The thesis focuses on the history of the Jewish people in the Croatian territories in the 1930s and 1940s. It illustrates the struggle of Croats for political autonomy and independence in the second half of the 19th century, and discusses the position and attitude toward the Jews, who are often seen as „outsiders“. Anti-Semitism is described as a common phenomenon at the turn of the 19th into the 20th century, with Stjepan Radić as an example of a political individual who was susceptible to anti-Semitic tendencies. It tries to explain the emergence of anti-Semitism under the influence of National Socialist Germany and outlines the April War that started after the entry of Yugoslavia to the Tripartite Pact, the Yugoslav coup d'état and the invasion by the nazi and fascist forces. Also mentioned are provisions which gave the basis for the persecution of the Jewish people. The paper chronologically examines the targeting of the Jews. It attempts to analyze how some Jews found salvation in the Italian occupied areas and covers the role of the Archbishop of Zagreb, Aloysius Stepinac.