Independent State of Croatia

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Nezavisna Država Hrvatska Independent State of Croatia Puppet state of the Axis powers ← 1941 – 1945 → Flag Coat of arms Capital Zagreb Language(s) Croatian Religion Roman Catholicism, Islam, Lutheran Protestantism, and Croatian Orthodox Political structure Puppet state (monarchy) King (1941 - 1943) / Poglavnik (1943 - 1945)  - 1941 - 1943 Tomislav II (King)  - 1943 - 1945 Ante Pavelić (Poglavnik) Prime Minister ("President of the Government")  - 1941 - 1943 Ante Pavelić (Poglavnik)  - 1943 - 1945 Nikola Mandić Historical era World War II  - Established April 10, 1941  - Disestablished May 8, 1945 Area  - 1941 115,133 km² (44,453 sq mi) Population  - 1941 est. 6,300,000       Density 54.7 /km²  (141.7 /sq mi) Currency Croatian kuna

The Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska; NDH) was a puppet state^[1][2] of the Axis powers. It was established on April 10, 1941, after the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was attacked by the Axis forces. It was technically a monarchy and Italian protectorate under its Italian-born King Aimone, Duke of Aosta ("Tomislav II") from the signing of the Rome agreements on May 19, 1941 up until the Italian capitulation on September 8, 1943, but the state was controlled by the governing fascist Ustaše movement. Geographically, it encompassed most of modern-day Croatia, as well as all of Bosnia and Herzegovina and part of modern-day Serbia. It bordered Nazi Germany to the northwest, the Kingdom of Hungary to the northeast, Military Administration of Serbia (a joint German-Serb government) to the east, Montenegro (an Italian protectorate) to the southeast, Italy along its coastal area, and to the north Province of Ljubljana (parts of what is now Slovenia, although in the past, it would have been including parts of Drava Banovina).

With few exceptions, NDH was granted full recognition only by the Axis Powers and by countries under Axis occupation.^[3] The state maintained diplomatic missions in several countries, all in Europe. Embassies of Nazi Germany, Italy, Tiso's Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, Spain, and Japan, as well as the consulates of Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Portugal, Argentina and Vichy France were located in Zagreb.^[4][5]

The Independent State of Croatia retained the court system of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, only restoring the courts' names to their original forms. The state had 172 kotar courts (local courts), 19 judicial tables (district courts), an Administrative Court and a Ban's Table (appellate court) in both Zagreb and Sarajevo, as well as the Table of Seven (supreme court) in Zagreb and a Supreme Court in Sarajevo.^[6]

The currency of the Independent State of Croatia was the Croatian kuna. The Croatian State Bank was the central bank, responsible for issuing currency. Yugoslav Railways was dissolved and Croatian State Railways was formed in the NDH, along with Serbian State Railways in Serbia.^[7][8]

Contents 1 Government 1.1 The NDH Croatian State Parliament 2 Geography 2.1 Administrative divisions 3 History 3.1 Establishment of NDH 3.1.1 Italian influence 3.1.2 German Influence 3.2 Partisan uprising 3.3 End of the war 3.4 Aftermath 4 Demographics 4.1 Population 4.2 Displacement of people 5 Military 5.1 Racial legislation 5.2 Culture 6 Sport 7 Notes 8 References 9 See also 10 External links

[edit] Government

The absolute leader of the state was Ante Pavelić, who kept his title from Ustaše movement: "Poglavnik" (Head-man). He was known by this title throughout the war, regardless of his current post. From 1941 - 1943, while the country was a de jure monarchy, he was its powerful Prime Minister (or "President of the Government"). The figurehead nature of the King was much like that of Italy at that time under the strong premiership of Benito Mussolini, whose fascist government had sheltered and supported the Ustaše movement for many years. After the capitulation of Italy, however, he became the head-of-state as the Poglavnik of the NDH, in the place of Aimone, Duke of Aosta ("Tomislav II"). Pavelić also held the position of Prime Minister up until early 1944, when he appointed Nikola Mandić to replace him.^[9]

Previously important organizations, the Croatian 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.^{[citation needed]}

The Croatian Peasant Party was banned on June 11, 1941 in an attempt of the Ustaše to take their place as the primary representative of the Croatian peasantry.^{[citation needed]} Vladko Maček was sent to initially sent to Jasenovac concentration camp. 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.

