Jews of the Independent State of Croatia Fight Back This article focuses on the Jewish resistance... more Jews of the Independent State of Croatia Fight Back This article focuses on the Jewish resistance against the Axis Powers and their local collaborators, the Croatian Ustaše, in the Independent State of Croatia [Nezavisna Država Hrvatska (NDH)], which also included Bosnia and Herzegovina, during World War II. 1 This entity was created out of the break-up of the Yugoslav kingdom on April 10th, 1941, by the Axis Partners Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, joined by minor partners Hungary and Bulgaria. The Axis installed the Ustaše, Croatian insurgents, headed by Ante Pavelić, to rule this new state. 2 From its inception, the collaborationist NDH regime aimed to create a pure Croatian state in the ethnic quagmire that was the Balkan Peninsula. In return for Croatian territorial gains and "independence" from Serbia, Nazi Germany demanded that Pavelić's regime implement the Nazi-like ideology enshrined in legislation for the "Protection of the Croatian (Aryan) People." To deliver on their promise the Ustaše implemented a reign of terror against the Jews. The brutish and horrific treatment of the Jews that followed emanated from some combination of ignorance and unprincipled conduct. In 1944 Srečko Bujas, a former Yugoslav supreme court judge, who was appointed by the Ustaše as a trustee over the Jewish Sephardic Community in Sarajevo, was asked by a representative of the National Commission to investigate wartime crimes, 3 why the Ustaše had behaved so inhumanly towards the Jews? His reply was succinct and clear: In our country, the anti-Jewish decrees and ordinances were undertaken by people without any professional qualifications, people without judgment of right and wrong. These young people, once righteous and idealistic, instead of channeling their capabilities and talents for the benefit of their people and homeland, chose for themselves a selfish objective: self-enrichment and self-gratification in the shortest time possible and without careful consideration of the consequences for the future. They understood that the so-called "Racial
Historiographic literature on the Second World War in Croatia has focused on the atrocities perpe... more Historiographic literature on the Second World War in Croatia has focused on the atrocities perpetrated against Jews, Serbs, and Roma by the Axis Powers and their local collaborators—the Ustaše, both Croats and Muslims, and the Volksdeutsche, Yugoslav citizens of German ancestry. The Četniks, a remnant of the Royal Serbian army, primarily hunted the Jews. Historians as well as survivors were eager to expose the atrocities so that people around the globe would know what had happened. Although there is a plethora of historiographic literature on the machinery of murder in the Serbian and Croatian death camps, it is plagued by disputes over the number of victims. Moreover, much of it is written to defend one or another ethnic perspective. Thus, Raphael Israeli writes that he came “to the mixed conclusion that the horrors of Jadovno and Jasenovac have to be reported to the public in some nonpartisan way.” His intent to revisit the subject of Croatian death camps might seem a refreshing approach. Israeli’s actual text consists of 194 pages, comprising a foreword, an introduction, and eight chapters: “The German Expansion into the Balkans”; “The Roots of the Ustaše Regime”; “The Jadovno Complex”; “The Middle East Connection”: “The Muslim Connection and Haj Amin al-Husseini”; “Jasenovac: The Routinization of Mass Murder”; “The Suppression of War Memories and Their Reemergence”; and “Summary and Conclusions.” Unfortunately, the book fails to provide new insights into the conflict between the Serbs and Croats, neither about the wartime atrocities nor about the number of victims. Because Israeli does not know Serbo-Croatian, his bibliography lacks primary sources, including diaries, memoirs, contemporary newspapers, and interviews with those who experienced these years. The book is based essentially on secondary sources, predominantly books written or translated into English (pp. 191–193). Israeli’s unfamiliarity with Serbo-Croatian also results in frequent misspellings of individuals’ names and locations. The Death Camps of Croatia loses focus on its stated subject when it ventures from wartime Yugoslavia and its concentration camps to present-day conflicts. In particular, by introducing a totally irrelevant Middle East connection with a follow-up on the Muslim connection and Haj-Aminal-Husseini, it needlessly confuses readers. Despite Israeli’s intent to relate his subject to current issues, his chapter “The Suppression of War Memories and Their Reemergence” largely ignores the current situation in Croatia. Although Josip Broz Tito’s regime restricted the use of official archives to a few select historians, the situation has long been much different. After the Yugoslav wars of separation in the 1990s, the Croatian state archives in Zagreb were opened to the public. Microfilms of all the Holocaust-related documents are available at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington,
During World War II, Blessed Alojzije (Aloysius) Stepinac, archbishop and later cardinal of Zagre... more During World War II, Blessed Alojzije (Aloysius) Stepinac, archbishop and later cardinal of Zagreb (1898-1960), took action to rescue several hundred individuals associated with Croatia's Jewish community, more than 1000 Jews in mixed marriages, and a number of others in danger from the Nazis. Using archival evidence, survivor testimonies, and other documentation, the author discusses how Stepinac reacted to the policies of the Nazi-and fascist-sponsored Ustaše regime and used his position in the Church to promote the rescue of Jews, supported by his moral convictions and Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone, Benedictine abbot and Pope Pius XII's apostolic visitor to Croatia.
