Croatia
After the Anschluss he entered the Wehrmacht and was appointed as Plenipotentiary General in the Independent State of Croatia on April 14, 1941. There, he was shocked by the atrocities of the Ustaše (Croatian Fascist para-militaries), which he repeatedly denounced and opposed. As early as 28 June 1941, he reported the following to the German High Command, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW):
| “ | ...according to reliable reports from countless German military and civil observers during the last few weeks the Ustaše have gone raging mad. | ” |
On 10 July, he added:
| “ | Our troops have to be mute witnesses of such events; it does not reflect well on their otherwise high reputation... I am frequently told that German occupation troops would finally have to intervene against Ustaše crimes. This may happen eventually. Right now, with the available forces, I could not ask for such action. Ad hoc intervention in individual cases could make the German Army look responsible for countless crimes which it could not prevent in the past. | ” |
The lack of response from the OKW at Glaise-Horstenau's criticism of the Ustaše's methods increasingly frustrated him, and caused deep tension with the dictator of the Croatia Ante Pavelić. By 1944, he had grown so dismayed at the atrocities he had witnessed that he became deeply implicated in the Lorković-Vokić plot, with the purpose of overthrowing Pavelić's regime and replacing it with a pro-Allied government. The subsequent failure of this attempt turned Glaise-Horstenau into persona non grata both for the Croatian establishment and the Nazis. Consequently, during the first week of September, Pavelić and German ambassador Siegfried Kasche conspired together and effected his removal on September 25. Glaise-Horstenau's withdrawal from the scene opened the door for the total politicalization of the Croatian armed forces, which occurred over the next several months.
Glaise-Horstenau was then passed into Führer-Reserve and entrusted with the obscure task of Military Historian of the South East until his capture by the US Army on May 5, 1945. Fearing extradition to Yugoslavia, he committed suicide at Langwasser military camp near Nuremberg, Germany, on July 20, 1946.
Read more about this topic: Edmund Glaise-Horstenau