Flavius Blondus, 1388-1463 about Bosnia and Raška (Sandžak) :

“ ... Raška and Bosnia are parts of the croatian kingdom.”

" ... Rassiaque et Bosna pro regni Chroatiae regionibus habentur".

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Poglavnik Dr. Ante Pavelić complied with that request, and on April 29, 1941, Sandžak joined the Independent State of Croatia.

In those days, there were several factions of Croatian Muslims in Sandžak: the first and largest was for Sandžak joining the Independent State of Croatia, and the second wanted to join Albania, which was under Italian occupation, the third, which had the least support, was the pro-German faction of Hadžiahmetović in Novi Pazar, and the fourth one wanted cooperation with the Montenegrin "Zeleni".

This divergence of views was felt at the meeting in Bijelo Polje, where many were in favor of joining the Independent State of Croatia and only a few wanted to support Hadžiahmetović.

In the eastern part of Sandžak, there was another faction of Albanians, who worked to expand Albania with a part of Sandžak.

On May 3, 1941, a customs battalion of the Independent State of Croatia entered Sandžak from Sarajevo with fez on their heads. In just two days, the battalion was distributed across Priboj, Prijepolje, Pljevlje and Nova Varoš with companies based in Uvac, Proboj, Prijepolje and Nova Varoš.

Customs officers of the Independent State of Croatia disarmed all Serbian gendarmes. Croat Muslims were sent from Bosnia to key positions and as leaders of the Ustaška Youth.

On May 5, 1941, a company arrived in Pljevlje, where they demanded the Germans to surrender the city. The Germans refused this request and said that they were preparing to surrender the city to the Italians three days later.

In Nova Varoš, a man from Višegrad from eastern Bosnia was appointed as Ustaše District Commissioner.

On May 10, 1941, the Italians demanded that the Customs Officers of the Independent State of Croatia withdraw from Pljevlje and that the Ustasha administration in that city be abolished.

15. svibnja 1941 delegacija Sandžaklija stize u Zagreb i zatražila u audijenciji kod Poglavnika dr. Ante Pavelića da cijeli Sandžak stavi pod kontrolu Nezavisne Države Hrvatske. Pred Poglavnikom se je delegacija nazvala "Hrvatski Muslimani" iz Sandžaka, a Poglavnik je formalno odobrio priključenje Sandžaka radi hrvatske krvi Sandžaklija Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj.

On May 20, 1941, the German motorized forces withdrew from the cities of Prijepolj, Nova Varoš and Priboj, which is why two companies of infantry arrived. A company of Italian infantry arrives in Bijelo Polje. In the city, the Italians received a delegation of Serbs and later a delegation of Croatian Muslims from Sandžak.

Italians clumsily talk about the friendship between Italians and Montenegrins, without mentioning the Croatian Muslims from Sandžak. as the biggest rascal, they propose to them to cancel the Croatian Muslims from Sandžak support for joining the Independent State of Croatia.

On May 21, 1941, changes were made to the so-called "Vienna Line". The Italians get the municipalities of Rudo (in the Independent State of Croatia), Priboj, Nova Varoš, Sjenica and Duga Poljana, while Novi Pazar remains under German control.

In November 1941, a German-Italian commission was formed to change the "Vienna Line", but it was not changed until the capitulation of Italy in 1943.

Neither the government of the Independent State of Croatia nor the Croatian Muslims from  Sandžak were happy with that situation.

On June 13, 1941, the Croatian Muslims from Sandžak take over the town in Sjenica and oust the pro-Albanian administration. In a letter to the commander of the Independent State of Croatia, Slavko Kvaternik, they demand that the armed forces of the Independent State of Croatia immediately enter the city. They also sent a delegation to Prijepolje, which asked the commander of the garrison of the Independent State of Croatia to help them militarily. The commander sent a platoon of soldiers and customs officials of the Independent State of Croatia to take over the city.

Pro-Croatian and pro-Albanian factions in the Muslim population of Sandžak began to organize militias in order to worsen relations with the local Serbs. The Croatian Muslims from  Sandžak demanded that the Serbs move out of Sandžak, who settled in Sandžak from 1913 after the Serbian occupation.

