Independent State of Croatia
Croatia, 1941–1945. Draft, not yet reviewed
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II-era quasi-state, a protectorate of Fascist Italy from 1941 to 1943 and a puppet state of Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1945. It was established in parts of occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of the country by the Axis powers. During its entire existence, the NDH was governed as a one-party state by the fascist Ustaše organization under its Poglavnik, Ante Pavelić. The regime targeted Serbs, Jews and Roma as part of a large-scale campaign of genocide, as well as anti-fascist or dissident Croats and Bosnian Muslims.
Seat of power: Zagreb
Rulers
Ante Pavelić
Poglavnik, 1941–1945
On 16 April 1941 he took power as the State Leader, or Poglavnik, holding the office of prime minister. He founded and headed the Ustaše in 1929 and led the Independent State of Croatia from 1941 to 1945. Pavelić and the Ustaše persecuted many racial minorities and political opponents in the NDH during the war, including Serbs, Jews, Romani, and Yugoslav Partisans.
Portrait of Ante Pavelić: Willy Pragher, CC BY 3.0 de, file
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Prince Aimone, 4th Duke of Aosta
monarch, 1941–1943
From 18 May 1941 to 31 July 1943, Aimone was designated king of the Independent State of Croatia, even though he never ruled there. He accepted the position and took the name Tomislav II, but later refused to assume the kingship in protest of the Italian annexation of the Dalmatia region. After the dismissal of Mussolini on 25 July 1943, Aimone abdicated on 31 July as king on the orders of Victor Emmanuel III.
Portrait of Prince Aimone, 4th Duke of Aosta: Vanzanten, edited by F l a n k e r, Public domain, file
Culture
- In Jasenovac the majority of victims were Serbs, and others were Romani, Jews and socialists.
- There has been much debate and controversy regarding the number of victims killed at the Jasenovac concentration camp complex. Over the last few decades, a consensus has formed in support of estimates of the Ustaše regime having murdered somewhere near 100,000 people in Jasenovac between 1941 and 1945.
- In its judgement in the Hostages Trial, the Nuremberg Military Tribunal concluded that the NDH was not a sovereign state.
Picture
Jasenovac was a concentration and extermination camp established by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II.
Image: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Sources
- Independent State of Croatia (Wikipedia)
- Independent State of Croatia (Wikidata)
- About the picture (Wikipedia)
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.