Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-rnpqb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-28T05:11:27.296Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nationalities and Minorities in the Independent State of Croatia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Yeshayahu Jelinek
Yeshayahu Jelinek*
Affiliation:
Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, Philadelphia, PA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

After the military defeat of April 1941, the Axis powers divided Yugoslavia. The Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) received the lion's share of the defunct state. At least in theory — since the NDH could claim no sovereignity in several regions — the new state included Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, parts of the Littoral, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Srem (Sirmium), and parts of Vojvodina. It sheltered most of the nationalities inhabiting the old Yugoslavia, while conferring the honor of the state-making nation on Croatians only. Minorities, albeit not recognized as nationalities, expanded the list of non-Croatian people living in the NDH. Without a regular census, which was never taken in the country, we do not possess exact data for the population; furthermore, the published statistics were twisted to support nationalistic ambitions.

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , Fall 1980 , pp. 195 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © 1980 Association for the Study of Nationalities of Eastern Europe 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. See various dates in German Federal Archives (GFA), Koblenz, SOEG R63/314: Croatians 3,025,000; Serbs 1,790,000; Moslems 815,000, Germans 223,000; Czechs and Slovaks 119,000; Jews 95,300; Hungarians 75,000; Slovenes 38,000; others (Russians, Ukrainians, Italians, etc.) 14,900; Nova Hrvatska (Zagreb), 12 Dec. 1941, Croatians 5,500,000; Serbs 500,000; Germans 170,000; other Slavs 150,000; Hungarians 70,000; others 100,000. A contemporary Yugoslav author Franjo Tudjman (Okupacija i revolucija [Zagreb, 1963], p. 209) gives the following numbers: Croatians 3,300,000; Serbs 1,925,000; Moslems 700,000; Germans 150,000; Hungarians 75,000; Slovaks 65,000; Jews 40,000; Slovenes 30,000; Italians 500.Google Scholar

2. These theories were developed already before WWII, but blown up big in the NDH. See Walter Schreiber, “Die frueheste Geschichte des kroatisches Volkes,” Kroatien maschiert (Zagreb, 1942), pp. 124–27; Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (Berlin) 30 Oct. 1941; Neue Ordnung (Zagreb), 15 March 1942; Za Dom (Zagreb), 1 Oct. 1943.Google Scholar

3. Uzorinac, Theodor, “Das Problem der Balkannomaden,” Kroatien baut auf (Zagreb, 1943), pp. 15–20; Balic, Smail, “Dva istoka u Hrvatskoj,” Zbornik hrvatskich sveučilištarca (Zagreb, 1942), pp. 9–10; Za Dom, 23 Jan. 1943.Google Scholar

4. Norod, Hrvatski (Zagreb), 20 April 1941; Mirko Peršen, Ustaški logori (Zagreb, 1966), pp. 17, 18.Google Scholar

5. Hadžijahić, Muhamed, “Državotvornost islamskih Hrvata,” and “Sociologia Islama,” in Zbornik, pp. 27–33, 167–69.Google Scholar

6. Public Record Office (PRO), London, FO 371/33465, Krek to Lockhart, 16 Feb. 1942. Satraps were men like Ivan Tolj in Sarajevo or Victor Gubić in Banja Luka.Google Scholar

7. German Federal Military Archives (GFMA), Freiburg, RH 31 III/11, memorandum by Glaise von Horstenau, 13 Dec. 1942; Yad Vashem Archives (YVA), Jerusalem, 010/M Trial Lisak, Salic, etc.; Transocean Agency (Zagreb), 10 June 1941; Šime Balen, Pavelić (Zagreb, 1952), p. 91; Fikreta Jelić-Butić, Ustaše i NDH (Zagreb, 1977), pp. 162, 163.Google Scholar

