MUSLIM RESOLUTIONS ON THE CONDEMNATION OF FASCIST PRACTICES AND CRIMES

During the Second World War, Nazi collaborators in Croatia – ustashas – led by Ante Pavelić established a puppet state named the “Independent State of Croatia” (NDH), which they governed with significant autonomy.

Throughout the NDH, which encompassed a large part of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, ustashas introduced Nazi laws and formed concentration camps, where they detained and murdered Serbs, Jews and Romani. The most infamous among them was Jasenovac, where about 100,000 people were brutally killed.

Local Bosniaks – Muslims found themselves between the devil and the deep blue sea. Without an appropriate political representation or institutions, they were divided to all sides as an ethnic group. Some joined the NDH, others sided with chetniks, still others joined partisans, while some even went to Nazi Germany hoping for a greater autonomy of Bosnia.

Ustasha regime did not significantly attack Bosniaks (since ustasha authorities considered them Croats of Muslim religion), and without representatives who would lead them, they were later labeled as enemies or collaborators.

In reality, most Bosniak population remained neutral, vulnerable and unprotected, subjected to persecution and killing particularly by chetniks, who massacred thousands of people in Eastern Bosnia, and in the area of Sandžak in Serbia and Montenegro. However, many members of the dispersed Bosniak elite did not agree with the policy of the NDH regime, and persecution of Serbs, Jews and Romani aroused public condemnation.

Their response was harmonized in the form of a series of resolutions which were initiated and signed by members of Bosniak establishment composed of ulama and judicial and economic elite, who strove to distance themselves from the ustasha regime. Indeed, most people who signed these resolutions were imams, members of “El-Hidajaˮ, the Association of Muslim Priests. This response was altruistic and pragmatic at the same time. Poorly represented and unprotected, Bosniak elites used these resolutions as an opportunity to achieve autonomy of Bosnia, hoping that it would be the way to improve the position of the country and security of their people.

A total of nine known resolutions were drafted, which were named by the towns where they were issued: Prijedor, Sarajevo, Mostar, Banja Luka, Bijeljina, Tuzla, Zenica, Bosanska Dubica and Bugojo. Each of these resolutions had a distinctive structure and vocabulary but they were consistent in their main topic – condemnation of discrimination and mass crimes of ustasha regime.

For example, Tuzla Resolution of 11 December 1941 disavowed crimes of the ustasha regime and Muslim collaborators: “And our people, as you know, is the least to blame for it, since these riots seem to have been caused by excessed against Serbs, by irresponsible individuals; unfortunately, these excesses against them have been happening recently, and they cause revenge. Our Muslim people, inspired by the spirit of Islamic culture and ethics, condemn any riot. Although this nice characteristic of Muslims is well-known, news spread maliciously that Muslims are to blame for measures against Serbs, and all the hostility is directed toward Muslims and things are presented as conflicts between Serbs and Muslims.”

This resolution, which was initiated and supported by members of the Islamic community, was signed by an informal group of citizens in Tuzla and sent to Džafer-beg Kulenović, vice-president of the Independent State of Croatia.

Banja Luka Resolution of 22 November 1941 had a form of a letter to two high-ranked members of ustasha government, and also strongly condemned thefts and devastation of Serbian and Jewish property. It was also initiated and supported by members of the Islamic community and“El-Hidajaˮ, and signed in Banja Luka by an informal group of Bosniak citizens. The resolution reads as follows: “And the worst thing is that perpetrators of these riots withdraw into the background, parading in their uniforms, largely involved in plundering Serbian and Jewish property. We here in Banja Luka see it best, since the property of Serbs and Jews who fled has become a source of looting and enrichment for individuals, their families and friends.”

Although they were ultimately unsuccessful in stopping ustashas' crimes, the resolutions were an important gesture both in their local context and in the wider context of the holocaust, where even the smallest acts of resistance were rare and important to document. These public appeals (resolutions) are one of few cases in the region, perhaps even in Europe, which condemned and criticized such atrocities on an ethical and religious basis, by the elite of a “people without a country”. Resolutions which were made by Bosniak elite of the time are an example of courage, morality and empathy and people across the region can now learn a lot from them.