Andrija Artukovic
Encyclopedia
Andrija Artuković was a Croatian
politician and a member of the Ustaše
movement. Artuković was convicted of war crimes committed against minorities in the Independent State of Croatia
(NDH) during World War II
. His active participation in these crimes earned him the nickname "the Himmler of the Balkans
".
, near Ljubuški
(in Herzegovina
, Austria-Hungary
) and studied at a Franciscan
monastery at Široki Brijeg
in Herzegovina
. He obtained a law PhD
degree at University of Zagreb
. From 1924 he worked as a court apprentice in Zagreb and in 1926 he opened an independent office in Gospić
. In 1929, he became part of the revolutionary group the Ustaše
, and led a small uprising in Lika
, after which he returned to Italy
. In 1934 he was arrested as a participant in the death of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia
but was released.
During World War II
, in 1941 Artuković became Minister of the Interior in the newly-formed NDH
. He was closely involved in the mass murder
of Serbs
, Jews, Roma, and other minorities, and the opening of concentration camps such as Jasenovac
. His close associate was propagandist
Savić Marković Štedimlija
, a publicist of Montenegrin ethnicity.
In 1941 Artuković had personally ordered the incarceration of the former national deputy Jesa Vidic in the Danica concentration camp. Olga Vidic proposed to exchange title to a piece of property for her husband's release to which Artuković replied "... I will kill him and take ... the land", which he did.
After the war he was held at a British prisoner-of-war camp at Spittal an der Drau
, Austria
. He avoided extradition to Yugoslavia, and travelled without a passport, moving to Switzerland
and later to Ireland
. Using the false name of Alois Anich, he used an Irish Certificate of Identity to obtain a non-immigrant visitor's visa from the American consul in Dublin. On 16 July 1948 he thus illegally entered the United States as a "temporary visitor for pleasure".
He moved to Seal Beach, California
in 1948. When his visa and two extensions expired in April 1949 and his application for permanent residence under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 was denied, he nonetheless remained in the United States, along with his wife and his children, until the mid-1980s. His extradition was requested by the Yugoslav
authorities to be put on the trial for war crime
s (e.g. causing the death of several thousand persons). It was first stayed by an immigration judge and shelved for two decades due to pressure from Croatian Americans and the Roman Catholic Church
, but then reactivated and after a long court battle he was eventually expelled from the USA to Yugoslavia. The court in Zagreb
issued a death sentence on 14 May 1986, but a year later the authorities ruled that he was too ill (with senile dementia) to be executed.
He died from natural causes in a prison hospital in Zagreb
in 1988, aged 88.
for human rights, Ivan Zvonimir Čičak, called for authorities to investigate what happened to the remains.
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
politician and a member of the Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
movement. Artuković was convicted of war crimes committed against minorities in the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
(NDH) during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. His active participation in these crimes earned him the nickname "the Himmler of the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
".
Biography
Andrija Artuković was born in KlobukKlobuk (Ljubuški)
Klobuk is a village in a municipality of Ljubuški, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is placed cca 15 km from city ljubuški on the master road M-6 Grude - Ljubuški - Čapljina - Metković.- History :First mentioning of Klobuk dates from year 1585...
, near Ljubuški
Ljubuški
Ljubuški is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in thewestern part of Herzegovina.-1971:28.269 total* Croats - 26.198 * Muslims by nationality - 1.812 * Serbs - 118 * Yugoslavs - 49...
(in Herzegovina
Herzegovina
Herzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
) and studied at a Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
monastery at Široki Brijeg
Široki Brijeg
-Name:The name of the city means "the wide hill" in Croatian . The city is also sometime referred to as "Široki Brig" and among the inhabitants of Herzegovina simply as "Široki" . Between 1945 and 1990, the name was officially Lištica, after the river that flows through it.-Geography:The river...
in Herzegovina
Herzegovina
Herzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...
. He obtained a law PhD
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
degree at University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
. From 1924 he worked as a court apprentice in Zagreb and in 1926 he opened an independent office in Gospić
Gospic
Gospić is a town in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika, Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Lika-Senj county. Gospić is located near the Lika River in the middle of a karst field....
. In 1929, he became part of the revolutionary group the Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
, and led a small uprising in Lika
Lika
Lika is a mountainous region in central Croatia, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by the Malovan pass...
, after which he returned to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. In 1934 he was arrested as a participant in the death of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I , also known as Alexander the Unifier was the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as well as the last king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes .-Childhood:...
but was released.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, in 1941 Artuković became Minister of the Interior in the newly-formed NDH
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
. He was closely involved in the mass murder
Mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
of Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, Jews, Roma, and other minorities, and the opening of concentration camps such as Jasenovac
Jasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac concentration camp was the largest extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia and occupied Yugoslavia during World War II...
. His close associate was propagandist
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
Savić Marković Štedimlija
Savic Markovic Štedimlija
Savić Marković Štedimlija was a Montenegrin-Croatian nationalist publicist and writer, best known for his revisionist theories on the origins of the Montenegrin people...
, a publicist of Montenegrin ethnicity.
In 1941 Artuković had personally ordered the incarceration of the former national deputy Jesa Vidic in the Danica concentration camp. Olga Vidic proposed to exchange title to a piece of property for her husband's release to which Artuković replied "... I will kill him and take ... the land", which he did.
After the war he was held at a British prisoner-of-war camp at Spittal an der Drau
Spittal an der Drau
Spittal an der Drau is located in the western part of the Austrian federal state of Carinthia and the administrative centre of the federal state's second largest district, Spittal an der Drau. It lies between the Lurnfeld area and the Lower Drava Valley. The city consists of the seven...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. He avoided extradition to Yugoslavia, and travelled without a passport, moving to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and later to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. Using the false name of Alois Anich, he used an Irish Certificate of Identity to obtain a non-immigrant visitor's visa from the American consul in Dublin. On 16 July 1948 he thus illegally entered the United States as a "temporary visitor for pleasure".
He moved to Seal Beach, California
Seal Beach, California
-Neighborhoods:Seal Beach encompasses the Leisure World retirement gated community with roughly 9,000 residents. This was the first major planned retirement community of its type in the U.S...
in 1948. When his visa and two extensions expired in April 1949 and his application for permanent residence under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 was denied, he nonetheless remained in the United States, along with his wife and his children, until the mid-1980s. His extradition was requested by the Yugoslav
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
authorities to be put on the trial for war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s (e.g. causing the death of several thousand persons). It was first stayed by an immigration judge and shelved for two decades due to pressure from Croatian Americans and the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, but then reactivated and after a long court battle he was eventually expelled from the USA to Yugoslavia. The court in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
issued a death sentence on 14 May 1986, but a year later the authorities ruled that he was too ill (with senile dementia) to be executed.
He died from natural causes in a prison hospital in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
in 1988, aged 88.
Remains
His remains have never been returned to his family. In 2010, the president of the Croatian Helsinki CommitteeCroatian Helsinki Committee
Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights is the leading organisation for protection and promotion of human rights in Croatia...
for human rights, Ivan Zvonimir Čičak, called for authorities to investigate what happened to the remains.