State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serbo-Croatian: Zemaljsko antifašističko vijeće narodnog oslobođenja Bosne i Hercegovine, Земаљско антифашистичко виjеће народног ослобођења Босне и Херцеговине), commonly abbreviated as the ZAVNOBiH, was convened on 25 November 1943 in Mrkonjić Grad during the World War II Axis occupation of Yugoslavia.
With the Yugoslav defeat imminent, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (Komunistička partija Jugoslavije, KPJ) instructed its 8,000 members to stockpile weapons in anticipation of armed resistance,[1] which would spread, by the end of 1941 to all areas of the country except Macedonia.
[2] Building on its experience in clandestine operation across the country, the KPJ proceeded to organise the Yugoslav Partisans,[3] as resistance fighters led by Josip Broz Tito.
[4] The KPJ assessed that the German invasion of the Soviet Union had created favourable conditions for an uprising and its politburo founded the Supreme Headquarters of the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (Narodonooslobodilačka vojska Jugoslavije) with Tito as commander in chief on 27 June 1941.
[8] On 26–27 November 1942,[9] a pan-Yugoslav assembly – the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia (Antifašističko vijeće narodnog oslobođenja Jugoslavije, AVNOJ) – was established in Bihać at the initiative of Tito and the KPJ.
At its founding meeting, the AVNOJ adopted the principle of multi-ethnic federal state as the solution for future,[10] but stopped short of any formal determination of exact system of government to be implemented after the war.
The first among them was the State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia (Zemaljsko antifašističko vijeće narodnog oslobođenja Hrvatske, ZAVNOH) established on 13–14 June 1943.
[12] Following the Fifth Enemy Offensive, Tito met with the provincial committee of the KPJ for Bosnia and Herzegovina near Kladanj urging them to convene a body similar to the ZAVNOH.
The provincial KPJ leadership likely inferred from the meeting that the status of Bosnia and Herzegovina in future Yugoslav federation would be equal to Serbia or Croatia and used this argument to win over to the Partisan movement influential Muslims by offering the prospect of satisfying their demand for autonomy.
[14] There was a parallel attempt to procure autonomy or the status of a Nazi German protectorate for Bosnia and Herzegovina as the Muslim-led and Banja Luka-based Council of National Salvation saw Ustaše persecution of Serbs and Chetnik reprisals against Muslims as an existential threat.
A culmination of the autonomist efforts materialised in the Memorandum of November 1942 sent to Adolf Hitler, seeking autonomy under German protection and blaming the "Serb insurrection" on the illegitimate Ustaše régime and plotting by the Jews.
[18] At the meeting, the provincial committee delegation led by Rodoljub Čolaković and Avdo Humo proposed giving Bosnia and Herzegovina the same status meant for Serbia or Croatia.
[20] It was meant to demonstrate Bosnian patriotism and diversity of segments of society united in opposition to the Axis occupation and was intended to motivate a broader support for the Partisan resistance.
Its ranks included former Chetnik Vojvoda Pero Đukanović, former Croatian Home Guard Colonel Sulejman Filipović, a Christian Orthodox priest and a Hodja.
The former talked about the common struggle and brotherhood of people, while the latter explained the need to adopt legal declarations on statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina, rights of citizens, prosecution of war crimes and other issues related to establishment of a state.
