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The Status of Croatia under International Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Angelo Piero Sereni
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Extract

On April 7, 1941, while the Axis Powers were invading Yugoslavia, Ante Pavelik, the well-known Croat terrorist, broadcast from Italy an appeal to the Croats to secede from the Serbs and to support Germany and Italy. Three days later, when the German troops entered Zagreb, Sladko Kvaternik, another Croat leader, proclaimed there an independent Croat state, and on April 12, a national committee declared Pavelik, who was still abroad, head of the new state. The following day he entered Zagreb, and two days afterwards he took effective power, receiving the title of Poglavnik, the Croat equivalent of Führer or Duce. Immediately upon his telegraphic request of April 15, Germany and Italy granted recognition of Croatia, subject to their joint determination of the new state boundaries. Pavelik at once dissolved the old political parties and on April 17 formed the first Croat government, in which he became president of the council of ministers and minister of foreign affairs; Kvaternik, his substitute and supreme commander of the armed forces; and a Dr. Kulenovich, vice-president of the council. An upper council of the Croat state was designated to function with the government.

Type
International Affairs
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 35 , Issue 6 , December 1941 , pp. 1144 - 1151
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1941

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References

1 See official notes published May 19, 1941, in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, pointing out that the Pope had received the Duke of Spoleto, the day before his elevation to the throne of Croatia, Pavelik, and a Croat delegation in their private and not in their official capacities. The attitude of the Holy See is politically important since the great majority of the Croat people are Catholic.

2 The Yugoslav notes and the reply of Under-Secretary Welles are published in Dept. of State Bull., IV, No. 102, June 7, 1941, pp. 682–863.

3 Agreements were signed in Berlin on July 8, 1941, for determination of the boundaries between the Yugoslav territories annexed by Germany and Italy.

4 On July 27, 1941, the New York Times reported that differences had arisen between the Croat and Hungarian governments over boundary lines fixed by the Hungarian army, and that the Hungarian government had failed to reply to a Croat protest on the matter.

5 Obviously this decree, being a domestic and unilateral act of the Croat state, has no binding force on the neighboring state. But since the territories adjoining southern Croatia are under the control of Germany and Italy, who claim that they can dispose of them freely, and since Croatia is under Axis control and thus would not have done an act contrary to their interests and wishes, it may reasonably be inferred that the Croat decree determining the boundary is the expression of a previous understanding between Croatia and the Axis Powers determining the boundaries in that part of Europe.

6 Italy acquires the districts of Castua, Sussak, Cabar, and part of the district of Delnice; the most important tracts of the Dalmatian shore, including almost every port up to Cattaro; the larger part of the Dalmatian islands; and the whole province of Lubiana. The new Croat state has only two ports of any importance: Porto Re and Ragusa. Its maritime communications depend strategically and economically on Italy. Italy has granted a special administration to the newly acquired province of Lubiana, whose population is mainly Slovene (Royal Decree Law, May 4, 1941) and to the provinces of Zara, Spalato and Cattaro, whose population, apart from the cities, is predominantly Croat, and which have been grouped together in the “Governatorato” of Dalmatia (Royal Decree Law, May 20, 1941).

7 The phrase is used in the preamble of the treaty of guarantee and collaboration with Italy.

8 A final protocol to the treaty provides that until the conclusion of new agreements, the treaties between Italy and the “former Kingdom of Yugoslavia” will be in force between Italy and Croatia, as far as this is compatible.

9 An exchange of letters between Mussolini and Pavelik of May 18, 1941, provides that guarantees may be agreed upon in this convention for the protection of the Italian minorities on the Dalmatian shores and islands of Croatia.

10 The phrase is used in the preamble of the treaty.

11 For more detailed information, see Sereni, “The Legal Statua of Albania,” in this Review, Vol. 35, pp. 311 ff.

12 Thus Croatia could not be a member of the League of Nations without Italy's consent.

13 Croatia is not at war with Russia, although Italy is.

14 This is made clear by an order of the day issued by Mussolini on May 19, the day after the signature of the Italo-Croat treaties, stating that “the Italian armed forces now on the territory of the independent state of Croatia cease as of tomorrow to possess the character and prerogatives of an army of occupation and assume the character of troops stationed on the friendly and allied territory of the kingdom of Croatia.” By agreement with the Croat government, German troops will be stationed in the city of Zemun, on the Southern bank of the Danube, for the duration of the war.

15 The government-controlled Italian press and the heads of important Fascist organizations make it clear that the Croat frontiers have been delimited with special regard to the strategic needs of Italy (see Gayda, in Giornale d'Italia, May 20 and 21, 1941Google Scholar); that the new kingdom is included within the Italian sphere of influence (Ansaldo, in Il Telegrafo, May 18, 1941Google Scholar); and that the economy of the new state is destined to become only an accessory of Italian economy (speech of the president of the Fascist Federation of Tradesmen, in Il Sole, June 1, 1941Google Scholar).

16 Both Pavelik and Kvaternik took refuge in Italy after the murder of King Alexander of Yugoslavia in Marseilles (October 9, 1934), in which they were accused of having taken direct part. The judgment of the Court of Appeals of Turin, November 23, 1934, refusing their extradition, which had been requested by the French government, is published in Foro Italiano, 1935, Sec. II, p. 20. It has been repeatedly affirmed since the assassination that Pavelik and Kvaternik are in the pay of the Fascist government.

17 This treaty provides that the Reich shall undertake to protect the political independence of the Slovakian state and the integrity of its territory (Art. 1); that for the execution of that protection German armed forces may be stationed in certain zones of the Slovakian state, where they will enjoy special privileges and may erect military plants (Art. 2); and that the Slovak government will organize its own military forces in close coöperation with the German government (Art. 3). Corresponding to the relationship of protection agreed upon, the Slovak government will conduct its policy in close coöperation with the German government (Art. 4). (Croatia, on the contrary, is only bound not to contract obligations incompatible with the Italian guarantee.) Germany is not legally entitled to interfere with the domestic affairs of Slovakia. The Slovakian constitutional law of July 21, 1939, has, however, established a Fascist régime, and all the key men are persons of proved devotion to Germany.

18 Following the Italian example, Croatia on June 22, 1941, requested the United States to close immediately its consulate in Zagreb.

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