Between April 29 and May 8, 1941, Ustasha units continued to annex Sandžak. Between April and August, Ustasha Muslims establish strongholds in Brodarevo, Komaran, Hisardžik and parts of Novi Pazar, Štavička and Sjenica.

On May 15, 1941, the Croatian Muslims from  Sandžak from Pljevlje, Bijelo Polje and Prijepolje wrote a letter to the Poglavnik Dr. Anta Pavelić, confirming their loyalty to the Independent State of Croatia on behalf of all Croatian Muslims of Sandžak.

On the German side, Novi Pazar was placed under the control of Aćif Hadžiahmetović, who supported the Albanian nationalist Ballia Kombëtar.

According to the agreement with the Germans on October 27, 1941, the whole of Sandžak was handed over to the Italians, and the Croatian government was liquidated.

After the capitulation of Italy, Sandžak was taken over by Germany and placed under the German military command, which was then in Belgrade.

For the second time in 1943, the Sandžakli voluntarily requested annexation to the Independent State of Croatia from the Poglavnik Dr. Ante Pavelić. They said that they have a knife to their neck from the Serbs, and from Albania they are threatened with Albanianization. Poglavnik Dr. Ante Pavelić agreed to the annexation (which formally never ended after the Italian occupation) for the sake of the Croatian blood of the Croatian Muslims from Sandžak, but he had to wait for the above reasons until the war ended positively in favor of the Axis. That did not happen and Sandžak and Boka Kotorska were never returned to the Independent State of Croatia.

For strategic reasons, Germany wanted to keep Sandžak and Bay of Kotor until after the positive end of the war and only then return Sandžak and Bay of Kotorska to the Independent State of Croatia.

There were also several local Croat-Muslim militias in Sandžak. All of them fought against the Chetniks and the majority against the Partisans.

Because of the Italian request, the Muslim Ustasha had to withdraw from Sandžak and the local Croatian-Muslim militias were forced to cooperate with the Italian occupier or, in some parts of Sandžak, with the Germans and Albanians.

After the capitulation of Italy in September 1943, the Chetniks attacked and conquered many of the Italian garrisons in Sandžak. On September 11 and 12, 1943, they tried to occupy Prijepolje, but the attacks were repelled by the Germans and Croatian-Muslim militias.

During the German administration of Sandžak, the Germans required the local militia to send capable men for training in the SS, which was in Novi Pazar. Several of them were immediately sent to the eastern battlefield after training. When the Germans took over Pljevlja from the Italians, they immediately armed 400 members of the militia. In Sjenica, the local militia under German command killed about 50 Chetniks. There she also received German uniforms with permission to use a fez.

In September, Karl von Krempler was appointed as the leader of the SS Police for Sandžak and immediately founded the "SS Police Defense Regiment Sandschak" (German: "SS Polizei-Selbstschutz-Regiment Sandschak"). From October 1943, he began collecting volunteers from the local Muslim-Croat militia, anti-communist and anti-Serb volunteers and quickly gathered around 5,000 people, including three battalions of Albanians. This formation was also called "Fighter Group Krempler" (German: "Kampfgruppe Krempler" or "Muselmanengruppe von Krempler"). According to various sources, the regiment had as many as 8,000 - 12,000 members.

New recruits were sent for a two-month training in the cities of Raška and Vučitrn. They also studied German there.

The commander of that fourth Croatian SS unit after "Prince Eugene", "Handžar" and "Kama" was Hafiz Sulejman Pačariz.

In Bijelo Polje, the regiment had 2 detachments. One was commanded by Ćazim Sijarić and the other by Galjan Lukač.

On February 3, 1944, militias under the command of Mulo Jakup, Biko Drešević, Sinan Salković and Faik Bahtijarević attacked the places around Kolašin. In their attacks, they were supported by the forces of Ballia Kombëtar from Drenica.

In September 1944, Tito announced a general amnesty for the Axis powers. Several members of the regiment desert. On September 22, the detachment in Pljevjla surrenders the city to the Partisans.

