Independent State of Croatia

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The Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) was an Axis ally state in Croatia and its environs during World War II. It was established in April 1941, after the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was split up by Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. Geographically it encompassed most of modern-day Croatia as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina and parts of Slovenia and Serbia.

The NDH was ruled by Ante Pavelić and his Ustaša coming from the extremist wing of Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), which was founded by Ante Starčević in 1861. The NDH had a program, formulated by Mile Budak, to purge Croatia of Serbs, by killing one third, expelling the other third and assimilating the remaining third. The first part of this programme was begun during WWII by a planned genocide in Jasenovac and other places all over NDH.

Independent State of Croatia was allied with Italy and Germany. The guerilla group called the Partisans, led by Josip Broz Tito and other members of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, as well as rival guerilla group called Chetniks, opposed the Ustaše. The Partisans, Chetniks and the Ustaše effectively fought a 3 sided civil war in the NDH. Communist Tito took control of increasingly large patches of NDH territory by 1943, and in May 1945 Yugoslav army finally defeated the Axis forces.

Contents 1 Geography 2 History 2.1 Establishment of NDH 2.2 Initial period 2.3 Uprising 2.4 End of the war 3 Population 4 Displacement of people 5 Political and civilian life 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Geography

Upon its formation Independent State of Croatia encompassed most of present-day Croatia. Parts of Croatia that were not in NDH upon it's formation were those that Italy gained by Treaty of Saint-Germain like Istria, Zadar and some Dalmatian islands like Krk and Lastovo. Rijeka was incorporated into Italy after Treaty of Rapallo, so it also was not in Independent State of Croatia. Also, Međimurje and southern Baranja were annexed by Hungary.

The NDH also encompassed the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as some 20 km² of Slovenia (villages Slovenska vas near Bregana, Nova vas near Mokrice, Jesenice in Dolenjsko, Obrežje and Čedem), and the whole of Syrmia (part of which was previously in Danube Banovina).

The situation changed significantly after the signing of the Roma contract on 19 May 1941. NDH ceded to Italy almost the whole of Dalmatia: the Zadar area, the Šibenik area and the Split area, a number of islands including Rab, Krk, Vis, Lastovo, Korčula, Mljet and many smaller ones, such as Boka Kotorska and parts of Hrvatsko primorje and Gorski kotar. NDH regained de jure control of this areas after the capitulation of Italy on 8 September 1943, but by then most of it was controlled by Croatian partisans.

[edit] History

[edit] Establishment of NDH

Following the attack of the Axis powers on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1941, and the quick defeat of the Yugoslav army (Jugoslovenska vojska), the whole country was occupied by Axis forces. Hitler and Mussolini helped install the Croatian Ustaše, who had long sought Croatian independence, forming the Independent State of Croatia (NDH - Nezavisna Država Hrvatska).

The establishment of NDH was proclaimed on April 10, 1941 by Slavko Kvaternik, deputy leader of the Ustaše. The leader of the state was Ante Pavelić. On paper, it was a kingdom under king Tomislav II of the House of Savoy (The Duke of Spalato), but he was only a figurehead with no real power.

The name of the new state was an obvious attempt at capitalizing on the Croat people's desire for independence, which had been unfulfilled since 1102. Vladko Maček the head of the Croatian Peasant Party, the strongest elected party in Croatia at the time, refused an offer from Germans to head the government but called on people to obey to and cooperate with the new government the same day Kvaternik made the proclamation. Ante Pavelić arrived on April 20th to become the poglavnik (Leader, correlated with führer). The Roman Catholic Church's official stance was also openly positive in this period.

According to Vladko Maček, the establishment of the state was greeted with approval by the middle classes and the intelligentsia who had become disillusioned with Yugoslavia, but the peasantry met it with suspicion. The concession of an autonomous Croat province, the Banovina of Croatia, had been too recent (1939) to offset the friction that had marked the last two decades under the militarist regime of the Yugoslav king.

On 19 May 1941 Pavelić and Mussolini, in accordance with Contract signed in Rapallo at the end of WWI between Serbs Kingdom of Jugoslavia and Italy, signed Roma operating contract by which NDH had to cede to Italy in accordance with Rapallos Contract almost whole of Dalmatia and parts of Hrvatsko primorje and Gorski kotar. NDH was also forbidden to have a navy.

This article is part of the History of Croatia series.

