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Nationalities and Minorities in the Independent State of Croatia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Yeshayahu Jelinek*
Affiliation:
Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, Philadelphia, PA

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
Copyright
Copyright © 1980 Association for the Study of Nationalities of Eastern Europe 

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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

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