of science, trade, skills or economics. What else could this brave nation do in these circumstances but fight its oppressor? And its children did indeed do so, although each had to fight twenty. For this fight of theirs was not enough their rough impulses, there was more they could do and really did: they put into immortal songs the noble works of their ancestors, heroism and sorrow for those who fell in the fight for freedom.

These circumstances and innate traits made the Serbs a thinking people and a poetic nation, and so their magnificent folk songs gradually developed, having been brought together for the first time by the most prolific Serbian writer Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic, who at the same time compiled a dictionary of the Serbian language, with more than 60,000 words. These folk songs can, in Goethe's own opinion, be compared to the most beautiful Greek and Roman works. What would he say about them if he were a Serb?"
On June 1, 1892 (on the 10th anniversary of the establishment of relations between Portugal and Serbia), during a visit to Belgrade, capital of the Kingdom of Serbia, Tesla declared: "I'm sorry more than I can say. So I ask you not to measure the strength of my feelings by the weakness of my words. I have been pushed to come and I cannot get rid of my thoughts and ideas, which are haunting me here too. There is something in me that can be a mistake, as is often the case with enthusiastic young people, but if I am happy and realize at least some of my ideals - it will be a gift for all humanity and my hopes will be fulfilled; the sweetest thought will be for me: that it is the work of a Serb. Long live 'serbianity'!"

Tesla informed Zmaj, his favourite poet, about this in a letter dated 15 June 1894 (the letter is kept in the National Library of Serbia) and Politika (the oldest and most prestigious Serbian newspaper, still published today), on the occasion of Nikola Tesla's 80th birthday, published it as news on 31 May and 1 and 2 June 1936. On the occasion of the same jubilee, Vlatko Macek, Croatian politician of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), wrote to Tesla: "I address you as a son of Serbian descent and Croatian homeland...". It was Macek who called on HSS supporters to respect and cooperate with the Independent State of Croatia, a Nazi state during the Second World War, which committed the most horrific crimes against Serbs and Jews.

After the Second World War, the propaganda of the new Yugoslavian state (under the dictatorship of Croatian Tito) in order to absolve Croatia of these crimes repeated several times the lie that Tesla claimed to be proud of his Serbian origin and Croatian homeland. Given that the USA granted him US citizenship in 1891 (50 years before the founding of the independent Croatian state) and that Tesla literally never lived in Croatia, he could only say that he was proud of his Serbian origin and American homeland!

Tesla is Croatian

Nikola Tesla is probably the only Serb, whose last name doesn't end with -ich or -vich.
While there are e lot of Croats whose last name don't end with -ich or-vich.
I remember the famous Croatian basketball team "Jugoplastica",several players of Croat ethnicity were Radja,Kukoc,Tabak etc while Perasovich was serb...
Now Tesla without -ich or -vich is Serb according to Serbs.
I am pretty sure that if Tesla would have been a drug dealer, Serbs would have said that he is Croat because his last name doesn't sound as authentic Serb one....

Tesla-great scientists to be so clever must be Croatian

The comments section of this website is so sad and pathetic. You really consider this topic newsworthy? @Sinisa, I can promise you that Croatians don't fuss over silly nonsense like this. It's the Serbs that somehow have an inflated sense of self-worth even though their country is as insignificant as it gets right now. You're still running on the fumes of Yugoslavia, which was fueled by Croatian and Slovenian capital and know-how. Now be nice or we won't let you into the EU. Maybe you can form your own union with Belarus and Moldova, countries you are on par with. With regards to Tesla he was born and raised in Croatia. He can be called Croatia and Serbian alike, just like people from America come from all backgrounds and can be called Americans. If the Serbs living in Croatia can't consider themselves Croatian as well as Serbian, then they are a fifth column and should leave. But they won't because who wants to live in Serbia? Not even Syrian refugees want to settle there. If Tesla can't be referred to as Croatian in the media without you people whining, then no one can be refereed to as American, Canadian, etc.. other than the Indians. Of course, whining is the only thing you people can do nowadays considering how decrepit and powerless your country is. So have fun complaining on your message boards while the rest of Europe is forgetting you even exist.

