Aćif Hadžiahmetović

Hadžiahmetović organized ceremonial welcome and an official banquet in Novi Pazar for German occupying forces on 16 April 1941.[6] In April 1941 German Nazi forces appointed Hadžiahmetović as mayor of Novi Pazar.[7] He established a governing committee in Novi Pazar of 11 members, all Albanians, and also established a Muslim gendarmerie which was pro-Albanian and whose members wore Albanian symbols.[8] His administration violently fired previous local government, many of whom were forced to leave the city.[9] His governance saw return of feudal relations in the region, which was agreed with Milan Aćimović, head of Commissioner Government on July 19.[10] He was one of the signatories of the Resolution of Sarajevo Muslims in 1941. During that year, his forces began to conduct war crimes against local Serb civilians and started killings of Albanians who were opposed of his rule.[1] At the same time, with officers like Shaban Polluzha under his command, who was responsible for bloody killing of 150 Serbian civilians in Ibarski Kolašin in September 1941,[11][12] he organized the defense of the region against attacks by Chetnik forces that targeted Albanian and Muslim civilians[4] and by the Yugoslav Partisans who led the antifascist liberation movement.[13] The principal goal of Albanian forces was the creation of a Greater Albania that would include Novi Pazar in it. As a consequence, efforts were made to Albanize the Bosniak population of Novi Pazar – one of the policies that created the greatest revolt among the local Bosniak population was the prohibition of wearing the Muslim hat, fez.[13] Hadžiahmetović used persecution of Serbs in his region of control to buy their property for very cheap prices. This was done in the name of an Albanian bank, but also for increasing his personal wealth.[14] During a public speech made when the first Albanian military forces penetrated into Novi Pazar in October 1941, Hadžiahmetović warned the public present that they are "Albanian, and not Bosniak", and stated: "Behind us stand three million Albanians, our Pazar is the centre of Albania, and we will create a Greater Albania.".[13] At another public speech, Hadžiahmetović is recorded to have said that the population which occupies all lands spanning from Raška (a town in southern Serbia) to the southernmost point of Albania is Albanian.[13]

It was also during his rule, in 1942, that the entire Jewish population of Novi Pazar – 221 individuals, were imprisoned, sent to the concentration camp Staro Sajmište and killed.[15]

In 1943 he joined the Second League of Prizren and was elected a member of its central committee.[16] A few months later, after the incorporation of Mitrovica into Albania he became a representative of the region in the Albanian parliament along with Ferhat Abidi, Hysen Hysnija and Shaban Mustafa.[17] In September of 1943, Albanian collaborationist forces organised an action against remaining Serb population in the Draževa srez. Many Serb villages were burnt down during the action. German police agents noted that Hadžiahmetović is 'hiding extent of the crimes against Serbs, doesn't want to persecute perpetrators and hides them from justice'.[18]

He was considered a collaborator with the Axis powers during World War II and was executed in 1945 by the Yugoslav government, after he was found guilty of the murder of nearly 7,000 Serbs.[19]