There is a specific kind of fascist darkness that even the German Nazis found difficult to stomach during World War II. Try to wrap your head around that for second—the most cruel regime in human history, fearing someone else.
When the Independent State of Croatia was carved out in 1941 under Ante Pavelić, following the German invasion of Yugoslavia, it was supposed to be just another puppet regime that would obey the “New Europe” principles of Berlin.
However, the Croatian fascist Ustaše movement took the Axis playbook and completely tore it up, replacing it with a brand of ultranationalism and violent fascism that was terrifyingly hands-on with their evil goals. These fascists followed orders from Berlin, but their methods were so inhumane that Nazi officers ended up complaining about them back to the Third Reich. What the Croatians did was simple: they dove into a genocidal frenzy with an eagerness that left their German handlers genuinely shocked.
How the Croatian fascists ushered in a different type of terror
As the war dragged on, the Third Reich largely shifted to a cold, industrial model of mass murder. The SS liked gas chambers because they were efficient and, frankly, kept the killers’ hands clean whilst achieving their vile plan of eradicating Jews, gypsies, communists, and LGBT individuals from all over Europe. The Ustaše, on the other hand, the Croatian fascists, went the complete opposite direction. They wanted to feel and enjoy the pain they were inflicting.
They relied on blades, heavy mallets, and even saws, making the slaughter of innocent people a visceral, up-close experience for these twisted criminals. Have you ever heard of the Srbosjek? It translates roughly to the “Serb-Cutter.” In practice, it was a leather glove fitted with a curved blade, specifically designed so guards at the notorious Jasenovac camp could slash throats for hours without their hands getting tired. It’s a sickening piece of brutal history, but nothing captures their obsession with manual violence quite like it.
It becomes unmistakably obvious that a regime has gone off the deep end when German generals begin sending alarmed reports back to Berlin. In his report to the German High Command (OKW) on June 28, 1941, General Edmund Glaise von Horstenau essentially described the Croatian Ustaše fascists as a band of frenzied lunatics. He repeatedly employed terms such as tobende Wahnsinnige (raging madmen) and characterized their actions as rasend (raging or frenzied).
In this report to Berlin, Glaise von Horstenau wrote:
“According to reliable reports from countless German military and civil observers during the last few weeks, the Ustaše have gone raging mad (Die Ustascha ist rasend geworden).
They are perpetrating incredible acts of bestiality against Serbs, Jews, and even Croats who do not share their views. In the countryside and in the cities, Serbian and Jewish men, women, and children are being literally hacked to death.
Our troops have to be mute witnesses of such events; it does not reflect well on their otherwise high reputation…I am frequently told that German occupation troops would finally have to intervene against Ustaše crimes. This may happen eventually.”
Now, Nazi leadership wasn’t suddenly having an attack of morals. They were just furious about the mess their collaborators were causing around occupied Yugoslavia. The Ustaše had a habit of wiping out entire villages, sparing literally no one, in such a chaotic, rabid way that it was practically doing the Communist Partisans’ recruiting for them.
Even Gestapo spies told Heinrich Himmler that camps like Jasenovac were just sites of bestial cruelty, completely missing the methodical organization the Nazis prized in their killings. To the German war machine, these people were bloodthirsty zealots screwing up the region’s stability.
Who they targeted
Orthodox Serbs, Jews, and Roma were the primary targets, but the Ustaše also pointed their weapons inwards. Any Croat who leaned left, spoke out against the fascists, or even merely attempted to hide a Serbian friend was immediately marked as a traitor. They went straight to the exact same camps.
What’s worth noting is that Croatia was the only Axis-aligned nation to build concentration camps exclusively for children. At facilities like Jastrebarsko, Catholic nuns and guards supervised conditions so vile that thousands of children died from sheer abuse and starvation.
Jasenovac is often remembered today as the Auschwitz of the Balkans. That dark chapter heavily influences modern Balkan politics, explaining the not-so-friendly relations between many Serbs and Croats, in what was another act of brutality in their long history of animosity.
@dark__tales_ When Nazi SS Officers Were Horrified by Croatian Fascists Even Nazis thought they went too far… #history #wwii #darkhistory #facts
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