Ustaše Youth
Youth wing of the fascist, Croatian nationalist Ustaše movement / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ustaše Youth (pronounced [ûstaʃe juːθ], Croatian: Ustaška mladež) was the youth wing of the Ustaše, a Croatian fascist, genocidal and ultranationalist organization active during the interwar period and World War II. The Ustaše governed an Axis puppet state called the Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) between 1941 and 1945.
Ustaše Youth Ustaška mladež | |
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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 |
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.