Tesla was born in Lika which the last time I checked is in Croatia. Who cares if he is Orthodox, Buddhist or Muslim, at the end of the day he is considered Croatian. Just as the great Donald Trump is considered American and not Scottish.

If you wanna get technical he was born in Austro-Hungarian empire because Croatia as a country did not exist. He is as Serb as it gets, it's comical that Croatians try to spread lies about him being a croat. Coming from a mixed family myself Croatian Mother and a Serbian father, living in Canada I honestly prefer to be around Serbs, they have less hatred and mind their own business Croatians on the other hand, not so much

"The media in Croatia have once again referred to Nikola Tesla as being Croatian, Tanjug is reporting on Tuesday."

Only for a news agency like Tanjug obsessed with Croatia, the above is "news".

The facts that are indisputable are that Tesla was an Austrian and and American citizen.

Now, if Croatia wants to call him Croatian, Serbia wants to call him Serb, America wants to call him American, or Japan wants to call him Japanese, or country X wants to call him X, they can all do it and there is not much Tanjug can do so don't sweat over it and move on with life :)

If Tesla were really a Croat, they wouldn't have destroyed his family home in the 1940s and again in the 1990s.
(Navi, 31 May 2016 16:36)

Funny, I was there during the war and his family home was still standing :) Maybe you've seen something different in your wisdom.

Serb by ethnicity, Croat by nationality, inventor who improved the lives of millions doesn't matter what he is. Too bad Serb media is so hung up on Croatia and all things Croatian.

Tesla was an Albanian Vlach ....claim all you want claimers

He is ethnically serb but born in croatia.He is croatian by birth. The problem is that your ethnicity is always at the forefront in the Balkans.If you are born,educated and live in the country of your birth that becomes your country,nationality.In Bosnia all people should be Bosnian Citizens first and ethnic religeous matters are secondary.This is logical anything else is primitive and facist thinking.sjnpp3t

No. Banovic.
Country he was born was Austria Hungary, and it was not even Croatian province, but Krajina, that didn't have much to do with Zagreb at that time (until 1881).
But, I see your point.
Is Albert Einstein American? Or Jew? Or maybe German, since he was born in Germany?
If your first answer was German, by the place of his birth, then you can say that Tesla was Croatian. Only difference is that Einstein was born in what was then and now is Germany, while Tesla was born in what wasn't Croatia then, but it is today.

Balkan madness.
The man spends his life making the world a better place for all of humanity, and we keep fighting over which one of our countries he favored.
(Vojvodina, 31 May 2016 20:57)
=====================
A sanatised way of putting it. We are not arguing about which country he favoured because Croatia didn't even exist then. We are trying to stop Croats claiming him because clearly he was a Serb and they are trying to lay claim to him. He doesn't have a drop of Croatian blood in him.
Would you like us to keep quiet and just let them get away with it? Ah yes, I think you would.

The Croatian media refer to Nikola Tesla as Croatian because he was born in Croatia. It's true that Croatia was part of Austria-Hungary at the time but it's also true they were politically autonomous with their own parliament. Therefore, Nikola Tesla born a Croatian and is an ethnic Serb. Ivo Andric is bosnian and an ethnic Croat. Later in life he lived in Belgrade and considered himself to be Serbian, listing his nationality as Serbian on his passport. People get way to hung up on this stuff. A while back the Croatian president said everyone living in Croatia were Croatians just with different ethnic backgrounds. The same can be said of Serbia or any country.

What do you do when all of your natioal heroes are Nazi quisling collaborators? You steal from others. When Tesla was born tjere was no "croatia", he was as much Croat as Constatine the Great was Serbian for being born in Nis.

I wonder if Tesla was Croatian when the üstashe vassals killed every last Tesla from the area. Go ahead find his remaining family, they are in Belgrade not in Croatia.