[edit] The NDH Croatian State Parliament

The NDH Croatian State Parliament was convened in 1942, but met only just over a dozen times, and was not elected. It was established by the Legal Decree on the Croatian State Parliament on January 24, 1942.^[10] This law established five different criteria for who would receive an invitation by the Ustaše-appointed government: living Croatian representatives from the Croatian Parliament of 1918, living Croatian representatives elected in the 1938 Yugoslavian elections, members of the Croatian Party of Rights prior to 1919, certain officials of the Supreme Ustaše Headquarters and two members of the German national assembly.^[10] The responsibility for assembling all eligible members of parliament was given to the head of the Supreme Court, Nikola Vukelić, who found 204 people to be eligible.^[10] In accordance with the government decree, Vukelić ruled that those who had received the position of senator in 1939, had been part of Dušan Simović's government, or had been part of the Yugoslav government-in-exile forfeited their eligibility.^[10] Two hundred and four people were declared eligible for the parliament, with 141 actually attending parliamentary meetings. Of those 204, 93 were members of the Croatian Peasant Party and 56 of them attended meetings.^[10]

The Parliament was only a deliberatory body and was not empowered to enact legislation. However, at its eighth session in February of 1942 the Ustasha regime was put on the defensive when a joint Croatian Peasant Party-Croatian Party of Rights motion supported by 39 members of parliament questioned about the whereabouts of the Peasant Party's leader Vladko Maček.^[10] The following session, Ante Pavelić himself responded that he was being kept in isolation to prevent him from coming into contact with Yugoslav government officials. In less than a month, Maček was subsequently moved from Jasenovac to his property in Kupinec for a house arrest.^[10] Maček was later called upon by foreigners to take a stand and counteract the Pavelić government, but he refused. He fled the country in 1945, with the help of Ustasha general Ante Moškov.^[11]

After its February sitting, the Parliament met only a few more times, and the legal decree was not renewed in 1943.

[edit] Geography

Upon its establishment, the exact borders of the Independent State of Croatia were unclear.^[12] Approximately one month upon its formation, significant chunks of Croat-populated territory was surrendered to its Axis allies, the Kingdoms of Hungary and Italy.

• On May 13, 1941, the NDH government signed an agreement with Nazi Germany which demarked their borders.^[13]
• On May 19, the Rome contracts were signed by diplomats of the NDH and Italy. Large parts of Croatian lands were hereupon occupied (annexed) by Italy. Italy annexed the vast majority of Dalmatia (including Split and Šibenik), nearly all the Adriatic islands (including Rab, Krk, Vis, Korčula, Mljet), and some other small areas such as the Boka Kotorska bay, parts of the Hrvatsko Primorje and Gorski kotar areas.
• On June 7, the NDH government declared a law which outlined its eastern border with Serbia.^[13]
• On October 27, the NDH and Italy reached an agreement on the Independent State of Croatia's border with Montenegro.
• On September 8, 1943, Italy capitulated. With this the NDH officially considered the Rome contracts to be void, along with the Treaty of Rapallo of [[1920] which had given Italy Istria, Rijeka and Zadar.^[14] German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop approved of the NDH retaking the territory from the Rome contracts.^[14] By now most of the territory was controlled by the Yugoslav Partisans, since the secessions of these areas made them strongly anti-NDH (a third of the total population of Split is documented to have joined the Partisans).^{[citation needed]} By September 11, NDH foreign minister Mladen Lorković received word from German consul Siegfried Kasche that the NDH should wait before moving on Istria. However, by this point Germany's central government had already annexed Istria and Rijeka into the Operational Zone Adriatic Coast a day earlier.^[14] Zadar was occupied solely by the Germans, and was probably considered a part of the puppet Italian Social Republic.

Međimurje and southern Baranja were annexed (occupied) by the Kingdom of Hungary. However, the NDH disputed this and continued to lay claim to both, naming the administrative province centred in Osijek as Great Parish Baranja, despite none of the region lying within its control. This border was never legislated, although Hungary may have considered the Pacta conventa to be in effect, which delineated the two nation's borders along the Drava river.

When compared to the republican borders established in the SFR Yugoslavia after the war, the NDH encompassed the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with its majority of non-Croat (Serbian and Bosniak) populations, as well as some 20km² 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 the Danube Banovina).

[edit] Administrative divisions

See also: Counties of the Independent State of Croatia and Districts of the Independent State of Croatia

The Independent State of Croatia had three levels of administrative divisions: great parishes, districts and municipalities. At the time of its foundation, the state had 22 great parishes, 142 kotars and 1006 municipalities.^[15] The highest level of division were the Great Parishes (Velike župe).^[16] Each was headed by a Grand Župan.

