Independent State of Croatia

7 min readSep 28, 2021

The Independent State of Croatia (Serbo-Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; German: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; Italian: Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany[6][7][8] and Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, after the invasion by the Axis powers. Its territory consisted of most of modern-day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as some parts of modern-day Serbia and Slovenia, but also excluded many Croat-populated areas in Dalmatia (until late 1943), Istria, and Međimurje regions (which today are part of Croatia).

During its entire existence, the NDH was governed as a one-party state by the fascist Ustaša organization. The Ustaše was led by the Poglavnik, Ante Pavelić.[note 2] 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.[9]

In the territory controlled by the Independent State of Croatia, between 1941 and 1945, there existed 22 concentration camps. The largest camp was Jasenovac. Two camps, Jastrebarsko and Sisak, held only children. [14]

The state was officially a monarchy after the signing of the Laws of the Crown of Zvonimir on 15 May 1941.[15][16] Appointed by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta initially refused to assume the crown in opposition to the Italian annexation of the Croat-majority populated region of Dalmatia, annexed as part of the Italian irredentist agenda of creating a Mare Nostrum (“Our Sea”).[17] He later briefly accepted the throne due to pressure from Victor Emmanuel III and was titled Tomislav II of Croatia, but never moved from Italy to reside in Croatia.[3]

From the signing of the Treaties of Rome on 18 May 1941 until the Italian capitulation on 8 September 1943, the state was a territorial condominium of Germany and Italy.[18] “Thus on 15 April 1941, Pavelić came to power, albeit a very limited power, in the new Ustasha state under the umbrella of German and Italian forces. On the same day German Führer Adolf Hitler and Italian Duce Benito Mussolini granted recognition to the Croatian state and declared that their governments would be glad to participate with the Croatian government in determining its frontiers.”[19][20][21] In its judgement in the Hostages Trial, the Nuremberg Military Tribunal concluded that NDH was not a sovereign state. According to the Tribunal, “Croatia was at all times here involved an occupied country”.[22]

In 1942, Germany suggested Italy take military control of all of Croatia out of a desire to redirect German troops from Croatia to the Eastern Front. Italy however rejected the offer as it did not believe that it could on its own handle the unstable situation in the Balkans.[23] After the ousting of Mussolini and the Kingdom of Italy’s armistice with the Allies, the NDH on 10 September 1943 declared that the Treaties of Rome were null and void and annexed the portion of Dalmatia that had been ceded to Italy. The NDH attempted to annex Zara (modern-day Zadar, Croatia), which had been a recognized territory of Italy since 1920 and long an object of Croatian irredentism, but Germany did not allow it.[17]

1Geography
1.1Establishment of borders
1.2Administrative divisions
2History
2.1Influences on the rise of the Ustaše
2.2Establishment of NDH
2.3Italian influence
2.4Influence of Nazi Germany
2.5Partisan resistance
2.6Relations with the Chetniks
2.7End of the war
2.8Aftermath
3Government
3.1Monarchy
3.2Parliament
3.3Court system
3.4Military
3.5Currency
3.6Railways
4Zones of influence
5Politics
5.1Foreign relations
6Genocide policies
7Economy
7.1Role of Nazi Germany
7.2Italian role
8Demographics
8.1Population
8.2Displacement of people
9Culture
9.1Media
9.2Sport
10See also
11Notes
12References
13Sources
14External links

Geography

Geographically, the NDH encompassed most of modern-day Croatia, all of Bosnia and Herzegovina, part of modern-day Serbia,[24] and a small portion of modern-day Slovenia in the Municipality of Brežice. It bordered Nazi Germany to the north-west, the Kingdom of Hungary to the north-east, the Serbian administration (a joint German-Serb government) to the east, Montenegro (an Italian protectorate) to the south-east and Fascist Italy along its coastal area.

Independent State of Croatia

Contents

Geography

Written by Riyepix