Ustaše Youth
Ustaše Youth Ustaška mladež | |
---|---|
Leader | Ivan Oršanić (November 1941 – May 1944) Feliks Niedzielsky (May 1944 – May 1945) |
Founded | 4 November 1941 |
Dissolved | 8 May 1945 |
Membership | All Croat youth (officially) 500,000 (Zdenko Blažeković claim, 1941) |
Mother party | Ustaše |
Newspaper | Ustaše Youth journal |
The Ustaše Youth (pronounced
Ustaše youth groups were first formed in the 1930s and became active by 1940. These groups were organized into a fully-structured organization on 12 July 1941. The organization was split into four sections by age and it was also divided geographically. Officially, membership was compulsory for all Croat youth. In practice, this issue came down to camp leaders and the recruitment drive in 1941 failed to achieve mass enrollment, after which the organization developed an elitist character. During 1941, Ustaše Youth members were involved in the genocide of Serbs and the Holocaust in the NDH. They also staffed two children's concentration camps, in which hundreds or over a thousand children died.
Activity of the Ustaše Youth took place in camps, of which there were two types: camps in the countryside where Ustaše Youth members gathered for rallies and
The Ustaše Youth developed relations with the German Hitler Youth and the Italian Lictor Youth, which were seen as role models. It was also a member of a short-lived alliance of fascist national youth organizations called the European Youth Alliance. The Ustaše Youth also developed close relations with the Slovak fascist Hlinka Youth organization. Together, the organizations established joint camps held in both Slovakia and the NDH.
Background
Youth groups were a major stronghold of radical Croatian nationalism in interwar Yugoslavia. Many short-lived militant youth organizations were formed in the 1920s, most of which disappeared quickly or were banned by the authorities because of their violent actions.[1] The two largest youth organizations were the Croatian National Youth, founded in the spring of 1921[2] and intended for middle-class youths, and the Croatian Labor Youth, which aimed to prevent working-class youths from joining socialist organizations. After these two were outlawed, two more were founded: the Croatian Right Republican Youth led by Branimir Jelić and the Croatian Right Labor Youth, led by Marko Hranilović and Matija Soldin, who were both later executed on charges of terrorism.[1]
The
One of the most important components of the Ustaše movement's ideology was the youth. The idea that the revolution of the Ustaše was the revolution of the youth was widely shared in the movement. The Ustaše Youth journal wrote, "[t]o be an Ustaša means to be eternally young and eternally a warrior."[5] Pavelić's most loyal supporters were part of the militant Croatian youth. The Ustaše presented their struggle as one between the young (supporters of fascism) and the old (supporters of democracy). Under the Ustaše, all those considered to be supporters of the old mentality – liberal democracy, plutocracy, and Yugoslavism – were to be destroyed. They were declared national traitors and put in prison camps where they were tortured.[5]
In September 1941, the
Establishment and structure
Ustaše youth groups were formed in the 1930s, and by 1940, regularly distributed flyers inviting Croatian youth to their demonstrations, activities, and rallies.[6] On 12 July 1941, Pavelić decreed that these groups were to be organized into a fully-structured organization.[7] The Ustaše Youth was officially intended to consist of all Croatian youths aged 7–21.[a] The organization was divided into four sections: the Ustaše Hope[b] (ustaška uzdanica) (age 7–11), the Ustaše Heroes (ustaški junaci) (11–15), the Ustaše Starčević Youth (ustaška Starčevićeva mladež) (15–21), and the University Youth (sveučilišna mladež).[9][10] A decree from November 1941 removed the University Youth section from the organization, which was replaced by the Ustaše Storm Troopers (ustaški jurišnici) and Ustaše Girls (ustaške djevojke) sections for male and female members aged 18–21, respectively.[11] The best members of the Starčević Youth became members of the Ustaše Assault Unit, where they underwent strict paramilitary training.[12] The Ustaše Youth was structured in a military manner and divided regionally and territorially. Each county contained an Ustaše Youth Center, each administrative division had an Ustaše Youth camp, and each community had a concentration. Concentrations had squads and platoons, the latter being split into branches according to age.[12]
The leader of the Ustaše Youth operated from the Supreme Ustaše Headquarters and reported directly to Pavelić.[13] This office was first assumed by Ivan Oršanić, who previously led the State Secretariat for Propaganda of the NDH.[14] In July 1944, Oršanić was succeeded by Feliks Niedzielsky, who had previously served as the vice-governor of the great parish of Sana-Luka. Niedzielsky remained in this position until the end of the war.[15] Male and female parts of the organization also had their leaders. Leader of the male part was Zdenko Blažeković, who was previously the commander of the Ustaše University Headquarters (Croatian: Ustaški sveučilišni stožer).[16] The first leader of the female part was Mira Vrljičak-Dugački, a high-ranking official in Great Crusaders' Brotherhood (Croatian: Veliko križarsko bratstvo), a radical Catholic youth organization.[17][18] In 1942, Vrljičak-Dugački was replaced by a leader of the female Ustaše Youth in Dubrovnik, Dolores Bracanović, who held this position until the end of the war.[19][20]
Officially, membership in the Ustaše Youth was compulsory, as its founding statute stated, "the whole of Croat youth belongs in the Ustaše Youth."