Tesla is Croatian
(gggg, 31 May 2016 17:37)

And as we all know, Croats are actually Persians, so that makes Tesla Iranian, which explains why the US confiscated all his papers after his death in order to prevent his scientific discoveries from falling into the hands of Islamic terrorists.

I guess according to your logic Vojislav Seselj isn't Serbian either, right? Please answer.
(njegos, 1 June 2016 16:53) One legged Njegos he isn't his ancestors are registered in Catholic Church records in Slavonia. Heck he fell off the turnip wagon and hit his head. Now he is totally wacko he now naturally organically fits in with Serbs. Our loss is your gain LOL.

@njegos

Your wrong..... The surname Seselj is actually a Croatian surname originating from Hercegovina. Their are 200 families with that surname in Croatia all Catholics while in Serbia there are no more than 5. Just because one d**khead from the SRS has that surname it doesn't mean it is Serbian. Do your homework before posting a comment. Prove me wrong !!!

The fact that his father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest means nothing to desperados like the Croats.
(Peggy, 1 June 2016 02:56)

Well, it did not mean anything to Tesla himself in the first place since he refused to follow his father and become a priest.

Thankfully, Tesla was smart enough to understand that, regardless of how hard a priest tried, praying God could never produce torque in an electric motor. He realised that what could do that was electromagnetic induction.
(icj1, 2 June 2016 17:25)

HAHAHHA!!!! Too funny.
I just had to comment.
(njegos, 4 June 2016 13:53)

Yup, me too couldn't let it go without having some fun with the priest of our dear Peggy lol

But since poor Serbia has nobody to be proud of, so they had to claim an American citizen as theirs.
(icj1, 4 June 2016 05:47

You sound foolish and you ridiculing someone else is too funny.

You can't alter someone's DNA and it is a fact Tesla was born of Serbian parents regardless of place of birth or citizenship.
(Gerhard, 6 June 2016 15:41)

You can't alter someone's place of birth and it is a fact Tesla was born in Croatia's territory regardless of what nationality his parents were.

So Serbia is no more correct to claim him compared to Croatia. Also Serbia is no less correct to claim him compared to Croatia. I'm not discriminating against Serbia and I'm not discriminating against Croatia. It's other people here that apparently want Serbia to have the exclusive right of claiming him lol

To really get technical, Sinisa, he was born in part of Austro-Hungary called Krajina that was disbanded in 1881 and integrated into Croatian province of Austria Hungary.
So, at the time of his birth not only country Croatia did not exist, but his birthplace was not in province of Croatia, but rather Krajina.

If Croats held Krajina since the dawn of time why did Dalmatians speak Italian as their first language up until the late 1950s? Surely they would have spoken Croatian. Perhpas the Roman Emperor Diocletian was also a Croat?

The only thing Croats produce is pure 100% BS.

He was born in Austo-Hungarian empire and he was never Croatian citizen. He was American scientist of Serbian origin, as he said by himself. Any discussion is pointless.

Tesla was born in Lika which the last time I checked is in Croatia. Who cares if he is Orthodox, Buddhist or Muslim, at the end of the day he is considered Croatian. Just as the great Donald Trump is considered American and not Scottish.
(Slap, 1 June 2016 13:50)

Last time I checked you have been to be a stupid person. When Telsa was born Croatia did not exist. Stop looking at Wikipedia as an accurate source.

Funny how the greatest Croats always end up being ethnic Serbs. No wonder Croats are obsessed with Serbs.

He is ethnically serb but born in croatia.He is croatian by birth. The problem is that your ethnicity is always at the forefront in the Balkans.
(rrudi, 1 June 2016 10:12)

No that only happens in some countries. Constantine the Great was born near present day Nis, but no one in Serbia claims he's a Serb because Serbia didn't exist then. Just like Croatia didn't exist when Tesla was born. He's an ethnic Serb from Austria-Hungary.

They don't have anyone they can be proud of so they are forced to take ours.
(Peggy, 1 June 2016 02:56)

The Americans did not take Tesla. It was Tesla who chose to be an American citizen rather than a Serbian one.
----------

The fact that his father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest means nothing to desperados like the Croats.
(Peggy, 1 June 2016 02:56)

Well, it did not mean anything to Tesla himself in the first place since he refused to follow his father and become a priest.

