2004
Volume 14, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 2211-6249
  • E-ISSN: 2211-6257

Abstract

Abstract

This article will analyse examples of denunciations made against the Jewish population in the Independent State of Croatia (1941–45). As elsewhere in Europe, Croatian and German security forces were dependent on the cooperation of the local population. Those making denunciations made a conscious decision to exercise power over persecuted Jews out of a feeling of racial superiority. Charges were brought based on uninhibited egoism and free will, motivated by antisemitism, jealousy, feelings of competition and/or revenge, and also because they wanted to get their hands on Jewish property. Personally motivated denunciations were presented as political concerns, so charges would appear legitimate, and people making denunciations could fall back on numerous anti-Jewish laws and regulations enacted in the Independent State of Croatia. Through their actions, such denouncers initiated and expedited the deportation and murder of the Jews persecuted by the Ustaša state. The following questions will be examined in this article: Who were the denouncers? What were their motives? What arguments did they use? And which consequences did their denunciations have for their Jewish victims?

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