Actions
Recruitment
Ustaše Youth leader Ivan Orašnić warned that "anyone who sabotaged the Ustaše Youth would be destroyed."[22] Financial penalties were imposed on parents who forbade their children from attending lessons at Ustaše Youth camps.[10] Thousands initially joined the Ustaše Youth, drawn by the athletic, intellectual, and artistic training the organization provided.[12] Nevertheless, the recruitment drive in 1941 failed to achieve mass enrollment, as most youths showed no interest in joining.[22] Although Blažeković claimed a figure of 500,000 members, the historian Rory Yeomans has described this as "unlikely". After its mass recruiting drive failed, the Ustaše Youth assumed an increasingly selective and elitist character. Ustaše statutes of August 1942 established a probationary period of between four and seven months which every Ustaše Youth member had to serve in their local camp before being accepted as a registered member.[21] Despite the professionalization of the Ustaše Youth, the organization retained the principle that all Croat youths should be its members.[23]
War crimes
Ustaše Youth members took part in the
Ustaše Youth camps
There were two types of camps organized by the Ustaše Youth: camps in the countryside where Ustaše Youth members gathered for rallies and
Countryside camps were set up during camping trips lasting at least three days in which Ustaše Youth members from various parts of the state would gather.[30][31] These camps were split into two categories: taborovanje – consisting of three platoons and logorovanje – consisting of more than three platoons. The purpose of camping was to teach the youth the values of comradeship, sacrifice, duty, discipline, responsibility, and order. Ustaše manuals stipulated that such camps were to be fenced off and have a sign identifying them as Ustaše Youth camps, with an Ustaše Youth emblem at the main gate. A campfire, together with a mast flying the NDH and Ustaše Youth flags, was to be at the center of the camp.[32] The camps' daily schedule included waking up at 6:00 a.m., morning exercise, working service, pre-military lectures, gathering around the campfire in the morning and the evening, and evening prayers. Various punishments were established to achieve discipline in the camps, and some Ustaše Youth members were expelled for violating the rules.[33] According to the historian Goran Miljan, such camps were organized "more or less successfully throughout the regime period", but their number significantly decreased after mid-1943.[34]
Yeomans writes that life in regional Ustaše Youth camps was "far less idyllic" than life in camps in the countryside.
