Although the connections between the Catholic Church and the Ustashas were lied down in the interwar period, they were developed in war-time Independent State of Croatia (ISC). The Ustashas claimed the new regime 'guaranteed' freedom and 'equality' of religion in Croatia, but they identified Catholicism with Croatism. Because of its national role in the Croatian history and traditional confrontation with Orthodoxy, the government saw in the Catholic Church a natural ally. In contrast to the last, which was tolerated by the state, the Serbian Orthodox Church was almost liquidated in the ISC and finally substituted by the Croatian Orthodox Church. With an aim of assimilation of Serbs, the Nationalists undertook a religious policy of their Catholicization in the country. But as an authoritarian regime, the Ustashas tried to subordinate the Catholic Church to their authority and that led to a profound conflict with the priesthood. After its bitter experience in Yugoslavia, the Catholic Church approved the creation of the sovereign Croatian state, but not the particular Ustasha rule. While the lower clergy was more adaptive to the Ustasha influence, the higher hierarchy stayed aside from the extreme nationalistic policy of the government. The Bishops defended the Croatian national interests, that is why they protested against the anti-Croatian policy of 'allied' Italy and the German terror in the ISC. After the new government started a war against all 'national enemies' in the country - Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies, the Church demonstrated its disapproval of this practice. It rejected the genocide of the Orthodox population and never approved the forced conversions. It was the institution that raised its voice against the policy of mass liquidation of the Jews in the ISC and openly condemned racism and racial discrimination. In its relationship to the authorities the hierarchy went through different stages of cooperation and confrontation. After the first phase of support, a period of deterioration followed, to reach at the end of the war a new phase of normalization. But the Archbishop was forced to maintain good official relations with the Ustasha regime, which was merciless towards all political opponents. The Catholic Church was in a privileged position in Croatia for the first time after 1918, and the regime was Croatian and pro-Catholic. The clergy stood for an independent Croatian state and did not lose hope that it would have a new legitimate regime after the end of the war. K
The article is on the Ustasha nationalism as an extreme form of Croatian nationalism in the Independent State of Croatia (ISC) (1941-1945). It reveals the national idea as a basic one in the Ustasha ideology and progranrine, mainly - the liberation of the historic Croatian lands from the Serbian dictatorship, and their unification in the framework of a single national state. The article also deals with the role of nationalism in the inter-ethnic relationships in the ISC. Anti-Serbism and anti-Yugoslavism are analyzed as an essence of the Ustasha national ideology and policy. Nazi influence in the introduction of anti-Semitism and racism as a theory and practice in the ISC is also emphasized. Special attention is paid to the causes for the positive attitude of Ustasha authorities towards Muslims. The authoress also investigates the influence of nationalism on the character of international relations of the ISC, mainly with Germany and Italy in 1941-1945. The commitment of the destiny of the country to the policy of the Axis is revealed as one of the main reasons for the collapse of the Ustasha regime and the Independent state of Croatia at the end of World War II.
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