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Croatian Bannate in Yugoslavia (1939-1941)

Banovina Hrvatska

Janko Ehrlich-Zdvorak, 29 Sugust 2001

Overview
Coat of Arms

See also:

Overview

Banovina Hrvatska was created in 1939 by the agreement Cvetkovic-Macek (Cvetkovic being prime-minister of Yugoslavia, and Macek leader of HSS, Croatian peasants' party supported by more than 90% of the votes from Croatians at the time). The agreement was in making a national region in Yugoslavia for Croatians, with intention to solve the "Croatian question" in Yugoslavia. Banovina (Banate) was the name of administrative divisions of Yugoslavia between the two world wars. Until 1939 there were several (7, if I recall correctly) banovinas all having borders that were not equal to national borders (with intention of unifying peoples into Yugoslavs). In 1939 the agreement was made to make one banovina for Croatians, that included two of former banovinas (Primorska - roughly Dalmatia, and Savska - roughly Central Croatia and Slavonia) and some regions that were taken from other banovinas. The new Banovina Hrvatska included what is now Croatia (excluding Istria, Rijeka and Zadar, of course) and the area between rivers Sava and Drava (Drau) called Eastern Srijem reaching the town of Zemun (that is today a suburb of Belgrade), and the area south of Dubrovnik - the Bay of Kotor (Cataro) and further south til Ulcinj. Also a wide area of what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina was included, mainly the western Herzegovina, roughly what is today the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. All except the last is what was the Triune Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia when it joined Yugoslavia.
Since 1918 the national flags were banned, alowing only the flag of Yugoslavia to be displayed (and, by the way, the Serbian tricolour was proclaimed the flag of the church, and was displayed so). In 1939, following the agreement and formation of Banovina Hrvatska, the Croatian tricolour was re-established.
The flag used in Banovina Hrvatska was the Croatian tricolour. The flags for official use had the coat of arms in the middle (the chequy shield), and that was the arms of Banovina (I mean the simple chequy shield). The flag used by the civil population was either simple tricolour, but much frequently the flag with the three arms. I don't have many references to this (of course, I have references for the history, but in Croatian). In Flagmaster 068 there is a short paragraph on this period:

"... from 1848 onwards the tricolour of red, white and blue ... and often including the shield of 'Greater Croatia', became popular, and was in use until 5 January 1929, when the regional flags were prohibited by the Belgrade government. They were permited once more in 1939."

I beleive that the 'regional flags' were prohibited much earlier than 5 January, but this would be the latest date, since on 6 January the king Alexander I proclaimed a dictatorship and banned all political parties and 'regional feelings'.

"Flags trough the Centuries" (exibition catalogue) is also quite short of the period:

"After the fall of the Habsburg monarchy Croatia became part of the unitary Kingdom of SCS (1918) - and lost right to use the Croatian tricolour as a state flag. In spite of this the Croatian tricolour lived on in the flags of political and town societies which unremittingly worked for a solution of the Croatian problem within the monarchy of Yugoslavia. In 1941 ... "
Zeljko Heimer, 7 Novemeber 1996

After the People's Committee (Narodno vijeće) declared that State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs is joining the Kingdom of Serbia November 27, 1918 and when it was realised on December 1, 1918, Croatian national symbols were just tolerated. They were at that time seen as symbols of Croatian nation, not as of any statehood. That is why Slavonian and Dalmatian arms were not represented anywhere.
According to the Constitution of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, adopted July 28, 1921, coat-of-arms of Croats was described as shield of 5 x 5 squ