Many members of Ustaše Youth camps developed a regional identity and an independent spirit, which was a cause of anxiety for the central leadership. Rebellious behavior of the youth ranged from relatively harmless, such as watching
Relations
Hitler and Lictor Youth
Nazi Germany's
The high-point of relations with Lictor Youth came in September and October 1941. An agreement between two organizations was signed on 17 September 1941. The agreement stressed the need for close cooperation of the two organizations and for both youths to receive similar education. Lictor Youth made their institutes and academies free of charge for the Ustaše Youth. On 3 October, an Ustaše Youth delegation led by Oršanić made a return visit to Italy during which they visited several cities.[38] Between 1941 and 1943, Ustaše Youth delegations regularly visited Italy to attend sporting competitions, cultural festivals, and ideological training courses. The most publicized Ustaše Youth visit was the one that took place in August and September 1942, when Dragutin Gjurić led 100 youths to a training course in Rome.[39]
European Youth Alliance
During the summer of 1942, Ustaše Youth participated in two large-scale international events of fascist youth organizations which were held in Weimar, on 8 June and in Florence on 3 July. In an interview for one Ustaše journal, leader of Hitler Youth Artur Axmann spoke of "European youth alliance", which he said could be formed already at the next meeting in Vienna. Axmann and Gauleiter of Vienna Baldur von Schirach organized the meeting in Vienna which took place from 14 to 18 September 1942.[40] Representatives of 14 fascist national youth organizations attended this meeting and these organizations together comprised European Youth Alliance, established on the same meeting. The Alliance was divided into working communities, each headed by one or more youth officials from different countries. Oršanić became head of the Community for Official Youth Upbringing.[41]
Unlike the press of Axis nations and occupied territories, the Nazi press gave very little coverage to this meeting for two reasons: German Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels "polemicized very sharply against the talk of a “new Europe”" in his secret meeting with journalists and members of Spanish delegation influenced the final declaration of the meeting to not include condemnation of the Jews.[42][43][44] Historian Wayne H. Bowen says that Nazi Germany "lost interest in uniting the youth of Europe" and that next conference of European Youth Alliance in Madrid, to which only eight nations sent delegates, was a "decided flop".[43]
Hlinka Youth
The Hlinka Youth (Hlinkova mládež, HM) was a youth organization subordinate to the Slovak People's Party, which governed the German client state known as the Slovak Republic. The HM and Ustaše Youth had similar structures and ideologies. Miljan argues that both of these youth organizations considered relations with each other "more suitable and meaningful" than with Hitler Youth or Lictor Youth.[45] An Ustaše Youth delegation visited Slovakia for the first time in July–August 1941 to observe their work in schools and camps. Relations were further improved when HM leader Alojz Macek headed a delegation that visited the NDH in October 1941. The delegation arrived in Zagreb on 16 October, visited several other cities, and observed the work of the Ustaše Youth. In December 1941, Oršanić and his delegation again visited Slovakia. On this occasion, they were welcomed by high-ranking Slovak officials, such as Prime Minister Vojtech Tuka, and received HM medals.[46]
Ustaše Youth official Zvonimir Malvić was appointed envoy to HM headquarters in May 1942. Malvić served in this position as part of the NDH embassy in Slovakia.[47] However, HM did not send an envoy to the NDH. Oršanić wrote to Malvić regarding this issue in November 1942. Malvić replied that he had spoken with Macek, who said that HM could not afford to dispatch an envoy and that it lacked qualified members who could fill this position. HM never sent an envoy to the NDH and whether the reasons given by Macek were true or not remains unclear. Nevertheless, mutual visits of official delegations and journalists continued.[48]
The official connections and exchanges were established in the summer of 1942, which saw several visits of youths to camps in a different country. The first of these was in Slovak city of Párnica, where twenty-eight Ustaše Youth members along with HM and Hitler Youth members stayed during July.[47] The following month, thirty HM members attended a joint Croat-Slovak camp in Ozalj. There, youths slept in tents and received military pre-education courses on handling weapons. In September, a joint two-month course was held in the Croatian town of Borovo. During this course, youths listened to lectures mostly about each other's organizations, received courses military pre-education, gymnastics, and singing and language courses in both Slovak and Croatian.[49]
By 1943, relations between the two organizations began to deteriorate. One of the primary reasons for this was the worsening of the situation on the Eastern Front, especially after the Battle of Stalingrad. Another reason was the growing anti-fascist resistance in both nations. The first major uprising in Slovakia occurred in 1944, while in the NDH, armed resistance had commenced in 1941. By 1943, the security situation in the NDH had significantly deteriorated. Relations between the two organizations, although almost halted, continued to exist until 1945.[50]
Uniforms and insignia
Male members of Ustaše Hope wore green-brown shirts and shorts, brown belts, boots, a red scarf, and a cap with the capital letter U – a symbol of the Ustaše. Female members wore green-brown skirts while the rest of their uniform was the same as that of their male counterparts. Members of other sections had similar outfits, only differing in their scarves, Ustaše Hero had blue scarves, while Ustaše Starčević Youth had either a black scarf or a tie. Male members also carried a knife, the only permitted weapon for members, Ustaše Hero had a smaller knife while Ustaše Starčević Youth had a larger one. Uniforms were mandatory at any of the organization's public gatherings, meetings, and activities.[51][52] Wearing the uniform in school was prohibited. This was done either to avoid conflict between Ustaše Youth members and the teachers or to highlight the teachers' roles as their students' superiors in the hope of mobilizing more teachers into the Ustaše.[53]
With the exception of those who could not afford them, whose uniforms were procured and subsidized by the state, Ustaše Youth members had to pay for their own uniforms. Rules regulating who would receive state-subsidized uniforms were initially not established. Delivery of the uniforms was also problematic. Ustaše Youth in
Leaders in the Ustaše Youth had an insignia above their left pocket to indicate their belonging to the local county, commune, or district.[51] The symbol used by the Ustaše was a triple letter U with a double tendril.[56]
Notes
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b Yeomans 2013, pp. 83–84.
