Mehmed Alajbegović

Mehmed Alajbegović
Born	Template:Birth date Bihać, Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Died	June 7, 1947(1947-06-07) (aged 41)
Occupation(s)	Lawyer, politician, government official
Years active	1930s–1945
Known for	Minister of Welfare for Perished Lands and Foreign Minister of the Independent State of Croatia during World War II

Mehmed Alajbegović (7 May 1906 – 7 June 1947) was a Bosnian Muslim lawyer, politician, and government official within the Independent State of Croatia, a regime aligned with the Axis powers. Following the conclusion of World War II, Yugoslav authorities executed him for war crimes.

Early life

Alajbegović was born in Bihać on 7 May 1906 into a distinguished Bosnian Muslim lineage, with both his father and grandfather having held mayoral positions. He completed his initial education locally before relocating to Zagreb in 1928 to pursue legal studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb. He attained his doctorate in 1934. During his academic tenure, he spent considerable periods abroad, notably in Paris, where he taught the Croatian language. After completing his studies, he was appointed as a judge at the District Court of Prozor-Rama in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina. He further advanced his expertise by studying Sharia law at the University of Algiers, graduating in 1940. Beginning in 1938, he held roles as judge and secretary at Zagreb’s Administrative Court. Additionally, Alajbegović was instrumental in founding and actively participating in the committee of Društvo bosansko-hercegovačkih Hrvata u Zagrebu (Society of Bosnian-Herzegovinian Croats in Zagreb), which was established in March 1939.

World War II

With the formation of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in April 1941, Alajbegović shifted from his position as a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Zagreb to diplomatic service. By August 1941, he had assumed the role of secretary within the NDH Foreign Ministry. On 27 January 1942, he was appointed Consul to Nazi Germany in Munich, a post he held until 11 October 1943. At that time, Poglavnik Ante Pavelić appointed him as Minister of Welfare for Perished Lands. In this capacity, he oversaw the relocation of more than 300,000 refugees—primarily Muslims—from eastern Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Sandžak, who were largely escaping Chetnik attacks.

On 5 May 1944, Alajbegović was elevated to the position of Foreign Minister; this appointment was perceived by German officials as an attempt to secure Muslim support within the NDH. In September 1944, he accompanied Pavelić on a diplomatic mission to Berlin, where they met with Adolf Hitler. During the closing stages of the conflict, Alajbegović endeavored to consolidate various nationalist groups—including Montenegrin separatist Sekula Drljević, Slovene collaborator Leon Rupnik, and Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović—into an anti-communist alliance opposing both the Yugoslav Partisans and the Red Army. He maintained his role as Foreign Minister until 6 May 1945, when he fled Zagreb alongside other NDH officials.

Following his escape to Krumpendorf, Austria, he relocated to Salzburg, where Allied forces apprehended him on 6 September 1945. After brief detention in a prisoner-of-war camp at Glasenbach, he was transferred back to Yugoslavia on 9 September. During interrogation, Alajbegović asserted that his primary reason for affiliating with the Ustaše was their vision for an independent Croatian state. Tried by the Supreme Court of the People's Republic of Croatia in May 1947, he was found guilty of collaboration and sentenced to death on 7 June 1947; his execution took place that same day.