page_title: Zagreb in World War II
section_title: Occupation and the establishment of NDH
hierarchical_section_title: Zagreb in World War II / Occupation and the establishment of NDH
caption_attribution_description: English: ustaša group in Zagreb, april 1941
context_page_description: When World War II started, Zagreb was the capital of the newly formed autonomous Banovina of Croatia within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which remained neutral in the first years of the war. After the Invasion of Yugoslavia by Germany and Italy on 6 April 1941, German troops entered Zagreb on 10 April. On the same day, Slavko Kvaternik, a prominent member of the Ustaše movement, proclaimed the creation of the Independent State of Croatia, an Axis puppet state, with Zagreb as its capital. Ante Pavelić was proclaimed Poglavnik of the NDH and Zagreb became the center of the Main Ustaša Headquarters, the Government of the NDH, and other political and military institutions, as well as the police and intelligence services.
  Upon the establishment of the NDH, the Ustaše enacted race laws and started persecuting Serbs, Jews, and Roma. Thousands of locals, primarily Jews, were killed in prisons and execution sites around the city, mainly in Dotršćina and Rakov Potok forests, or were taken to concentration camps and executed there.
  After Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia started an armed uprising against the NDH.
context_section_description: Germany put pressure on Yugoslavia to join the Tripartite Pact, which Prince Paul of Yugoslavia accepted on 25 March. Demonstrations against the decision soon broke out and a coup d'état was launched on 27 March. Hitler took the coup as a personal insult and launched the invasion of Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941. Most Croat soldiers in the Yugoslav Army did not feel Yugoslavia as their country and refused to fight for it. The Germans tried to persuade Maček to proclaim the independence of Croatia under the patronage of Germany, but he refused it, so they decided to support the Ustaše instead. Maček returned to Zagreb from Belgrade when the invasion began to help maintain order. His support was not as high in Zagreb as in the rest of Croatia, and many in the city had already switched allegiance to the Ustaše.
  On 8 April, a meeting of the Central Committee of the KPJ was held in Zagreb, chaired by General Secretary Josip Broz Tito. The meeting adopted the conclusion that the Yugoslav army has no chance to resist the Wehrmacht and that the KPJ members should report immediately to the call for mobilization, but no armed resistance was organized in Zagreb. The KPJ sent a delegation to the headquarters of the 4th Army in Zagreb, requesting weapons for workers to help in the fight against the Germans. The Command of the Military District refused their request. German agents stationed in Zagreb, the Ustaše and their sympathizers made preparations for the takeover of power in Zagreb upon the Wehrmacht arrival.
  On 10 April, elements of the 14th Panzer Division entered Zagreb without resistance and were greeted by cheering crowds. Slavko Kvaternik declared the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) via the Zagreb Radio Station, with Zagreb as its capital. Most of the population was pleased with the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Kvaternik formed a provisional government in Zagreb on 12 April. Ante Pavelić, who was named the leader (Poglavnik) of NDH, arrived in Zagreb on 15 April. He gave a short speech in which he said: "Ustaše! We have won. We won because we had faith. We won because we held out. We won because we fought. Ustaše! We won because we were always for homeland ready!" Jozo Dumančić was temporarily named the Mayor of Zagreb, replacing Mate Starčević of the HSS. Vladko Maček was forced by the Germans to recognize the NDH. The entire administrative and police apparatus of the Banovina of Croatia was handed over to the new government.
  When the NDH was proclaimed, the leadership of the Communist Party was in Zagreb, together with Josip Broz Tito. After a month, they left for Belgrade. Until 22 June, while the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union was in effect, the Communists refrained from open conflict with the new regime. In the first two months of the NDH they extended their underground network and began amassing weapons.
  On April 15, 1941, leaflet that contained a KPJ manifesto was duplicated and sent to all parts of Yugoslavia. The manifesto emphasized that the "Communists and the entire working class of Yugoslavia would be in the forefront of the national resistance against the invaders" and that "it would persist in the resistance until final victory".
caption: A group of Ustaše in Zagreb on 10 April 1941
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