Nationalism and Terror
This book covers the full story of the Ustasha, a fascist movement in Croatia, from its historic roots to its downfall. The authors address key questions: In what international context did Ustasha terrorism grow and develop? How did this movement rise to power, and then exterminate hundreds of thousands of innocents? Who was Ante Pavelić, its leader? Was he a shrewd politician, able to exploit for his independent project Mussolini’s imperial ambitions, Hitler’s pan-German aims, and the anti-Bolshevism of the Holy See and the Western bloc? Or was he, consciously or not, a pawn in other hands, in a complex international scenario where Croatia was only arena among many? And after the movement’s collapse, how were several of the most prominent Ustasha leaders able to evade capture by Tito’s victorious army? The facts and documents confront us with the ambivalence of terrorism.
The book places the appearance of the Ustasha movement not only in the context of the interwar Kingdom of Yugoslavia but also in the wider perspective of the emergence of European fascism.
Part 1 The Ustasha Movement From its Origins to 1941
Chapter 1 Origins
Chapter 2 The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes and Italy
Chapter 3 Under the Duce’s Wing
Chapter 4 The Regicide
Chapter 5 From Turin to Zagreb
Part 2 The Ustasha in Power, 1941–45
Chapter 1 The Independent State of Croatia
Chapter 2 The Massacres of Serbs, Jews, and Romani
Chapter 3 Survival Problems for the Independent State
Chapter 4 Crisis and the End of the Croatian State
Part 3 The Ustasha and the Cold War, 1945–59
Chapter 1 War Criminals on the Run
Chapter 2 Camps and Monasteries: the Ustasha Return to Italy
Chapter 3 The Anticommunist Crusade
Chapter 4 Toward the New World
Chapter 5 The Ustasha in Argentina
Epilogue The Question of the Ustasha between Yugoslavia and the Vatican, 1952–72
Bibliography
Index