1 Baranja 2 Bilogora 3 Bribir and Sidraga 4 Cetina 5 Dubrava 6 Gora 7 Hum 8 Krbava - Psat

9 Lašva and Glaž 10 Lika and Gacka 11 Livac and Zapolje 12 Modruš 13 Pliva and Rama 14 Podgorje 15 Pokupje 16 Posavje

17 Prigorje 18 Sana and Luka 19 Usora and Soli 20 Vrhbosna 21 Vuka 22 Zagorje

[edit] History

See also: Pacta conventa (Croatia) and Creation of Yugoslavia

In 1915 a group of political emigres from Austria-Hungary, predominantly Croats but including some Serbs and a Slovene, formed themselves into a Yugoslav Committee, with a view to creating a South Slav state in the aftermath of World War I. They saw this as a way to prevent Dalmatia being ceded to Italy under the Treaty of London (1915). The committee was succeeded by a national council which in 1918 sent a delegation to the Serbian monarch to offer unification within a State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The leader of the Croatian Peasant Party, Stjepan Radić, warned on their departure for Belgrade that the council had no democratic legitimacy. But a new state, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, was duly proclaimed on December 1, 1918, with no heed taken of legal protocols such as the signing of a new Pacta Conventa in recognition of historic Croatian state rights. Maček pp78-79 and ^{[17] [18][19]}

Initially "delirious with enthusiasm" at the prospect of liberation from Austro-Magyar oppression, Zagreb Croatians were quickly disenchanted as they found themselves in a minority within the Serb-dominated kingdom (Maček p78). They and the country's Croatian peasants turned in huge numbers to Radić, one of few politicians to oppose the union, and his party. In 1927, even the Independent Democratic Party, which represented the Serbs of Croatia, turned its back on the centralist policy of King Alexander. On 20 June 1928, Stjepan Radić and four other Croat deputies were shot in the Belgrade parliament by a member of the Serbian People's Radical Party. Three, including Radić, died. Resultant outrage threatened to destabilise the kingdom and King Alexander responded by proclaiming in January 1929 a royal dictatorship under which all dissenting political activity was banned. At the same time the state was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

One consequence was that an extremist Croatian nationalist, Ante Pavelić, who had been a Zagreb deputy in the Belgrade government and who in 1934 was to be implicated in Alexander's assassination, went into exile in Italy where he with other Croatian exiles founded the Ustaša insurgency.^[20] In Yugoslavia, any hint of Croatian nationalist sentiment was ruthlessly crushed, with many Croats experiencing oppression, discrimination and often unchecked police brutality under the Serb-dominated centralist regime in Belgrade. Significant voices in the international community were raised against these injustices, notably that of Albert Einstein who declared that the Yugoslav government was behind "horrible brutality which is being practiced upon the Croatian people."^[21] An agreement reached in 1939 between Vladko Maček of the Croatian Peasant Party and Yugoslav prime minister Dragiša Cvetković, under which Croatia was granted autonomy, came too late to save what was until 1918 a friendly relationship between Croats and Serbs. The blood spilled during Alexander's reign was to be a significant factor in the onslaught on Serbs unleashed by the Ustaše when they were installed to govern the Independent State of Croatia.

[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 (Jugoslavenska Vojska), the whole country was occupied by Axis forces. Croats then took the oppourtunity to proclaim the Independent State of Croatia (NDH - Nezavisna Država Hrvatska)with Ante Pavelic as head of state. Mussolini in particular had long sought Croatian independence as a means to destroy Yugoslavia and expand his Italian Empire through the Adriatic and thus allowed Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić to be granted exile in Rome throughout the 1930s and allowed the Ustaše training grounds in Italy which allowed them to prepare for war with Yugoslavia.

The establishment of NDH was proclaimed on April 10, 1941 by Slavko Kvaternik, deputy leader of the Ustaše. The Axis powers (mostly Germany) had wanted Vladko Maček to form a government, since Maček and his party, the Croatian Peasant Party (Croatian: Hrvatska seljačka stranka - HSS) had the greatest support among Yugoslavia's Croats (according to election results). But Maček refused as he did not believe in Croatian independence (Macek was a self-proclaimed Yugoslav). ^{[22] [23]} The crown of this puppet state was handed to Aimone, Duke of Spoleto (later 4th Duke of Aosta), of the house of Savoy who took the regnal name Tomislav II.^[24] The Duke never actually set foot in Zagreb nor was really interested in his "kingdom",^[25] originally on learning that he had been named King of Croatia he told close colleagues that he thought his nomination was a bad joke by his cousin King Victor Emmanuel III.^[26]

From a strategic perspective, establishment of the puppet state was a means by Hitler to pacify the now conquered Yugoslav peoples at least cost in terms of Axis resources which were more urgently needed for the upcoming Operation Barbarossa. Meanwhile Mussolini used his long-established support for Croatian independence as leverage to coerce Pavelić into signing a contract on May 19 1941 under which almost all of Dalmatia and parts of Hrvatsko primorje and Gorski kotar were ceded to Italy ^[27] . Under the same agreement NDH was restricted to a minimal navy and Italian forces were granted military control of the entire Croatian coastline. (This concession to Italy was to sow the seeds of a discontent between the "home" and "emigre" elements of the Ustaša that continued through the lifetime of the NDH.)

