The Ustase

The Ustase, also called the “Ustashe” or “Ustashas” were members of a Croatian fascist organization active between 1929 and 1945. The Ustase murdered up to 100,000 Serbs, Jews and Roma in Yugoslavia during WW2. The Ustase were known to be a mix between fascism, Catholicism, and Croatian nationalism. They strived to covert all Croatians to Catholicism or Islam. Ustase was first founded in 1930, as the Ustasa – Croatian Revolutionary Organization. Still heavily influenced with nationalistic ideas, the organization sought to establish an independent Croatian state. The Ustase came in to power when the Independent State of Croatia was formed by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany as a puppet state.

Who influenced the Ustase to commit acts of terrorism in the name of nationalism?

The Ustase were heavily influenced by a 19th century Croatian activist named Ante Starcevic. Ante spoke out for Croatian unity and independence. According to historians, Starcevic was a racist and an anti-Semite. He wrote treatise stating “Jews … are the breed, except a few, without any morailty and without any homeland, the breed of which every unit strives to its personal gain, or to its relatives’ gain.” Lower than the Jews, Starcevic thought the Serbs were evil and out for themselves.