From the abyss they came, into the abyss they were thrown: Crime and punishment in the WW2 Bosnian Frontier

Abstract

In the spring and summer of 1941, after the downfall of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia, the people of Banjaluka and the surrounding region of Bosanska Krajina were cast into a living hell. Viktor Gutić, a local lawyer who was placed at the top of the regional hierarchy by the fascist movement and the quisling state it had created, unified the functions of state administration and a militarized party apparatus. He soon imple- mented his policies of mass terror directed at Serbs, Jews and Roma, but also aga- inst those others who did not accept the new regime. After the violence spiraled out of control, Gutić was removed by the authorities from Zagreb. He fled to Italy after the victory of the partisan communist resistance movement ended the war, but in 1946 he was extradited back to Yugoslavia, where he stood trial alongside two of his wartime aides.