Andrija Artuković

Andrija Artuković
Andrija Artuković in uniform, 1940's.
1st Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia
In office 16 April 1941 – 10 October 1942
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Ante Nikšić
Minister of Justice of the Independent State of Croatia
In office 10 October 1942 – 29 April 1943
3rd Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia
In office 29 April 1943 – 1 November 1943
Leader	Ante Pavelić
Preceded by	Ante Nikšić
Succeeded by	Mladen Lorković
State Secretary
In office 11 November 1943 – 8 May 1945
Preceded by	Mirko Puk
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Personal details
Born	19 November 1899 Klobuk, Ljubuški, Austria-Hungary (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Died	16 January 1988(1988-01-16) (aged 88) Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Republic of Croatia)
Political party	Ustaše
Spouse(s)	Ana Maria Heidler
Alma mater	University of Zagreb
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholic

Andrija Artuković (19 November 1899 – 16 January 1988) was a Croatian lawyer, politician and senior member of the Croatian nationalist and fascist Ustaše organisation, who held the Interior and Justice portfolios in the Government of the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) during World War II. He signed into law a number of racial laws against Serbs, Jews and Romani people, and was responsible for a string of concentration camps in which tens of thousands of civilians were murdered and mistreated. He escaped to the United States after the war, where he lived until extradited to Yugoslavia in 1986. He was tried and found guilty of a number of mass killings in the NDH, and was sentenced to death, but the sentence was not carried out due to his age and health. He died in custody in 1988.

Andrija Artuković was born on 19 November 1899, in Klobuk, near Ljubuški in Austro-Hungarian-occupied Herzegovina to Marijan and Ruža (née Rašić) Artuković. He was one of 14 siblings raised on a farm. He studied at a Franciscan gymnasium (high school) run by the monastery in nearby Široki Brijeg, and obtained a doctorate in law from the University of Zagreb in 1924. From 1926 he was practising law in Gospić in the Lika region of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.