Thankfully, Tesla was smart enough to understand that, regardless of how hard a priest tried, praying God could never produce torque in an electric motor. He realised that what could do that was electromagnetic induction.

Even Tesla said it himself, he is Croatian with serbian origins. Croatian!
So stop with this Serbia bullshit, according to them everything is Serbian, even the good himself.
Even the name Nikola is a Croatian name. What other proof do you need, serbia can only say he has origins, but he was not Serbian!

Balkan madness.
The man spends his life making the world a better place for all of humanity, and we keep fighting over which one of our countries he favored.

Funny how people like you don't say he's not a Serbs because his name is not ended in an -ic.
(ida, 31 May 2016 21:04)
=========================
They don't have anyone they can be proud of so they are forced to take ours. If Novak Djokovic wasn't alive today they would claim him too. That wasn't even Croatia back then. It was Austor-Hungarian Empire so maybe the Austrians and Hungarians will start claiming him too.
The fact that his father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest means nothing to desperados like the Croats.

Bob

Nikola Tesla's house and his fathers Orthodox Church (his father was a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church and his mother the daughter of another Serbian priest)were destroyed by Croats in 1941 and rebuilt by the Communist regime. The rebuilt house and Church were destroyed again by Croats in the 1990s and once again rebuilt, this time by the Zagreb Croats as part of a Tesla Theme Park. Had the Croats got hold of Tesla in 1941 they would have slaughtered him and not glorify him. see pictures here http://www.teslasociety.com/birthplace.htm

I can promise you that Croatians don't fuss over silly nonsense like this.
(TOMISLAV, 1 June 2016 05:28)

No you just fuss over signs in Cyrillic, licence plates from Belgrade, the number of people killed in Ustashe death camps, the way in which Operation Storm is celebrated, the amount of landmarks named after Tito versus the number of landmarks that should be named after Tudjman, the ethnicity of Rudjer Boskovic, and the nature of fascist slogans chanted at football matches. It's bad enough actual Croats haven't done much for humanity but now you actually claim ethnic Serbs to be your own in between pushing for either their assimilation or their expulsion.

From Teoeor Mazuka 1389: "Nikola Tesla is probably the only Serb, whose last name doesn't end with -ich or -vich.
While there are e lot of Croats whose last name don't end with -ich or-vich.
I remember the famous Croatian basketball team "Jugoplastica",several players of Croat ethnicity were Radja,Kukoc,Tabak etc while Perasovich was serb...
Now Tesla without -ich or -vich is Serb according to Serbs.
I am pretty sure that if Tesla would have been a drug dealer, Serbs would have said that he is Croat because his last name doesn't sound as authentic Serb one...."

I guess according to your logic Vojislav Seselj isn't Serbian either, right? Please answer.

If Tesla were really a Croat, they wouldn't have destroyed his family home in the 1940s and again in the 1990s.

Ummm no! He should be referred to as a 'Croatian-Serb' if not Serbian altogether. For example... "we Croatians burned down the house where the Croatian-Serb Nikola Tesla was born during our ethnic cleansing campaign".
By the way, that telegram that was sent to a Croatian politician somehow wasn't seen by anyone else and magically disappeared.

For the sake of the truth Tesla was American with Serbian or Croatian origine.
It doesn't matter,because America made Tesla famous not Serbia.
If he would have live in Serbia he would have ended up some low pay teacher.
We Albanians are proud of John Belushi but let's be honest, if he would have live in Albania he would have been low pay actor in Korçë.
The same for Ferid Murad(who btw is Christian evangelist)
They become who they were because they were lucky enough to live in USA-the land of opportunities.

Yes we are proud that they were born in Serbia,Croatia or Albania,but they were Americans and they become successful in America,not in Balkans.

Tesla cooperated Soviet Russia very closely. He has visited this country at least twice. He is the main suspect of the TUnguss meteorite. And during his lifetime he was always mentioned as a Serb.

