Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna

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Hrvatska Republika Herceg-Bosna
Hrvatska zajednica Herceg-Bosna
Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna
Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna
1991-1996
Flag of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna
Coat of arms of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna
flag coat of arms
Official language Croatian
Capital Mostar
Seat of government Grude
Form of government republic
Head of state Mate Boban (1991–1993)
Krešimir Zubak (1993–1994)
Head of government Jadranko Prlić (1993–1996)
currency de jure Bosnian dinar
de facto Croatian dinar(laterCroatian kuna),German mark
founding August 28, 1993
(proclamation of the Republic)
resolution de jure August 31, 1996
de facto after 2000
National anthem Lijepa naša domovino
National holiday 28 August National Incarnation
Day
( Dan državnosti )
Time zone CET ( UTC +1)
Telephone code +387 (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Europe location Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia.png
Area claimed for the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna in Bosnia-Herzegovina (red)
Area claimed for the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna in Bosnia-Herzegovina (red)

The Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna ( Croatian Hrvatska Republika Herceg-Bosna , HR HB for short ) was the politico-geographical union of predominantly Croatian areas in Bosnia-Herzegovina , to a de facto regime during the Bosnian War . It claimed the status of an autonomous state within the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the possibility of later annexation to the Republic of Croatia . The declared capital of HR HB was Mostar and the seat of government was in Grude .

After the presentation of the - later rejected - Owen Stoltenberg Plan , HR HB was proclaimed a republic by Mate Boban on August 28, 1993 and was supposed to encompass 30 districts in western Herzegovina and central Bosnia . This was preceded by the establishment of the "Croatian Herceg-Bosna Community" ( Hrvatska zajednica Herceg-Bosna , HZ HB for short) on November 18, 1991 as the "political, cultural and economic administrative unit of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina". The "Croatian Community of Bosnian Posavina " ( Hrvatska zajednica Bosanska Posavina ) in northern Bosnia , which had previously been founded on November 12, 1991, ceased to exist due to the war.

The area of ​​the HR HB was the scene of a war with massacres of the civilian population, " ethnic cleansing " and massive looting . The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has tried and convicted members of the military and politics of war crimes.

Today, most of the former territory of HR HB belongs to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Federacija Bosna i Hercegovina ), which, along with the Republika Srpska, forms one of the two entities of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Naming

The term Herceg-Bosna , in contrast to the term Bosna i Hercegovina , emphasizes Herzegovina , in which the Croats are more strongly represented, compared to Bosnia . The term Herceg-Bosna stands above all for the Croatian areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina and simply because of the position of the name does not allow Herzegovina to appear as an inseparable appendage to Bosnia.

Title of the font by Ferdo Šišić (1908)

The term Herceg-Bosna became popular through Ferdo Šišić , the leading Croatian historian of the 20th century, and his 1908 writing: Herceg-Bosna prigodom aneksije: Geografsko-etnografsko-historička i državopravna razmatranja (Herceg-Bosna during the annexation: Geographical-ethnographical-historical and constitutional considerations). After the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary , Šišić advocated the unification of all Croatian countries within Austria-Hungary, including the Croatian areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina ( trialism ). So he quoted u. a. from a brochure by the author Fabricius (pseudonym) in German:

“The happiest solution would be to join Croatia, both from a dynastic standpoint and from the standpoint of Austria-Hungary's position as a great power! Should Bosnia be incorporated into Croatia, a regrouping of the state bodies would have to be carried out. "

However, the term was used before that. In the period that followed, it was used by moderate Croatian politicians as well as radicals such as Mladen Lorković (later Foreign Minister of the "Independent State of Croatia" ).

