Although the Serbs of the Nezavisna Država Hrvatska (NDH) were not officially classified as non-Aryan, the greater part of the minority Serbian population was considered to form a component of the general Asiatic-Balkan racial 'counter-type'. The Serbs in the NDH were officially classified as a religious minority, but Ustasha ideologists and nationalist intellectuals also defined the Greek Easterners in an ethnic-racial sense. Orthodox Serbs were legally permitted to convert to the other recognised religions of the NDH, Islam and Protestantism (the Evangelical Church), though the Ustashe really desired conversion to the Catholic Church. With the added pressure of growing German disapproval over his anti-Serbian measures, Pavelic decreed the establishment of the 'Croatian Orthodox Church' on 3 April 1942. Even after the establishment of the Croat Orthodox Church, the Ustashe did not officially classify all Orthodox Christians in the NDH as 'Orthodox Croats'.Keywords: Croatian Orthodox Church; Greek Easterners; minority Serbian population; Nezavisna Država Hrvatska (NDH); Orthodox Serbs; racial counter-type; Ustasha ideologists