Fatima and Haša, and full sisters Zumruta, Hasiba, Hajrija, Hamijera, Fahra and Šefika, Education and World War II In his youth, Zulfikarpašić felt close to the Croatian national idea, rather than Serbian. He was also active in the Croatian Peasant Party. While attending gymnasium in Foča he became a leftist and joined a certain group of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ). Eventually, he was expelled for disseminating communist literature, and had to continue his education in Rogatica. Just before graduation, he was expelled again with other ten colleagues without the right to take the graduation exam. However, a local politician helped to abolish these punishments, so Zulfikarpašić was able to continue his education at the Commercial Academy in Sarajevo. He was again expelled, and continued to educate in Osijek and Banja Luka, where he took private classes since his further education at commercial academies was forbidden. In 1938 he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ), when he was 17 yars old. In 1940 he enrolled at the High Commercial School in Belgrade because Belgrade had more active leftist politics than Zagreb. In 1941, he joined Yugoslav Partisans and was a member of partisans' brigade "Zvijezda" of Vareš. In 1942, during World War II, he was caught by the Ustaše (the Croatian pro-Nazi forces) in Sarajevo and was tortured by them and sentenced to death. With the help of Yugoslav Partisans he escaped and in 1945 with the war ending in victory over the Axis powers, the Communists came into power and Zulfikarpašić was appointed Deputy Minister of Trade. Exile After becoming disillusioned with Josip Broz Tito's government shortly after the end of the war, Zulfikarpašić fled into exile in Zurich, Switzerland. While on his way to Switzerland, Zulfikarpašić stayed in Innsbruck, Austria. There he met Tatjana Nikšić, daughter of the NDH diplomat Ante Nikšić. The relationship between the two caused a stir among the Croat emigres, especially the Franciscans. However, her father who was in Buenos Aires at the time, approved the relationship writing that Zulfikarpašić's head was "in the right place", though he preferred if Zulfikarpašić would convert to Catholicism. Zulfikarpašić, a self-identified Croat, found allies in the exiled leaders of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), Juraj Krnjević especially, who was sympathetic towards Bosnian Muslims. Zulfikarpašić also befriended August Juretić, a Croat Catholic priest close to HSS, whom he succeeded jointly with Pavao Jesih as