CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016
| Author | Miljan, Goran |
|---|---|
| Title | Young, Militarized, and Radical - The Ustasha Youth Organization, Ideology and Practice, 1941-1945 |
| Summary | This dissertation examines and analyzes, for the first time, the ideas, establishment, practices, and connections of the fascist Ustaška mladež [Ustasha Youth] organization during the Ustasha regime, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, 1941-1945 [Independent State of Croatia, 1941-1945]. Empirically, this study contributes towards a wider understanding of fascism in Central and Southeastern Europe, especially with regard to the youth organizations which emerged during the interwar and Second World War periods. The main hypothesis presented is that the Ustasha Youth organization, the key variable within the Ustasha regime, was deemed crucial for setting in motion the Ustasha idea of an all-embracing, totalitarian revolution whose main goal was to create a new national community composed of ‘new’ Croats – the Ustashas. Led by their charismatic Poglavnik, Ante Pavelić, the Ustashas embarked on a totalitarian experiment of creating a new state and a new individual devoted to the Poglavnik, as the embodiment of this state and nation. Their ‘new’ state and society were envisioned as a strong national community, where the individual matters only as much as he/she devotes himself/herself to the cause and benefit of the community. Once set in motion, this revolution consisted of two interconnected, mutually depended practices: prosecution, mass murder, and Holocaust, all legalized within a month of the regime’s existence, and the youth regimentation and reeducation. The Ustasha Youth organization was tasked with providing the youth with new education, with a new worldview, so as to create the ideal ‘new’ Croat – the Ustasha. Education, sport, manual work, camping, separately established Ustasha schools, and transnational connections with other fascist youth organizations all had the purpose of immersing the youth into this ‘new reality’, as presented by the Ustashas. Through all this the youth was to learn what it meant to be the ‘real’ Croat – the Ustasha, who was to become an active participant in this emerging ‘new’, fascist Europe. Despite swift organizational success, within a year of its establishment the Ustasha Youth organization’s ideas and practices were hindered by serious organizational and political problems. These included the lack of trained youth officials, lack of youth facilities, decrease in number of members, and unwillingness of parents to enroll their children in the Ustasha Youth. All this was further influenced by organizational failures and deteriorating security situation in various regions, which caused diminishing of popular support and consequently led to a complete defeat of this radical policy of remolding of Croatian society. |
| Supervisor | Iordachi, Constantin |
| Department | History PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/miljan_goran.pdf |
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