@Sinisa, I can promise you that Croatians don't fuss over silly nonsense like this.
=======================
Claiming a Serb as one of their own IS fussing over this. We are just reacting to Croatian BS.
Poor Croats, nobody to be proud of so they have to claim one of ours.
When did Tesla ever say he was Croatian?

He asked for Тамо далеко to be played on his funeral and you Croats only live to hate Serbs for some reason.

Don't let he church pinch his urn.

Tesla was a scientist and a technologist - not a religious nutter.

Nikola Tesla is probably the only Serb, whose last name doesn't end with -ich or -vich.
While there are e lot of Croats whose last name don't end with -ich or-vich.
I remember the famous Croatian basketball team "Jugoplastica",several players of Croat ethnicity were Radja,Kukoc,Tabak etc while Perasovich was serb...
Now Tesla without -ich or -vich is Serb according to Serbs.
I am pretty sure that if Tesla would have been a drug dealer, Serbs would have said that he is Croat because his last name doesn't sound as authentic Serb one....
(Teoeor Muzaka 1389, 31 May 2016 16:38) what are you talking about ? most croats and serbs do have ic as their last name and many don't from them both ....mine does not have ic either.....go away you make no sense....

When you don't have prominent and famous people of your own, claim someone elses.

Hey Peggy, my advice to you is to just ignore icj. Factman and I have both tried to engage in meaningful debates before and his/her tactic is to obfuscate and mislead. He/she clearly wouldn't last 10 seconds in a face-to-face debate because he/she would be forced to defend his/her half truths and deceptive comments. Just another Serb-hater who struggles to defend his/her revisionist statements. As you've witnessed he/she then goes completely off topic.

The fact that his father was an Orthodox Priest means he was a SERB not Croat.
(Peggy, 3 June 2016 17:30)

My father is an Orthodox priest too, but I'm not a Serb. You are writing totally non-sense, dear lol
----------

You must be the only idiot here who can't grasp that.
(Peggy, 3 June 2016 17:30)

I certainly can't grasp the non-sense that you are writing :)
----------

Thankfully, Tesla was smart enough to understand that, regardless of how hard a priest tried, praying God could never produce torque in an electric motor. He realised that what could do that was electromagnetic induction.
(icj1, 2 June 2016 17:25)

You are seriously in need of help. In your little world this makes sense but it has nothing to do with the article or what I said.
(Peggy, 3 June 2016 17:30)

Well, you implied that somehow Tesla's father being a priest was important, so I replied to that. If that has nothing to do with the article, than it means that what you wrote has nothing to do with the article in the first place. So make sure to write things that are related to the article next time!

Poor Croats, nobody to be proud of so they have to claim one of ours.
When did Tesla ever say he was Croatian?
(Peggy, 3 June 2016 17:36)

It sounds like the same applies to Serbia following your logic. Tesla chose to become an American citizen, not a Serbian one. Serbia contributed nothing to make Tesla one of the greatest inventors. But since poor Serbia has nobody to be proud of, so they had to claim an American citizen as theirs.

Dear, there are different grounds for considering somebody as Croat, Serb, American, or whatever. That could be based on different factors such as family origin, place of birth, citizenship, naturalization, religion, etc. Just because Serbia uses one factor and Croatia uses another one does not make Serbia's position incorrect and Croatia's correct or vice versa.

Here are some more Serbs whose names don't end in -ic. Also it should be remembered that there were alternative ends of Serbs acquiring a surname and that some Serbs changed their name to escape retribution of the Turks. For example one Serb learned that two brothers in his ancestry, had killed a Turkish tax collect, so they fled to Herzegovina and changed their name - to a non-Serb one.
But fact is if a person calls themselves a Serb and knows their roots - as many Serbs do for generations going back hundreds of years - that you can be almost guaranteed they are Serb. Nikola Tesla descended from a long line of men who were Serbian Orthodox Priest or served in the military front. NO ONE but ethnic Serbs were SO devoted as to become priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church for generation after generation. Even his mother's father was a Serbian Orthodox priest.