When Yugoslavia fell apart at the beginning of the 1990s, the term was taken up again by the Croatian Democratic Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH) to express its political goal at the time, the unification of the Croatian territories of Bosnia-Herzegovina with Croatia. Thus, Herceg-Bosna to name part of the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna ( Hrvatska zajednica Herceg-Bosna ), which was founded on 18 November 1991, and then the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna ( Hrvatska Republika Herceg-Bosna ), which on the 28th August 1993 was proclaimed.

history

Emergence

Simplified representation of the ethnic distribution in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1994
  • December 27, 1991: Meeting of the Croatian President Franjo Tuđman with the delegation of the HDZ BiH in Zagreb, at the same time the second ordinary meeting of the Presidium of the HZHB. During this session, leaders made the following statements:
    • Franjo Tuđman:
      “With the perspective of the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina there is no prospect. Even if it could be obtained, gentlemen, Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular, what would that mean? The establishment of borders ... do we want to establish borders between Croatia and Herzegovina so that Croatians from Herzegovina can no longer go to their Croatia or that Croatians can go there? "
    • Mate Boban:
      “The Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna and the Croatian Community of Posavina will declare an independent Croatian territory and join the Croatian state, but at the time and at the moment when the Croatian leadership decides that this moment and time has come . "
    • Ignac Koštroman, Secretary of the HZHB:
      "Results: [...] 2. The Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna once again confirms the will of the entire Croatian people. Herceg-Bosna declared on November 18, 1991 basically, through the historic decision on the establishment of the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna, which is the legal basis for the entry of this area into the Republic of Croatia. 3. The Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna grants Dr. Franjo Tuđman, as President of the Republic of Croatia and President of the Croatian Democratic Union, has full legitimacy to represent the interests of the Croatian Herceg-Bosna Community towards international actors, such as in the inter-party and inter-state negotiations on the definition of the final borders of the Republic of Croatia . The Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna recommends the Croatian Democratic Community of Bosnian Posavina to adopt this decision for their community. "
  • March 2, 1992: After a referendum, Bosnia and Herzegovina declares the establishment of an independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (international recognition on April 17, 1992). The head of state is Alija Izetbegović .
  • April 8, 1992: Creation of the Croatian Defense Council ( Hrvatsko vijeće obrane , HVO). This month the Bosnian war begins . The HVO is the Croatian army in Bosnia-Herzegovina until 1995 .
  • July 3, 1992: The Croatian Herceg-Bosna Community declares "its" area to be an autonomous territory. However, its President Mate Boban and the Croatian President Franjo Tuđman are quick to state that the sovereignty of an independent Bosnia-Herzegovina will be retained and that the HVO will remain subordinate to the government in Sarajevo. In fact, from the outbreak of war in April 1992, the HZHB exercised executive power in the territories it claimed, insofar as they were under the control of the HVO.
  • October 2, 1992: At the urging of the HDZ, headed by the Croatian President Franjo Tuđman, the chairman of the HDZ BiH , Stjepan Kljuić , declares his resignation because, in the opinion of the HDZ, he was too committed to the preservation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  • August 28, 1993: The Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaim the independent Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna ( Hrvatska Republika Herceg-Bosna ) under Mate Boban as president and unite the areas of the Croatian Community of Bosnian Posavina and the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna.

Dissolution and integration

Areas under the control of the Croatian Defense Council (HVO) and the Croatian Army (yellow) at the end of the Bosnian War on October 20, 1995.

According to an agreement between Franjo Tuđman and Alija Izetbegović on August 30, 1996 under the direction of the US Special Envoy John Kornblum , the HRHB and all other institutions of the Bosnian state that did not comply with the new constitution should be officially dissolved on August 31, 1996, but Even after the end of the war and the signing of the Dayton Agreement in 1995 , the structures of the HRHB remained in place for several years. So were z. In 1997, for example, the police authorities issued ID cards with a validity of 10 years which, in addition to Bosna i Hercegovina, also bore the name Hrvatska Republika Herceg-Bosna and a stamp with the same coat of arms. Only the political change in Croatia in 2000 to a pro-Bosnian government weakened those forces that had still advocated a separate Croatian state in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the so-called “third entity”.

politics

territory

The areas controlled by the HVO during the Bosnian War (red) were subject to constant changes due to the war.

