UDK 93/99 ISSN: 1845-4380

REVIEW OF CROATIAN
HISTORY
REVUE FÜR KROATISCHE GESCHICHTE REVUE D’ HISTOIRE CROATE

Hrvatski institut za povijest

Croatian Institute of History
IX. no.
X. no.
XII. (2013)
no.11(2014)
(2016)
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 Review of Croatian History 12/2016, no. 1, 129 - 154

UDK: 342.52(497.5)“1945’’
323.281(497.5)“1945’’
Izvorni znanstveni članak
Received: April 18, 2016
Accepted: June 10, 2016

THE FUNCTIONING OF THE TRIBUNALS

FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE NATIONAL
HONOUR OF THE CROATS AND SERBS IN
CROATIA IN 1945

Martina GRAHEK RAVANČIĆ*

he article presents a brief period during 1945 when the honour of the
Croats and Serbs was the subject matter of legal regulations. One of the
primary objectives in the establishment of a new government included
the standardization of the legislative framework. Political, propagandistic,
cultural, artistic, economic and administrative collaboration with the
occupying powers and “domestic traitors” were adjudicated by the Tribunals
for the Protection of the National Honour of the Croats and Serbs. heir
judgements had multiple signiicance and far-reaching consequences.

Key words: tribunal, honour, legislation, 1945, Croatia/Yugoslavia,

judgements

When seeking a deinition for the term honour, one rapidly comes to the
realization that this term has been the subject of numerous theoretical discus-
sions. In order to provide the most accurate possible explanation, it is neces-
sary to bear in mind its long and fascinating developmental path. he term
personal honour in modern civilization is linked to the development of feudal-
ism in Western Europe. During the 19th century, honour also underwent its
own “nationalization”, and the First World War signiied its culmination. Ac-
cording to some interpretations, the trauma of trench warfare took the shine
of of the term honour. In this sense, the Second World War further unravelled
the social fabric.

*
Martina Grahek-Ravančić, Ph.D., Croatian Institute of History, Zagreb, Croatia

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M. GRAHEK RAVANČIĆ, he Functioning of the Tribunals for the Protection of the National Honour ...

In rather general terms, honour may be deined as a relection of individu-

al’s responsibility to moral norms but also as a prerequisite for that individual’s
integration into a community. Honour can therefore be deined as both a per-
sonal and social good. It is acquired and lost in social processes.1 his muta-
bility of the term honour comes to the fore during periods of thorough-going
social turmoil and change.
An objective criterion is introduced to the legal conception of these ac-
tions, so that the decision must be made by a judicial body as the representa-
tive of the public, setting forth from – among other things – the system of
moral values upon which an individual society rests. his decision is certainly
not simple, because a problem which emerges is the question of how to sub-
ordinate value judgements to laws, from which a certain level of deinition is
required to ensure the legitimacy of said laws. hus, the task of a judicial body
in a society whose institutions aspire to justice is to strike that balance and
safeguard it.
In order to ensure this, it was important to standardize the legislative
framework. he new authorities organized a legal system based on a complete
break with all links to the pre-war or wartime models. On 3 February 1945,
the presidium of the Antifascist Council of the People’s Liberation of Yugo-
slavia (AVNOJ) decided to revoke all laws and regulations enacted during the
occupation period, as well as those enacted prior to 6 April 1941 insofar as
they contradicted the values of the People’s Liberation Struggle (NOB).2 Sim-
ply stated, post-war Yugoslav criminal law rested on entirely new regulations,
while the older regulations “lost their legal force”.3

1
Igor Bojanić, “Kaznena djela protiv časti i ugleda De legelata i moguće promjene De lege
ferenda”, Hrvatski ljetopis za kazneno pravo i praksu 17 (2010), no. 2: 627-628 (and the sources
cited therein); Sanja Badrov, “Kaznena djela protiv časti i ugleda u hrvatskom kaznenom pravu”,
Pravnik, časopis za pravna i društvena pitanja 41 (2007), no. 1: 62.; Cf. horstein Veblen, he
Nature of Peace (New Brunswick-London, 1998), 27-30.
2
Službeni list Federativne Narodne Republike Jugoslavije, god. I., no. 4, 13 Feb. 1945.
3
Slobodan Nešović, ed., Zakonodavni rad Pretsedništva Antifašističkog veća narodnog
oslobođenja Jugoslavije i Pretsedništva Privremene narodne skupštine (19 novembra 1944 - 27
oktobra 1945) po stenografskim beleškama i drugim izvorima (Belgrade, 1951), pp. 22-28, 40-
45; Bogdan Zlatarić, “Razvitak novog jugoslavenskog krivičnog prava”, in: Nova Jugoslavija.
Pregled državnopravnog razvitka povodom desetogodišnjice Drugog zasjedanja AVNOJ-a,
Ferdo Čulinović, ed. (Zagreb, 1954), pp. 323-324; Nikola Srzentić, Aleksandar Stajić, Krivično
pravo Federativne Narodne Republike Jugoslavije. Opšti deo (Belgrade, 1957), p. 63., Hodimir
Sirotković, Lujo Margetić, Povijest država i prava naroda SFR Jugoslavije (Zagreb, 1990), p. 386;
Roman Ferjačič, Lovro Šturm, Brezpravje. Slovensko pravo so djepoletu 1945 (Ljubljana, 1998),
pp. 33-34; Jera Vodušek Starič, Kako su komunisti osvojili vlast 1944.-1946. (Zagreb, 2006), p. 213;
Jera Vodušek Starič, “Ozadje sodnih procesov v Sloveniji v prvem povojnem letu”, Prispevski za
novejšo zgodovino 32 (1992), no. 1-2: 141.-142.; Mirjana Gulić, “Ustroj i nadležnost kotarskih/
općinskih sudova grada/kotara Zagreb 1945. – 1970.”, Arhivski vjesnik 51 (2008): 276.

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In the irst months ater the war, the Decree on Courts Martial of 24 May
19444 was the sole penal law foundation for criminal prosecution. he courts
martial conducted all trials regardless of whether the cases were military or
civilian. According to the Decree on Courts Martial, no speciic penalties were
stipulated for individual crimes, so in each case the courts were allowed to
apply a penalty which corresponded “to the speciic social peril posed by the
act and its perpetrator”.5he transition to regular courts was signiied by the
Crimes Against the People and State Act of 25 August 1945 (amended in July
1946).6 his was also meant to serve as the criminal code of Democratic Feder-
al Yugoslavia.7 he model for the Crimes Against the People and State Act was
the Soviet Criminal Code, according to which counter-revolutionary criminal
acts became the primary and general form of ofense against the state.8 Even
though this Crimes Act declaratively marked the transition to a regular judi-
ciary, it in fact only adapted the content of the preceding Decree on Courts
Martial, amending to suit post-war circumstances. Speciically, criminal legis-
lation was supposed to above all protect the new authorities by preventing any
change in hands of power.9
he importance placed on regulating economic collaboration with the en-
emy is demonstrated by the fact that it was speciied three times in legislation:
in the Decision on the Protection of the National Honour of the Croats and
Serbs (24 April 1945), the Voter Rolls Act (11 August 1945) and the Crimes
Against the People and State Act (25 August 1945).10 In each of their provisions,
the diference between the inancial and non-inancial aspect of the crime of
economic collaboration with the enemy is clearly notable. he inancial aspect
implied placing an enterprise or expertise at the disposal of the enemy, which
enhanced the latter’s economic strength and military potential. Non-inancial

