“Za din i za plijen? Muslimanske milicije u Drugom svjetskom ratu. Iz riznice Historijskog muzeja BIH” [For Faith and for Spoils? Muslim Militias in WWII. From the Bosnia and Herzegovina History Museum Archives],

This file includes fourteen documents from the archives of the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Muslim militias active in the World War II in the north-east Bosnia. Little written record is left of these Muslim militias. However, we can reconstruct their activities owing to documents from numerous other sources, including the archive materials of NDH and the People’s Liberation Movement. They give the impression that these units were primarily local, and organised around charismatic leaders, such as Muhamed Hadžiefendić or Nešet Topčić. Their main purpose is to protect Muslim villages. But they also serve as a refuge for deserters from the regular Croatian army, and they often resort to plunder and murder themselves (see e.g. the massacre at Jeginov Lug). Furthermore, they maintain complex and volatile relationships with NDH, the Partisan movement, and even with the chetniks. Due to all contradictions, in the end they fail to fulfil their primary mission and protect the Muslim community.