Velika Župa Posavje

The collection has a finding aid which is available to researchers inside the archival institution. The finding aid and the accompanying inventory contain detailed descriptions of the contents of each box. Velika Župa was the highest regional authority in the Independent State of Croatia. It was responsible only to the Poglavnik Ante Pavelić, who personally named its leader, and to the respective state ministries. Velika Župa Posavje was founded on 10 June 1941 with the seat in the contemporary town of Slavonski Brod and continued to function until 1945. Velika Župa Posavje included the administrative units (kotar) of Bijeljina, Brčko, Brod na Savi, Derventa, Gradačac and Županja. Researchers of the Holocaust will find the “Very secret files” (1 box) and “Secret files” (14 boxes) useful. “Very secret files” include the reports on the activities of the Ustasha Corps [Ustaška vojnica] as well as other reports on the security and military situation in the region. In addition, the collection includes information on the colonization plans of Velika Župa Posavje, such as the deportations of Serbs from Croatia and the intake of Slovene refugees who were deported from the annexed areas of the Third Reich. In this context, plans were made to supply the colonists, and the war refugees with the property looted from Jews and Serbs. The collection contains reports on policies of forced conversions to Roman Catholicism by Orthodox Serbs and reports on conversions by Jews. Furthermore, multiple files on ‘resistance from below’ to Ustasha policies have been preserved. These also include cases of armed resistance and security reports regarding the activities of the Partisans. Multiple files detailing Ustasha mass violence, including the deportations to concentration camps and petitions from various families for the victims to be released from incarceration, can also be found in the collection. The collection is important beyond the studies of local or regional history since it contains many documents and orders from the central authorities issued on state level. Unfortunately, many of these documents were destroyed or they are missing from the major archival records of main institutions such as ministries; however, they were preserved by the recipients of these orders, such as the Velika Župa Posavje.