| Peter Cvjetanovic | |
| Other Names: | Peter Cytanovic |
| Birth Place: | Reno, Nevada |
| Alma Mater: | University of Nevada, Reno |
| Employer: | University of Nevada, Reno (2017) Nevada National Guard (2019-2021) |
| Organization: | Identity Evropa |
| Known For: | White nationalism, Unite the Right rally protesting |
Peter Cvjetanovic (also known as Peter Cytanovic;[1] born 1996) is an American white supremacist known for being photographed at the Unite the Right rally in 2017.
He has worked as a driver for the University of Nevada, Reno and was dismissed from the Nevada National Guard in 2021 after background checks revealed his history of extremism.
In 2019, Cvjetanovic said that he no longer considered himself a white nationalist, and had begun volunteering with a counter-extremism organization.
In 2023, Cvjetanovic started his pursuit of a Ph.D. in political science at the Catholic University of America, and running for election as treasurer of the Graduate Student Association.[2]
Cvjetanovic was born in Reno, Nevada[3] in 1996.[4] His father worked at a casino; his mother received a brain cancer diagnosis during pregnancy. He grew up in a household that he described as impoverished and Catholic.
Cvjetanovic graduated from North Valleys High School in Reno, in 2014.[5] He studied history and political science for four years at the University of Nevada, Reno.
In 2017, Cvjetanovic was a white nationalist and a member of Identity Evropa, a group that the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled as a hate group.[6] A photograph of Cvjetanovic and Teddy Joseph Von Nukem holding tiki torches at the Unite the Right rally became the image most commonly used to represent the 2017 right-wing protest in Charlottesville, Virginia.[7] A Boston Globe opinion piece by media studies professor Aniko Bodroghkozy[8] described Cvjetanovic as sporting a "Hitler Youth haircut" in the photograph.[9]
Cvjetanovic resigned as a driver for the University of Nevada, Reno in 2017, while continuing his studies there. Cvjetanovic worked for the campus escort service, PackRides, which provides safe after-hours transportation for students between 5 and 10 pm, and provides weekend transportation to retail shops.[10] Earlier, the university declined to terminate his employment, despite public pressure to do so, citing Cvjetanovic's right to freedom of expression.[11] In a 2017 interview,[12] Cvjetanovic discussed his decision to resign, citing that students might not "appreciate" him [as a driver].
During a 2017 interview on local television about his role in the rally, Cvjetanovic denied being racist, but also spoke of "the slow replacement of white heritage in the United States" and described the Confederate general Robert E. Lee as someone that he "wanted to honour [for] what he stood for during his time."[13] Cvjetanovic described the far-left and Antifa as "just as dangerous, if not more dangerous than the right wing could ever be."[14] Cvjetanovic reported receiving five credible death threats after the photograph went viral on social media.
In 2019, Cvjetanovic was studying for a master's degree in political theory at the London School of Economics while volunteering for Groundswell, a counter-extremism organisation.[15] In an interview with the university's student newspaper that year he said he had "never" been a neo-Nazi, and did not understand what the term white nationalist meant when he described himself as one.[16]
He is one of eight people featured in Charlotte McDonald-Gibson's 2022 book Far Out: Encounters with Extremists.
In July 2023, Cvjetanovic was arrested in Washoe County, Nevada.[17] [18] During an interview for the Pop Culture Crisis podcast he stated that he had "been charged with intimidation for Charlottesville."[19]
Cvjetanovic worked as a Specialist for the Nevada National Guard from November 22, 2019, until being fired just over one year later, after background checks highlighted his extremism.
Since 2019, he has struggled to find employment due to his infamy.