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War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration

by Jozo Tomasevich

Summary

This is the long-awaited second part of the author’s meticulously researched and scrupulously impartial study of the complicated and anguished history of Yugoslavia during the years of World War II. The previous volume dealt with the Chetniks, the resistance movement formed by officers of the defeated Yugoslav army who came to regard the Communist-led Partisans as their chief enemy, and who reached accords with the occupying powers—first with the Italians and then with the Germans. The present volume deals with the rule of the Axis powers in occupied Yugoslavia, along with the role of the other groups that collaborated with them—primarily the extremist Croatian nationalist organization known as the Ustashas.

The book begins by briefly describing the establishment of Yugoslavia in 1918 and its internal history during the interwar period. It then discusses the breakup of the state in April 1941, the annexation or occupation of parts of its territory by its neighbors, and the establishment by the Ustashas of the independent state of Croatia as a German-Italian quasi protectorate, focusing on its governmental policies and its problems with the Bosnian Muslims. The book also examines the role of religion during the occupation, the destruction of the Yugoslav Jewish community, and the economic exploitation of Yugoslav territory by the Axis powers. The work concludes by discussing the wartime population losses of the country and the ultimate fate of the collaborationist forces.