Pavelic's Radio Address to Croatia
On April 5, 1941, just before the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia, Ante Pavelic read a speech from an Italian radio station to be broadcast into Croatia. The following excerpt indicates that the Ustase plan for "cleansing" Croatia of "enemies" and "eradicat[ing]" all "weeds" was already well conceived, even before Pavelic had set foot in the country.
On April 5, 1941, just before the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia, Ante Pavelic read a speech from an Italian radio station to be broadcast into Croatia. The following excerpt indicates that the Ustase plan for "cleansing" Croatia of "enemies" and "eradicat[ing]" all "weeds" was already well conceived, even before Pavelic had set foot in the country.
The moment of liberation has come! Croatian people! Rise on your feet, take your arms. Align into combat ranks and stand under the Ustase flag, on which the glorious deeds of victory are already written. Rise, the moment of our liberation has come, arise to cleanse [cistimo] our homeland from enemies and to establish our freedom in our own house, in a sovereign and Independent State of Croatia, in which all Croatian lands will be united... Our victory is assured... The Croatian Ustase movement has placed itself not today, but ten years ago at the side of our friends, at the side of Hitler and Mussolini, those great leaders of those great nations, whom no one can resist anymore, who are standing in our defense and will guarantee our liberation, our victory, our freedom and our Independent State of Croatia. In the entire Croatian historical and continuous national area... With help from God and our great friends... [there] arises the free and Independent State of Croatia, in which, Croatian peasants, all land and all authority will be in your hands, in which law and fairness will rule, and in which all weeds will be eradicated [iskorijenjen sav korov], which were planted by the foreign hand of our enemies. In the state of Croatia bread and prosperity, freedom and honor will be ensured for long centuries for generations of Croats!
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| Title: Pavelic's Radio Address to Croatia | |
| Source: Bzik, Mijo. Ustaska pobjeda, pp 69-70. Quoted in Novak, Viktor. Magnum Crimen, p. 536 (Zagreb, 1947). Translated by Sinisa Djuric. | |
| Date: April 5, 1941 | Added: May 18, 2004 |