Commander Hafiz Sulejman Pačariz leaves Sandžak with the remaining forces in the direction of Sarajevo, where they come under the command of Ustasha General Vjekoslav "Maks" Luburić.

Hafiz Sulejman Pačariz was promoted to the rank of Ustasha colonel.

The German Veteran Association "Handžar" issued 80 different sets of postage stamps.

One series shows the hero of the Croatian Sandžak: Sulejman Pačariz, and the other shows a mosque in Novi Pazar.

Stamps in set : Size : Day of issue : Limitation : Perforated set : Non-perforated set : Sheet :               8 2,5 x 3,5 cm 10.4.1990 150 perforated sets. 500 non-perforated sets. 39.00 € 29.00 € 219.00 €

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There are still Croatian Muslims from Sandžak for whom the 111 years of Serbian occupation have not yet erased their awareness of their genetic belonging to the Croatian nation. Even the newly founded "Bosnian" nation in the 1990s was unable to erase the memory of April 29, 1941, when the Sandžak was able to join the Independent State of Croatia for 6 months.

To commemorate the annexation of the Sandžak to the Independent State of Croatia, Croatian-Muslim patriots from the Sandžak published a series of 24 stamps with motifs from the Sandžak on April 29, 2024, issued by some fans of FK Novi Pazar, the "Torcida Novi Pazar".

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Sandžak :

The Sandžak was from the April, 29th, 1941 for 6 months part of the Independent State of Croatia. At this date a stamp set, limited to 99 copies, was issued and given to the some members of the croatian customs members and Ustaša (all croatian muslims).

To honour this annexion, local patriots from the Sandžak who haven´t forgot this event have issued a set of 24 stamps with landscape-motives from the Sandžak at April, 29th, 2024.

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Veterans Association Handschar :

The german Veterans Association Handschar have issued in 1955 two overprinted stamp-sets and between 1989-1994 80 stamp sets to help Croatians in emigration and in the 1990´s to collect money for croatian defense against the serbian aggression against Croatia.

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The “Omoti”-sets :

In 1993 32 music-cover sets were issued from the emigration of the Independent State of Croatia. Every set contains 16 stamps.

8 sets are dedicated bands :
- 3 sets of Depeche Mode.
- 1 set of Kraftwerk.
- 1 set of Front 242.
- 1 set of Nitzer Ebb.
- 1 set of Front Line Assembly.
- 1 set of Skinny Puppy.

24 sets are dedicated to music styles :
- 8 sets of 70s/80s/90s Synthie Pop, Darkwave, Dark Electro, Italo Disco, Neofolk, ... .
- 2 sets of Electronic Body Music.
- 2 sets of Neue Deutsche Welle.
- 2 sets of House, Dance, ... .
- 3 sets of Hip Hop, Miami Bass, Freestyle, ... .
- 3 sets of Heavy Metal, Rock, Hard Rock, ... .
- 1 sets of Punk, Oi, ... .
- 3 sets of Italo Disco, Euro Disco, Hi NRG, ... .

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In 1994 four music-cover sets were issued from the emigration of the Independent State of Croatia :

- 1 set of Erasure
- 1 set of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
- 1 set of Pet Shop Boys
- 1 set of The Cure

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In 2022 three more music-cover sets were issued from the emigration of the Independent State of Croatia :

- 3 sets of Neofolk, Industrial ...

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In 2024 three band-sets of the band Rammstein were issued from the emigration of the Independent State of Croatia :

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In 2024 nine music-cover sets were issued from the emigration of the Independent State of Croatia :

- 1 set of Adele
- 1 set of Ariana Grande
- 1 set of Beyoncé
- 1 set of Christina Aguilera
- 1 set of Lady Gaga
- 1 set of Miley Cyrus
- 1 set of Pink
- 1 set of Rihanna
- 1 set of Taylor Swift

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Counties “Raša” and “Dubrava” :

After the italian capitulation in the year 1943 the croatian territories, occupied by fascistic Italy, returns to the Independent State of Croatia.

Overprints at italian stamps were issued from the Great County of Dubrava for the planed return of the Bay of Kotor and the planned foundation of the Great County of Raša (today known as Istria).