This article is part of the series on the History of Croatia

Early History

Before the Croats

Origins of the Croats

Medieval History

Medieval Croatian state

Kingdom of Croatia

Union with Hungary

Habsburg rule

Yugoslav Croatia

State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Independent State of Croatia

Socialist Republic of Croatia (as part of SFR Yugoslavia)

Contemporary Croatia

War of independence

Republic of Croatia

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After refusing the leadership, Maček called on all in the NDH to obey and cooperate with the new government, which Pavelić led from April 17 1941, the date of his return to Zagreb from exile in Italy. The Roman Catholic Church was also openly supportive at that time. According to Maček the new state was greeted with a "wave of enthusiasm" in Zagreb, often by people "blinded and intoxicated" by the fact that the Germans had "gift-wrapped their occupation under the euphemistic title of Independent State of Croatia". But in the villages, he wrote, the peasantry believed that "their struggle over the past 30 years to become masters of their homes and their country had suffered a tremendous setback". (Maček pp. 220-231).

Dissatisfied with the Pavelić regime in its early months, the Axis Powers in September 1941 again asked Maček to take over, but Maček again refused. Perceiving Maček as a potential rival, Pavelić subsequently had him arrested and imprisoned in Jasenovac camp. ^[28]

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. Therefore, the territory was controlled by the Germans and the Italians. The northeastern half of NDH territory was in the so-called "German Zone of Influence" and the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) made its presence known there. The southwestern half was controlled by the Italian army. After the capitulation of Fascist Italy in 1943, NDH acquired northern Dalmatia (Split and Šibenik).

[edit] Italian influence

Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and Ante Pavelic had close relations prior to the war, and Mussolini provided exile for Pavelic and training grounds for Pavelic's Ustase paramilitaries. Mussolini and Pavelic both had a common despise for Yugoslavia. In World War I, Italy had been promised in the London Pact of 1915 that it would receive Dalmatia from Austria-Hungary, but the peace negotiations for World War I in 1919 rebuked the agreement claiming that the Fourteen Points by Woodrow Wilson called for national self-determination and claimed that the Yugoslavs rightfully deserved the territory in question. Italian nationalists were enraged and Italian nationalist Gabriele D'Annunzio raided the Croatian town of Fiume (which held a mixed population of Croats and Italians) and proclaimed it part of the Italian Regency of Carnaro. D'Annunzio declared himself "Duce" of Carnaro and his blackshirted revolutionaries held control over the town. D'Annunzio was known for engaging in passionate speeches aimed to draw Croatian nationalists to support D'Annunzio's actions and to oppose Yugoslavia.^[29] Croatian nationalists opposed the border changes that occurred after World War I as Wilson's promise for national self-determination applied to what Pan-Slavists claimed was a Yugoslav people which Croatian nationalists denied existed.

In the 1930s, upon Pavelic and the Ustase being forced into exile by the Yugoslav government, Mussolini offered Pavelic and the Ustase exile in Italy and allowed them to use training grounds to prepare for war against Yugoslavia. In exchange for this, Mussolini demanded one concession from Pavelic, that should Italy and the Ustase wage war on Yugoslavia, the Ustase must agree to allow the Adriatic region of Dalmatia to become part of Italy. Dalmatia was a largely Croat-populated territory, but it had been part of various Italian states for centuries such as the Roman Empire and the Republic of Venice and was part of Italian nationalism's irredentist claims. Mussolini in exchange offered Pavelic the right for Croatia to annex all of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Pavelic agreed to this controversial exchange.

As part of fulfilling his alliance with the Kingdom of Italy and particularly with its Fascist regime under Benito Mussolini, Pavelić reluctantly accepted Aimone the 4th Duke of Aosta as a figurehead King of Croatia under his new royal name, Tomislav II of Croatia. Tomislav II never set foot in Croatia and had no influence over the government, which was dominanted by Pavelić the Poglavnik of the government from 1941 to 1943, prior to taking over as Poglavnik of Croatia itself. Tomislav II was not interested in being the figurehead King of Croatia,^[30]. On learning that he had been named King of Croatia he told close colleagues that he thought his nomination was a bad joke by his cousin King Victor Emmanuel III.^[26] Tomislav II's position was intended by the Italian Fascist regime to legitimize the presence of Italian armed forces on Croatian soil.

In Summer 1941, Tomislav II declared that he would only accept his position as King of Croatia, if certain demands were met which were i) that he should be informed about all Italian activities on NDH territory; ii) that his reign should be confirmed by the Sabor (Croatian parliament) and iii) that politics should play no part in the Croatian armed forces ^[31]. Unaware of this, in August 1941 Pavelić sent a diplomatic mission to Italy to prevent the King’s coming to Croatia. In subsequent Italo-Croatian diplomatic discussions, Tomislav II declared that he would enter Croatia only after the departure of German and Italian troops ^[32]. The demands for German and Italian military departures were obviously impossible to be met by the Italian and German governments, and Tomislav II thus avoided taking up his position in Croatia.

