Since September the Croatian public radio and television company HRT has been broadcasting “NDH”, the first documentary series about the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) which was governed by the Ustaše during World War II. A subject which, 45 years after the end of the war, remains extremely sensitive.
NDH and the Ustaše
Created after the fall of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1941, the Independent State of Croatia, also called NDH, was a puppet state governed by the Ustaše party, collaboratoring closely with the Nazis in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Under their rule, from 1941 to the end of WW2, several hundred thousand people, mainly Serbs, Roma, Jews and anti-fascist Croats were murdered in concentration camps like Jasenovac.
The series’ episodes are thematic, ranging from economics to culture under the NDH, on the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Ustaše movement. The series is based on period films and photographs purchased from the Yugoslav Cinematheque in Belgrade and being shown publicly for the first time.
Daily life under the Ustaše
Testimonies from the period also describe daily life under the Ustaše regime, “to understand what this state was and what kind of life its citizens had,” says historian Hrvoje Klasić. “With this series public television has shown it can produce something which echoes the trauma and social divisions of the time.”
The twelve episodes are based on research by Klasić and around 30 other experts from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Italy and England. Four Serbian scientists also participated. The series was shot in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Vatican, Austria, Germany and Italy – including the villa in Florence used by Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić.
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Sources : courrierdesbalkans.fr, total-croatia-news.com, slobodnaevropa.org, hrtprikazuje.hrt.hr