Despite the murder of three-fourths of Croatia's Jews, Croatian doctors, representatives ... more Despite the murder of three-fourths of Croatia's Jews, Croatian doctors, representatives of the Ministry of Health, and other government figures saved 142 Jewish physicians by mobilizing them for a mission to alleviate endemic syphilis in Bosnia. Twenty-seven others were recruited into the Home Guard. Along with members of their families, these Jews were granted "Aryan rights." In 1942 some began defecting to the partisans; others followed after the capitulation of Italy in 1943. Many died in battle, succumbed to typhus, or were murdered by the Nazis, the Croatian fascist Ustae, or the Serbian nationalist etniks. But the story recounted below shows how much better they fared than the Jewish population generally: sixty-two percent survived, thanks to courageous efforts by Croatian civilians and officials. Their rescue demonstrates both that popular attitudes influenced events in Yugoslavia, and that common stereotypes of Croatia during the war should be reconsidered.
The number of letters and sermons written and delivered by Archbishop of Zagreb, Alojzije Stepina... more The number of letters and sermons written and delivered by Archbishop of Zagreb, Alojzije Stepinac is far too great to be discussed in this article. 1 However, for those interested in exploring the subject further, many books have been written about the Archbishop by the representatives of the Catholic Church, by historians from both Croat 2 and Serb 3 perspectives. Opinions of the Archbishop are contradictory. 4 In 1998, Pope John Paul II beatified Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac in Marija Bistrica, a village near Zagreb, where * This article is a sequel to my Ph.D. dissertation completed May 2005. While the Archbishop of Zagreb fought for the rule of law and for the rights of all the people who experienced the iron fist of the NDH regime, the focus of my work is on his relationship and conduct towards the Jews.
Jews of the Independent State of Croatia Fight Back This article focuses on the Jewish resistance... more Jews of the Independent State of Croatia Fight Back This article focuses on the Jewish resistance against the Axis Powers and their local collaborators, the Croatian Ustaše, in the Independent State of Croatia [Nezavisna Država Hrvatska (NDH)], which also included Bosnia and Herzegovina, during World War II. 1 This entity was created out of the break-up of the Yugoslav kingdom on April 10th, 1941, by the Axis Partners Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, joined by minor partners Hungary and Bulgaria. The Axis installed the Ustaše, Croatian insurgents, headed by Ante Pavelić, to rule this new state. 2 From its inception, the collaborationist NDH regime aimed to create a pure Croatian state in the ethnic quagmire that was the Balkan Peninsula. In return for Croatian territorial gains and "independence" from Serbia, Nazi Germany demanded that Pavelić's regime implement the Nazi-like ideology enshrined in legislation for the "Protection of the Croatian (Aryan) People." To deliver on their promise the Ustaše implemented a reign of terror against the Jews. The brutish and horrific treatment of the Jews that followed emanated from some combination of ignorance and unprincipled conduct. In 1944 Srečko Bujas, a former Yugoslav supreme court judge, who was appointed by the Ustaše as a trustee over the Jewish Sephardic Community in Sarajevo, was asked by a representative of the National Commission to investigate wartime crimes, 3 why the Ustaše had behaved so inhumanly towards the Jews? His reply was succinct and clear: In our country, the anti-Jewish decrees and ordinances were undertaken by people without any professional qualifications, people without judgment of right and wrong. These young people, once righteous and idealistic, instead of channeling their capabilities and talents for the benefit of their people and homeland, chose for themselves a selfish objective: self-enrichment and self-gratification in the shortest time possible and without careful consideration of the consequences for the future. They understood that the so-called "Racial
Historiographic literature on the Second World War in Croatia has focused on the atrocities perpe... more Historiographic literature on the Second World War in Croatia has focused on the atrocities perpetrated against Jews, Serbs, and Roma by the Axis Powers and their local collaborators—the Ustaše, both Croats and Muslims, and the Volksdeutsche, Yugoslav citizens of German ancestry. The Četniks, a remnant of the Royal Serbian army, primarily hunted the Jews. Historians as well as survivors were eager to expose the atrocities so that people around the globe would know what had happened. Although there is a plethora of historiographic literature on the machinery of murder in the Serbian and Croatian death camps, it is plagued by disputes over the number of victims. Moreover, much of it is written to defend one or another ethnic perspective. Thus, Raphael