BOSNIAN MUSLIMS AND THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF CROATIA (1941-1945)

The Bosnian Muslim community within the wartime puppet Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska, NDH) (1941-1945) is an important domestic issue for the newly created Ustasa government. After the proclamation of the new country in April 1941, Bosniaks comprise approximately 10 % of the state population and this requires a specific national strategy by the "Poglavnik" Ante Pavelic and the Croatian leadership. The Ustasa ideology refers extremely tolerant towards the Muslim minority in NDH and its specific cultural and religious characteristics. Bosnia is declared by the official propaganda as a "historical" Croatian land and Bosniaks - as a "branch of Croatian nation". Islam is declared as an official religious element in the State. In the long term this strategy is clearly intended to assimilate Bosnian Muslims within the Croatian national identity. The unsuccessful political moves by the Ustasa government and the extreme wartime terror in Bosnia and Herzegovina (by Nazis, Chetniks, Serbian rebellion, etc.) accumulated discontent of the majority of Bosniaks and they launch their own political activity. However, they are disunited, participated in different, often opposing to each other political wings and factions, which indicates a vague and unformed national identity among them. This study examines the aforementioned political and social processes and tendencies in this part of the Balkans during the Second World War. It features the events surrounding the inclusion of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the new Croatian administration, as well as the national politic of the Ustasa government towards Bosnian Muslims. Particular emphasis is the attempts of the Croatian nationalist ideology to incorporate Bosniak community, based on the conception of the important role of Muslims in the genesis of Croatian nation in historical aspect. The research also reveals the different trends of the political activity within the Muslims, including their collaboration with the Ustasas and the Nazis, their autonomist movement and their inclusion in the antifascist Partisan movement.