4
Marko Kalođera, Vojni pravosudni organi i pravne službe JNA (Belgrade, 1986), pp. 13-17;
Makso Šnuderl, Materialno kazensko pravo v Narodnoosvobodilni vojni Slovenije (Ljubljana,1947),
pp. 6-9; Dokumenta Centralnog komiteta KP Jugoslavije i Vrhovnog štaba NOV i PO Jugoslavije
(Belgrade, 1982), pp. 174.-185.
5
Srzentić, Stajić, Krivično pravo Federativne Narodne Republike Jugoslavije. Opšti deo, p. 62.
6
Službeni list Federativne Narodne Republike Jugoslavije, god. II, no. 59, 23 Jul. 1946.; Zbirka
krivičnih zakona sa komentarom, [Belgrade] 1947, pp. 9-25.
7
Službeni list Demokratske Federativne Jugoslavije, god I., no. 66, 1 Sept. 1945; Borba, organ
komunističke partije Jugoslavije (Belgrade), 27 Aug. 1945, p. 4.; Službeni list Federativne Narodne
Republike Jugoslavije, god II, no. 59, 23 Jul. 1946; Zbirka krivičnih zakona sa komentarom, pp.
9-25.
8
Ljubo Bavcon, Kazneno-pravna zaštita države i njenog društvenog uređenja (Zagreb, 1988), p.
179.; Vodušek Starič, “Ozadje sodnih procesov v Sloveniji v prvem povojnem letu”, p. 140.; Srđan
Cvetković, Između srpa i čekića. Represija u Srbiji 1944-1953. (Belgrade, 2006), p. 158.
9
Vojislav Koštunica, Kosta Čavoški, Stranački pluralizam ili monizam. Obnova i zatiranje
posleratne opozicije (Belgrade, 2011), p. 242.
10
Službeni list Federativne Narodne Republike Jugoslavije, god. II, no. 59, 23 Jul. 1946; Zbirka
krivičnih zakona sa komentarom, [Belgrade], 1947, pp. 9.-25.

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M. GRAHEK RAVANČIĆ, he Functioning of the Tribunals for the Protection of the National Honour ...

accountability, according to the prevailing interpretation, pertained to a de-

gree of goodwill that was presented as a condition for culpability.11
he question of enemy assets and their coniscation clearly imposes itself
here. Certain ambiguities were noted when implementing coniscations dur-
ing the wartime period. he Coniscation Act of 9 June 1945 was an attempt to
eliminate them. To the public, coniscation was described as a “court martial
action, a penalty which must be borne by all of the people’s enemies”.12 Conis-
cated assets became a part of the People’s Liberation Fund that was managed
by the People’s Liberation Committee, although the military authorities made
use of the assets in the Fund in line with their own needs.
Assets were deined quite broadly, so that this category encompassed ixed
property, movable goods and rights, land, houses, furniture, forests, mining
rights, enterprises with all companies, associations, trusts, all means of pay-
ment, receivables, copyrights, rights to industrial capital, etc. Virtually every
form of ownership was actually covered. he political and economic objectives
of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia had to be aligned when implementing
coniscation and the primary demonstration of guilt. hus, at the Party’s Fith
Congress held in 1948, Justice Minister Dušan Brkić asserted that the entire
economic sector had emerged from coniscated assets, with implementation
based on the classical principle. According to Brkić: “hese coniscations had
and have, without doubt, their revolutionary signiicance and class basis”.13
Coniscation of the assets of occupation collaborators impeded the economic
basis for fascism, whereby the penal measure of coniscation acquired a broad-
er context.14he seizure of assets was therefore an efort to create a classless
society with economically dependent individuals.15
Foreign citizens who worked for foreign companies were tried pursuant
to the Crimes Against the People and State Act, while domestic citizens were
tried pursuant to the Decision on Protection of the National Honour of the
Croats and Serbs. According to the latter Decision, voluntary economic as-
sistance to the occupying powers and their collaborators, placing one’s own
enterprise in the service of the occupying powers, signiicant work for any eco-
nomic concern or enterprise utilized by the occupying powers and engaging
in procurement for the latter were deemed crimes and infractions. Punish-
11
Jan T. Gross, “hemes for social history of war experience and collaboration”, in: he politics
of retribution in Europe – World War II and its atermath, István Deák, Jan T. Gross and Tony
Judt, eds. (New Jersey, 2000), p. 16.
12
Božidar Novak and Vladimir Stopar, eds. Vjesnik jedinstvene narodno – oslobodilačke fronte
Hrvatske 1941. – 1945. (izbor – tom I) (Zagreb, 1970), p. 421.
13
Zdenko Radelić, Hrvatska u Jugoslaviji 1945.-1991.: Od zajedništva do razlaza (Zagreb,
2006), p. 183.
14
Nataša Milićević, Jugoslovenska vlast i srpsko građanstvo 1944 – 1950 (Belgrade, 2009), p.
140.
15
Radelić, Hrvatska u Jugoslaviji 1945.-1991.: Od zajedništva do razlaza, pp. 178., 179.

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ment of voluntary economic collaboration and the provisions of the Crimes

Against the People and State Act protected the most important outcome of
the struggle, the state, and in this voluntary good will was absolutely implied.
“Since this is a matter of protecting the most valuable legal good, the people
and the state, it is understood that this law will encompass the majority of the
culpable parties, and that the least degree of voluntary consent will be sought
for the essence of the criminal act of economic collaboration.”16
he tribunals of honour were tied to the Soviet concepts for similar courts
organized within military units. At the end of the Second World War, the con-
cept of honour was tied to national identiication, so in the territory of the
Yugoslav federal units, special tribunals for the protection of national honour
were established. hey prosecuted political, propagandistic, cultural, artistic,
economic and administrative cooperation with the occupying powers and “do-
mestic traitors”. hey functioned in Croatia from 24 April17 until 8 September
1945, when the Presidium of the People’s Diet of Federal Croatia passed the
Act amending the Decision on the Protection of the National Honour of the
Croats and Serbs in Croatia, and their tasks were assumed by the people’s cir-
cuit courts.18 Persons who did not belong to one of the constitutive nations of
Yugoslavia but who resided in Croatia and were charged with the aforemen-
tioned crimes were tried by courts martial.
According to the Decision on Crimes Against National Honour, all acts
“which ofended or ofend national honour or are aimed against the funda-
mental interests and values upon which Democratic Federal Yugoslavia rests”
were deemed crimes against national honour. he Decision therefore did not
pertain to the acts of war criminals and enemies of the people. Any “perpetra-
tion of actions and propaganda to the beneit of the occupiers and their collab-
orators through the incitement of religious or racial intolerance or justiication
of the occupation and condemnation of the liberation struggle of the people”
was subject to sanctions. he third paragraph contains the stipulation that
even maintaining close and friendly relations with members of the occupying
armed forces and authorities must be sanctioned. he question of pillaging
assets was also not neglected. Culpability “based on the position of account-
able individuals in state administration” who failed to undertake eforts “to
avoid the shameful defeat and capitulation of Yugoslavia” also had to be inves-
tigated. Service in “the bureaucratic apparatus […] and the simultaneous ren-

16
“O dobrovoljnoj privrednoj suradnji s neprijateljem”, Slobodna Dalmacija (Split), 4 Dec.
1945, p. 2.
17
Službeni list Federalne Hrvatske, god. I, no. 2, 7 Aug. 1945; Zbornik zakona, uredaba i
naredaba, god. I, Zagreb, 1945., pp. 24-25.
18
Zbornik zakona, uredaba i naredaba, god. I, svezak VII, Zagreb, 1945, p. 488; Zdravko
Dizdar et al., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. Dokumenti
(Slavonski Brod, 2005), p. 263; Ivo Perić, Hrvatski državni sabor 1848. – 2000. Treći svezak: 1918.
– 2000. (Zagreb, 2000), p. 175; Zlatarić, Razvitak novog jugoslavenskog krivičnog prava, p. 322.

