Genocide by the Ustaše
During World War II, the Holocaust was a devastating genocide that took the lives of millions at the hands of Nazi Germany. At the same time, there was another genocide occurring in Croatia that mirrored that of the Nazis but on a smaller scale. Yugoslavia fell to the Axis powers in April of 1941 and the Independent State of Croatia was created. The extremist political group the Ustaše, which had been in existence since 1930 and after seeking help from a number of countries, adopted Nazi ideals to get the Nazis to help them come into power.
The Ustaše regime believed in ultranationalism and they believed in a “greater Yugoslavia.” The Ustaše outlawed all other political parties and all public and private activities were subject to the will of the state. In May of 1941, the Ustaše Organization announced three goals that would led to a stronger and purer Croatia. First, a third of the Serbian population would be forced to convert to Catholicism. Second, a third of the Serbian population was to be deported. Lastly, a third of the Serbian population was to be killed.
Just one month later, the Croatian military committed their first mass murder near Gudovac. In May the killing continued as thousands Serbs in Velgun and Glina were massacred. Concentration camps were built between 1941 and 1942 and showed just how much the Ustaše were emulating the Nazis. These camps held anywhere from 100,000 to 700,000 Serbian and Jewish prisoners. Most of the camps were short-lived, closing by the end of 1942. But the largest, Jasenovac, continued to operate.
The killings of thousands of Serbs were brutally conducted. Elderly, women, and children were burned. Bone marrow fat was boiled to make soap and in some cases prisoners were simply thrown into boiling water. Some were drowned and thousands had their throats slashed. Rebel groups were able to fight back toward the end of World War II and freed the country from the Ustaše regime.