Origins of the Croats

Before the Croats

Medieval Croatian state

Kingdom of Croatia

Union with Hungary

Habsburg Empire

First Yugoslavia

Independent State of Croatia

Second Yugoslavia

War of independence

Croatia since 1995

This article is part of:

History of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Chronology

Until 958 958–1463 1463–1878 1878–1918 1918–1941 1941–1945 1945–1992 1992–1995 1995–present

Topics

Culture Rulers Presidents Demographics Economy Military Islam Catholicism Serbs Croats Jews Roma

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[edit] Initial period

The Ustaše initially did not have a capable army or administration necessary to control all of this territory: the movement had fewer than 12,000 members when the war broke out, and not nearly all of them were deployed during the invasion. Therefore the territory was controlled by the Germans and the Italians:

• the northeastern half of NDH territory was under the so-called German zone of influence, with the Wehrmacht making its presence
• the southwestern half was controlled by the Italian Fascist army. After the capitulation of Italy in 1943, NDH acquired northern Dalmatia (Split and Šibenik)

NDH would eventually build up its own army, divided into two main groups:

• Ustaše proper constituted the elite militia (Croatian Ustaška vojnica)
• Home Guard or Domobrani was the much larger regular army

Together they mustered about 110,000 troops by the end of 1942, and about 130,000 in 1943 and were initially equipped mainly with captured Royal Yugoslav Army weapons and equipment, as well as some ex-Italian and ex-Polish light armoured vehicles. On the other hand, the NDH had no navy, owing to the terms of the Rome Agreement with Italy. The air force was modest as well, initially consisting of captured Royal Yugoslav aircraft (7 operational fighters and 20 bombers, as well some 150 auxiliary and training aircraft), but also supplemented by further German, Italian and French fighters and bombers right up until March 1945.

[edit] Uprising

The anti-fascist movement emerged early in 1941, in Croatia under the command of the Communist party, led by Josip Broz Tito, as in other parts of Yugoslavia. The Croatian Partisans (partizani) began what would come to be known as the War of Liberation in Yugoslavia on June 22, 1941, when their first armed unit was formed in Brezovica near Sisak. The Partisans first engaged in combat on June 27th in Srb in Lika.

Another faction among the rebels were the Chetniks (četnici - четници), the Serbian royalists. The first Chetniks armed unit in Croatia was formed on June 28 (on the day of Vidovdan, a Serbian Orthodox holiday).

With increasing atrocities by Chetniks in Croatia, the Partisans gradually received support from an increasing amount of population. At first they were isolated guerilla units formed in the areas of the atrocities — this is why Partisans were often quoted as being a movement composed mostly of Serbs. Shortly after the Communists started their uprising, the Ustaše incarcerated much of the left-wing inteligentsia in Zagreb, and in an oft-quoted incident of July 9th, 1941, killed Božidar Adžija, Otokar Keršovani, Ognjen Prica and other Croatian communists.

Starting in 1941, Yugoslav communists under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito organized their own multi-ethnic resistance group, the Yugoslav partisans, who fought against both Axis and Chetnik forces.

By the end of 1942, the news about the Ustaše atrocities in Jasenovac and elsewhere had also spread among the Croatian population. Noted writers Vladimir Nazor and Ivan Goran Kovačić escaped from the Ustaše-held territory to join the Partisans, and were followed by many more.

On November 25, 1943 the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia with Tito at its helm held a founding conference in Jajce where Bosnia and Herzegovina was reestablished as a republic within the Yugoslavian federation in its Ottoman borders.

The Serbian royalist guerilla the Chetniks fight for Kingdom of Yugoslavia and monarchy, in turn committed atrocities against Croats in retaliation. Later in the war, both Ustaše and Četnici collaborated with the Axis powers and fought together against the Partisans. Military successes of partisans in the battles in Yugoslavia eventually prompted the Allies to support them.

[edit] End of the war

In August of 1944 there was an attempt by foreign Minister in NDH government Mladen Lorković and Minister of War Ante Vokić to execute a coup d'etat against Ante Pavelić. The coup (called Lorković-Vokić coup) failed and conspirators were executed.

The NDH army held its lines as it withdrew towards Zagreb with German and Cossak troops by early 1945, and even continued fighting for a week after the German surrender on May 9th, 1945. They were soon overpowered and the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) effectively ceased to exist in May 1945, near the end of the war. The advance of Tito's partisan forces, joined by the Soviet Red Army, caused mass retreat of the Ustaše towards Austria.

In May 1945, a large column composed of anti-communists, Ustaša followers, NDH Army troops and civilians retreated away from the Partisan forces, heading northwest towards Italy and Austria. Ante Pavelić detached from the group and fled to Austria, Italy and finally Argentina. The rest of the group, consisting of over 150,000 soldiers (including Cossak troops) and civilians negotiated passage with the British forces on the Austrian side of the Austrian-Slovenian border. Unfortunately the British Army then turned over the overwhelming majority to the Partisan forces. Most did not survive the return journey, with those killed either perishing in the Bleiburg massacre or being led back into the newly formed Yugoslavia in death marches the Croats call the Križni Put (Way of the Cross).

The end of the war resulted in the establishment of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with the constitution of 1946 officially making Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina one of six constituent republics in the new state.

During the Tito's Yugoslavia, many Croatian nationalists were executed or imprisoned (the Lepoglava jail and Goli Otok were the most notorious). The expression of Croat nationalist ideas (and any other nationalist ideas) in SFRJ became illegal.