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M. GRAHEK RAVANČIĆ, he Functioning of the Tribunals for the Protection of the National Honour ...

dering of public and private services, particularly preferential treatment” were

also punishable. According to the decision, voluntary economic assistance, as
well as participation in or assistance to treasonous, political and military or-
ganizations were also subject to punishment. And, ultimately: “Any activity
that would have the efect of serving the occupier and its collaborators”.19 his
meant that any form of cooperation with the occupying powers could apply,
insofar as the perpetrated act did not designate the perpetrator as a war crimi-
nal or people’s enemy in the sense of the Decree on Courts Martial.20
hese acts carried the penalty of loss of national honour (exclusion from
public life, loss of the right to hold public oice and loss of civil rights), com-
pulsory labour, partial or complete coniscation of assets and/or monetary
ines and exile. Particular note was made of the fact that the accused could
be simultaneously subject to more than one penalty. In the additional expla-
nations it is stated that loss of national honour was the primary penalty and
that it could be pronounced in individual cases without any other penalty. he
penalty of asset coniscation was pronounced, albeit not exclusively, against
persons who “earned assets during the occupation as a result of or in connec-
tion with dishonourable conduct”. he penalty of partial coniscation was pro-
nounced in “a proportional share of overall assets”. Exile was ordered insofar
as “the convicted individual’s further residence in this place or territory would
be detrimental to public interests”.21 It is important to note that “the culpability
under this decision is not subject to the statute of limitations”.22
According to guidelines, the tribunals for the protection of the national
honour of the Croats and Serbs in Croatia were to be established in the seat of
a district, and their territorial jurisdiction could extend over several districts.
he tribunal’s seat was in Zagreb, and it operated through councils which
were situated in the seats of individual districts (Bjelovar, Delnice, Dubrovnik,
Gospić, Karlovac, Makarska, Nova Gradiška, Osijek, Petrinja, Slavonski Brod,
Split, Sušak, Šibenik-Zadar, Varaždin, Virovitica). he members of the tribu-
nal were appointed by the Presidium of the Territorial Antifascist Council for
the People’s Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH), designating one member each
among them to serve as the tribunal presidents. he members of the tribunals
were therefore accountable in their work to the ZAVNOH. he respective tri-
19
Službeni list Federalne Hrvatske, god. I, no. 2, 7 Aug. 1945, p. 17; Zbornik zakona, uredaba i
naredaba, pp. 24-25; Ferdo Čulinović, Pravosuđe u Jugoslaviji (Zagreb, 1946), p. 204.
20
Srzentić, Stajić, Krivično pravo Federativne Narodne Republike Jugoslavije. Opšti deo, p. 62.
21
Vladimir Geiger, ed., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946.
Dokumenti. Slavonija, Srijem i Baranja, (Slavonski Brod, 2006), pp. 157-158.
22
he law governing the tribunal for prosecuting crimes and infractions against the national
honour of the Serbs, Muslims and Croats in Federal Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was enacted
on 26 May 1945, contained a correction whereby a twenty-year statute of limitations was placed
on culpability under that law’s provisions. Vera Katz, “Komunizam i represija: Sud narodne časti
u Bosni i Hercegovini”, in: 60 godina od završetka Drugog svjetskog rata – kako se sjećati 1945.
godine, Husnija Kamberović, ed. (Sarajevo, 2006), p. 156.

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bunal president was responsible for the council’s schedule, and it was presided
over by one of the judges elected by the council. Each council had a secretary
from among the ranks of lawyers, who handled administrative tasks. An inves-
tigative judge was also appointed at the proposal of the tribunal president, and
this judge was charged with conducting investigations (of both charges and the
defence against them). he tribunals were obliged to maintain registers and
rolls of suspects and convicts.23
Parallel to this, similar tribunals began to be organized in all more impor-
tant public (scholarly, cultural, sports) institutions, chambers of commerce,
vocational associations, social organizations and the army. hus there was: the
Tribunal of Honour in the Association of Writers, the Tribunal of Honour in
the Croatian State Conservatory, the Tribunal of Honour of the Croatian Na-
tional heatre and Composers Association, and the Tribunal of Honour of the
University of Zagreb. In their work, they cooperated with the Survey Com-
mission on the Investigation of the Crimes of the Occupiers and heir Col-
laborators. he point of these tribunals was, irst and foremost, to punish the
adherents of the preceding regime among the intellectual class, but also to cre-
ate room for the establishment of a new relationship with an intellectual elite
that was more favourable to the authorities.24
Proceedings before the tribunals were launched by a motion iled by the
Public Prosecution, the People’s Protection Department (OZNA), the People’s
Liberation Committees (NOO), the committees of the People’s Front and in-
dividual citizens. he ONZA’s reports generally pertained to larger groups of
persons who were of particular signiicance. It is worthwhile noting that the
OZNA’s reports were automatically received as indictments. An unvarying for-
mula to describe a speciied form of “guilt”, regardless of the number of cul-
pable parties, circumstances, etc. was used in them.25
Upon the initiation of prosecution, the prosecutor was obliged to notify
the District People’s Goods Administration, and if the latter had not yet been
established, the District People’s Liberation Committee. Suspects and charges
were examined by the public prosecution’s investigators, the courts martial
and the OZNA. he ensuing interrogations were rapid, and the statements in
the minutes accompanying them did not difer greatly from what was cited in

23
Geiger, Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. Dokumenti.
Slavonija, Srijem i Baranja, p. 160.
24
Magdalena Najbar–Agičić, “Sud časti Sveučilišta u Zagrebu kao element politike vlasti prema
intelektualcima nakon 1945. godine”, in: Drago Roksandić et al., ed., Desničini susreti 2009.
zbornik radova (Zagreb, 2011), p. 152; Tatjana Šarić, “Kulturna politika vlasti u NR Hrvatskoj -
primjer Matice hrvatske 1945. – 1952.” (master’s thesis, Universityof Zagreb, 2008), pp. 33-34;
Ivo Goldstein, Zagreb 1941. – 1945. (Zagreb, 2011), p. 379; Momčilo Mitrović, “Prilog izučavanju
Suda časti na beogradskom univerzitetu”, in: Drago Roksandić et al., ed., Desničini susreti 2009.
zbornik radova (Zagreb, 2011), p. 178.
25
Matea Čoh, “V imenu slovenskega naroda: Krivi!”, Zgodovina za vse 9 (2000), no. 1: 70.

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M. GRAHEK RAVANČIĆ, he Functioning of the Tribunals for the Protection of the National Honour ...

the formal charges. he prosecution which pursued the charges most oten
equated such charges with indictments.26 he charges contained: the personal
data of the suspects, their domicile address, occupation, property status, mari-
tal status and number of children. his was also accompanied by a statement
signed by one or more persons who reported this individual. Additionally, the
OZNA stated the nationality and religion of the suspects.27
In the proceedings, the suspect was entitled to a defender who could be
any “suitable” legal adult, particularly in terms of “moral character”, but this
was not implemented in practice. Hearings were brief. he prosecutor irst
read the indictment, ater which the suspects were summoned to state their
defence. It generally corresponded with what had been said during interro-
gation. Ater this, the prosecutor would present the evidence and propose a
penalty on the basis thereof. he tribunal rendered a judgement on the basis of
judicial discretion. he judgements made by the tribunal became efective im-
mediately, and they had to be forwarded to the relevant institutions for execu-
tion (People’s Circuit Court, District People’s Liberation Committee, Justice
Ministry), ater which the suspects were sent to prisons or camps. he time
that transpired between arrest and the submission of the ile to the tribunal
and the pronouncement of the judgement was very short.
he inal article of the Decision states that it becomes efective “on the
date of its publication, and applies to all acts regardless of the time of their
perpetration”. In the additional instructions issued by the Justice Ministry of
the People’s Government of Croatia on 9 May 1945, it states that the Decision
pertains to already perpetrated acts and those acts that may be perpetrated in
the future.28
It is precisely this article which highlights one of the more contestable as-
pects of the work of the tribunals of national honour. For according to legal
regulations, it follows that insofar as there are no laws which sanction acts
which “ofended the sense of national honour” at the moment of perpetration,
one of the fundamental legal principles has been violated: nullum crimen sine
lege, nulla poena sine lege (essentially, there is no guilt if a given act has not been
stipulated as punishable by law). In the explanations published in the press of
the time, it was asserted that crimes against national honour were a qualitative
novelty in criminal law. Furthermore, “[t]hey were largely perpetrated during
the enemy occupation of our country, and the people’s understanding was the
irst to give such acts a penal signiicance”. he text continues: “he people
deeply felt the afront caused by such deeds and sought their punishment. Al-
26
For an example of such charges, see: Mate Rupić, Vladimir Geiger, ed., Partizanska i
komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. Dokumenti. Dalmacija (Slavonski Brod;
Zagreb, 2011), pp. 463-464.
27
Čoh, “V imenu slovenskega naroda: Krivi!”, p. 69.
28
Geiger, Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. Dokumenti.
Slavonija, Srijem i Baranja, p. 157.