These are other Serbs with a non -ic ending to their names:

Mitar Mrkela, retired football player born in Belgrade, and his son Andrej Mrkela, who is a football player
Žarko Čabarkapa, former basketball player born in Zrenjanin
Rukavina - surname for both Serbs and Croats, including many who were killed in Jasenovac
Vojin G. Oklobdzija, professor and engineer in the U.S., but from Belgrade

Nidzo was inspired by Niagara Falls to create the technological, modern world we live in today. He was an American citizen and came here to fulfill his dreams. His remains should either be at Niagra Falls near his monument there, or in Wardenclyfe in Long Island, New York that has just been purchased and is being restored. This will settle the infighting, that is a disgrace to his memory.

They don't have anyone they can be proud of so they are forced to take ours.
(Peggy, 1 June 2016 02:56)

The Americans did not take Tesla. It was Tesla who chose to be an American citizen rather than a Serbian one.
----------
I wasn't talking about Americans. I was talking about Croats. Do pay attention.

The fact that his father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest means nothing to desperados like the Croats.
(Peggy, 1 June 2016 02:56)

Well, it did not mean anything to Tesla himself in the first place since he refused to follow his father and become a priest.
-----
You really have to stop drinking or taking drugs. What sort of an answer is that? Nobody said he should've become a priest like his father. Do you have a problem with comprehension? Seems like you do.
The fact that his father was an Orthodox Priest means he was a SERB not Croat. You must be the only idiot here who can't grasp that.

Thankfully, Tesla was smart enough to understand that, regardless of how hard a priest tried, praying God could never produce torque in an electric motor. He realised that what could do that was electromagnetic induction.
(icj1, 2 June 2016 17:25)
-----------------------------
You are seriously in need of help. In your little world this makes sense but it has nothing to do with the article or what I said.

I wasn't talking about Americans. I was talking about Croats. Do pay attention.
(Peggy, 3 June 2016 17:30)

Well, I'm not inside your mind, dear :) You wrote nowhere here that you were talking about Croats - you must have been talking to yourself. Anyway, even now that you are talking about Croats, you still are not making any sense, because Croats have not made Tesla a citizen of Croatia. So not sure what they are taking that is yours!!!
----------

The fact that his father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest means nothing to desperados like the Croats.
(Peggy, 1 June 2016 02:56)

Well, it did not mean anything to Tesla himself in the first place since he refused to follow his father and become a priest.
(icj1, 2 June 2016 17:25)

You really have to stop drinking or taking drugs. What sort of an answer is that?
(Peggy, 3 June 2016 17:30)

That is an answer to your statement about the importance of Tesla's father being a Serbian Orthodox Priest. Since that was not important to Tesla himself, not sure why it should be important to others!

From icj "...praying God could never produce torque in an electric motor. He realised that what could do that was electromagnetic induction."

HAHAHAHA! I know that I said that I wouldn't waste anymore time on the clown of b92, icj, but I just couldn't resist commenting on this one. On the topic of Croats claiming that Nikola Tesla is a Croatian, our friend icj, after failing to defend his/her outrageous comments with Peggy stated the above. This is a perfect example of how icj goes completely off topic when challenged to defend his/her ridiculous statements. In this case, on a topic on nationality, our friend icj somehow winds up talking about electric motors and electromagnetic induction. HAHAHHA!!!! Too funny. I just had to comment. This time icj, you've taken your absurdity to a new level. What will you say next? HAHAHAHA!!!!

But since poor Serbia has nobody to be proud of, so they had to claim an American citizen as theirs.
(icj1, 4 June 2016 05:47

You sound foolish and you ridiculing someone else is too funny.

You can't alter someone's DNA and it is a fact Tesla was born of Serbian parents regardless of place of birth or citizenship.

"Nikola Tesla is probably the only Serb, whose last name doesn't end with -ich or -vich."