- ^ Pilić 2019, p. 191.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, pp. 32–33.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 233.
- ^ a b Yeomans 2013, pp. 81–82.
- ^ a b Yeomans 2013, p. 87.
- ^ a b Miljan 2015, p. 244.
- ^ a b Miljan 2018, p. 125.
- ^ Ravlić 1997, p. 482.
- ^ a b c Yeomans 2013, p. 88.
- ^ Miljan 2015, p. 123.
- ^ a b c Yeomans 2013, p. 89.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 341.
- ^ Yeomans 2013, p. 251.
- ^ Geiger 1997, p. 294.
- ^ Dizdar 1997, p. 41.
- ^ Dugački 1997, p. 422.
- ^ Prlenda 2004, pp. 82–83, 85.
- ^ Blažeković & Geiger 1997, p. 47.
- ^ Bitunjac 2020, p. 458.
- ^ a b c Yeomans 2013, p. 90.
- ^ a b Jelić-Butić 1977, p. 108.
- ^ Yeomans 2013, p. 91.
- ^ a b Yeomans 2013, pp. 97–98.
- ^ a b Yeomans 2013, p. 51.
- ^ Lukić 1980, p. 280.
- ^ Fumić 2011, p. 56.
- ^ Šegrt 26 August 2010.
- ^ Fumić 2011, p. 57.
- ^ a b Yeomans 2013, p. 115.
- ^ Miljan 2015, pp. 200–201.
- ^ Miljan 2015, p. 203.
- ^ Miljan 2015, pp. 204–205.
- ^ Miljan 2015, p. 206.
- ^ a b Yeomans 2013, p. 116.
- ^ Yeomans 2013, pp. 117–118.
- ^ Miljan 2015, pp. 248–249.
- ^ Miljan 2015, pp. 251–252.
- ^ Yeomans 2014, p. 160.
- ^ Miljan 2018, p. 121.
- ^ Miljan 2018, p. 122.
- ^ Koch 2000, p. 235.
- ^ a b Bowen 2000, pp. 145–146.
- ^ Miljan 2018, p. 123.
- ^ Miljan 2018, p. 120.
- ^ Miljan 2018, p. 127.
- ^ a b Rychlik 2004, p. 953.
- ^ Miljan 2018, p. 128.
- ^ Miljan 2018, p. 130.
- ^ Miljan 2018, pp. 132–133.
- ^ a b Miljan 2015, pp. 207–208.
- ^ a b Miljan 2015, p. 209.
- ^ Miljan 2015, p. 157.
- ^ Miljan 2015, p. 210.
- ^ Miljan 2015, p. 212.
- ^ Miljan 2015, p. 275.
Bibliography
- Bitunjac, Martina (2021). "U službi fašizma: akterke ustaškog pokreta između karijere, politike i zločina" [In the service of fascism: Actresses of the Ustasha movement between careers, politics and crime]. Zbornik Janković. 4 (4): 446–480. S2CID 247537553.