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ready then, the people’s consciousness formulated a law on the violation of

national honour”. Only ater this did the legislator legally ratify this aware-
ness. Because of this, the prevailing opinion was that the aforementioned legal
principle did not apply for if it did, “[…] it would mean leaving gross ofenses
against national honour unpunished, which would run counter to the people’s
understanding and justice. he aforementioned principle must give way before
the will of the ofended people and concede to the so-called principle of retro-
active efectiveness, according to which one must answer for acts perpetrated
prior to the time when the law was written, because this is the demand of the
people who are the foundation of all social principles and written rules. his
would mean that the peoples understanding served as the foundation for the
Decision on the Protection of National Honour and that it is a written law,
while the Decision is only a formal expression of this understanding”.29 his
principle was even excised from the penal legislation of the Federal People’s
Republic of Yugoslavia, because the possibility of pronouncing penalties of all
types for each crime was foreseen. Such a move was also justiied by the chief
public prosecutor, Jože Vilfan, according to whom the existing revolutionary
principle was dictated “by lexibility in the importance of crimes to the stabil-
ity of the political system, because not everything can be determined in ad-
vance. […] a crime may be less important today, but already over night it may
gain irst-class importance.”30
he organization and beginnings of the work of the tribunals and judi-
cial councils in the entire territory of Yugoslavia, and also Croatia, proceeded
at varying intensities. Many practical problems emerged, and the majority of
them pertained to the lack of qualiied judicial personnel who were needed in
other judicial and investigative institutions as well. Additionally, some mem-
bers did not report for service on time, while others did not hold hearings
regularly.31
Most tribunals in Croatia’s territory began functioning at the beginning of
June and up to mid-July 1945 at the latest. hus, for example, on 8 June 1945,
at the proposal of the People’s Committee of the City of Zagreb, the members
of the Tribunal for the Protection of National Honour in the City of Zagreb
and the Zagreb District were appointed. he tribunal’s president by Branko
Tučkorić (the head of the Architecture Section of the Construction Ministry)
from Zagreb, and the vice-presidents were Kata Govorušić (housewife) and

29
“Osnovne značajke Suda za zaštitu nacionalne časti Hrvata i Srba u Hrvatskoj”, Slobodna
Dalmacija (Split), 13 Jul. 1945, p. 2.
30
Radelić, Hrvatska u Jugoslaviji 1945.-1991.: Od zajedništva do razlaza, p. 64.
31
Momčilo Mitrović, Srpska nacionalna čast pred zakonom 1945. godine (Belgrade, 2007), pp.
27-29; Milko Mikola, Rdeče nasilje: represija v Sloveniji po letu 1945 (Celje – Ljubljana, 2012), pp.
284-285; Roman Brunšek, “Procesi pred sodiščem slovenske narodne časti v Ljubljani”, Kronika
43 (1995): 107; Matea Kobale, “Sodišče narodne časti” (undergraduate thesis, University of
Maribor, 2010), p. 26.

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M. GRAHEK RAVANČIĆ, he Functioning of the Tribunals for the Protection of the National Honour ...

Mladen Zorić (sales assistant).32 he qualiications of the tribunal’s members

were truly diverse, and the situation was even worse in smaller communities.33
Data on the members of the tribunals in Serbia and Slovenia relect the same
principle.34However, they all had one thing in common: they belonged to the
People’s Liberation Movement, and most of them unwaveringly support the
Communist Party.35
hus, it is vital to consult the reports of public prosecutors who described
the actual situation “in the ield” and how much overall circumstances were
advantageous to the work of the tribunals. hus, the public prosecutor for the
Lika District (two days ater the Decision on the Protection of National Hon-
our was adopted) stated that the situation in the district was rather diicult.
he entire staf consisted for three people who had to actively function “in the
ield”, while they were not helped by the fact that a high number of criminal
cases were arriving every day. Because of this situation, cooperation with the
courts also obviously sufered.36 In the territory of Nova Gradiška, instructions
were followed, so that “the larger, more persistent and important enemies were
taken before the tribunal and tried, especially those who, as the more eco-
nomically better-of, collaborated with the occupier”.37 Similar problems were
indicated by the report from the Karlovac and Banija District dated July 1945,
according to which: “the work of the tribunals of national honour was meagre
until my arrival. his is because public prosecutors did not conduct the neces-
sary cooperation with the remaining authorities in order to gather the required
data and conduct investigations against the persons who had ofended the na-
tional honour”. In order to improve the eiciency of the tribunals of national
honour, conferences were held in Karlovac and Petrinja and at them it was
decided that materials would be gathered and proceedings conducted jointly
(representatives of the tribunals of national honour, courts martial, OZNA
and the district People’s Liberation Committee), primarily against those per-
sons who economically collaborated with the occupier and those who were

32
“Sastavljeni narodni sudovi u Zagrebu”, Vjesnik (Zagreb), 10 June 1945, p. 5.
33
Zoran Božić, “Svi sudci postavljeni su po direktivi Komunističke partije Jugoslavije!”,
Hrvatsko Slovo (Zagreb), 7 Apr. 2006., p. 13.
34
Cvetković, Između srpa i čekića. Represija u Srbiji 1944 – 1953, 278.; Srđan Cvetković, Između
srpa i čekića. Knjiga prva: Likvidacija “narodnih neprijatelja” 1944 – 1953., drugo dopunjeno i
izmijenjeno izdanje, (Belgrade, 2015), p. 360; Mitrović, Srpska nacionalna čast pred zakonom
1945. godine, p. 123; Brunšek, “Procesi pred sodiščem slovenske narodne časti v Ljubljani”, p.
109.
35
Momčilo Mitrović, Izgubljene iluzije (Belgrade, 1997), p. 77.; Mitrović, Srpska nacionalna
čast pred zakonom 1945. godine, p. 24.; Cvetković, Između srpa i čekića. Knjiga prva: Likvidacija
“narodnih neprijatelja” 1944 – 1953., p. 360.
36
Dizdar et al., ed., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946.
Dokumenti, pp. 98-99.
37
Geiger, Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. Dokumenti.
Slavonija, Srijem i Baranja, p. 269.

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“even today plotting against the people’s authorities, and to try them as soon
as possible”.38 Virtually the same problems were mentioned in the reports from
the districts in Bjelovar, Osijek and Varaždin.39
An attempt was made to bypass a part of the aforementioned problems
through active propaganda which also constituted a vital component of the
operation of the tribunals for the protection of national honour. Beyond the
legal system’s institutions, the question of honour also arrived on the “street”
through the press, thus assuming the form of hearsay and scheming. Almost
every newspaper carried the Decision on the Protection of the National Hon-
our of the Croats and Serbs in Croatia (the irst being the Split-based Slobodna
Dalmacija at the end of April).40his was then generally followed by commen-
tary, among which that of Justice Minister Dušan Brkić is worth highlighting.
To sum them up, he noted that the enemy had been militarily defeated, but that
he is appearing “in other areas of our state and public life and his activity will
appear in other forms and by other methods. For these, the Decision will be
applied even in the future, because it is our duty to reveal and eliminate from
public life those who with their transgressions can continue their anti-people
work or, to even the least extent, impede the regular low of the arduous but
great task of renewing and reconstructing our country”.41
During June, the rhetoric became considerably more pointed, so that it
was noted that it would be necessary to “purge all of the disgrace from among
us”.42 he image of suspects was associated with degenerates, cowards and ego-
ists who were unconcerned with the sufering of their own people, rather they
“sold out the national soul” to secure their own beneit.43 In the irst half of
July, there was no signiicant response among the people to report cases, but
on 21 July the public prosecutor thoroughly elaborated the importance of the
work of the courts and among other things noted that their judgements were
signiicant to the upcoming elections, because the persons sentenced to the
loss of national honour also lost the right to vote and they were erased from
the voter rolls.44
38
Dizdar et al., ed., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946.
Dokumenti, 195.-196.; Vladimir Geiger et al., ed., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini
u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. Dokumenti. Zagreb i Središnja Hrvatska (Slavonski Brod – Zagreb,
2008), pp. 515-516.
39
Geiger et al., ed., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946.
Dokumenti. Zagreb i Središnja Hrvatska, pp. 266, 554, 631.
40
“Odluka o zaštiti nacionalne časti Hrvata i Srba u Hrvatskoj”, Slobodna Dalmacija (Split), 30
Apr. 1945, p. 7.
41
“Zaštita nacionalne časti Hrvata i Srba u Hrvatskoj”, Glas Slavonije (Osijek), 29 May 1945, p. 6.
42
Milko Mikola, Sodni procesi na celjskem 1944 – 1951. (Celje,1995), p. 91.; Mikola, Rdeče
nasilje: represija v Sloveniji po letu 1945, p. 284.; Brunšek, Procesi pred sodiščem slovenske narodne
časti v Ljubljani, p. 106.
43
Brunšek, “Procesi pred sodiščem slovenske narodne časti v Ljubljani”, p.106.
44
Brunšek, “Procesi pred sodiščem slovenske narodne časti v Ljubljani”, p. 109.

