After the German invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941 and the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), the number of registered Russians who resided in the territory of the NDH totaled 5.000. In August 1941, the NDH government issued a directive that exempted Russians in the NDH from any discrimination or reprisals as long as they were politically loyal; political loyalty was to be certified by Russian colonies′ leadership, namely the Representation of Russian Emigration ("Predstavništvo ruske emigracije") in Zagreb. As early as in July 1941, a campaign was launched to recruit the Russians in the NDH to what would be in September instituted as the Separate Russian Corps (later known in German as "Russisches Schutzkorps Serbien"). The commander of the Corps, with headquarters in Belgrade, was Russian general Boris Shteifon, who died in Zagreb′s Esplanade hotel in April 1945 while leading his men to Austria. According to a report received by the Main Ustaša Headquarters in early 1942, in the territory of the NDH there were forty Russian colonies with about 5.500 people. Since most of the Russians in the NDH were of anti-Communist and anti-Soviet political orientation, a significant number of them had left Zagreb months before the end of WWII and the establishment of the Communist regime in Croatia, the final massive departures occurring in the autumn of 1944 and in early spring of 1945; a considerable number of those who stayed were later in 1945 subjected to reprisals and prosecution. All Russian clubs and associations were terminated after May 1945. Germogen (Maximov), along with three priests of the Croatian Orthodox Church, was court-martialled on 29 June 1945 and executed the next day.