Andrija Artuković
Andrija Artuković (born November 19, 1899 in Klobuk near Ljubuški , † January 16, 1988 in Zagreb ) was a fascist Croatian politician . As a leading political figure in the Ustaša movement, he led the Velebit Uprising and was later a. a. Minister of the Interior and Justice of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). He was sentenced to death as a war criminal in Yugoslavia in 1986 , but was no longer executed.
Live and act
He graduated from the Franciscan high school in Široki Brijeg . He then studied law and graduated with a doctorate. In 1924 he joined a right-wing Croatian party and in the same year he opened his own law firm in Gospić .
In 1932 he became a member of the right-wing Ustasha movement and in the same year led the " Velebit Uprising " ( Velebitski ustanak ) against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . He was also a member of the right-wing extremist organization Zrinski Frankopani , which dealt with various theories about the origin of Croatian nationality. Its founder Ante Starčević claimed that the Croats are not a Slavic people , but a lost tribe of the Goths , i.e. Germanic tribes . After the suppression of the "Velebit Uprising" and his flight to Italy , Ante Pavelić appointed him chief commander of the Ustaša troops in fascist Italy that same year and awarded him the highest Ustaša badge for his commitment and love for the country.
In 1934 he meets with Pavelić in Milan and discusses political goals with the Ustaše government and plans for the assassination of the Yugoslav king Alexander I. Finally, on October 9, the king was killed by a Bulgarian nationalist with the help of Croatian Ustaše during a state visit to Marseille killed. In March 1934 he moved on to London , but was caught by the British authorities and handed over to the French government. In January 1935 he was extradited to the Yugoslav judiciary, his trial lasted 16 months and, thanks to benevolent testimony, ended in an acquittal. In 1936 he lived again in Gospić , in 1937 he emigrated to Austria and then moved on to Berlin , where he worked closely with the Gestapo as a Croatian deputy before returning to his homeland in the same year. Until 1941 he participated in numerous right-wing organizations and projects.
.jpg)
After the proclamation of the NDH ( Independent State of Croatia ), Pavelić made him the first interior minister of the newly formed Croatian government in Zagreb .
Since the vassal state was under the influence of the allied German Reich at the time , he accompanied Pavelić on the visit of Adolf Hitler on August 6, 1941 to Hitler's private residence, "the Berghof ".
On November 14th, 1941 Artuković met his future wife Anna Maria Heidler in Innsbruck . This marriage produced five children. In 1942 he resigned as Minister of the Interior and was appointed Minister of Justice.
In this function he was also responsible for the " final solution to the Jewish question " and said the following in his speech to 100,000 people on the main square in Zagreb:
- "The Croatian people can do nothing else than to cleanse their nation of such poisoned and dangerous creatures and voracious parasites: the Jews, communists, gypsies, dissenters and Freemasons." (Narodne Novine, February 26, 1942)
In 1943 he took over the office of Minister of the Interior again. He is also known as the “Croatian Himmler ” because he prepared the mass murder of Serbs , Jews , Gypsies , communists , opponents of the regime, Jehovah's Witnesses , dissidents, Freemasons and the disabled.
Shortly before the end of the war, he fled to Ireland via Austria and Switzerland . He pretended to be Swiss and called himself Alois Anich. He arrived in New York on July 16, 1948 . Judged by the crimes he has committed, Artuković is the highest ranking Axis war criminal who came to the United States and lived there.
War crimes trial
As early as 1949 attempts were made to extradite or deport Artuković. However, the Yugoslav government's extradition request was rejected, partly because of legal formalities and claims that Artuković would be physically abused in Yugoslavia .
He was finally arrested on November 14, 1984 at his home in Seal Beach or Long Beach and flown to Zagreb on February 12, 1986 .
In 1986 he had to answer before the war crimes tribunal. The charges were: ethnic mass murders, responsibility for ethnic cleansing in various Croatian concentration camps. This trial resulted in a death sentence , which was not carried out because of his illness. Artuković died of old age in 1988 and was buried in an unknown location.
literature
- Howard Blum: Wanted: The Search for Nazis in America. Fawcett Books, Greenwich (Connecticut) 1977
- Branimir Stanojević: Collaborators of Fascism: Andrija Artuković and the Ustasha regime. Tanjug News Agency , Belgrade 1985
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Sabrina P. Ramet: Personalities in the History of the NDH . In: Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions . tape 7 , no. 4 , 2006, p. 493 .
- ^ A b Efraim Zuroff : Profession: Nazi hunter. The search with staying power: The hunt for the perpetrators of the genocide (= unwanted books on fascism. No. 10). Ahriman-Verlag , Freiburg im Breisgau 1996, ISBN 3-89484-555-4 . P. 58
- ↑ a b http://articles.latimes.com/1986-02-13/news/mn-23182_1_andrija-artukovic
- ↑ http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/1705143/ARTUKOVIC,%20ANDREW%20%20%20VOL.%202_0075.pdf
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Artuković, Andrija |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Croatian Ustaša functionary and war criminal |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 19, 1899 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Klobuk |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 16, 1988 |
| Place of death | Zagreb |