The HR HB claimed as territory substantially, according to the last census in 1991, the majority of Croats inhabited areas of the Herzegovina , Central bosnia and nordbosnischen Posavina . According to this, the HR HB should include the following 30 municipal districts: Jajce , Kreševo , Busovača , Vitez , Novi Travnik , Travnik , Kiseljak , Fojnica , Skender Vakuf-Dobretići , Kakanj , Vareš , Kotor Varoš , Tomislavgrad , Livno , Kupres , Bugojno , Gornji Vakufuf , Prozor , Konjic , Jablanica , Posušje , Mostar , Široki Brijeg , Grude , Ljubuški , Čitluk , Čapljina , Neum , Stolac and Trebinje-Ravno . The resolution on the establishment of the Croatian Herceg-Bosna Community of November 18, 1991 was signed by the representatives of these municipal districts, with the exception of Skender Vakuf-Dobretići, Kakanj, Vareš, Kotor Varoš, Prozor and Trebinje-Ravno.

Due to the war, however, the territory of HR HB was subject to changes and actually only ever comprised the areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina that were under the military control of the Croatian Defense Council (HVO) , the army of the Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

License plate from Mostar with the coat of arms of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna

guide

The political leadership of the Republic of Herceg-Bosna justified the proclamation of the Republic of Herceg-Bosna as a self-organization of the Croatian population in Bosnia and Herzegovina that had become necessary due to the war .

The decision-makers of the Republic of Herceg-Bosna accepted the Croatian government in Zagreb under the then Croatian President Franjo Tuđman as the only higher political body , while they rejected the Bosnian government as an institution dominated by Bosniaks .

military

On April 8, 1992, with the establishment of the Croatian Defense Council ( Hrvatsko vijeće obrane , HVO), the establishment of its own army, which reached a total strength of up to 50,000 soldiers . The establishment of this army was justified by the "passivity" of the Bosniaks , who would offer too little resistance to the Serbs . Historians assume, however, that the HVO was an element of the “Greater Croatian” policy of the then Croatian President Franjo Tuđman and an instrument for connecting the predominantly Croatian-populated areas to Croatia.

The HVO carried out war crimes and ethnic cleansing of the Bosniak and Serbian civilian population. The army also ran several internment camps for Bosniaks, whose inmates were tortured and beaten. Bosniak women were also mistreated and raped.

Towards the end of the war, the military alliance between the HVO and the Bosniak-dominated army of Bosnia-Herzegovina ( Armija Republike Bosne i Hercegovine , ARBiH) was renewed and led the fight against the Serbs together with the Croatian army ( Hrvatska vojska , HV) of the Republic of Serbian Krajina during Operation Oluja in the summer of 1995 to a military success and the signing of the Dayton Accords on November 21, 1995.

After the end of the war, the HVO and the ARBiH were united under pressure from the United States in January 1997 to form a joint army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Vojska Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine , VFBiH), but it was not until the new social democratic government of Croatia under Prime Minister Ivica Račan provided the financial support Support for the HVO in September 2000.

Symbols

flag

Flag of HR HB; Today flag of the Croatians in Bosnia-Herzegovina

The flag of HR HB was a modification of the flag of Croatia and consists of three horizontal stripes of equal width, in the Croatian colors red-white-blue. In the center of the middle white stripe was the coat of arms of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna. The height of the flag was in the ratio 1: 2 to the width.

coat of arms

Coat of arms of HR HB; today the coat of arms of the Croatians in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The coat of arms of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna was a modification of the historical Croatian coat of arms , the Šahovnica (literally: chessboard), and consisted of 25 red and silver fields, starting with a red field. The coat of arms has the shape of a German Renaissance round shield and is made of gold. The Croatian wickerwork is shown in the upper field of the coat of arms . The coat of arms of the HRHB can be found for the first time on the first gendarmerie units of the Republic of Croatia ( Prvi hrvatski redarstvenik ), which were formed in Croatia and the Croatian areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina and were used as a hat badge from autumn 1990 to early 1991 (still surrounded by the halo of the red Star cap badge).

