Hakija Hadžić

Hakija Hadžić (1883–1953) was a Bosnian Muslim politician. He belonged to the group of Muslim politicians from Bosnia, who nationally identified as a Croat and approached the Ustasha movement. Hadžić belonged to a group of Muslim politicians who held pro-Croatian positions in the interwar period.

Background

Hadžić was a Croat from Stolac.^[1] He attempted to set up a boarding school but could not gather even twenty prospective students to do so, in contrast to the Serbian Muslim society Gajret, which had over 300 students at the time.^[1]

Interwar period

Hadžić was a politician who had the strongest influence on the Muslim population of Yugoslavia before the Second World War.^[2] Before the 1938 elections Hadžić established a new political party (Croatian Muslim Peasant Party) which had received very modest support at the elections.^[3]

Second World War

As a personal friend of Ante Pavelić, he promoted Ustaša politics in regions of Herzegovina and Bosnia.^[4] Hadžić thanked Pavelić for the establishment of NDH, while Pavelić appointed Hadžić as his Commissioner for Bosnia.^[5]^[6] Hadžić was Muslim Ustaša with highest rank in Sarajevo.^[7] Alija Nametak described Hadžić as one of the extreme Croats, to distinguish them from people for whom their Croatian ethnic identity was less emphatic.^[8]

Group of Muslims around Hadžić were the strongest proponents of annexation of Sandžak into Independent State of Croatia(NDH). This was also supported by NDH government, as they thought that Sandžak is part of the same region as Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[9] In May of 1941, NDH forces occupied northern Sandžak, and new local administrations in the occupied area were appointed by Hadžić, and it consisted of either Bosnian Muslims or reliable local collaborators. I then municipality of Pljevlja the new government transferred 1,5 million dinars in budget to Sarajevo for 'safe keeping'.^[10] The new authorities adopted Ustaše racial laws on Hadžić's orders and started to discriminate against the Serbian population, but because of the German occupiers they were unable to fully implement or act on their policies.^[11] This occupation was short-lived as after negotiations in July 1941 with Italy territory of Sandžak occupied by NDH forces was given to the Italian occupiers and the new Serbian collaborator state.^[12]

Hadžić claimed that he challenged Mehmed Spaho to a duel, while both of them were in Vienna, but Spaho refused to appear.^[13] Hadžić denounced Džafer Kulenović too, although he also had a prominent position in the NDH.^[14]

References

^ ^a ^b PERKOWSKI, JAN L. (1986). "Interview with a Serbian Moslem". New Zealand Slavonic Journal: 93–120. ISSN 0028-8683. JSTOR 40921298.
^ Vasić, Milan (1995). Bosna i Hercegovina od srednjeg veka do novijeg vremena: međunarodni naučni skup 13-15. decembar 1994. Istorijski institut SANU. p. 119. ISBN 9788677430078. Највише утицаја на муслиманско становништво измећу два рата имао је вођа ЈМО др Мехмед Спахо, а пред рат Хакија Хаџић и други.
^ Papić, Radovan (1985). Hercegovina u revoluciji: sjećanja, analize, dokumenti. NIŠRO "Oslobođenje". p. 72. Jos uoci iz- bora 1938. godine Hakija Hadzic je organizovao novu stranku...
^ Tomasevich, Jozo (October 2002). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia: 1941 - 1945. Stanford University Press. p. 491. ISBN 978-0-8047-7924-1. ...strongly pro-Croatian during the entire interwar period, such as Hakija Hadzic and Alija Suljak, high school teachers, and Ademaga Mesic, a rich landowner. They were personal friends of Pavelic and vigorously promoted the Ustasha cause in Bosnia
^ Johnson, Wes (2007). Balkan inferno: betrayal, war and intervention, 1990-2005. Enigma Books. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-929631-63-6.
^ Dedijer, Vladimir; Miletić, Antun (1990). Genocid nad Muslimanima, 1941-1945. Svjetlost. p. 53. ISBN 9788601015258. Vladimir Dedijer, Antun Miletić. Hakija Hadžić izrazio je Paveliću zahvalnost na uspostavljanju NDH, a Pavelić je tom prilikom imenovao Hadžića za svoga povjerenika, a Božidara Bralu za njegovog zamjenika »nad cjelokupnom historijskom...
^ Greble 2011, p. 77.
^ Greble 2011, p. 159.
^ Živković 2017, p. 52-53.
^ Živković 2017, p. 66-67.
^ Živković 2017, p. 77-78.
^ Živković 2017, p. 127.
^ Kamberović 2009, p. 13.
^ Redžić, Enver (2005). Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War. Psychology Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-7146-5625-0. Although both held prominent positions in the NDH, Hakija Hadzic and Dzafer Kulenovic had little tolerance for one another. Hadzic denounced Kulenovic for ...

Sources

Greble, Emily (23 February 2011). Sarajevo 1941–1945: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Hitler's Europe. Cornell University Press. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-8014-6121-7.
Kamberović, Husnija (2009). Mehmed Spaho (1883-1939): Politička biografija (in Bosnian). Vijeće Kongresa bošnjačkih intelektualaca. ISBN 9789958471094.
Živković, Milutin (2017). Санџак 1941-1943 [Sanžak 1941-1943] (in Serbo-Croatian). Belgrade: University of Belgrade.