Wrong, there are many Serbs whose names end differently. You have actor Rade Serbedzija, who is a Croatian Serb (and his name practically spells out he is Serb). There are many others who end with an -a. Also, you have the name Samardzija, which is Serbian. There is Savo Heleta, a Bosnian Serb who wrote how he and his family survived in Muslim-controlled Goradze. They were starved and threatened by Bosniaks and eventually had to cross a river in the middle of winter to escape.
Also "Tesla" is close to "Teslic" which is a Serb-majority city in Bosnia-Herzegovina. And going back in the past, you find it more and more purely Serb.
And what about Gavrilo Princip, whose name ends in a P?
Funny how people like you don't say he's not a Serbs because his name is not ended in an -ic.

Nikola Tesla is probably the only Serb, whose last name doesn't end with -ich or -vich.
While there are e lot of Croats whose last name don't end with -ich or-vich.
I remember the famous Croatian basketball team "Jugoplastica",several players of Croat ethnicity were Radja,Kukoc,Tabak etc while Perasovich was serb...
Now Tesla without -ich or -vich is Serb according to Serbs.
I am pretty sure that if Tesla would have been a drug dealer, Serbs would have said that he is Croat because his last name doesn't sound as authentic Serb one....
(Teoeor Muzaka 1389, 31 May 2016

To Muzaka,
Tesla father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest,so he Serbian,as well is passport was from Serbia when he went to USA.
P's I know many Serb's surname that don't end in vic.eg Vlado Divac,Vidimir Stimac, Mateje Kezman.All great Serb sportsmen!The list goes on.

Well his father was a prist rite? No Croatian prist have children rite? Wich makes him pravoslav

Don't know for sure but I bet Tesla was less hung up on his ethnicity then Serbs and Croats are today and more on using his genius to help humanity.

Whether Serb, Croation, American, Austro-hungarian or alien, he was a remarkable person and should be celebrated by all humanity.

If all Balkanites were a just little like him then the Balkans would be a wonderful place.

From Minister Frank: "Your wrong..... The surname Seselj is actually a Croatian surname originating from Hercegovina. Their are 200 families with that surname in Croatia all Catholics while in Serbia there are no more than 5. Just because one d**khead from the SRS has that surname it doesn't mean it is Serbian. Do your homework before posting a comment. Prove me wrong !!!"

LOL! Hey Minister, it is a well known fact that the Ustasha Minister of Educatiion, Mile Budek, put forth the edict to kill 1/3 of Serbs living in Croatia, exile 1/3 and convert 1/3 to the catholic religion. Thousands of Serbs were converted. There are Croats with surnames of Kovacevich which is a name that goes back centuries in Montenegro. Same with Kosanovich in Lika. And I could name many, many more. Your little diatribe above is a joke. You say prove you wrong, how about you proving that you're right. BTW, minister, are you any relation to Minister Budek mentioned earlier? Nice blood lines.

Looks like those gravestones in that link of the Tesla family are inscribed in Cyrillic ( surprisingly intact ). That puts the question of what ethnicity/nationality they were to bed once and for all !! QED.

Tesla informed Zmaj, his favourite poet, about this in a letter dated 15 June 1894 (the letter is kept in the National Library of Serbia) and Politika (the oldest and most prestigious Serbian newspaper, still published today), on the occasion of Nikola Tesla's 80th birthday, published it as news on 31 May and 1 and 2 June 1936. On the occasion of the same jubilee, Vlatko Macek, Croatian politician of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), wrote to Tesla: "I address you as a son of Serbian descent and Croatian homeland...". It was Macek who called on HSS supporters to respect and cooperate with the Independent State of Croatia, a Nazi state during the Second World War, which committed the most horrific crimes against Serbs and Jews.

After the Second World War, the propaganda of the new Yugoslavian state (under the dictatorship of Croatian Tito) in order to absolve Croatia of these crimes repeated several times the lie that Tesla claimed to be proud of his Serbian origin and Croatian homeland. Given that the USA granted him US citizenship in 1891 (50 years before the founding of the independent Croatian state) and that Tesla literally never lived in Croatia, he could only say that he was proud of his Serbian origin and American homeland!