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M. GRAHEK RAVANČIĆ, he Functioning of the Tribunals for the Protection of the National Honour ...

he trials against industrialists, entrepreneurs, i.e., persons with consid-

erable assets, were chosen as the irst to be covered by the press. hus, the
tribunal in Šibenik pronounced the irst judgement pursuant to the Decision
on the Protection of the National Honour of the Croats and Serbs in Croatia
against the major industrialists Stipe and Frane Šare. hey were sentenced as
“speculators and reactionaries”; Frane Šare received 20 years of compulsory
labour and the permanent loss of civil rights, while his father received ive
years of compulsory labour and permanent loss of rights to honour. Addi-
tionally, it was decided that the entirety of their assets had to be coniscated.45
In Split, several enterprise owners, otherwise brothers, Frane, Niko and Mate
Bonačić were tried. Testimony from witnesses and partial admissions from the
accused themselves conirmed their anti-people activity for which the four of
them were given sentences entailing loss of civic honour for a duration of 10
to 15 years, compulsory labour for a duration of 4 to 5 years and coniscation
of their entire assets. Such a conviction was “[…] welcomed [by the crowd]
with a tumult of delight, which did not die down for several minutes”.46 At its
irst trial, the tribunal in Osijek convicted, among others, Ljerka Planer, who
worked “for the Ustasha at her own behest, so she held ballet instructions in
the opera house”. Additionally, she conducted a campaign to collect voluntary
donations for those wounded in the war. She fully acknowledged these facts.
Although she appealed to humanity in her defence, the prosecutor sought a
strict penalty, so she was sentenced to ten years of loss of national honour, two
years of compulsory labour and coniscation of all of her assets.47 All of these
examples clearly indicate that the irst trials ended with lengthy sentences.
In further press reports, examples were chosen which illustrated the full
breadth of cultural and economic collaboration with the occupying powers
(individuals and entire companies) and of acquiring undeserved wealth. his
meant that the accused included persons who performed various political
functions, as well as members of the bureaucratic apparatus, persons in cul-
ture in the arts, industrialists and merchants, and almost all public activity,
publication of poetry, and even “particularly brazen ways of socializing with
the oicers of the occupation army” were punished.48 A case that received par-
45
“Okružni sud u Šibeniku osudio je suradnike okupatora, špekulante i privredne sabotere
Franu i Stipu Šaru,” Slobodna Dalmacija (Split),13 May 1945, p. 5.
46
“Protunarodni rad splitskih trgovacabraće Bonačić. Stigla ih je pravedna kazna”, Vjesnik
(Zagreb), 6 June 1945, p. 4; Mitrović, Srpska nacionalna čast pred zakonom 1945. godine, pp. 241-
243. A trial against Leandro Bonačić, one of the co-owners, was conducted separately, as he was
in the army, so the hearing was held on 13 June. Even though he had joined the Yugoslav Army
in November 1944, which was taken into account as an extenuating circumstance, the tribunal
sentenced him to 5 years loss of national honour, 2 years of compulsory labour and coniscation
of movable and ixed shares in the company. “Osudjen suradnik okupatora Leandro Bonačić”,
Slobodna Dalmacija (Split), 15 June 1945, p. 2.
47
“Počelo je suđenje za povrede nacionalne časti”, Glas Slavonije (Osijek), 17 June 1945, p. 1.
48
“Dr. Mihovil Cindro i njegova porodica pred narodnim sudom”, Slobodna Dalmacija(Split),
29 June 1945, p. 4.

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ticular attention was the trial against Dragutin and Milan Schulhof, the owners
of the printing company Tipograija d.d., which was charged with voluntarily
printing and publishing “Budak’s newspaper Hrvatski narod”.49 Even though
it was assessed that this “cronyism with the Ustasha” was only a way for him
and his family to spare themselves persecution by the authorities of the NDH,
Schulhof was sentenced to 10 years of loss of national honour, two years of
compulsory labour and coniscation of his entire assets.50
In the descriptions, particular care was accorded to meticulously present-
ing the courtroom atmosphere and attitudes of the spectators who followed
the trials in high numbers. hus, for example, one of the reports mentions
that the tribunal’s judgements were met with approval by the large crowd “[…]
because they recognize those convicted as the ones who took advantage of
arduous wartime conditions to increase their wealth even more, providing
services to the occupier and causing harm to their people”.51 An explanation
carried in the Sarajevo-based newspaper Oslobođenje also testiies to the work
of the tribunals: “hey emerged at a time when our people made the transition
from armed struggle to the peaceful construction of their country and when
it was necessary to cleanse themselves from what experience had shown was
treasonous and anti-people. (…) [T]hese legal acts served the vital interests of
our peoples at the time in which they were passed”.52 herefore it came as no
surprise that constant contacts were maintained with the editors and editorial
boards of daily newspapers, through which “the judgements were published
and popularized”.53
All of the tasks that had to be fulilled by these trials are rather interesting.
hus, for example, two cases from Gospić merit consideration. It was impor-
tant that the trials be held on the same day, “in the large chamber of the Work-
ers’ Hall, so that the broadest possible public could attend them”. Additionally,
“due consideration was given to the political efect that conduct of trials on the
same day against a Croat and a Serb before a people’s court would have on the
masses of people”. Even though their transgressions difered, in the interpreta-
49
“Osudjeni bivši vlasnici i direktori ‘Tipograije’ Dragutin i Milan Schulhof ”, Vjesnik (Zagreb),
21 Jul. 1945, p. 5; Geiger et al., ed., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944.
– 1946. Dokumenti. Zagreb i Središnja Hrvatska, pp. 556-558.
50
Dragutin Schulhof was imprisoned on 27 June 1945, and released before the elections for
the Constitutional Assembly in November of the same year. His release was based on a decision
according to which those persons sentenced to prison terms not longer than two years and over
60 years of age were to be released. Ivo Goldstein, Hrvatska 1918 – 2008. (Zagreb, 2008), pp.
420-421; Marko Grčić, ed., Tko je tko u NDH. Hrvatska 1941. – 1945. (Zagreb, 1997), p. 355.
51
“Ratne zločince stiže za služena kazna. Osude suda za zaštitu nacionalne časti Hrvata i Srba
u Hrvatskoj u Brodu”, Glas Slavonije (Osijek), 8 July1945., p. 3.
52
Katz, “Komunizam i represija: Sudnarodnečasti u Bosni i Hercegovini”, pp. 150-151.
53
Hrvatska/Croatia (hereinater: HR) – Hrvatski državni arhiv/Croatian State Archives, Zagreb
(hereinater: HDA) – fond 421 – Javno tužilaštvo Socijalističke Republike Hrvatske, povjerljivi
spisi 1945, no. 16/45., 19 August 1945.