Today, this monument stands just south of Srb commemorating the battle which ensued.

[edit] Population

According to the data presented by former Austro-Hungarian officer Hefner, the population of the Independent State of Croatia numbered 6,042,000 people (data from 23.4.1941.), including:

• Croats = 3,069,000 (50.78%)
• Serbs = 1,847,000 (30.65%)
• Muslims = 717,000 (11.86%)
• others = 410,000 (6.80%), of whom:
  • Germans = 150,000
  • Hungarians = 75,000
  • Slovaks = 65,000
  • Jews = 40,000
  • Slovenians = 30,000
  • Italians = 5,000

According to another source, the Independent State of Croatia had a population of 6,300,000 and was ethnically diverse - the relative majority was held by Croats, but as Bosnian Muslims were counted as Croats, Croats held absolute majority according to Ustashe ideology, while over 33% (2,100,000) of the populace were Serbs (of whom most were Orthodox Christian); around 50% of the population were Catholics (Germans and Hungarians, aside from Croats). 750,000 inhabitants of the independent state of Croatia were Muslims. There was a significant minority of 30,000 Jews living mostly in Sarajevo, Zagreb and Osijek. Authorities soon disbanded the Serbian Orthodox Church on their territory and established a short-lived autocephalus Croatian Orthodox Church whose Patriarch was Germogen, an exiled Russian.

[edit] Displacement of people

A large number of people were displaced internally due to fighting as well as from external sources. The NDH also had to accept more than 200,000 Slovenian refugees which were forcefully evicted from their homes as part of the German plan of annexing parts of the Slovenian territories. As part of this deal the Ustaše were to deport 200,000 Serbs from Croatia military, however only 182,000 were deported due to the German high commander Bader stopping this mass transport of people because of the Chetniks and partisan uprising in Serbia. Because of this 25,000 Slovenian refugees ended in Serbia.

[edit] Political and civilian life

The previously important civic factors, the Peasant Party (HSS) and the Catholic Church, were reasonably uninvolved in the creation and maintenance of the Independent State of Croatia. All who opposed and/or threatened the Ustaše were eventually outlawed.

The Ustaše government tried to convene the Croatian Parliament (as Hrvatski državni Sabor NDH) in 1942, with a manually selected list of deputies, but after three short sessions, this mock parliament ceased operation by the end of the same year.

The HSS was banned on June 11, 1941 in an attempt of the Ustaše to take their place as the primary representative of the Croatian peasantry. Vladko Maček was sent to Jasenovac concentration camp, but later released to serve a house arrest sentence due to his popularity among the people. Maček was later again called upon by the foreigners to take a stand and counteract the Pavelić government, but refused.

The Catholic Church participated in religious conversions at first, but eventually the main branches of the Church stopped doing so, as it became obvious that these conversions were merely a lesser form of punishment for the undesirable population. Nevertheless, a number of priests joined the Ustaše ranks (see: Involvement of Croatian Catholic clergy with the Ustaša regime).

[edit] See also

• Ustaše
• Balkans Campaign
• Fascist Italy
• Hanging in NDH
• History of Yugoslavia
• List of leaders of Independent State of Croatia
• Nedic’s Serbia
• People's Liberation War
• Quisling
• Sutjeska offensive
• Hrvatsko ratno zrakoplovstvo (WWII)- WWII Croatian Air Force
• List of WWII Croatian Tanks and Armours

[edit] References

• Hermann Neubacher: Sonderauftrag Suedost 1940-1945, Bericht eines fliegendes Diplomaten, 2. durchgesehene Auflage, Goettingen 1956
• Ladislaus Hory and Martin Broszat: Der Kroatische Ustascha-Staat, 1941-1945 Stuttgart, 1964
• Encyclopedia Britannica, 1943 - Book of the year, page 215, Entry: Croatia
• Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, Europe, edition 1995, page 91, entry: Croatia
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, Edition 1991, Macropedia, Vol. 29, page 1111.
• Helen Fein: Accounting for Genocide - Victims and Survivors of the Holocaust, The Free Press, New York, Edition 1979, pages 102, 103.
• Alfio Russo: Revoluzione in Jugoslavia, Roma 1944.
• Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, Vol. 2, Independent State of Croatia entry.

[edit] External links

• Axis History Factbook - Croatia
• U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Holocaust era in Croatia (1941-1945)
• Independent State of Croatia's Military Decorations
• BBC News: Croatian holocaust still stirs controversy
• Biography of Pavelić
• Another Biography of Pavelic
• Two Bullets for Pavelić
• Miroslav Filipović-Majstorović
• Pavelic's escape to Argentina
• Ivan Goran Kovačić The Pit
• Jasenovac - a prisoner execution
• Independent State of Croatia proclamation
• genocide committed by Ustashi
• unindentified Croatian Ustasha
• Avro Manhattan: "The Vatican's Holocaust", a book about the Ustaše and the NDH