Unit insignia of 13th Waffen Mountain Division

of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian)

Fact: Bosnian Muslim Handzar Division Did

Not Target Jews in the World War II
The 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) was one of the thirty-
eight divisions fielded as part of the Waffen-SS during World War II.

This Nazi unit did not target Jewish people in the World War II. The Handschar division was a
mountain infantry formation, the equivalent of the German “Gebirgsjäger” (Mountain troops)
units. It was used to conduct operations against Yugoslav Partisans in the Independent State of
Croatia. Its recruits were composed of Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) and Croats (Bosnian
Catholics), because both ethnic groups were persecuted and killed by Serbian Nazi
collaborators (Chetniks).

In World War II, Serb Chetniks (nazi collaborators) committed a genocide over the Bosnian
Muslim population. By the New Year of 1943 over 100,000 Bosnian Muslims had been killed
(9% of all Bosniaks at the time) and 250,000 had been expelled from their homes.

An overhelming majority of Bosnian Muslims (98%) joined Partisans in the Second World War
and fought against the Germans and Serbian nazi collaborators, Chetniks. Handzar Division
was relatively short lived. It was created in 1943 and it disintegrated mid-field in late 1944.

Factsheet prepared by:

Bosniak & Jewish Solidarity, NGO.
Washington, D.C.