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M. GRAHEK RAVANČIĆ, he Functioning of the Tribunals for the Protection of the National Honour ...

tion of the authorities they were both directed “against the fundamental inter-
ests of the people and the values of the People’s Liberation Struggle, so linking
them proved natural and politically opportune”.54
In the same report, it is noted that over the preceding iteen days the sum-
mary conclusion of cases before the Tribunal for the Protection of National
Honour was being insisted upon, so that work on remaining cases had lagged
behind as a result. he same problem was observed in the Osijek district, where
all of the prosecution’s work had generally been reduced to tasks involving the
Tribunal for the Protection of National Honour. By July, 256 persons had been
arrested. Of them, 99 were convicted, while “some” were released.55 Based on
the available register from the Virovitica-Osijek District, it is apparent that the
time span from arrest to submission of the ile to the tribunal and pronounce-
ment of a judgement was very brief – two months on average. Convictions
pursuant to the Decision on the Protection of National Honour were mainly
pronounced forthwith, several days ater the ile was received (sometimes even
the next day). According to available data, it follows that in its 60 days of op-
eration, the tribunal in Osijek handled four cases per day. he data for July, the
month in which the most intense work was done, show that these igures were
quite high.56

In larger cities, 30 to 40 cases were processed daily. he pressure was also

apparent in the Bjelovar District, so that a report contained the statement that

54
Dizdar et al., ed., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946.
Dokumenti, p. 213.
55
Geiger, Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. Dokumenti.
Slavonija, Srijem i Baranja, p. 266.
56
Stjepan Sršan, “Sud za zaštitu nacionalne časti Hrvata i Srba u Hrvatskoj za okrug Osijek –
Virovitica 1945. godine”, Glasnik arhiva Slavonije i Baranje 8 (2005): 266.

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 Review of Croatian History 12/2016, no. 1, 129 - 154

“certain ‘major suspects’ were not taken before the tribunal, because in many
cases to which the Decision on the Protection of National Honour could have
been applied, the Court Martial had already pronounced a conviction, given
that these were persons who had been proclaimed people’s enemies and war
criminals.”57 In the territories of Virovitica and Varaždin, oten “supervisory
appeals” were compiled and lodged given the dissatisfaction of the authorities
over what had been done.58
he people’s circuit courts had jurisdiction over the execution of com-
pulsory labour sentences. he people’s circuit courts in Dalmatia, Primorje
(Northern Littoral) or Istria deployed people to the Vrana Camp (Biograd na
Moru), convicts from the territory of the district People’s Liberation Com-
mittee in Osijek were sent to the Bohn Camp (a former brick factory) next
to Vinkovci, while convicts from other territories went to the Stara Gradiška
Camp.59 According to documents, the sentences were also served in a camp
in Buzet (next to Glina).60For the execution of coniscations, the judgement
would be forwarded to the administrative department of the district People’s
Liberation Committee, the Justice Ministry and the People’s Liberation Com-
mittee in the superior district from which the convict originally hailed.
According to the data from the Justice Ministry of Democratic Federal
Croatia dated 18 September 1945, the tribunals for the protection of national
honour rendered a total of 1,083 judgements. According to the Ministry’s of-
icial opinion, these data were not complete, but they encompassed approxi-
mately 80% of all judgements rendered in Croatia. his memorandum closes
with the notation that this number refers to “the total number of charged per-
sons against whom criminal prosecution concluded with a judgement”. he
number of rendered judgements is therefore smaller, given that in a part of
these cases a single judgement concluded criminal prosecution against several
individuals. Out of this total number, 1,039 judgements pertained to Croats, 42
to Serbs and 2 to Slovenes.61
57
Geiger, Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. Dokumenti.
Slavonija, Srijem i Baranja, p. 386.
58
Geiger, Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. Dokumenti.
Slavonija, Srijem i Baranja, p. 378; Geiger et al., ed., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini
u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. Dokumenti. Zagreb i Središnja Hrvatska, p. 631.
59
Geiger, Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. Dokumenti.
Slavonija, Srijem i Baranja, p. 159; Zbornik zakona, uredaba i naredaba, pp. 83-85; Sršan, “Sud za
zaštitu nacionalne časti Hrvata i Srba u Hrvatskoj za okrug Osijek – Virovitica [Link]”, p. 264.
60
Dizdar et al., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946.
Dokumenti, pp. 215.-216; Geiger et al., ed., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u
Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. Dokumenti. Zagreb i Središnja Hrvatska, p. 545.
61
Dizdar et al., ed., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946.
Dokumenti, pp. 250-264; Geiger, Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944.
– 1946. Dokumenti. Slavonija, Srijem i Baranja, pp. 429-436; Geigeret al., ed., Partizanska i
komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. Dokumenti. Zagreb i Središnja Hrvatska,
pp. 711-718.

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M. GRAHEK RAVANČIĆ, he Functioning of the Tribunals for the Protection of the National Honour ...

Most of the indictments were compiled pursuant to Article 2 of the Act on

Protection of the National Honour of Croats and Serbs in Croatia. Based on
social classiication, most of the judgements pertained to industrialists, skilled
tradesmen, merchants and civil servants.62 As an example, I shall excerpt the
data for the Virovitica-Osijek District, according to which the highest share
of indicted and convicted persons belonged to the category of those who had
earlier worked in the public or civil service. Generally, these were people who
had a higher inancial status, and almost 70% of them were from the territory
of the city of Osijek.63 In this case as well, the same principle was observed in
Serbia and Slovenia.64

he data from the documentation collection of the Tribunal for the Pro-
tection of National Honour for the Karlovac District, i.e., its register, lucidly
testiies to the 46 judgements rendered by this tribunal.65 hese 46 judgements
encompassed 82 persons who were put before the tribunal. Even though a part
of the iles are missing, based on the register it is possible to clearly ascertain
the names of the convicted individuals. If this is compared to the data included
in the Report of the Justice Ministry of Democratic Federal Croatia submitted
to the Public Prosecutor on 18 September, which indicates that 30 judgements
(more precisely, against 30 persons) were pronounced by the tribunal in Karlo-
vac, it is clear that the Report is not complete. According to the register of the
62
Dizdar et al., eds., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946.
Dokumenti, pp. 260-261.
63
Sršan, “Sud za zaštitu nacionalne časti Hrvata i Srba u Hrvatskoj za okrug Osijek – Virovitica
[Link]”, p. 266.
64
Milićević, Jugoslovenskavlast i srpskograđanstvo 1944 – 1950, p. 329.; Cvetković, Između srpa
i čekića. Represija u Srbiji 1944 – 1953, p. 283.
65
Hrvatska/Croatia (hereinater: HR) – Državni arhiv u Karlovcu/State Archives of Karlovac
(hereinater: DAKA) – fond 0530 – Sud za zaštitu nacionalne časti za okrug Karlovac, Registar
Kz 1945. (until September 11, 1945).

