In 1937 after he wrote the pamphlet Red Croatia Stedimlija published the book Bases of Montenegrin Nationalism to establish the Croatness of Montenegrins as Diokletian Red Croats and negate that Montenegrins are Serbs. Some chapters and subchapters are Red Croatia Existed, Development of the name Red Croatia into Black Mountain (Montenegro), From Red Croatia to Montenegro etc. [open the picture]
In 1941 he joined Croatian fascist Ustasha movement and became one of the closest persons to leader of self-proclaimed Independent State of Croatia Ante Pavelic. Pavelic admired Stedimlija who was editor-in-chief of few publications of the Ustasha proclaimed "Croatian Orthodox Church". How Pavelic expressed his admiration to Stedimlija is published in the book of Prof. Dr Rastislav Petrovic Montenegrin Ustashas (Crnogorske ustase, Belgrade 1998, page 67) where he quotes the article from Croatian daily Vjesnik by S. Lozo and M. Doder, Croatian Orthodox Church - Agency of Occupiers (Hrvatska pravoslavna crkva - agentura okupatora) from 25 and 26 February 1976 [open the scan from Petrovic's book]
On 5 July 1941 Stedimlija published the article Das freie Montenegro (Free Montenegro) in Croatian weekly in German language Neue Ordnung (New Order). He says that Montenegrins were originally Croats and Illyrians, not the Serbs, and that language in Montenegro is a dialect of Croatian. He lies that Orthodox Church in Montenegro was never the part of Serbian Orthodox Church, lies that Montenegrins accept Pope as a spiritual leader and lies that Roman Catholic Church protects Montenegro. He claims that Mussolini and Hitler are protectors of independent Montenegro in new Europe (Rastislav Petrovic, ibid, pages 63 and 64, Serbian translation) [open the scan from Petrovic's book]
In Orthodox Calendar for 1944 (of so-called Croatian Orthodox Church), which was issued by Stedimlija in 1943, he published the article Orthodoxy in Croatia. He says that medieval Diokletia (Duklja) is Red Croatia which was later conquered by the Serbs. He then, among other lies, says that people's memories in Montenegro recall Croats as key people of Montenegrin history. Full article was published again in the book of Petar Pozar (Croatian Orthodox Church, Zagreb 1996, pages 72 and 73). Pozar guarantees article's credibility. [open the scan from Pozar's book]
In Croatian People (Hrvatski narod) paper from 18 February 1944 in his article about Croatian ideologists Dr. Milan Shufflay Stedimlija says that Croats, Montenegrins and Albanians are the closest peoples and should form bulwark against the Serbs (Rastislav Petrovic, ibid, page 66) [open the scan from Petrovic's book]
On 1 May 1944 in Stedimlija's Voice of Orthodoxy of so-called COC it is said that Croatian Orthodox Church should be independent like other Orthodox churches among which was mentioned "Montenegrin Church" certainly not independent and without notification that Orthodox Church in Montenegro has always been the Serb Orthodox Episcopal Seat. [open the facsimile]
Ante Pavelic's book Croatian Orthodox Church, Madrid 1974 and Stedimlija's grave in Zagreb, Croatia [open the pictures]
Savic Markovic Stedimlija (1906, Montenegro - 1970, Croatia) and his followers, in history known as Red Croats, are the darkest spot of Montenegrin history. Stedimlija was the ideologists of Croatness of Montenegro which he expressed as Diokletian Red Croatia. He was the establisher of doctrine of non-Serb identity of Montenegro, of Montenegrins as descendents of Diokletians of Roman Catholic rite who had another name - Red Croats. Stedimlija was also close collaborator to leader of Croatian WWII fascist movement Ante Pavelic. To learn more about Red Croats and their ideology please read the paper of Dr. Slavenko Terzic