8. Hefer, Stjepan, Croatian Struggle for Freedom and Statehood (Buenos Aires, 1959), pp. 159–62; Franjo Nevestić, “Netočnosti, protivrječja, i zablude Ante Cliliga,” Hrvatska Revija, vol. 1, no. 4 (Dec. 1951), p. 119.Google Scholar

9. Jelić-Butić, , Ustaše, p. 173. The argument was advanced also by anti-Ustashi writers. See Pavle D. Ostović, The Truth About Yugoslavia (New York, 1952), pp. 112–16, 131–36.Google Scholar

10. Balen, , p. 102; Jelić-Butić, Ustaše, p. 166.Google Scholar

11. Hefer, , Struggle, p. 161; Nevestić, p. 119.Google Scholar

12. Marić, Toko A., General Gragoljub-Draža Michajlović (Milwaukee, Wisc., 1971), p. 15; Vladimir Dedijer et al., History of Yugoslavia (New York etc., 1974), p. 582; Political Archives of the Foreign Office (PAFO), Bonn, Inland I-D, Kirchen-politische Lage in Kroatien, 28 July 1944.Google Scholar

13. Hurem, Rasim, Kriza NOP-u u Bosni i Herzegovini (Sarajevo, 1972), pp. 123, 124; Hefer, , Struggle, pp. 165, 166; Archives of the Institute for Military History (AIMH), Belgrade, 132/3–2, K 114B, Srpski Nacionalni Front.Google Scholar

14. Ladislaus Hory and Martin Broszat, Das kroatische Ustascha-Staat 1941–1945 (Stuttgart, 1964), p. 97; Pribichevich, Stojan, “Fratricide in Yugoslavia,” Fortune, 1943, p. 148.Google Scholar

15. The Hoover Institution, Stanford, Cal., Polish Government (PG) Box No. 663, Pappe to the Foreign Office, 17 Dec. 1942.Google Scholar

16. GFMA, RH 31 III/9, 3. Ldsch Batallion to Sicherungsabschnitt A.Google Scholar

17. One may even encounter accusations that the Partisans would provoke the Axis troops, knowing that retaliation will drive new waves of recruits into wilderness. On the other hand, it is claimed that Mikhailović preferred to save his troops for the final battle with the Axis.Google Scholar

18. Jareb, Jere, Pola stolječa hrvatske politike, (Buenos Aires, 1960), p. 90.Google Scholar

19. Dedijer, , Yugoslavia, p. 580.Google Scholar

20. AIMH, 21/2–5, K 236, German Legation, Memorandum, 28 Oct. 1941; U.S. National Archives (USNA), Washington, D.C., T 501, R 249,000997–001001, telegram, German military commandant of Serbia to the German general in Croatia, 10 July 1941.Google Scholar

21. PAFO, Inland IID, Dr. Parsche to the Foreign Office, 25 July 1944.Google Scholar

22. AIMH, 57/7–2, K 162, GSP to the Ministry of the Croatian Domobran, 21 July 1942; 17/7–50, K 213, circular letter, 20 Aug. 1942.Google Scholar

23. Donau Zeitung (Belgrade), 13 Oct. 1943.Google Scholar

24. Zbornik zakona i naredaba Nezavisne Države Hrvatske, 1942, II/11, No. 360, p. 390, Zakonska odredba o Hrvatskoj pravoslavnoj crkvi, 3 Apr. 1942.Google Scholar

25. Ostović, , Truth, pp. 136–40. Albeit converted, Serbs still would flee mortal dangers. Kiszling, Rudolf, Die Kroaten (Graz-Cologne, 1956), p. 204.Google Scholar

26. Paris, Edmund, Genocide in Sattelite Croatia (Chicago, Ill., 1960), p. 121.Google Scholar

27. Dokumenti o protinarodnom radu i zločinima jednog dijela katolickog klera (Zagreb, 1946), pp. 390, 391 (Šimrak to Pavelić, 14 Oct. 1942).Google Scholar

