Independent State of Croatia - Racial Legislation

Racial Legislation

See also: World War II persecution of Serbs, The Holocaust in Croatia, and Porajmos

On the first day of his arrival in Zagreb, Ante Pavelić proclaimed a law that remained in effect during the entire period of the Independent State of Croatia. The law, which was enacted on 17 April 1941, declared that all people who offend, or try to offend, the Croatian nation are guilty of treason—a crime punishable by death. One day later, the first Croatian antisemitic racial law was published. This law did not create panic among the Jewish population, because they believed it was merely a continuation of the antisemitic laws of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which were proclaimed in 1939. However, the situation quickly changed on 30 April, with the publication of the Aryan race laws.

A notable part of the racial legislation was the religious conversion laws, the implications of which were not understood by the majority of the population when they were published on 3 May 1941. The implications become clear following the July speech of the minister of education, Mile Budak, in which he declared: "We will kill one third of all Serbs. We will deport another third, and the rest of them will be forced to convert to Catholicism." Racial laws were enforced until 3 May 1945, when they were abolished.

The NDH government cooperated with Nazi Germany in the Holocaust and exercised their own version of the genocide against ethnic Serbs living within their borders. State policy regarding Serbs was first declared in the words of Miroslav Žanić, the minister of the NDH Legislative council on 2 May 1941: "This country can only be a Croatian country, and there is no method we would hesitate to use in order to make it truly Croatian and cleanse it of Serbs, who have for centuries endangered us and who will endanger us again if they are given the opportunity."

At least 330,000 Serbs, 30,000 Jews and 30,000 Roma were killed during the NDH, particularly in the Jasenovac concentration camp and the same number of Serbs were forced out of the NDH. Although the Ustase's main target for persecution were the Serbs, it also participated in the destruction of the Jewish population. The NDH deviated from Nazi anti-Semitic policy by promising honorary Aryan citizenship to some Jews, if they were willing to enlist and fight for the NDH.

According to the 1931 and 1948 census, the Serb population declined in Croatia and increased in Bosnia:

Serbs	Croatia	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Srem, Serbia	Total
1931 Census	633.000	1.028.139	210.000	1.871.000
1948 Census	543.795	1.136.116	unknown	1.672.000+