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 Review of Croatian History 12/2016, no. 1, 129 - 154

tribunal in Karlovac, it is apparent that the tribunal concluded its operations

on 11 September, and the report is dated 18 September. his means that the
reason for conveying these erroneous data was not urgency nor the impossibil-
ity of concluding cases and then delivering the requested data.
he Report similarly contains information that the tribunal for the city of
Zagreb rendered 169 judgements. According to data from the fund of the peo-
ple’s circuit court for the city of Zagreb, it follows that the Tribunal for the Pro-
tection of National Honour presided over 466 cases. According to the register
on incoming cases between the Tribunal for the Protection of National Honour
and the Circuit Court in Zagreb of 15 September, it follows that 784 persons
were cited in the registers. Out of this, 358 persons are listed in register (K);
423 persons are listed in register (R), while three cases were being processed
in conidential register (SU).66 From this it is clear that even in this case the
numbers far surpass which was cited in the Report. According to available data,
not even a 20% increased number, as cited in a note in the, corresponds to the
actual situation. In this case, the diference is four times greater. he same trend
was also visible in the case of the tribunal in Karlovac, where the diference was
almost three times higher. A slightly lesser increasing trend was also appar-
ent before the other tribunals in Osijek and Slavonski Brod. he Report clearly
indicates that the tribunals in Dalmatia (Makarska, Split, Šibenik-Zadar, and
partially Sušak) had almost all convictions. his pressure was clearly relected
in the news stories carried in the daily newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija, which
followed the trials most exhaustively. To be sure, the documentation collections
in most cases are disorganized and a part of the judgements are evidently miss-
ing.67 However, all of this leads to the conclusion that at the level of Croatia as a
whole, this number was at least three times greater than that cited in the Report,
speciically 3,000 judgements rendered by the tribunals of honour without spe-
cial courts (with jurisdiction over cultural institutions).
For Serbia these estimates run from a thousand to several thousand peo-
ple.68 According to existing data, it follows that the tribunals were the “most
66
Hrvatska/Croatia (hereinater: HR) – Državni arhiv u Zagrebu/State Archives of Zagreb
(hereinater: DAZG) – fond 1216 – Okružni narodni sud za grad Zagreb (1945. – 1949.), kut. 9,
SU: 290/1945., 15 September 1945.
67
his problem becomes greater if the data from Croatian archives are compared to the data
from Slovenian archives – in which there are documents testifying to the distinct organization of
tribunals in individual parts of Slovenia, with precise lists of staf, and it is far simpler to perceive
the structure of the actual tribunal system. In Croatia such documents are either very rare or
entirely absent. It is worthwhile noting that, to the best of my knowledge, a very similar problem
pertains to the materials for the territory of Serbia.
68
Mitrović, Srpska nacionalna čast pred zakonom 1945. godine, p. 73.; Cvetković, Između srpa i
čekića. Knjiga prva: Likvidacija “narodnih neprijatelja” 1944 – 1953., p. 360. At the congress of the
Communist Party of Serbia, Blagoje Nešković stated that up to May 1945 the courts martial in
Serbia sentenced 300 persons to death, the courts martial and the tribunals of national honour
convicted an additional 462 persons to loss of national honour, 1,464 persons to coniscation of
assets and 363 persons to compulsory labour.

145
M. GRAHEK RAVANČIĆ, he Functioning of the Tribunals for the Protection of the National Honour ...

efective” in the territory of Serbia. hus, there was no shortage of criticism of

the new legislation, with the observation that people’s enemies were being too
harshly sanctioned, particularly if one takes into consideration the standards
applied in other Yugoslav federal units. Speciically, at a session of the Uniied
People’s Liberation Front of Serbia, it was stated that for a given crime in Croa-
tia, 12 year prison sentences were handed out, while in Serbia it would incur
the death penalty.69 here are no speciic data for Slovenia, but according to the
assessment of the Slovenian public prosecutor, it follows that a total of 3,000
cases were processed.70 Here certain similarities to the available estimates for
Slovenia and Serbia can be seen.
he percentage of acquittals at the level of Croatia was below 10%, while,
for example, in Petrinja, Split and Šibenik, not one person was acquitted of
charges. In this sense, the report by the public prosecutor for the Šibenik Dis-
trict dated 7 May is quite interesting; in it, he called on: “Patriots from the city
of Šibenik, workers and civil servants, peasants from the surrounding country-
side, all who felt the brunt of foreign occupation on their backs, who felt the
hardships due to concealment of goods in the deep and secret depots of war
proiteers and the wealthy, to demonstrate against these criminal activities in
organized fashion […] to ind and report to the People’s Courts all criminals,
to help make them incapable of doing further harm and to demand that the
People’s Courts convict all of these criminals in line with the people’s justice”.71
How they were made “incapable of doing further harm” was described
quite well by Milan Prelić, who presided over the tribunal and according to
whom: “convicted persons may not hold any post in the civil service, nor re-
ceive any perquisites from the state […] hey shall have no right to perform
any public function […] hey may neither open nor run a business […] All of
this, as can be seen, renders the one encompassed by punishment efectively
dead to public life”.72
Despite the high number judgements rendered, the Communist Party’s
dissatisfaction was apparent, so that at the First Consultation of OZNA Chiefs
and Administrators, Justice Minister Dušan Brkić noted that:
“he tribunals for the protection of national honour have not responded
to their tasks because our district committees and courts did not comprehend
69
Mitrović, Izgubljene iluzije, p. 76 (note 7); Mitrović, Srpska nacionalna čast pred zakonom
1945. godine, p. 23 (note 9); Cvetković, Između srpa i čekića. Knjiga prva: Likvidacija “narodnih
neprijatelja” 1944 – 1953., p. 360.
70
Milko Mikola, Zaplembe premoženja v Sloveniji 1943 – 1952 (Celje, 1999), pp. 146-147;
Kobale, “Sodišče narodne časti”, p. 82.
71
Rupić, Geiger, Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946.
Dokumenti. Dalmacija, pp. 447-448; “Narodni sud nemilosrdno kažnjava ratne bogataše i
špekulante”, Vjesnik(Zagreb), 13 May 1945, p. 4.
72
Mitrović, Srpska nacionalna čast pred zakonom 1945. godine, p. 206; Cvetković, Između srpa
i čekića. Represija u Srbiji 1944 – 1953, p. 278.

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their signiicance as revolutionary tribunals, they did not understand that

these are forms for the rapid and energetic purging of enemies from our ranks.
We were given a brief period for the duration of these revolutionary tribunals,
[…] to cleanse the country of hostile elements in the shortest possible time,
whether by capital punishment or imprisonment, to halt the enemy and take
matters into our own hands […] We did not act quickly enough. he bourgeoi-
sie was never for the People’s Liberation Struggle and we did not, in fact, man-
age to take matters into our own hands. And the tribunal of national honour
was formed several days ago. It was supposed to indicate the urgency of the
work of the revolutionary tribunals”.73
he dispatch from the deputy prime minister of Democratic Federal Yugo-
slavia, Edvard Kardelj (25 June 1945) sent to the prime minister of the People’s
Republic of Slovenia, Boris Kidrič, had a similar tone: “he tribunals of na-
tional honour will be dissolved within the next three days, courts martial will
only try military personnel, and everything else will be assumed by the regular
courts. You have no reason to be as slow in purges as you have been thus far”.74
On 8 September 1945, parallel to the abolishment of the tribunals for the
protection of national honour, the Decree on Amnesty of Persons Convicted
under the Decision on the National Honour of the Croats and Serbs in Croa-
tia was promulgated. he cases which were still being processed were turned
over to the jurisdiction of the circuit courts.75 Under the Decree, pardons were
granted and sentences of compulsory labour were commuted, regardless of
the length of the sentence, for all persons who at the time of publication of
the Decree had been legally convicted for acts speciied in the Decision on the
Protection of the National Honour if they were 55 years of age up to that date,
and for all others who had been sentenced to two years of compulsory labour.
Persons sentenced to compulsory labour for a duration of two to ive years had
their sentences halved; persons sentenced to compulsory labour for a duration
of ive to ten years had their sentenced reduced by a third; persons sentenced
to compulsory labour for a duration longer than ten years had their sentences
reduced by a fourth; persons sentenced to compulsory labour for life had their
sentences reduced to twenty years. he decisions on penalties entailing loss
of national honour and coniscation of assets and monetary ines, as well as
73
Dizdar et al., ed., Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944.-1946.
Dokumenti, p. 235; Geiger, Partizanska i komunistička represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946.
Dokumenti. Slavonija, Srijem i Baranja, pp. 343-344; Rupić, Geiger, Partizanska i komunistička
represija i zločini u Hrvatskoj 1944. – 1946. [Link] i Središnja Hrvatska, pp. 577-578;
Brunšek, “Procesi pred sodiščem slovenske narodne časti v Ljubljani”, p. 108.
74
Mitja Ferenc, Prikrito in očemzakrito. Prikrita grobišča 60 let po koncu druge svetovne vojne
(Celje, 2005), p. 18.
75
HR-DAZG – fond 1216 – Okružni narodni sud za grad Zagreb (1945. – 1949.), kut.9, SU
290/45, 10 September 1945; HR-DAZG – fond 1216 – Okružni narodni sud za grad Zagreb
(1945. – 1949.), kut. 9, no. 6791/45., 10 September 1945; “Ukaz o amnestiji. Opraštanje i sniženje
kazni izrečenih od suda za zaštitu nacionalne časti”, Glas Slavonije (Osijek), 12 Sept. 1945, p. 2.