- Blažeković, Milan; Geiger, Vladimir (1997). "Brancović, Dolores". In Dizdar, Zdravko; Grčić, Marko; ISBN 978-9536377039.
- Bowen, Wayne H. (2000). Spaniards and Nazi Germany: Collaboration in the New Order. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0826262820.
- Dizdar, Zdravko (1997). "Blažeković, Zdenko". In Dizdar, Zdravko; Grčić, Marko; ISBN 978-9536377039.
- Dugački, Milan (1997). "Vrljičak, Mira". In Dizdar, Zdravko; Grčić, Marko; ISBN 978-9536377039.
- Fumić, Ivan (2011). Djeca – žrtve ustaškog režima [Child Victims of the Ustaše Regime]. Zagreb, Croatia: Savez antifašističkih boraca i antifašista republike Hrvatske [Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters and Anti-Fascists of the Republic of Croatia]. ISBN 978-9537587093.
- Geiger, Vladimir (1997). "Niedzielsky, Feliks". In Dizdar, Zdravko; Grčić, Marko; ISBN 978-9536377039.
- Jelić-Butić, Fikreta (1977). Ustaše i Nezavisna Država Hrvatska 1941–1945 [Ustaše and the Independent State of Croatia 1941–1945] (in Serbo-Croatian). Liber.
- Koch, Hannsjoachim Wolfgang (2000). The Hitler Youth: Origins and Development 1922–1945. ISBN 978-0815410843.
- Lukić, Dragoje (1980). Zločini okupatora i njegovih saradnika nad decom kozarskog područja 1941–1945. godine [The Crimes of the Occupiers and Their Collaborators Against Children in the Kozara Region 1941–1945]. Kozara u narodnooslobodilačkoj borbi i socijalističkoj revoluciji (1941–1945) [Kozara in the National Liberation War and Socialist Revolution: (1941–1945)] (27 – 28 October 1977). Prijedor, Yugoslavia: Nacionalni park "Kozara". pp. 269–284. OCLC 10076276.
- Miljan, Goran (2015). Young, Militarized, and Radical – The Ustasha Youth Organization, Ideology and Practice, 1941–1945 (Dissertation thesis). Central European University.
- Miljan, Goran (2018). ""The Brotherhood of Youth": A Case Study of the Ustaša and Hlinka Youth Connections and Exchanges". In Bauerkämper, Arnd; Rossoliński-Liebe, Grzegorz (eds.). Fascism Without Borders: Transnational Connections and Cooperation Between Movements and Regimes in Europe from 1918 to 1945. ISBN 978-1789200584.
- Pilić, Stipe (2019). "Virovitička hrvatska nacionalna omladina između dva svjetska rata do pristupa Ustaškoj mladeži 1941" [Virovitica Croatian national youth from the inter-war period until joining the Ustasha youth in 1941]. Zbornik Janković. IV (4): 186–247 – via hrčak.
- Prlenda, Sandra (2004). "Young, Religious, and Radical: The Croat Catholic Youth Organizations, 1922–1945". In Lampe, John R.; Mazower, Mark (eds.). Ideologies and National Identities: The Case of Twentieth-Century Southeastern Europe. Central European University Press. ISBN 978-9639241725.
- ISBN 978-9536377039.
- Šegrt, Rade (26 August 2010). "Prvi put obilježeno stradanje djece" [The suffering of children marked for the first time]. www.nezavisne.com (in Serbian). Nezavisne novine. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
- Rychlik, Jan (2004). "Odnosi Slovačke i Nezavisne Države Hrvatske, 1941–1945". Časopis za suvremenu povijest. 36 (3): 939–957 – via hrcak.
- Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0804736152.
- Yeomans, Rory (2013). Visions of annihilation : the Ustasha regime and the cultural politics of fascism, 1941–1945. Pittsburgh, United States of America: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 978-0822961925.
- Yeomans, Rory (2014). "The adventures of an Ustasha Youth leader in the Adriatic: transnational fascism and the travel polemics of Dragutin Gjurić". Journal of Tourism History. 6 (2–3): 158–173. S2CID 143007481– via Taylor & Francis Online.