The Ustaše Youth (, ) was the youth wing of the Ustaše, a Croatian fascist organization active during the interwar period and World War II. The Ustaše governed an Axis puppet state called the Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) between 1941 and 1945.
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 excursions, and regional camps which were situated in unused school buildings or cinemas. Rural camps were established during a camping trip organized by the Ustaše Youth. They were "more or less successful" but their number significantly decreased by 1943. Regional camps were very strict but offered an opportunity for social mobility. Ustaše Youth members who attended these camps often exhibited rebellious behaviour and fierce competition between individual local camps was common.
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. The two largest youth organizations were the Croatian National Youth, founded in the spring of 1921 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.
The Ustaše movement was established in 1930 by Ante Pavelić as an organization dedicated to achieving an independent Croatian state by all means, including terror. By the late 1930s, the Ustaše adopted the fascist principles of the Italian government, which gave it financial support and protection. During the 1930s, the Ustaše conducted several terrorist attacks, most notably the assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou in Marseille in October 1934. In April 1941, when Yugoslavia was invaded and dismembered by the Axis powers, the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was established as an Italian-German quasi-protectorate under the leadership of the Ustaše.
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." 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 mentalityliberal democracy, plutocracy, and Yugoslavismwere to be destroyed. They were declared national traitors and put in prison camps where they were tortured.
In September 1941, the Minister of Education of the NDH, Mile Budak, discussed introducing radical changes to the puppet state's school system. He announced that all Yugoslav-era textbooks would be replaced with Austro-Hungarian-era books adapted to the Ustaše ideology. Budak wanted schools in the NDH to become "hothouses of Ustasha philosophy and patriotism." Universities and schools were to be ideologically purged. Budak said that teachers could save their jobs by "sincerely converting to the Ustasha cause." However, he also stated that schools could not be purged immediately because many schools would have to close then.
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. On 12 July 1941, Pavelić decreed that these groups were to be organized into a fully-structured organization. The Ustaše Youth was officially intended to consist of all Croatian youths aged 7–21. The organization was divided into four sections: the Ustaše Hope () (age 7–11), the Ustaše Heroes () (11–15), the Ustaše Starčević Youth () (15–21), and the University Youth (). A decree from November 1941 removed the University Youth section from the organization, which was replaced by the Ustaše Storm Troopers () and Ustaše Girls () sections for male and female members aged 18–21, respectively. The best members of the Starčević Youth became members of the Ustaše Assault Unit, where they underwent strict paramilitary training. 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.
The leader of the Ustaše Youth operated from the Supreme Ustaše Headquarters and reported directly to Pavelić. This office was first assumed by Ivan Oršanić, who previously led the State Secretariat for Propaganda of the NDH. 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. 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 (). The first leader of the female part was Mira Vrljičak-Dugački, a high-ranking official in Great Crusaders' Brotherhood (), a radical Catholic youth organization. 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.
Officially, membership in the Ustaše Youth was compulsory, as its founding statute stated, "the whole of Croat youth belongs in the Ustaše Youth." The founding statute also ordered the closing of every other youth organization. Liberal, Yugoslav, and leftist ones were outlawed, while right-wing radical ones were incorporated into the Ustaše Youth. Despite the statute making membership compulsory, this issue came down to Ustaše Youth camp leaders. Some, like Vinko Sablić in Dubrovnik, issued an order that all schoolchildren were required to join the Ustaše Youth and the only ones excluded would be "non-Aryans" and "Greek-Easterners". Others, such as Ante Boras in Petrinja, made membership voluntary.
Actions
Recruitment
Ustaše Youth leader Ivan Orašnić warned that "anyone who sabotaged the Ustaše Youth would be destroyed." Financial penalties were imposed on parents who forbade their children from attending lessons at Ustaše Youth camps. Thousands initially joined the Ustaše Youth, drawn by the athletic, intellectual, and artistic training the organization provided. Nevertheless, the recruitment drive in 1941 failed to achieve mass enrollment, as most youths showed no interest in joining. 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. Despite the professionalization of the Ustaše Youth, the organization retained the principle that all Croat youths should be its members.
War crimes Ustaše Youth members took part in the genocide of Serbs in the NDH, as well as the Holocaust. According to eyewitnesses, many of the worst atrocities that were carried out by the Ustaše in 1941 were committed by youths. Survivors of the mass murders in Križevci and Karlovac testified that many armed youths participated in the killing and torture of Serbs and Jews. Members of the Ustaše Youth, together with the Student Militia of the Poglavnik's Bodyguard Brigade, perpetrated many of the first massacres in the NDH. On one occasion, Blažeković boasted about the large numbers of Serbs he had killed and claimed to have collected his victims' ears on his necklace. Two children's concentration camps were staffed by members of the Ustaše Youth. In the Jastrebarsko children's camp, between 449 and 1,500 children perished. In the Sisak children's camp, which was staffed by female part of Ustaše Youth, between 1,152 and 1,631 children died.
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 excursions and regional camps which were also situated in unused school buildings or cinemas.
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. These camps were split into two categories: – consisting of three platoons and 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. 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. 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.
Yeomans writes that life in regional Ustaše Youth camps was "far less idyllic" than life in camps in the countryside. These camps were strictly hierarchical, with a schedule strictly worked out by the camp leader. Strictness in these camps resulted in a sense of camaraderie between the youths and their leaders. The camps provided an opportunity for social mobility, as youths of modest backgrounds could become noticed and appointed to important positions. After the ideological changes of 1942, some Serbsmotivated by the prospect of social mobilitybegan to apply for membership. Many were accepted, especially if they came from mixed Croatian-Serb backgrounds and had converted to Catholicism.