Independent State of Croatia

The Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) was a World War II–era quasi-state. It was a protectorate of Fascist Italy from 1941 to 1943, and a puppet state of Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1945. It was established in parts of occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of the country by the Axis powers. Its territory consisted mostly of modern-day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as some parts of modern-day Serbia and Slovenia, but also excluded many Croat-populated areas in Dalmatia, Istria, and Međimurje.

During its entire existence, the NDH was governed as a one-party state by the fascistUstaše organization under its Poglavnik, Ante Pavelić. The regime targeted Serbs, Jews and Roma as part of a large-scale campaign of genocide, as well as anti-fascist or dissident Croats and Bosnian Muslims. The NDH was considered Germany's closest regional ally with strong ideological alignment. Out of the 22 concentration camps in NDH-controlled territory, Jasenovac was the largest while Jastrebarsko and Sisak held only children.

From the signing of the Treaties of Rome on 18 May 1941 until the Italian capitulation on 8 September 1943, the state was a territorial condominium of Germany and Italy. As Pavelić came to power alongside the Ustaše, German FührerAdolf Hitler and Italian DuceBenito Mussolini resourced and provided political power to the NDH. In its judgement in the Hostages Trial, the Nuremberg Military Tribunal concluded that NDH was not a sovereign state. According to the Tribunal, "Croatia was at all times here involved an occupied country".