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M. GRAHEK RAVANČIĆ, he Functioning of the Tribunals for the Protection of the National Honour ...

exile, were not covered by the provisions of this Decree.76 Petitions for pardons
were attached to the character references which were issued by the Internal
Afairs Ministry (for those who were serving terms of compulsory labour in
penitentiaries), People’s Liberation Committee or the People’s Front. hen the
Presidiums of the People’s Liberation Councils in individual republics deliber-
ated on these requests.
he data on amnestied individuals which the Justice Ministry sought on
17 September 1945 were generally delivered late, and this is probably why the
complete documents do not exist in the archival collections.77hus, for exam-
ple, according to a report dated 21 September 1945, 136 persons were amnes-
tied in the territory of the tribunal for the city of Zagreb.78 he extent of the
credibility of the proclaimed qualiications against convicted individuals was
conirmed by the relatively quickly adopted Decree on individual pardons. Af-
ter only a few months, compulsory labour sentences were “pardoned”, either
in whole or in part.79
Numerous debates ensued ater the termination of the tribunals, given that
certain penal activities did not come under the Crimes Against the People and
State Act which became the authoritative legislation.80 Similar debates were
held on the retroactive application of the law, but once more and as expected,
it was concluded that it had its “legal foundation, given that during the Second
World War crimes (ofenses) emerged which previous legislators could not
have foreseen. According to the interpretations of the day, not all provisions of
the National Honour Protection Act were retroactive given that some crimes
had already been deined as such by the Penal Code of the Kingdom of Yugo-
slavia of 27 January 1929.81
he tribunals for the protection of national honour were revolutionary
courts aimed against wealthier citizens and private property, and the objective
of their activity was to create a state sector of the economy under the direct su-
pervision of the authorities, particularly because assets were not returned even
ater eventual pardons.82 Besides assets, convicted individuals lost their civil
rights, including sufrage, which eliminated a certain number of political ad-
versaries prior to the elections. Additionally, the exclusion of the wealthy and

76
HR-DAZG – fond 1216 – Okružni narodni sud za grad Zagreb (1945. – 1949.), kut. 9, no.
6791/45., 10 September 1945.
77
HR-DAZG – fond 1216 – Okružni narodni sud za grad Zagreb (1945. – 1949.), kut. 9, no.
7266/45., 17. September 1945.
78
HR-DAZG – fond 1216 – Okružni narodni sud za grad Zagreb (1945. – 1949.), kut. 9, SU:
317/1945., 21 September 1945.
79
Katz, “Komunizam i represija: Sud narodne časti u Bosni i Hercegovini”, p. 160.
80
Kobale, “Sodišče narodne časti”, p. 89 (and the sources cited therein).
81
Kobale, “Sodišče narodne časti”, p. 90.
82
Radelić, Hrvatska u Jugoslaviji 1945.-1991.: Od zajedništva do razlaza, p. 63.

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 Review of Croatian History 12/2016, no. 1, 129 - 154

entrepreneurial class from the economy and politics of the time was also se-
cured. Compulsory labour sentences signiied physical isolation of individuals
from the communities in which they resided, because hard labour in particu-
lar was carried out in mines or at forest work sites. According to data from the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Slovenia, the tribunals for the
protection of national honour were supposed to complete their tasks within a
“speciied period”, during which 80 to 90% of industry had to be coniscated
and nationalized.83 his igure corresponds with the date for Serbia, in which
80% of state ownership in post-war industry was achieved by coniscation.84
Oten it was noted that loss of national honour, particularly if it was not
accompanied by compulsory labour or coniscation of assets, was a light sen-
tence, because “the convicted never had honour, and their faces will not red-
den due to such a penalty”. Furthermore, the tribunal did not concern itself
with individual suspects, and thereby with their reputations, rather every case
was considered from the standpoint of the entire people who “placed their
honour and their national pride above property, above life, above everything”.
herefore it was concluded that this people would know how to assess those
who had fallen away from them. And this was precisely why each judgement
was rendered in the name of the people.
It is noteworthy that the tribunals for the protection of national honour
functioned within the framework of the legal system which was largely still in
its formative stages. Jakov Blažević quite extensively described this when he
stated that it was necessary to “become acquainted with the new laws” and en-
sure their “precise and rapid enforcement.” According to him, the Decision on
the Protection of the National Honour of the Croats and Serbs was supposed
to punish those who: “[…] imposed damages on their people, and who by vir-
tue of their position, the extent of the social harm they caused and the threat
they pose, the character and level of their criminal minds, represent a constant
peril and general impediment to the people. his legal sanction corresponds to
the political sense and line of our platform. To blindly enforce these provisions
against on persons who were misled, unaware, whose authority and inluence
was minor or non-existent, would be to twist the sense of the aforementioned
Decision and run counter to the political policy of reconciliation and absolu-
tion, against the proper political broadness of the Uniied People’s Liberation
Front”.85

83
Radelić, Hrvatska u Jugoslaviji 1945.-1991.: Od zajedništva do razlaza, p. 63; Vodušek Starič,
Prevzem oblasti 1944 – 1946, 274., p. 279; Vodušek-Starič, Ozadje sodnih procesov v Sloveniji v
prvem povojnem letu, p. 146.
84
Cvetković, Između srpa i čekića. Knjiga prva: Likvidacija “narodnih neprijatelja” 1944 – 1953.,
p. 361.
85
“Upoznajmo naše nove zakone i borimo se za njihovu točnu i brzu primjenu”, Vjesnik
(Zagreb), 6 July 1945, p.1.

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M. GRAHEK RAVANČIĆ, he Functioning of the Tribunals for the Protection of the National Honour ...

And inally, justice, by its very nature inevitable imperfect, in Western Eu-
rope ater the Second World War in its essence was nonetheless not entirely
“worthless” and not all judgements were inaccurate.86 It was, however, restrict-
ed by the chronological force and framework to the period immediately ater
the close of wartime operations and as such it may be largely classiied under
the denominator of post-war retaliation: as a phase of society’s “recovery”. he
responses to the work of the tribunals for the protection of national honour
in Croatia (and Yugoslavia) were certainly multifarious. his is simply an at-
tempt to classify punishment/retaliation within its proper context in post-war
Croatia/Yugoslav history, not only as an integral component of the struggle for
political predominance, but also as a genuine, but essentially faulty, attempt at
a “confrontation” with the legacy of Nazi occupation.

Die Tätigkeit der Gerichte für den Schutz der nationalen Ehre der
Kroaten und Serben in Kroatien im Jahre 1945

Zusammenfassung

Im Artikel wird eine kurze Periode im Jahre 1945 dargestellt, als die Ehre
der Kroaten und Serben unter den Schlag der Rechtsvorschriten geriet. Ein
der Hauptziele bei der Gründung neuer Macht war auch die Normierung der
Rechtsrahmen. Die Gerichte für den Schutz der nationalen Ehre der Kroaten
und Serben sprachen Recht für politische, propagandistische, kulturelle, kün-
stlerische, wirtschatliche und administrative Zusammenarbeit mit Okkupant-
en und „heimischen Verrätern“. Ihre Urteile hatten mehrfache Bedeutung und
weitreichende Konsequenzen.

Bibliography:

Archival collections:
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Croatian State Archives, HR – HAD – 421, Javno tužilaštvo Socijalističke
Republike Hrvatske
86
Martin Conway, “Justice in Postwar Belgium: Popular Passions and Political Realities”,
Cahiers d’Historie du Temps présent (1997), no. 2: 7.

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 Review of Croatian History 12/2016, no. 1, 129 - 154

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