The Ustasha (also known as Ustase ) was a far-right nationalist party that took power from the Independent State of Croatia in April 1941 during World War II. Croatia was a puppet state created by the Nazis after invading Yugoslavia. The Ustase was at the head of Croatia until 1945 and, during this period, spread terror across the country, indiscriminately killing Serbs, Jews and Roma.
Emergence of Ustase
Ustase was the result of a strong extremist nationalism that existed in Croatia since the 19th century. This nationalism was strengthened with the emergence of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918. Yugoslavia was a state that brought together a number of different nationalities under the authority of the Serbs. Exclusive power in the hands of Serbs resulted in Croatian nationalism, which advocated the foundation of a national state exclusively for Croatians.
Ustase, led by Ante Pavelic , was a far-right party with nationalist, separatist and revanchist tendencies. This party advocated that Croatian independence be achieved through the use of violence, as they claimed that constitutional methods had failed.
Ustase was officially founded by Ante Pavelic in Italy in 1930, and was joined by many Croatians from Italy, Germany, Austria and Hungary. However, among Croatians, the most popular party was the Croatian Peasant Party. The Ustase ideology was heavily influenced by German Nazism and Italian fascism . Its leader, Ante Pavelic, was called by party members Poglavnik , the Croatian counterpart for the fuhrer, in German, or the duce, in Italian.
Ustase ideology included extreme nationalist, racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic, and anti-communist elements. Furthermore, its supporters glorified violence, despised liberal democracy and advocated the use of violence against the enemies of the state – within this ideology, enemies were all those who were not Croatians or were Croatians who were against Ustase| 1| .
Invasion of Yugoslavia and founding of the Independent State of Croatia
Ustase came to power in April 1941 when Yugoslavia was invaded by Nazi troops. This invasion took place because the Nazis wanted control over important natural resources that existed in the Balkans and, in addition, they wanted to pass their troops through that region to send them to Greece.
Thus, the Nazis carried out the distribution of local power and territories according to their interests and those of their allies. In part of Yugoslav territory, the Independent State of Croatia was founded under the leadership of Ante Pavelic. The rest of Yugoslavia was distributed among Germany, Italy and Hungary.
Territorial division was one of the conditions that Ante Pavelic had to accept to assume power in Croatia. The Ustase's intention was always to form a “Greater Croatia”, which would incorporate all Croatian-controlled Yugoslav territories. Furthermore, the Ustase was also to accept interference in internal affairs whenever the Nazis wished. Thus, it became common, during this period, for the Germans to interfere in internal affairs of the country. As a result, the Independent State of Croatia is considered by historians as a puppet state .
Immediately after the Nazi invasion and the Ustaše's rise to power, opposition groups formed. This gave an air of civil war to the conflict that took place over the next four years in the region. The opposition groups were the communist Yugoslavs called Partisans and the royalist Serbs called Chetniks . The groups were led by Josip Broz Tito and Draza Mihailovic , respectively.
Ustase terror policy and the Jasenovac concentration camp
The four years that Ustase was in power were marked by terror. The first measure implemented by the party was to impose a law that removed the citizenship rights of all Serbs and a law that imposed heavy punishments against all those who “offended the honor” of Croats. Furthermore, positions of importance could only be held by ethnic Croatians.
From that, a process of great persecution began, mainly against the Serbs. This persecution led to arbitrary arrests, use of physical violence as intimidation, and took on forms of mass extermination. This policy of terror was made explicit by the Croatian Minister of Justice, in a speech on June 2, 1941, when he stated:
This state, our nation, is for Croatians only and no one else. There are no methods and means that we Croatians will not use to make this nation truly ours and cleanse it of all Orthodox Serbs. All those who came to our country 300 years ago must disappear. This is the policy of our State and during its implementation we will do nothing but follow the principles of Ustase|2| .
At that time, it became common to invade villages inhabited by Serbs, where the general population was exterminated, especially the Orthodox priests. The greatest persecution of Orthodox priests was due to the fact that the Ustaše was a party that claimed to be Croatian and, in addition, sought to forcibly convert Serbs to Catholicism.
Ustase's extermination project led to the creation of the Jasenovac concentration camp in February 1942. According to estimates, this camp alone was responsible for the deaths of up to 100,000 people. In addition to Orthodox Serbs, Jews and Gypsies were also sent en masse to Jasenovac. It is estimated that, over the course of the war, around 330,000 Serbs died as a result of the Ustase's genocidal policy.
End of war in Yugoslavia
How the Ustaše was allied with the Axis (group formed by Italy, Germany and Japan), its fate was sealed as this group was being defeated by the Allies (formed by the USA, USSR and UK). The weakening of the Nazis led to the strengthening of the Partisans (backed by the Soviets and the British), who won the war and assumed power in Yugoslavia in 1945. The communists' victory led to the creation of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Croat supporters of Ustaše and any demonstration of Croatian nationalism were harshly persecuted by the Tito government. Ustase leader Ante Pavelic managed to escape and was never tried for war crimes committed at his behest. Pavelic received political asylum from Franco's fascist Spain and died in 1959.
|1| OGNYANOVA, Irina. Nationalism and National Policy in Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945), p. 6. Available here (in English).
|2| Ditto, p. 15 (my translation).