The level of independence achieved by Pavelić's regime was not respected by the Italian Fascist regime, which had intended to maintain Croatia as a protectorate and had intended to annex all of Dalmatia to be part of Italy. Hitler was unsure of Italy's ability to maintain its own territories due to its military failures on other fronts, and preferred NDH control over Croat populated territories. However the Italian Fascist regime still received a portion of Dalmatia, some Adriatic islands, and had significant influence in Croatia, as it held military control over all of the state's coastline. Italy intended to keep Croatia within its sphere of influence and did so by forbidding Croatia to build any significant navy.^[33] Italy only would permit small patrol boats to be used by Croatian forces. This policy forbidding the creation of Croatian warships was part of the Italian Fascists' policy of Mare Nostrum (Latin for "Our Sea") in which Italy was to dominate the Mediterranean Sea as the Roman Empire had done centuries prior.

Upon the creation of the NDH and Pavelić signing over the central portion of Croat majority-populated Dalmatia and a number of Adriatic islands to Italy, other Croatian politicians rebuked Pavelić for this action. Pavelić publicly defended the decision and thanked Germany and Italy for supporting Croatian independence.^[34]

Italian armed forces assisted the Ustase government in persecuting Serbs. In 1941, Italian forces captured and interned the Serbian Orthodox Bishop Irinej of Dalmatia.^[35]

Following the dismissal of Mussolini on 25 July 1943 Tomislav II abdicated on 31 July on the orders of Victor Emmanuel III. With the Italian capitulation on 8 Spetember, he formally renounced on October 12 his rights to the title shortly after the birth of his son who was given Zvonimir as one of his names, but the position was formally ended.^[36][37] His full title as King was "King of Croatia, Prince of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Voivode of Dalmatia, Tuzla and Knin, Duke of Aosta (from 1942), Prince of Cisterna and of Belriguardo, Marquess of Voghera, and Count of Ponderano."

Shortly after the armistice with Italy in September 1943, Ante Pavelić declared that Tomislav II was no longer King of Croatia ^[38]. Tomislav II formally abdicated in October 1943 after the birth of his son Amedeo, to whom he gave the name Zvonimir II.

[edit] German Influence

At the time of the invasion of Yugoslavia, Germany led by Adolf Hitler was initially uneasy with Mussolini's agenda of creating a puppet Croatian state, and preferred that areas outside of Italian territorial aims become part of Hungary as an autonomous territory.[3] This would appease Germany's ally Hungary and its nationalist territorial claims and would also avoid the creation of a Slavic puppet state, as Hitler viewed all Slavs as racially degenerate.

The German position on Croatia changed after the invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941. The invasion was spearheaded by a strong German invasion force which was largely responsible for the capture of Yugoslavia while military forces from other forces including Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria made few gains during the invasion. The invasion took place in order for German forces to reach Greece to save Italian forces which were failing on the battlefield against the Greek armed forces. Upon rescuing Italian forces in Greece and having conquered Yugoslavia and Greece almost singlehandedly, Hitler, frustrated at Mussolini and Italy's military incompetence, improved relations with the Ustase and backed their land claims to the Adriatic Coast in order reduce Italy's planned territorial gains.[4] Nevertheless, Italy gained a significant central portion of Dalmatia and various Adriatic Islands, but this was not what had been agreed to at the time of the invasion, in which Italy expected to conquer all of Dalmatia as part of its irredentist claims.

Hitler sparred with his army commanders over what policy should be undertaken in Croatia regarding the Serbs. German military officials thought that Serbs could be rallied to fight on their side against the Yugoslav Partisans. Hitler disagreed but pointed out to Pavelic that the NDH could only be made a completely Croat state if it followed a constant policy of persecution of the non-Croat population for at least fifty years.^[39]. When his southeast-Europe plenipotentiary Hermann Neubacher reported to him the wholesale slaughter of Serbs including babies, children, women and old men, Hitler replied: "I also have told the Poglavnik that it is not so simple to annihilate such a minority. It is too large." ^[40]

The Nazi regime demanded that the Ustase adopt anti-Semitic racial policies, persecute Jews and set up concentration camps. Pavelic and the Ustase accepted the Nazis demands but their racial policy mainly focused on elliminating the Serb population. The Ustase needed more recruits to help them to exterminate the Serbs and broke away from Nazi anti-Semitic policy by promising honourary Aryan citizenship and thus freedom from persecution to those Jews who were willing to fight for the NDH.^[41] As this was the only means that the NDH allowed for Jews to escape persecution, a number of Jews did join the NDH's armed forces. This aggravated the German SS who claimed that the NDH had let 5,000 Jews survive via their service in the NDH's armed forces.^[42] German anti-Semitic objectives for Croatia were further undermined by Italy's reluctance to adhere to strict anti-Semitic policy which allowed Jews in Italian-held parts of Croatia to avoid the persecution facing Jews in German-held eastern Croatia.^[43]

