Sarajevo, 1941–1945: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Hitler's Europe by Greble Emily

Author:Greble, Emily
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8014-6121-7
Publisher: Cornell University Press

Political Transition: A Return to Autonomy and Pluralism

Whereas the refugees offered a negative rallying point for the town, the crisis itself served as a positive catalyst in reviving the city’s traditional networks. In the absence of state assistance, private institutions that assumed responsibility for refugee services gradually acquired more and more power in determining how the city would function. This new dynamic became a critical means of developing and sustaining cross-cutting civic bonds that had long been the foundation of the community. The crisis also served as the impetus for reviving local political traditions that the Ustasha regime had attempted to destroy.

Under pressure from the German and Italian commands to get the country under control, Pavelić’s regime decided to transfer more power to Muslims—particularly a subgroup of Sarajevo’s Muslims who had supported the Axis but had been lukewarm to the Ustashas. In July 1942, the Ministry of the Interior appointed a new mayor, Mustafa Softić, a member of the wealthy, politically connected Muslim elite.100 Born in fin-de-siècle Sarajevo, Softić had graduated from the local Islamic high school and served in the Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War. In the interwar period, he had worked for the Islamic Religious Community’s vakuf and the city’s savings bank, and he was a member of the Yugoslav Muslim Organization. At the start of the war, Softić was not a public figure, though his father-in-law, Uzeir-aga Hadžihasanović, was a prominent Sarajevo merchant and an important local actor (and no doubt had played a part in getting Softić the job). Hadžihasanović, a close friend of Mehmed Spaho in the interwar era, had been accused of nepotism in the past, having pushed his son-in-law into positions of power in order to manipulate the political dynamic behind the scenes.101 Softić and Hadžihasanović had supported the German occupation of Yugoslavia but were among those Muslims who would have preferred that Bosnia become a German protectorate rather than a part of the NDH.102 Like so many members of the city’s Muslim elite, they signed (and possibly were among the authors) of the famous Muslim resolution in October 1941. While the Ustasha police did not arrest or sanction the signers, they kept a close watch on them afterward. Softić’s appointment as mayor can thus be seen as an Ustasha concession to form a more genuine coalition with Muslims.

When Softić assumed office in July 1942, Sarajevo’s humanitarian crisis had been continuing unabated. Disease, especially typhus, was still rampant, forcing city health officials to shut down public buildings and quarantine the sick. By September, the city’s hospital was in such a state of “unhygienic filth and disarray” that local Ustasha officials claimed it was contributing to rather than curing infections.103 Moreover, the influx of refugees remained steady, aggravating the social, health, and housing problems.104 Exacerbating the already tense political and military situation was the rivalry among the Italians, Germans, and Ustashas for control over the region. The Germans and Italians frequently intervened in local affairs, pressuring the mayor’s office to defer to their interests.

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