28. AIMH, 18/11–1, K 150 A, radiogram, to the Commander of the First Operation Zone, 29 April, 1942; 19/7–50, K 213, circular letter, 20 Aug. 1942; Donau Zeitung, 9 June 1942; Neue Ordnung (Zagreb), 30 June 1942.Google Scholar

29. Milazzo, Matteo J., The Chetnik Movement and the Yugoslav Resistance (Baltimore, 1975), pp. 73–81.Google Scholar

30. Loewenthal, Zdenko, ed., The Crimes of the Fascist Occupants and Their Collaborators Against Jews in Yugoslavia (Belgrade, 1957), p. 56; the Jewish Historical Museum (JHM), Belgrade, Reg. No. 1835, Vinski, Pavle, “O progonima Židova okruga Osijek,” pp. 12–15.Google Scholar

31. Hrvatski List (Osijek), 28 May 1941.Google Scholar

32. Colić, Mladen, Takozvana Nezavisna Država Hrvatska 1941 (Belgrade, 1973), appendices X-XV.Google Scholar

33. Jelinek, Yeshayahu, “The Extermination of Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies in Independent Croatia,” in Hebrew, Yalkut Moresheth , 26 (Nov. 1978):61–70.Google Scholar

34. JHM, Reg. No. 2698, Srečko Bujas, Reminiscenes, Manuscript; Reg. No. 3860, Municipality Zemun, No. 19153, 16 Sept. 1941.Google Scholar

35. Central Zionist Archives (CZA), Jerusalem, L17/188, “Kurze Darstellung der juedischen Verhaeltnisse in Jugoslavien.”Google Scholar

36. GFA, NS19/neu971, VoMi to Himmler, 10 Oct. 1941; CZA, S26/1394, Emil Schwartz, Reminiscences.Google Scholar

37. PRO, FO 371/37608, from Berne to the Foreign Office, 6 May 1943; CZA, S26/1394, a report on the Zagreb congregation.Google Scholar

38. JHM, Reg. No. 2698, Bujas, Reg. No. 1835, Vinski; CZA, S26/1199, Valdman to the Jewish Agency, 27 Nov. 1942.Google Scholar

39. AIMH, 41/5–4, K 239, Vice Consul Marcello Cavaletti to the Italian Legation in Zagreb, Sarajevo, 2 March 1942; 41/5–5, K 239, the same, 21 Aug. 1942.Google Scholar

40. Cf. note 49.Google Scholar

41. Verordnungsblatt der Deutschen Volksgruppe in das Unabhaengigen Staat Kroatien, No. 3, Anordnung Nr. 6, 30 July 1941; Nr. 5, Entscheid, In Anbetracht der besonders keiklen Lage der Deutschen Volksgruppe.Google Scholar

42. Jelić-Butić, , Ustaše, p. 182.Google Scholar

43. Nikolić, Nikola, Jasenovacki logor (Zagreb, 1948), pp. 257–59.Google Scholar

44. AIMH, 35/1–1, K 170, Ustaški tabor Vitex to Kotarska oblast Travnik, 23 March 1944.Google Scholar

45. GFA, SOEG R 63/336, Wochenbericht Nr. 132, 6–13 Nov. 1941.Google Scholar

46. GFMA, RH 31 III/13, memorandum, Arthur Haeffner, 17 Dec. 1942.Google Scholar

47. Ibid; USNA, 860H.00/1593, dispatch, Berry to the Secretary of State, Constantinople, 5 Feb. 1944; Šima Šimić, Prekrstavanje Srba za vreme drugog svetskog rata (Titograd, 1958), p. 81.Google Scholar

48. YVA 010/17, Pinto, Samuel, “Zločini okupatora i njehovih pomagača izvršeni nad Jevrejima u Bosni i Herzegovini,” manuscript; JHM, Reg. No. 2698, Bujas.Google Scholar