The Ustase gained support of Germany for the ellimination of the Serb population of Croatia. One plan involved an exchange in 1941 between Germany and the NDH, in which 20,000 Catholic Slovenes would be deported from German-held Slovenia and sent to the NDH where they would be assimilated as Croats, while in exchange 20,000 Serbs would be deported from the NDH and sent to the Military Administration of Serbia, a joint German and Serb led government in the rump remaining territory of Serbia which was not occupied by its neighbours.^[44] The German occupation forces allowed the expulsion of Serbs to Serbia, but instead of sending the Slovenes to Croatia, they were also deported to Serbia.^[45] In total about 300,000 Serbs had been deported or fled from the NDH to Serbia by the end of World War II.^[46]

After Italy abandoned the war in 1943, German forces took over western Croatia. Territory that was ceded to Italy in 1941 was given to Croatia.

[edit] Partisan uprising

Main article: Yugoslav People's Liberation War

The Ustaše's genocidal onslaught on its minorities provoked mass movements of resistance, inspired in part by royalist (Četnik) and – more effectively – communist (Partisan) ideologies but driven above all else by a determination to fight back by any means. The uprisings were particularly strong in rural areas where many village populations fled from the terror and then mounted guerilla operations from vantage points in the mountains and forests. On June 22, 1941, the First Sisak Partisan Brigade was formed in the Brezovica forest near Sisak, Croatia; this was to be celebrated as the first armed resistance unit formed in occupied Europe during WW2. Croats, Serbs and citizens of all nationalities and backgrounds began joining the pan-Yugoslav Partisans led by Josip Broz Tito. The Partisan movement was soon able to control a large percentage of the NDH (and Yugoslavia) and before long the cities of occupied Bosnia and Dalmatia in particular were surrounded by these Partisan-controlled areas, with their garrisons living in a de-facto state of siege and constantly trying to maintain control of the rail-links. ^[47]

According to reports by General Glaise-Horstenau, Hitler was angry with Pavelić, whose policy inflamed the rebellion in Croatia, thwarting any prospect of deploying NDH forces on the Eastern Front.^[48] Moreover, Hitler was forced to engage large forces of his own to keep the rebellion in check. For that reason, Hitler summoned Pavelić to his war headquarters in Vinnytsia (Ukraine) on September 23, 1942. Consequently, Pavelić replaced his minister of the Armed Forces, Slavko Kvaternik, with the less zealous Jure Francetić. Kvaternik was sent into exile in Slovakia - along with his son Eugen, who was blamed for the persecution of the Serbs in Croatia.^[49] Before meeting Hitler, to appease the public, Pavelić published an "Important Government Announcement" (»Važna obavijest Vlade«), in which he threatened those who were spreading the news "about non-existent threats of disarmament of the Ustashe units by representatives of one foreign power, about the Croatian Army replacement by a foreign army, about the possibility that a foreign power would seize the power in Croatia ..."^[50]

Croats were significantly more numerous than Serbs among the Partisan ranks.^[51][52][53] In 1944, the third year of the war in Yugoslavia, Croats formed 60% of the Partisan operational units originating from the Federal State of Croatia.^[54] The Partisan movement was generally multiethnic, although at least one Croatian unit was overwhelmingly Serbian (the 6th Lika Proletariat Division "Nikola Tesla").^[55] FS Croatia also had the highest number of detachments and brigades among the federal units, and together with the forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Partisan resistance in the NDH made up the majority of the movement's military strength. The Partisan commander, Marshall Josip Broz Tito, was from Croatia, and most of the general staff were of Croatian nationality.^{[citation needed]}

General Glaise-Horstenau reported:

“

The Ustaše movement is, due to the mistakes and atrocities they have committed and the corruption, so compromised that the government executive branch (the home guard and the police) shall be separated from the government - even for the price of breaking any possible connection with the government...

”

[edit] End of the war

In August 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 its conspirators were executed.

The NDH army withdrew towards Zagreb with German and Cossak troops by early 1945, and continued fighting for a week after the German surrender on May 9, 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, Chetniks, Ustaša followers, NDH Army troops and civilians retreated from the partisan forces, heading northwest towards Italy and Austria. Ante Pavelić detached from the group and fled to Austria, Italy, Argentina and finally Spain, where he died in 1959. 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. The British Army however turned disarmed soldiers and civilians over to the partisan forces.

The end of the war resulted in the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Yugoslavia (which later became 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.

