Andrija Artuković
A fascist interior minister who enacted brutal racial laws and ran concentration camps before fleeing justice for decades.
1899–1988 (age 89)·Convicted World War II war criminal·Birthday: November 29·The Lost Generation
Biography
Born in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina, Andrija Artuković trained as a lawyer and became a fervent Croatian nationalist. His political ascent was tied to the violent Ustaše movement, which seized power with Axis backing during World War II. As Minister of the Interior and later Justice for the Nazi puppet state, his signature authorized a legal framework for persecution, leading directly to the establishment of camps like Jasenovac where tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, and Roma were murdered. After the war, he vanished, surfacing in California under an alias. For nearly forty years, he lived a quiet life in the United States, his past a subject of intense investigation and legal battles. Finally extradited in 1986, his belated trial in Yugoslavia laid bare the administrative machinery of genocide, and he died in prison, a symbol of delayed and difficult reckoning.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Andrija was born in 1899, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Andrija Was Born
The biggest hits of 1899
Andrija's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1899Born
President: William McKinley
1904Started school
New York City opens its first subway line
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1912Became a teenager
Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage
President: William Howard Taft
1915Could drive
The Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat
President: Woodrow Wilson
1917Could vote
Russian Revolution overthrows the tsar; US enters WWI
President: Woodrow Wilson
1920Turned 21
Women gain the right to vote in the US
Home: $3,395President: Woodrow Wilson"Swanee" — Al Jolson
1929Turned 30
Wall Street crashes, triggering the Great Depression
Gas: $0.21/galPresident: Herbert Hoover"Singin' in the Rain" — Cliff EdwardsBest Picture: The Broadway Melody
1939Turned 40
World War II begins; The Wizard of Oz premieres
Gas: $0.19/galMin wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Over the Rainbow" — Judy GarlandBest Picture: Gone with the Wind
1949Turned 50
NATO founded; Mao proclaims the People's Republic of China
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,450Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Riders in the Sky" — Vaughn MonroeBest Picture: All the King's Men
1959Turned 60
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $12,400Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"The Battle of New Orleans" — Johnny HortonBest Picture: Ben-Hur
1969Turned 70
Apollo 11: humans walk on the Moon; Woodstock festival
Gas: $0.35/galHome: $15,550Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Sugar, Sugar" — The ArchiesBest Picture: Midnight Cowboy
1979Turned 80
Iran hostage crisis begins; Three Mile Island accident
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $37,900Min wage: $2.90/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"My Sharona" — The KnackBest Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
1988Died at 89
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
Key Achievements
- Served as the Minister of Interior and Minister of Justice for the Axis-aligned Independent State of Croatia during WWII.
- Signed into law the racial decrees that stripped Serbs, Jews, and Roma of their rights and subjected them to persecution.
- Was directly responsible for the operation of a network of concentration camps, including the notorious Jasenovac complex.
- Evaded capture for nearly four decades after the war, living in the United States until his extradition in 1986.
- Was convicted of war crimes and mass murder by a Yugoslav court in 1986 and sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment.
Did You Know?
He lived openly in the United States for years under his own name, working as a real estate agent and even applying for citizenship.
His extradition from the US was a protracted, seven-year legal battle that went to the Supreme Court.
During his trial, he claimed he was merely a 'lawyer and a scholar' and denied direct responsibility for the atrocities.
He was the highest-ranking Ustaše official to ever be tried in Yugoslavia.
“The Croatian people must be cleansed of all foreign elements for their own salvation.”
