Croatian Popular Party
Which party was Nikola Mandić a member of in Nov 1920?
Nikola Mandić Nikola Mandić ( ; 20 January 1869 – 7 June 1945 ) was a Croatian politician who served as a Prime Minister of the Independent State of Croatia ( NDH ) during World War II . He was executed by the Yugoslav Partisans as a war criminal on 7 June 1945 . Early life . Nikola Mandić was born in the town of Travnik on 20 January 1869 , to a Bosnian Croat family . He finished gymnasium in Sarajevo and went on to study law at the University of Vienna , where he received a doctorate in law in 1894 . Mandić returned to Sarajevo and worked as a judicial clerk before becoming an attorney . Political career . Austria-Hungary . In the early 1900s , Mandić became one of the most influential Croat politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina . In 1907 , he and other Croat politicians founded a political party known as the Croat Peoples Union ( , HNZ ) . The party received approval from Austria-Hungary in November 1907 , and Mandić was elected party leader at its founding assembly in February 1908 . At the time , he was serving as deputy mayor of Sarajevo . On 6 October 1908 , Austria-Hungary officially annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina . Mandić unconditionally supported the move , reasoning that the annexation would make it easier for the two regions to later be united with the nominally autonomous Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia . He also believed that Bosnia and Herzegovina should receive the status of empires land , ruled jointly by both Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary . Mandić became a member of the Diet of Bosnia ( Bosanski sabor ) in 1910 , representing the HNZ . He was elected Speaker of the Diet in 1911 and was named vice-governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina by decree of Emperor Franz Joseph . Mandić was also the founder and first president of the Croatian Central Bank ( Hrvatska centralna banka , HCB ) , as well as its subsidiary , the Agricultural Bank of Sarajevo ( Poljoprivredna banka u Sarajevu , PBS ) . He also founded a Croatian choir called Trebević . Mandić remained a member of the Bosnian Diet until Austria-Hungarys dissolution in November 1918 . Kingdom of Yugoslavia . Following the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs , Croats and Slovenes , Mandić was chosen to become a deputy in the National Assembly , but never took office because prominent Serbian politicians vetoed his appointment . In 1920 , Mandić was appointed to the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of Serbs , Croats and Slovenes , representing the Croatian Popular Party ( Hrvatska pučka stranka ) . At the assembly , he became notable as an advocate of Croatian , as opposed to Yugoslav , political aims . He expressed his opposition to King Alexanders Vidovdan Constitution and voted against it on 28 June 1921 , when it was passed with 223 voted for , 35 voted against and 161 abstained . Disappointed by the outcome of the vote , Mandić tendered his resignation from the assembly . Independent State of Croatia . Mandić was living as a retired government functionary at the time the Independent State of Croatia ( Nezavisna Država Hrvatska , NDH ) was declared . He worked as an attorney and served as president of the Sarajevo Chamber of Attorneys until September 1943 . On 2 September 1943 , Poglavnik Ante Pavelić offered Mandić the post of Prime Minister of the Independent State of Croatia . Mandić accepted the offer . His appointment was met with mixed feelings , and infuriated politicians such as Mladen Lorković , Mile Starčević and Vladimir Košak , some of whom threatened to resign due to the decision . They brought up Mandićs age and questioned whether he would be able to serve to the best of his ability . Immediately , Mandić became involved in discussions with the Croatian Peasant Party ( , HSS ) regarding the composition and character of the Government of the Independent State of Croatia . He advocated the creation of a coalition government , while prominent HSS member August Košutić voiced support for a clerical , partisan one which distanced the Ustaše from Croatian state politics . The discussions ended in late September 1943 , with no political compromise reached . On 1 March 1944 , Mandić and Croatian Foreign Minister Stijepo Perić visited Adolf Hitler at the Schloss Klessheim , a Baroque palace located west of Salzburg . German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was also in attendance . At the meeting , Hitler stressed that he considered Croatia an ally and partner and maintained that Serbia was merely a conquered state , stating : [ the ] Serbs will never be [ Germanys ] friends . Mandić and Perić complained to Hitler that the staff officers of the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar ( 1st Croatian ) were promoting the autonomy of Bosnia and Herzegovina . Hitler disagreed with Mandićs assessment of the division , but later reached a compromise with Muslim autonomists whereby the division would remain in Bosnia and be used to defend its Muslim population . In return , the autonomists promised Hitler that they would support Bosnia and Herzegovinas integration into the NDH . Mandić led an NDH government delegation to Sarajevo in late April 1944 . There , he was presented with a memorandum documenting the persecution of Muslims by the Ustaše . Croatian politicians quickly condemned the memorandum , calling it one of the greatest Muslim assaults...on the sovereignty and unity of the NDH . In March 1945 , Mandić called for NDH citizens of all ethnicities to voice their thoughts on the Ustaše , the war and the communist Yugoslav Partisans . With his backing , the NDH drafted a memorandum to British Field Marshal Harold Alexander , Commander-in-Chief Middle East and commander of the 18th Army Group in Tunisia , expressing a desire to defect to the Allies in the wake of Hitlers death . The memorandum was ignored . Together with the rest of the Croatian government , Mandić left Zagreb on 8 May 1945 and withdrew towards the Austrian border . He surrendered to the British on 15 May and demanded political asylum . The British ignored his requests and handed him over to the Partisans three days later , on 18 May . Mandić was charged with various war crimes and put before a military tribunal in Zagreb . Mandić was convicted and sentenced to death on 6 June 1945 . His execution was carried out the following day .