[edit] Aftermath

Although far right movements in Croatia inspired by the former NDH reemerged during the Croatian War of Independence, the current Constitution of Croatia does not recognize the Independent State of Croatia as the historical or legitimate predecessor state of the current Croatian republic.^[56] Despite this, upon declaring independance from Yugoslavia, the Republic of Croatia exclusively rehabilitated the Croatian Home Guard, who now receive a state pension.^[57] German soldiers who died on Croatian territory were not commemorated until Germany and Croatia reached an agreement on marking their grave sites in 1996.^[58]

[edit] Demographics

[edit] Population

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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 1941-04-23), including:^{[citation needed]}

• 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 and Czechs= 65,000
  • Jews = 40,000
  • Slovenes = 37,000
  • 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 Croatian Orthodox Church whose patriarch was Germogen, an exiled Russian.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Displacement of people

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A large number of people were displaced due to internal fighting within the republic. 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^{[citation needed]}. Because of this, 25,000 Slovenian refugees ended in Serbia.

[edit] Military

See also: Croatian Home Guard and Ustaše

The two main forces of the country were the regular Croatian Home Guard (Croatian: Hrvatsko domobranstvo) and the Ustaška Vojnica, which was conceived as an elite militia. The Home Guard had an air force and a minimal navy. A Croatian Gendarmerie was also raised. The Croatian Home Guard was founded in April 1941, a few days after the founding of the NDH, and was authorised by the Wehrmacht.

Under the terms of the Rome Agreement with Italy, the NDH navy was restricted to a few boats, which mostly patrolled inland waterways. The air force initially consisted of captured Royal Yugoslav aircraft (seven operational fighters, 20 bombers and about 150 auxiliary and training aircraft), and was supplemented by several hundred ex-German, Italian and French fighters and bombers right up until the final deliveries from Germany in March 1945.^[61].

Because of low morale among Domobrani conscripts and their increasing disaffection with the Ustaša regime as the war progressed, partisans came to regard them as a key element in their supply line. According to William Deakin, who led one of the British missions to the partisan commander-in-chief Josip Broz Tito (in some areas), partisans would release Domobrani after disarming them, so they could come back into the field with replacement weapons, which would again be seized.^[62] Other Domobrani either defected or actively channelled supplies to the partisans — particularly after the NDH ceded Dalmatia to Italy. Home Guard troop numbers dwindled from 130,000 in early 1943 to 70,000 by late 1944, at which point the NDH government amalgamanted the Home Guard with the Ustaška Vojnica.

Despite these difficulties, the Croatian Army, with the help of the German-commanded XV Cossack Corps, held its lines in Slavonia against the combined Soviet/Partisan offensives from late 1944 to shortly before the NDH collapse in May 1945. The Croatian Air Force provided some level of air support to its embattled troops right up until the end of April 1945, encountering and sometimes defeating opposing aircraft from the RAF, USAAF and the Soviet Air Force. The last deliveries of up-to-date German Messerschmitt 109G & K fighter aircraft were still taking place in March 1945.^[63]. The Croatian Army was still engaged in battle, fighting its way through to Austria, a week after the capitulation of Germany on May 8, 1945. At that time, the combined fighting force numbered some 200,000 troops.^[64]

[edit] Racial legislation

On the first day of his arrival to Zagreb, Ante Pavelić proclaimed a law that became a legal basis during the entire period of the Independent State of Croatia. The law, which was enacted on April 17, 1941, declared that all people who offend, or try to offend, the Croatian nation are guilty of treason — a crime punishable by death.^[65] One day later, the first Croatian anti-semitic racial law was published. This did not create panic among the Jewish population, because they believed it was merely a continuation of the anti-semitic laws of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which were proclaimed in 1939.^[66] However, the situation quickly changed on April 30, with the publication of the Aryan race laws.

A notable part of the legislation was the religious conversion laws, the implications of which were not understood by the majority of the population when they were published on May 3, 1941. The implications become clear following the July speech of the minister of education, Mile Budak, in which he declared: "We will kill one third of all Serbs. We will deport another third, and the rest of them will be forced to convert to Catholicism." Racial laws were enforced until May 3, 1945, when they were abolished.^[67]

The NDH government cooperated with the Nazi Germany in the Final Solution and exercised their own version of the holocaust against ethnic Serbs living in their borders. At least 330,000 Serbs and 30,000 Jews and 30,000 Roma were killed during NDH (see Jasenovac) ^{[68] [69]} and the same number of Serbs were forced out of the NDH. The Ustase's main target for persecution were the Serbs, but also participated in the destruction of the Jewish population. However the NDH broke away from Nazi anti-Semitic policy by promising honourary Aryan citizenship to some Jews, but this was only the case if they were willing to enlist and fight for the NDH.^[70]

[edit] Culture

Soon after establishment of the NDH, the Yugoslav Academy of Science and Arts was renamed the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The country had four state theatres: in Zagreb, Osijek, Dubrovnik and in Sarajevo.^[71][72] During this time volumes two to five of Mate Ujević's Croatian Encyclopedia were released. The NDH was represented at the 1942 Venice Biennale, where the works of Joza Kljaković, Ivan Meštrović, Ante Motika, Ivo Režek, Bruno Bulić, Josip Crnobori, Antun Medić, Slavko Kopač and Slavko Šohaj were presented by Vladimir Kirin.

