Honorary aryans: national-racial identity and protected jews in the independent state of Croatia

The introduction outlines the main aim of the book, which is to examine Ustasha race theory and its importance to the political and legal functioning of the Independent State of Croatia by focusing on the case of Croatian Jews who were granted the rights of Aryan citizens of the Ustasha state; this question is examined within the broader context of anti-Semitism, nationalism and race theory in Croatia from the mid-nineteenth century. The introduction provides an overview of the relevant historiography on the Ustasha regime and the Independent State of Croatia, pointing out that historians have tended to downplay or ignore the importance of racial ideas to the Ustasha movement, including racial anti-Semitism.