49. GFA, SOEG R 63/102, 14 Nov. 1941; AIMH, 2/23–6, K 86, Pro memorje, 28/29 April 1944; Mustafa Busuladžić, “Odnos Muslimana prema Nemuslimana,” Glasnik Islamske Vjerske Zajednice NDH, Vol. 13, nos. 4–5 (April-May 1944), pp. 73–75.Google Scholar

50. AIMH, 33/8–1, K 213, Munir Šahimović-Ekremov to Pavelić, 28 June 1941; 45/3–3, K 190, the Ulema Medjlis of Sarajevo to the Deputy Prime Minister, 1 Jan. 1942; K 252, f 2 d 50, GUS to the Foreign Office, 30 Oct. 1942.Google Scholar

51. AIMH, 1/23–5, K 86, memorandum of the meeting in the premises of the Great Župa Vrhbosna in Sarajevo, 28/29 Apr. 1944; 2/23–1, K 86, letter, Moslems of Mostar to the Prime Minister, 30 Apr. 1944.Google Scholar

52. AIMH, 30/1, Ekremov to the Great Župa Sana & Luka, 30 Sept. 1941; 37/4, K 189, report, Head of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 30 Apr. 1941.Google Scholar

53. AIMH, 38/17–1,2, K 61a, Command of Vojna Krajina to Kvaternik, 4 and 6 Dec. 1942; 45/3-m K 190, the Ulema Medjlis of Sarajevo to the Deputy Prime Minister, Ijan. 1942.Google Scholar

54. PRO, FO371/37616, Press Reading Bureau, Stockholm, 16 Nov. 1943; FO371/44273, The National Liberation Movement of Yugoslavia, A Survey of the Partisan Movement, Apr. 1941-March 1944; USNA, 860H.01/583, Lincoln MacVeagh to the Secretary of State, Apr. 1944.Google Scholar

55. PRO, FO371/44273, The National Liberation Movement of Yugoslavia, A Survey of the Partisan Movement, Apr. 1944-March 1944; Purivatra, Atif, Nacionalni i politicki razvitak Muslimana (Sarajevo, 1972), pp. 65–129; USNA, OSS, No. 100813, Report, 14 Oct. 1944; GFA, SOEG R63/350, Wochenbericht Nr.283, 27 Sept. 1944.Google Scholar

56. USNA, OSS, No. 57578, Report on Dr. Ismet Popovac, Dec. 1943; GFMA, RH 31 III/14, Memorandum, Hptm Prof. Walz, 3 Nov. 1942.Google Scholar

57. GFMA, RH 31 III/2, Glaise von Horstenau, Lagebericht, 14 Dec. 1941; RH 31 III/5, Dispatch, Empting to Glaise, 13 Jan. 1943; RH 31 III/9, Aktennotiz, 28 Jan. 1943; PAFO, Inl II, 1280 g, Kasche to the Foreign Office, 22 June 1944.Google Scholar

58. GFMA, RH 31 III/13, Arthur Haeffner to Glaise, 17 Dec. 1942; USNA, OSS, No. 28919, Report, 17 Feb. 1943; No. 49808, Report, 21 Oct. 1943.Google Scholar

59. GFA, SOEG, R63/340, Wochenbericht Nr. 215, 10–17 June 1943; Hrvatski Narod, 1 Aug. 1942; Donau Zeitung, 23 Apr. 1943; Deutsche Zeitung in den Nederlanden (Amsterdam), 4 May 1943.Google Scholar

60. Hory, and Broszat, , Ustascha-Staat, pp. 155–57.Google Scholar

61. Hrvatski Narod, 14 Aug. 1941; Neue Ordnung, 3 Sept. 1944; Jelić-Butić, Ustaše, p. 199.Google Scholar

62. PAFO, Inland I D, 22/1, Kirchenpolitische aus der Tagepresse, Sept./Oct. 1942; USNA, OSS, No. 28919, Report, 17 Feb. 1943; Donau Zeitung, 20 Jan. 1944; Za Dom, 12 Feb. 1944.Google Scholar