The state had one university, the University of Zagreb, then known as the Croatian University. During this time, its pharmaceutical faculty was established.^[73] The university also established a medical faculty in Sarajevo in 1944.^[74] The Croatian Red Cross was established during this time, but it was not internationally recognized.^[75]

The state had two secular holidays, as well as Christian and Islamic holidays. The state commemorated the anniversary of its establishment on April 10, as well as the assassination of Stjepan Radić on June 20, 1928.^[76]

• The Catholic community received New Year's Day, Epiphany, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the feast of Saint Joseph, Easter, the feast of the Ascension of Jesus, Pentecost, the feast of Corpus Christi, the Assumption of Mary, the feast of All Saints, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and Christmas.^[76]
• The Eastern Orthodox community received New Year's Day, the Epiphany, the feast of the Annunciation, Easter, the feast of the Ascension of Jesus, Pentecost, the Assumption of Mary, and Christmas, all according to the Roman calendar.^[76]
• The Evangelical community received New Year's Day, Holy Friday, Easter, the feast of the Ascension of Jesus, Pentecost, Reformation Day, Christmas Eve, and Christmas.^[76]
• The Muslim community received Islamic New Year, Mevlud (Mawlid), Ramadan, and Kurban-Bajram (Eid al-Adha).^[76]

The official publication of the government was the Narodne novine (Official Gazette). Dailies included Zagreb's Hrvatski narod (Croatian nation), Osijek's Hrvatski list (Croatian Paper) and Sarajevo's Novi list (New Paper).^[77] The state's new agency was called the Croatian News Office "Croatia" (Hrvatski dojavni ured "Croatia") which took on the role formerly performed by the Avala news agency in Yugoslavia.^[78]

A state film institue, Hrvatski slikopis, was formed which had a relatively large production.^[79] Significant films produced by Hrvatski slikopis included Straža na Drini and Lisinski. During this time the Croatian cinematographer Oktavijan Miletić was active.^[80][81]

The state's main radio station was Hrvatski Krugoval, known before the war as Radio Zagreb.^[82] During this period, the state increased the transmitter's power to 10 kW.^[82] The radio station was based in Zagreb, but had branches in Banja Luka, Dubrovnik, Osijek and Sarajevo.^[83] It maintained cooperation with the International Broadcasting Union.^[84]

[edit] Sport

The country's most popular sport was football. It had its own league system, with the highest level known as the Zvonimir Group.^[85] Top clubs included Građanski Zagreb, Concordia Zagreb and HAŠK. The Croatian Football Federation was accepted into FIFA on July 17, 1941.^[86] The national football team played 15 matches as an independent state.

The NDH had other national teams. The Croatian Handball Federation organized a national handball league, and a national team.^[87] Its boxing team was led by African-American Jimmy Lyggett.^[88] The Croatian Table-Tennis Association organized a national competition as well as a national team which participated in a few international matches^[89].The Croatian Olympic Committee was recognized as a special member of the International Olympic Committee, with Franjo Bučar acting as its representative.^[90] The Croatian Skiing Association organized a national championship, held on Zagreb's Sljeme mountain^[91]. A national bowling competition was held in 1942 in Zagreb which was won by Dušan Balatinac.^[92]

[edit] Notes

[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.
• Vladko Maček: In the Struggle for Freedom, Robert Speller & Sons, New York,1957
• Lisko, T. and Canak, D., Hrvatsko Ratno Zrakoplovstvo u Drugome Svejetskom Ratu (The Croatian Airforce in the Second World War) Zagreb, 1998.
• Savic, D. and Ciglic, B. Croatian Aces of World War II Osprey Aircraft of the Aces -49, Oxford, 2002.
• Munoz, A.J., For Croatia and Christ: The Croatian Army in World War II 1941-1945 Axis Europa Books, Bayside NY, 1996.

[edit] See also

• 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian)
• Miroslav Filipović
• Ante Pavelić
• Croatian Righteous Among the Nations
• Croatian Home Guard
• Ustaše
• Croatian Armed Forces
• Chetniks
• Yugoslav partisans
• Croatian Orthodox Church
• Balkans Campaign
• Fascist Italy
• History of Yugoslavia
• List of leaders of Independent State of Croatia
• Nedic’s Serbia
• List of anti-Partisan operations in the Independent State of Croatia

[edit] External links

• Axis History Factbook - Croatia
• Independent State of Croatia's Military Decorations
• BBC News: Croatian holocaust still stirs controversy
• Holocaust in Balkan
• Map of Fascist Europe
• Map of Independent State of Croatia with border of occupation zones