Israeli writes that he came “to the mixed conclusion that the horrors of Jadovno and Jasenovac have to be reported to the public in some nonpartisan way.” His intent to revisit the subject of Croatian death camps might seem a refreshing approach. Israeli’s actual text consists of 194 pages, comprising a foreword, an introduction, and eight chapters: “The German Expansion into the Balkans”; “The Roots of the Ustaše Regime”; “The Jadovno Complex”; “The Middle East Connection”: “The Muslim Connection and Haj Amin al-Husseini”; “Jasenovac: The Routinization of Mass Murder”; “The Suppression of War Memories and Their Reemergence”; and “Summary and Conclusions.” Unfortunately, the book fails to provide new insights into the conflict between the Serbs and Croats, neither about the wartime atrocities nor about the number of victims. Because Israeli does not know Serbo-Croatian, his bibliography lacks primary sources, including diaries, memoirs, contemporary newspapers, and interviews with those who experienced these years. The book is based essentially on secondary sources, predominantly books written or translated into English (pp. 191–193). Israeli’s unfamiliarity with Serbo-Croatian also results in frequent misspellings of individuals’ names and locations. The Death Camps of Croatia loses focus on its stated subject when it ventures from wartime Yugoslavia and its concentration camps to present-day conflicts. In particular, by introducing a totally irrelevant Middle East connection with a follow-up on the Muslim connection and Haj-Aminal-Husseini, it needlessly confuses readers. Despite Israeli’s intent to relate his subject to current issues, his chapter “The Suppression of War Memories and Their Reemergence” largely ignores the current situation in Croatia. Although Josip Broz Tito’s regime restricted the use of official archives to a few select historians, the situation has long been much different. After the Yugoslav wars of separation in the 1990s, the Croatian state archives in Zagreb were opened to the public. Microfilms of all the Holocaust-related documents are available at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington,
During World War II, Blessed Alojzije (Aloysius) Stepinac, archbishop and later cardinal of Zagre... more During World War II, Blessed Alojzije (Aloysius) Stepinac, archbishop and later cardinal of Zagreb (1898-1960), took action to rescue several hundred individuals associated with Croatia's Jewish community, more than 1000 Jews in mixed marriages, and a number of others in danger from the Nazis. Using archival evidence, survivor testimonies, and other documentation, the author discusses how Stepinac reacted to the policies of the Nazi-and fascist-sponsored Ustaše regime and used his position in the Church to promote the rescue of Jews, supported by his moral convictions and Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone, Benedictine abbot and Pope Pius XII's apostolic visitor to Croatia.
Despite the murder of three-fourths of Croatia's Jews, Croatian doctors, representatives ... more Despite the murder of three-fourths of Croatia's Jews, Croatian doctors, representatives of the Ministry of Health, and other government figures saved 142 Jewish physicians by mobilizing them for a mission to alleviate endemic syphilis in Bosnia. Twenty-seven others were recruited into the Home Guard. Along with members of their families, these Jews were granted "Aryan rights." In 1942 some began defecting to the partisans; others followed after the capitulation of Italy in 1943. Many died in battle, succumbed to typhus, or were murdered by the Nazis, the Croatian fascist Ustae, or the Serbian nationalist etniks. But the story recounted below shows how much better they fared than the Jewish population generally: sixty-two percent survived, thanks to courageous efforts by Croatian civilians and officials. Their rescue demonstrates both that popular attitudes influenced events in Yugoslavia, and that common stereotypes of Croatia during the war should be reconsidered.
The number of letters and sermons written and delivered by Archbishop of Zagreb, Alojzije Stepina... more The number of letters and sermons written and delivered by Archbishop of Zagreb, Alojzije Stepinac is far too great to be discussed in this article. 1 However, for those interested in exploring the subject further, many books have been written about the Archbishop by the representatives of the Catholic Church, by historians from both Croat 2 and Serb 3 perspectives. Opinions of the Archbishop are contradictory. 4 In 1998, Pope John Paul II beatified Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac in Marija Bistrica, a village near Zagreb, where * This article is a sequel to my Ph.D. dissertation completed May 2005. While the Archbishop of Zagreb fought for the rule of law and for the rights of all the people who experienced the iron fist of the NDH regime, the focus of my work is on his relationship and conduct towards the Jews.
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