The flag and coat of arms of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna are still used today by the Croatians in Bosnia-Herzegovina and officially in the Croatian-majority cantons of West-Herzegovina and Herceg-Bosna (Canton 10) .

War crimes

Several persons responsible in the Herceg-Bosna Republic have been tried before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia .

Zlatko Aleksovski , who had held the position of captain of the Kaonik prison from 1993, was sentenced on May 7, 1999 to 2.5 years in prison for war crimes. The Appeals Chamber increased the prison term on September 22, 2000 to 7 years.

Dario Kordić , chairman of the HDZ BiH from 1991 to 1995 and later vice-president of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on February 26, 2001 for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In the same trial, the former HVO commander of the Vitez Brigade Mario Čerkez was sentenced to 15 years for crimes against humanity. On December 17, 2004, the Appeals Chamber reduced his sentence to 6 years.

Miroslav Bralo, a member of the “ Joker ”, the anti-terror platoon of the 4th Military Police Battalion of the Croatian Defense Council (HVO), was sentenced to 20 years in prison on December 7, 2005 for war crimes and crimes against humanity. On April 2, 2007, the Appeals Chamber upheld the judgment of the first instance.

The head of government of the former Republic of Herceg-Bosna, Jadranko Prlić , its defense minister Bruno Stojić , the two ex-generals Slobodan Praljak and Milivoj Petković as well as the former commander of the Bosnian-Croatian military police, Valentin Ćorić and ex-officer Berislav Pušić had to face the war crime tribunal answer for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Bosnian-Croatian conflict 1993/94. The indictment accused them in particular of “joint criminal action” to expel Bosniaks. In May 2013 the tribunal sentenced Prlić to 25 years, Stojić, Praljak and Petković to 20 years, Ćorić to 16 and Pušić to 10 years imprisonment. In November 2017 all the sentences were upheld, Praljak committed in the courtroom suicide .

See also

literature

  • Kristóf Gosztonyi: Non-existent states with strange institutions . In: Jan Koehler, Christoph Zürcher (Eds.): Potentials of Disorder: Explaining Conflict and Stability in the Caucasus and in the Former Yugoslavia (=  New approaches to conflict analysis ). Manchester University Press, Manchester 2003, ISBN 978-0-7190-6241-4 , pp. 46 ff .
  • Herceg Bosna. In: Hrvatska enciklopedija. Leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krleža, 2020, accessed on July 22, 2020 (Croatian).