63. PAFO, Inland I D, 8/8–20, Kirchenpolitische Lage in Kroatien, 28 July 1944.Google Scholar

64. Sattler, Wilhelm, “Die deutsche Volksgruppe im Unabhaengigen Staat Kroatien,” Jahrbuch der deutsche Volksgruppe im Unabhaengigen Staat Kroatien 1944 (Osijek, 1944), pp. 78–90.Google Scholar

65. Verordnungsblatt No. 4, p. 11, 25 Aug. 1941; No. 7, p. 25, 20 Oct. 1941; PAFO, Nachlass Kasche, Aufzeichnung, 27 Jan. 1942; Kasche to Altgayer, 11 June 1942.Google Scholar

66. Lichtenberger, Jakob, “Kriegsbeitrag der Deutschen Volksgruppe in Kroatien,” Jahrbuch, pp. 75–77; Sundhaussen, Halm, “Zur Geschichte der Waffen-SS in Kroatien 1941–1945,” Suedostforschungen, 30, (1971):176–96.Google Scholar

67. GFMA, RH 31 III/5, Dr. Katschinka to Kasche, 22 Oct. 1942.Google Scholar

68. USNA, OSS, No. 71810, “The Ernst Thaelmann Brigade,” 24 May 1944.Google Scholar

69. GFA, SOEG, R63/350, Wochenbericht Nr. 287, 8–15 Oct. 1944.Google Scholar

70. Verordnungsblatt, II, 2, p. 15, 28 Feb. 1942; AIMH, K255, f 5, d. 22, the municipal authorities of Ruma, 27 May 1942.Google Scholar

71. PRO, FO371/37612, Yugoslav Situation Report, 8 Sept. 1943.Google Scholar

72. Djuro Stanisavljević, “Přispěvek k diskusi,” in František Janácěk, ed., Národní fronta a komunisté (Prague, etc., 1968), pp. 455–56; GFA, SOEG R63/336, Wochenbericht Nr. 131, 23 Oct. 1941; USNA, 860H.00/1–2544, Leland Harrison to the Secretary of State, 25 Jan. 1944.Google Scholar

73. AIMH, 50/2–2,3,4, K 242, Report, 22 June 1942; GFMA, RH 31 III/14, Cieker to Glaise, 12 Oct. 1943.Google Scholar

74. Zbornik, 1941, I, 3, No. 264, p. 191, 14 June 1941.Google Scholar

75. PRO, FO371/37612, Yugoslav Situation Report, 8 Sept. 1943; USNA, OSS, No. 71810, report on Yugoslavia No. 6, 3 Feb. 1944.Google Scholar

76. Zbornik, II 15, No. 523, p. 553, 4 May 1942; “Krunoslav S. Draganović,” Hrvatska Revija, Vo. 14, no. 1 (53 [1965]), p. 34.Google Scholar

77. Zbornik, I, 10, No. 1022, 11 Oct. 1941.Google Scholar

78. AIMH, 10/4–3, K 171, circular letter to district offices and gendarmerie, 16 July 1941.Google Scholar

79. For an example GFA, SOEG R63/340, Wochenbericht nr. 236, 1 Nov. 1943.Google Scholar

80. AIMH, K183, f. 32, d 5–2, circular letter of GUS, 5 Nov. 1942; Hrvatski Narod, 11 Dec. 1942.Google Scholar

81. PG, Box No. 326, 59003–8M.07/13, J. Kleeberg to the Foreign Office, 23 Apr. 1944.Google Scholar

82. Zbornik, I, 9, No. 933, p. 820, 27 Oct. 1941.Google Scholar

83. PAFO, Inland I D, 8/8–20, Erwin Kreutzer to the Reich Minister for Religion, Bonn, 4 May 1942.Google Scholar