During the World War II, Torbar met several times with Ante Pavelić, the head of the puppet regime of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) ruled by Ustaše.

Josip Torbar was born in the hamlet of Hrženik near the village of Krašić south of Zagreb on 12 April 1889.

His paternal uncle was Josip Torbar – the president of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts and one of its founders.

Two years later, he opened a law firm together with his brother-in-law Ivan Pernar,[1] and their families bought and both moved to a two-apartment house in Zagreb.

Shortly thereafter, Torbar hosted the covert meeting of the HSS leadership consisting of Vladko Maček (Radić's successor as the head of the HSS), Josip Predavec, Juraj Krnjević, August Košutić, Ante Trumbić, and Pernar with Većeslav Wilder and Juraj Demetrović (of the Independent Democratic Party where further political activities under the dictatorship were discussed.

By 1934, Torbar was included among Maček's closest associates along with Trumbić, Ivan Šubašić, and Vilko Begić.

)[5] In July 1933 – December 1934, while Maček was imprisoned, Trumbić was the acting leader of the HSS,[6] and Torbar one of his closest associates.

He became a part of the top leadership of the HSS which included Maček as the president, Košutić as his deputy and Krnjević as the party secretary, as well as Ljudevit Tomašić, Juraj Šutej, Bariša Smoljan, Ivan Andres, Đuka Kemfelja, Josip Reberski [hr], Tomo Jančiković, Šubašić, and Torbar.

[8] In this period, Torbar became the first deputy president of Hrvatski radiša [hr] – an organisation established for the purpose of placement of apprentices in workshops and retail stores.

[9] Torbar remained in the ministerial position in the government of General Dušan Simović following the 1941 Yugoslav coup d'état.

The Axis powers enabled establishment of the puppet regime of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) ruled by Ustaše led by Ante Pavelić in large parts of pre-war Yugoslavia.

Torbar urged Pavelić to change its policies of persecution of Serbs and Jews because that reinforced popular discontent and led to increased support of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia-led Partisans.

The HSS felt this was possible first due to the news of the Allied invasion of Sicily, followed by Armistice of Cassibile, and finally by expected support of officers in the Croatian Armed Forces.

In March 1944, Lorković conspired with the NDH Minister of Armed Forces General Ante Vokić to devise a plan involving leading HSS members and Croatian Home Guard officers loyal to them to seize power in the NDH, disarm German forces stationed there, remove Pavelić from power, and invite the Western Allies to land on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea.

[19] According to Yugoslav intelligence information, Pope Pius XII received Torbar and provided him accommodation in the Santi Domenico e Sisto.

Torbar favoured the latter option, believing that Ustaše were to blame for problems facing the Croats and opposing any agreement with supporters of the Greater Serbian agenda.

In the United States, Torbar stayed in Pernar's new home, taking up speaking engagements at Croatian diaspora venues.