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Andrija Artuković

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Andrija Artuković
Andrija Artuković (3rd from right) taking oath
1st Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia
In office
16 April 1941 – 10 October 1942
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byAnte Nikšić
Minister of Justice of the Independent State of Croatia
In office
10 October 1942 – 29 April 1943
3rd Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia
In office
29 April 1943 – 1 November 1943
LeaderAnte Pavelić
Preceded byAnte Nikšić
Succeeded byMladen Lorković
State Secretary
In office
11 November 1943 – 8 May 1945
Preceded byMirko Puk
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Personal details
Born29 November 1899
Ljubuški, Austria-Hungary
Died16 January 1988(1988-01-16) (aged 88)
Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia
Political partyUstaše
SpouseAna Maria Heidler
Alma materUniversity of Zagreb
ProfessionLawyer

Andrija Artuković (29 November 1899 – 16 January 1988) was an Ustaše and minister in the Government of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). Artuković was convicted of war crimes committed against minorities in the NDH during World War II.

Pre-war life

Andrija Artuković was born in Klobuk, near Ljubuški (in Herzegovina), son of Marijan and Ruža née Rašić.[1] He studied at a Franciscan monastery in Široki Brijeg. He obtained a doctorate in law from the University of Zagreb. From 1924 he worked as a court clerk in Zagreb, and in 1926 he opened an independent office in Gospić.[2]

In 1929 he became a member of the terrorist group, the Ustaše. He went from Rijeka to Italy where Ante Pavelić named him his adjutant and commander of all Ustaše in Italy. Artuković led a terrorist act in Lika called the Velebit uprising, after which he returned to Italy. His Ustaše codename was Hadžija, and has been described as an "Ustaše intellectual".[3] Artuković was in conflict with a small group of M. Babić (codenamed Giovanni) supporters, and at the end of 1933 he left Italy. After that he lived in Budapest then Vienna for a short time where he was arrested in 1934 and held in prison for a time. He was expelled from Vienna, after which he returned to Budapest. At the beginning of September 1934 he met Pavelić in Milano, and in the middle of September 1934 he went to London. He was arrested there in October 1934 after the assassination of Yugoslav King Alexander I in Marseilles. After his arrest he was transferred to France, where he spent three months in prison in Paris. In January 1935 he was extradited to Yugoslavia and after 16 months spent in prison in Belgrade he was acquitted and released on 16 April 1936. He lived in Gospić for a while, but in May 1936 he left the country again and went to Austria and later to Germany, where he was involved in spreading Ustaše propaganda.[4] At the beginning of 1937 he was under Gestapo investigation in Berlin. Under threat of arrest he left Berlin and visited France, after which he moved to Budapest and then returned to Berlin.[5]

Second World War

Immediately after proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia, Pavelić appointed Artuković as his Minister of Internal Affairs. Following the appointment, Artuković took his oath as second-in-command of the new state. Nazi-style laws were introduced and signed by Pavelić and Artuković, as a basis of segregation of Jews, imprisonment of Serbs and Jews, expropriation of their properties and broad-scale summary execution. Artuković was the man who set up Ustashe secret police force which reigned by terror seen only in the Hitler's Third Reich. Known as "Himmler of Croatia", Artukovic ran a network of 24 concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia. It is reported that Artuković boastfully said, "You see, we solved the Jewish question more efficiently and quickly than Hitler. There is no Jewish problem today".

Country-side the whole villages were wiped out and their inhabitants were sent into concentration camps administered by Artuković and his Ministry. The network of concentration camps in Independent State of Croatia was legalized by Artuković in 1942 by signing Law number CCIX-1779-Z. As the commander of secret police, Artuković was proud of his Ustashe "achievements". When an Ustashe guard reported Artuković that he killed only two Serbs, Artuković was quoted responding, "... if you haven't killed 200 Serbs, you needn't come to me at all".

Brutality of Ustase even worried Hitler's representatives in Croatia that they, reportedly, proposed to Hitler placing Independent State of Croatia under direct Nazi control.

Throughout the war, Artuković stayed on in the government alternating as Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Justice[6].

Emigration and trial

With other members of Government, he left Zagreb on 6 May 1945 and went to Austria. He was detained in Allied camp in Spittal an der Drau. On 18 May 1945, British extradited some Croatian ministers and Prime Minister Nikola Mandić to the communist authorities in Yugoslavia. Artuković wasn't extradited, but he was released soon with remaining ministers. He left British occupational zone, then he went to the American and later French occupational zone, where his family was. With Swiss passport, under name Alois Anich he went to Ireland. In 1948, with his wife and children he travels to California using tourist visa which he later expanded with his real name and setteled in Seal Beach. He worked in his brother's company.[7] After his arrival to the States, Artuković refused to become Croatian political emigree.[8]

In July 1945, the Yugoslav State Commission for Investigation of Crimes of Occupiers and Their Allies proclaimed Artuković a war criminal. The Government of the FPR Yugoslavia made a request for his extradition on 29 August 1951. Their request made a 7 years long court process in Los Angeles. On 15 January 1959, the verdict of the Supreme Court in Los Angeles rejected the Yugoslav request. Since the American Immigration Service raised the question of the legal basis of the stay of larger number of immigrants, associates of the German government during the World War II in USA, Yugoslav authorities, under initiative of the Special Investigation Court of the American Ministry of Justice, renewed the request for Artuković's extradition. Artuković was arrested on 14 November 1984, and after the court process in New York, he was extradited to Yugoslavia on 11 November 1986. On the trial in Zagreb that was held between April and May 1986, he was sentenced to death by shooting,[8] but the verdict was not executed because of his personal health. He died of natural causes in prison hospital in Zagreb on 16 January 1988.[7]

Remains

Artuković's son, Radoslav Artuković, requested the information about his father's burial from Croatian authorities.[8] Then Socialist Republic of Croatia made a special law because of Artković's case, that convicts by death who haven't been executed, need to be buried as executed persons.[8] There is possibility that Andrija Artuković was cremated,[8] but the place of burial remains unknown. There are two versions that indicate what happened to his remains, first one states that State Security Administration members threw his ashes on relation Zagreb-Rijeka, and the other that states his urn was buried in the Lepoglava prison cemetery.[9] In 2010, the president of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for human rights, Ivan Zvonimir Čičak, called for authorities to investigate what happened to the remains.[8]

References

Notes
  1. ^ Popović 1986, p. 11.
  2. ^ Dizdar et al. 1997, p. 11.
  3. ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 35.
  4. ^ Tomasevich 2001, pp. 35–36.
  5. ^ Dizdar et al. 1997, p. 11, 12.
  6. ^ Alive and Well in Surfside by Doug Foster and Joan Zoloth, in Mother Jones Magazine May 1976 pages 40-44
  7. ^ a b Dizdar et al. 1997, p. 12.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Jureško-Kero, Jadranka (28 June 2010). "Radoslav Artuković, sin ministra u NDH: Želim pokopati oca!". Večernji list. Retrieved 4 March 2012. Template:Hr icon
  9. ^ Genc, Mladen (30 July 2010). "Andrija Artuković potajno pokopan u Lepoglavi?!". Lepoglava.net. Retrieved 4 March 2012. Template:Hr icon
Bibliography
  • Dizdar, Zdenko; Grčić, Marko; Ravlić, Slaven; Stuparić, Darko (1997). Tko je tko u NDH. Minerva. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) Template:Hr icon
  • Popović, Jovo (1986). Suđenje Andriji Artukoviću i što nije rečeno. Stvarnost. ISBN 86—7075-066-X. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help) Template:Hr icon
  • Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3615-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

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