Read more about the [ Great County of Raša ] and the [ Great County of Dubrava ].

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Prince Eugen Gau :

Before the war III. Reich against the in theeses days existing Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Germans threatened the Hungarians that if they did not participate in that war, the Volksdeutsche would declare a German state at the territory of Bačka, Banat and eastern Syrmia all the way to Belgrade. That German state was supposed to be connected with a corridor that would go partly around the Danube river to the territory of III. Reich, that is, to the Slovenian Prekomurje, which was then part of III. Reich.

After the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia April 10, 1941 this plans didn´t stop and the Volksdeutsche planed the proclamation of that state at the birthday of Adolf Hitler
April 20, 1941. They had prepared 3 stamps with overprints on hungarian stamps, but the III. Reich didn´t support this plans, because they don´t want to have problems with the new state, the Independent State of Croatia and also not with Hungary.

The Hungarians were afraid of a possible realisation of such a exteritorial german territory and annexed first the Bačka at the April 11, 1941 and some days later Međimurije of the Independent State of Croatia at the April 16, 1941 so that a corridor between a possible "Prince Eugen Gau" and the III. Reich couldn´t be realized without a war between the Allies Hungary and the III. Reich.

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HOS :

On April 10, 1993, the Croatian Defense Forces (Hrvatske Obrambene Snage = HOS) issued set of 16 stamps.

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OZAK :

The "Operation Zone Adriatisches Küstenland" ("Operations Zone Adriatisches Küstenland" or "OZAK") existed from September 10, 1943, and consisted of the Croatian and Slovenian territories occupied by the Kingdom of Italy, as well as the territories in northern Italy, which from October 8, 1943 fell under the control of the German III. Reich, which had the meaning as an operational zone of the German Wehrmacht, means exclusively military.

After the capitulation of Italy on September 8, 1943, the Great County of Raša were established by the Independent State of Croatia from the Croatian areas of Istria, the Kvarer Islands, the city of Rijeka, which was donated to the Kingdom of Italy by Serbian Minister Pasić of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia under the Treaty of Rapala in 1920, the city of Trieste and the present-day Slovenian coast.

The Independent State of Croatia could only formally establish the Great County of Raša, because since the capitulation of Italy on the territory that the Kingdom of Italy got from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia the III. Reich took control since October 1, 1943 over the entire Istrian peninsula, the cities of Rijeka, Sušak, Bakar, Kastav, Čabra and the island of Krk. Those Croatian territories were included in the "Operational Zone of the Adriatic Coast" ("OZAK") together with the Italian provinces of Friuli, Trieste and Gorica, and until the capitulation of Italy to the occupied Slovenian province of Ljubljana from the Italians.

From some German activities, such as the ban of the teaching of the Italian language in schools and the introduction of the Croatian language, it can be concluded that the III. Reich planned the reintegration of the "Operational Zone of the Adriatic Coast" into the Velika župa Raša (Great County of Raša) of the Independent State of Croatia.

The course of the war prevented that return, as well as the return of Sandžak and the Bay of  Kotor from the III. Reich (which controled both areas) to the Independent State of Croatia.

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Prince Eugen Division :

The Volksdeutsche from the Independent State of Croatia issued overprints on German stamps of the “Day of Wehmacht” in 1943 and 1944, which was given to the new members of the division "Prince Eugen".

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Other stamp-series :

The emigration of the Independent State of Croatia has issues also in the year 1999 stamp series of Pope John Paul II.

In 2024 four Independent State of Croatia / Ukraine stamp-series were isued :
Slava Ukraini / Putler

In 2024 the Independent State of Croatia issued seven stamp-series :
- 2 stamp-series of landscapes of the Independent State of Croatia.
- 2 stamp-series with croatian food-motives.
- 3 stamp-series with croatian football fans

Other stamp series :

- Beware of Yugoslavs
- Communist bandit Josip Broz Tito
- Croatian coat of arms.
- Erich von Däniken
- Fazlagića kula
- History of the Croats
- King and Queen of the Independent State of Croatia
- Mother
- Sandžak 2024 in two sizes.
- Ustasha
- Zvonimir Boban