"The presentation reinterprets the importance of antisemitism in the Croatian fascist Ustasha movement. Given the fact that the Ustasha ideological core was initially not antisemitic, questions as to why and how they adopted antisemitism has not been adequately answered. Kralj challenges historiographical interpretations which reduce the Ustasha antisemitism to mere imitation of Nazism and the arguments that the Ustashe were participating in the Holocaust because of German pressures or appeasement.
According to Kralj’s argument the Ustasha adopted antisemitism as a key tool in fascistization of its ideology. The adoption of anti-communism, anti-capitalism, anti-democratic and other attitudes were so closely intertwined with antisemitism that it became one of the main tools of ideology-building during 1935-1940. Kralj will examine the interdependence of antisemitism and fascistization through quantitative analysis of Croatian national-socialist, clerical, nationalist and Ustasha press in the period of 1929-1945."
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