Tesla was an Albanian Vlach ....claim all you want claimers
(PyrrosUZ, 31 May 2016 19:54)

Dude, everyone knows he's a Portuguese Corsican. Where did you ever hear he was an Albanian Vlach?

"As you can see and hear, I have remained a Serb on the other side of the sea, where I am conducting interrogations. You must be the same and raise the glory of Serbia in the world with your knowledge and work."
- Tesla's speech begins at High School, Belgrade, Serbia

Tesla's stay in Belgrade left a profound mark, however, despite receiving recognition from the English Association of Engineers and Scientists on September 12, and then the honorary doctorate from Columbia University in late 1892. He was elected a member of the corresponding Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1894 and a full member in 1937.
In an interview given in 1894 to one of the most prestigious literary and cultural magazines of that time, Century Magazine, Nikola Tesla states: "There is no fate in the world sadder and harder than that of the Serbian people. From the culmination of their glory, when the Serbian state covered most of the Balkan Peninsula and certain provinces now belonging to Austria, the Serbian people plunged after the fateful battle of Kosovo into hard slavery in the then overthrown Asian hordes: Europe will never be able to repay the great debt it owes to the Serbian people, who with heavy casualties succumbed to the fight against barbaric intrusion. The Poles, led by Vienna, concluded what the Serbs could not and, like them, they saw their benefits ignored.

In Kosovo, Milos Obilić, the noblest Serbian hero, fell dead on the battlefield after gutting Sultan Murat II when he broke out in the middle of the army. If that were not a historical truth, one would have been tempted to consider this event as a myth, emerging from Greek and Roman cultures. In Milos, we see Mucius Scevola and Leonid, and even more than the two, we see in him a martyr, because he does not die a light death on the battlefield like a Greek hero, but pays for his courageous work in life with terrible martyrdom. No wonder, then, that the poetry of the people is imbued with this spirit of nobility, heroism and generosity... ”

Corretion: **- Tesla's speech begins at University of Belgrade, Serbia**
Continuing: In Kosovo, Milo?s Obilić, the noblest Serbian hero, fell dead on the battlefield after gutting Sultan Murat II when he broke out in the middle of the army. If that were not a historical truth, one would have been tempted to consider this event as a myth, emerging from Greek and Roman cultures. In Milos, we see Mucius Scevola and Leonid, and even more than the two, we see in him a martyr, because he does not die a light death on the battlefield like a Greek hero, but pays for his courageous work in life with terrible martyrdom. No wonder, then, that the poetry of the people is imbued with this spirit of nobility, heroism and generosity... ”
"From that fatal battle until recently, the Serbs knew only one dark night with a star on the horizon, Montenegro. In that darkness there could be no thought or hope of science, trade, skills or economics. What else could this brave nation do in these circumstances but fight its oppressor? And its children did indeed do so, although each had to fight twenty. For this fight of theirs was not enough their rough impulses, there was more they could do and really did: they put into immortal songs the noble works of their ancestors, heroism and sorrow for those who fell in the fight for freedom.

These circumstances and innate traits made the Serbs a thinking people and a poetic nation, and so their magnificent folk songs gradually developed, having been brought together for the first time by the most prolific Serbian writer Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic, who at the same time compiled a dictionary of the Serbian language, with more than 60,000 words. These folk songs can, in Goethe's own opinion, be compared to the most beautiful Greek and Roman works. What would he say about them if he were a Serb?"
On June 1, 1892 (on the 10th anniversary of the establishment of relations between Portugal and Serbia), during a visit to Belgrade, capital of the Kingdom of Serbia, Tesla declared: "I'm sorry more than I can say. So I ask you not to measure the strength of my feelings by the weakness of my words. I have been pushed to come and I cannot get rid of my thoughts and ideas, which are haunting me here too. There is something in me that can be a mistake, as is often the case with enthusiastic young people, but if I am happy and realize at least some of my ideals - it will be a gift for all humanity and my hopes will be fulfilled; the sweetest thought will be for me: that it is the work of a Serb. Long live 'serbianity'!"