Web links

Commons : Republic of Herceg-Bosna  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Foundation of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna ( Memento from August 15, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ The Ethnicization of Political Institutions in the Civil War (1992–1995) , Digital Library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
  3. ↑ a b c http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Bosnia.html
  4. ↑ Mate Bobans in a letter to Franjo Tuđman about the Croatian community Herceg-Bosna ( Memento from August 15, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Ferdo Šišić: Herceg-Bosna prigodom aneksije: Geografsko-etnografsko-historička i državopravna razmatranja , p. 41 f.
  6. ↑ Ivan Zovko: Hrvatstvo u narodnoj predaji i običajima po Herceg-Bosni (Croatian in the folk tradition and customs of Herceg-Bosna). Hrvatske Dioničke Tiskare, Mostar 1899.
  7. ^ Mladen Lorković: Narod i zemlja Hrvata (People and Land of the Croats). Matica hrvatska, Zagreb 1939.
  8. ↑ Predrag Lucić (ed.): Stenogrami o podjeli Bosne [shorthand notes on the division of Bosnia] . Kultura & Rasvjeta / Civitas, Split / Sarajevo 2005, p. 85 : “Sa Perspektiveom suverenosti Bosne i Hercegovine nema nekakvih izgleda. Čak kada bi se mogla održati, gospodo, Bosna i hercegovina kao posebna, što to znači? Uspostava granice… hoćemo li uspostaviti granice između Hrvatske i Hercegovine da Hrvat iz Hercegovine ne može ići u svoju Hrvatsku ili ovaj Hrvat tamo? "
  9. ↑ Predrag Lucić (ed.): Stenogrami o podjeli Bosne [shorthand notes on the division of Bosnia] . Kultura & Rasvjeta / Civitas, Split / Sarajevo 2005, p. 80 : "Hrvatska zajednica Herceg Bosna i Hrvatska zajednica Posavina bi se proglasile nezavisnim hrvatskim prostorom i priključile državi Hrvatskoj, ali u onom vremenu iu onom trenutku kada vluvatsko da vrhovništ."
  10. ↑ Predrag Lucić (ed.): Stenogrami o podjeli Bosne [shorthand notes on the division of Bosnia] . Kultura & Rasvjeta / Civitas, Split / Sarajevo 2005, p. 81 f . "Zaključci: […] 2. Hrvatska zajednica Herceg-Bosna još jednom potvrđuje volju cjelokupnog hrvatskog naroda Herceg-Bosne izražene 18. studenog 1991. godine u Grudama, donlogoseći povijesnu odlukedu o uspostu ceg ovih teritorija u Republiku Hrvatsku. 3. Hrvatska zajednica Herceg-Bosna daje puni legitimitet gospodinu dr. Franji Tuđmanu, kao predsjedniku Republike Hrvatske i predsjedniku Hrvatske demokratske zajednice da zastupa interese Hrvatske zajednice Herceg-Bosna kod međunarodnih čimbenika, kao i kod međustranačkiovarni i mehđrublica Hrvatske zajednice Hrvatska zajednica Herceg-Bosna daje preporuku Hrvatskoj demokratskoj zajednici Bosanska Posavina da donese ovakvu istu odluku za svoju zajednicu. "
  11. ^ Friedrich Jäger: The International Tribunal on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia . LIT Verlag, Münster 2005, p. 84 f. ( Online in Google Book Search)
  12. ^ Society for Threatened Peoples
  13. ↑ Tjednik from May 16, 1997 ( Memento of the original from June 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ex-yupress.com
  14. ↑ § 2 of the decision on the establishment of the Croatian Herceg-Bosna Community of November 18, 1991
  15. ^ Annex to the resolution on the establishment of the Croatian Herceg-Bosna Community of November 18, 1991 with the signatures of the respective community representatives.
  16. ^ A b Norman M. Naimark : Flaming hatred: ethnic cleansing in the 20th century . CH Beck, Munich 2004, p. 214 ff .
  17. ↑ Peter Imbusch : Peace and Conflict Research: An Introduction . Ed .: Peter Imbusch, Ralf Zoll. 5th edition. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2010. , p. 237.
  18. ^ Marie-Janine Calic: War and Peace in Bosnia-Hercegovina . Suhrkamp, ​​1995. page 65
  19. ^ Sabrina P. Ramet: Central and Southeast European Politics Since 1989 . Cambridge University Press, 2010. Pages 263 f.
  20. ^ Paul Mojzes: Balkan Genocides: Holocaust and Ethnic Cleansing in the Twentieth Century . Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Plymouth 2011. , p. 168
  21. ↑ Mario Jareb: Hrvatski simboli (Croatian symbols). ALFA dd Hrvatski institut za povijest, Zagreb 2010, ISBN 978-953-297-230-6 , p. 371 (Croatian).
  22. ↑ Case information sheet: Zlatko Aleksovski. (PDF; 213 kB) Accessed November 23, 2012 .
  23. ^ Case information sheet: Kordić & Čerkez. (PDF; 249 kB) Retrieved November 23, 2012 .
  24. ^ Case information sheet: Miroslav Bralo. (PDF; 239 kB) Accessed November 23, 2012 .
  25. ↑ 25 years imprisonment for Prlic for war crimes , Swiss radio and television , May 29, 2013
  26. ^ Poison death in The Hague - Convicted Slobodan Praljak died. Die Welt from November 29, 2017