The status of Jews and the concept of “aryanism” in the Independent State of Croatia (1941–1944)

Abstract

The article focusses on the representation of “Aryanism” and the “Jewish Question” by the Croatian nationalists (the Ustaša) during the Second World War. It is these two aspects that formed the basis of the Croatian national identity in the framework of the ideology of the Ustaša in the interwar period. An important role in the designation of theoretical principles was played by factors related to the historical past of Croatia - its political ties with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and cultural interaction with other regions of Eastern Europe in the 19th century. The main attention is paid to the origins and the transformation of ideological attitudes, which are reflected in the legal and programmatic provisions of the Ustaša government. However, a holistic view of the Ustaša ideologues was a complex and controversial phenomenon. The complexity of their perception was also associated with the presence and influence of the German factor on the territory of the Croatian state in 1941-1944. In part, the legal foundations of the Ustaša were borrowed from the Nuremberg Laws, which determined the specific attitude towards both Jews in the Balkans and «Aryans». However, the ideological developments of racial theorists of Croatian origin gave a structural design to ideological inventions, which were reflected in the activities of the leaders of the Ustaša movement, and made them special.