The Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia
The Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Holokaust u Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj; Hebrew: השואה במדינת קרואטיה העצמאית) involved the genocide of Jews, Serbs and Romani within the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH), a fascist puppet state that existed during World War II, led by the Ustaše regime, which ruled an occupied area of Yugoslavia including most of the territory of modern-day Croatia, the whole of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina and the eastern part of Syrmia (Serbia). Of the 39,000 Jews who lived in the NDH in 1941, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states that more than 30,000 were murdered.[1] Of these, 6,200 were shipped to Nazi Germany[2][3] and the rest of them were murdered in the NDH, the vast majority in Ustaše-run concentration camps, such as Jasenovac. The Ustaše were the only quisling forces in Yugoslavia who operated their own extermination camps for the purpose of murdering Jews and members of other ethnic groups.
For the book, see The Holocaust in Croatia (book).Of the minority, 9,000 Jews, who managed to survive, 50% of them did so by joining the Partisans or escaping to Partisan-controlled territory.[4] The Partisans welcomed 10 Yugoslav Jews who were named National Heroes, the highest WWII award,[5] including Jews from Croatia. Croatian civilians were also involved in saving Jews during this period. As of 2020, 120 Croats have been recognized as Righteous among the Nations.[6]
Abolition of racial laws[edit]
On 5 May 1945, only 3 days before the Partisans liberated Zagreb and just days after they finished mass-murdering the last 3,000 prisoners at Jasenovac, among them 700 Jews,[64] the fleeing Ustaše declared the Legal Decree on the Equalization of Members of the NDH Based on Racial Origin (Zakonska odredba o izjednačavanju pripadnika NDH s obzirom na rasnu pripadnost) which repealed the racial laws under which the Ustaše exterminated the vast majority of Jews and Roma and many Serbs during the course of the war.
Revisionism in Croatia[edit]
Holocaust revisionism and denial in Croatia has been criticized by Menachem Z. Rosensaft in 2017[131] and William Echikson's Holocaust Remembrance Project report of 2019.[132] Representatives of Serbian and Jewish communities along with anti-fascist organisations have boycotted state commemoration services for Jasenovac victims in protest at what they see as government leniency towards Ustaša sympathisers.[133]
In 2018, Croatian journalist Igor Vukić wrote a book on the Jasenovac concentration camp entitled Radni logor Jasenovac (Jasenovac Labour Camp) that advanced the theory that Jasenovac was simply a labour camp where no mass murder took place.[134] In referencing the book, Croatian journalist Milan Ivkošić wrote a column for the Croatian daily newspaper Večernji list entitled "Jasenovac cleansed of ideology, bias and communist forgery" where he declared that "there was fun in the camp. There were sporting matches, especially football, concerts, theatrical performances, among which were pieces that were created by the inmates themselves."[135] One of Croatian Radiotelevision's programme editors Karolina Vidović Krišto covered the book's release in a talk show, in which the historian Hrvoje Klasić was supposed to be present, but he had explicitly rejected the invitation because of Jasenovac denialism, and the institution subsequently published a disclaimer, saying they do not advocate any such views and that all their employees are supposed to do their work objectively and legally.[136] Krišto was reportedly subsequently removed from her post, and later entered politics as a candidate of the Miroslav Škoro Homeland Movement.[137]