Mehmed Alajbegović
| Mehmed Alajbegović | |
|---|---|
| 5th Foreign Minister of the Independent State of Croatia | |
| In office 5 May 1944 – 8 May 1945 | |
| Prime Minister | Nikola Mandić |
| Leader | Ante Pavelić |
| Preceded by | Mladen Lorković |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| 1st Minister of Welfare for Perished Lands | |
| In office 11 October 1943 – 5 May 1944 | |
| Leader | Ante Pavelić |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Meho Mehičić |
| Consul to the German Reich in Munich | |
| In office 24 January 1942 – 11 October 1943 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 May 1906 Bihać, Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austro-Hungarian Empire |
| Died | 7 June 1947 (aged 41) Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia |
| Political party | Ustaše |
| Alma mater | University of Zagreb |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
Mehmed Alajbegović (7 May 1906 – 7 June 1947) was a Croatian Bosniak politician and lawyer. He served as Foreign Minister and Minister of Walfare in the Independent State of Croatia. After the war he was sentenced to death by communists in Yugoslavia.
Early life
Alajbegović was born in Bihać in 1906 to a bey family. Both, his father and grandfather were mayors of Bihać. He finished elementary and high school in Bihać. He started living in Zagreb, Croatia in the year 1928, where he graduated on Law Faculty ar University of Zagreb in 1934. He visited many foreign cities and spent a great deal of time in Paris. He was named judge at District Court of Prozor. He studied Sharia law in which study he was graduated from the University of Algiers in 1940. He was a judge and secretary at Administrative Court of Zagreb from 1938.[1]
Independent State of Croatia
After the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a puppet state of Nazi Germany in April 1941 he worked for the Croatian Government, leaving his position at the University of Zagreb where he taught Islamic law.[2]
In August 1941 he was named secretary at Foreign Ministry. On 27 January 1942 he was named Croatian ambassador to the Third Reich in Munich. On 11 November 1943 he was named Minister of Welfare for perished lands. During his mandate about 300,000 refuges were housed, most of them were Bosniaks from eastern Bosnia, Herzegovina and Sandžak. In May 1944 he was named Foreign Minister.[3] He held that office until 8 May 1945. Durnig his mandate he escorted Ante Pavelić on a visit to Adolf Hitler in September 1944. The most significant thing in his mandate was hard-work on an alliance between Croats, Slovenes and Montenegrins and leaders of those two, Leon Rupnik and Sekule Drljević. He left Zagreb on 6 May 1945.[1]
Trial and death
He fled to Krumpendorf, Austria, and later moved to Salzburg. He was arrested on 6 September 1945 by British forces and imprisoned in Glasenbach.[1]
On 8 September 1946 he was extradited to SFR Yugoslavia. On question of UDBA agents, why he joined Ustaše, he responded: "My main motive led me to join them, when I joined Ustaše Movement, ther was an idea of Croatian state. A great influcence on me was made by cognition about the right of Croatian people for their country, and other motives were ignored."[4]
He was put on trial at the end of May 1947 by the Supreme Court of the People's Republic of Croatia. On 6 June 1947 he was sentenced to death for "high treason" and executed the next day.[1]
References
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Dizdar, Zdenko; Grčić, Marko; Ravlić, Slaven; Stuparić, Darko (1997). Tko je tko u NDH (in Croatian). Minerva.
- Kisić-Kolanović, Nada (2004). Muslimanska inteligencija i islam u Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj (in Croatian). Hrvatski institut za povijest.
- Velikonja, Mitja (2003). Religious separation and political intolerance in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 1-58544-226-7.
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