Srpska dobrovoljačka garda

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Badge of the Serbian Volunteer Guard

The Srpska dobrovoljačka garda ( Serbian - Cyrillic Српска добровољачка гарда ; German  Serbian Volunteer Guard ), SDG for short , was a paramilitary Serbian freischar founded in 1990 , which fought during the Yugoslav wars for the creation of a Great Serbia . The SDG was de facto a combat force of the Serbian secret police SDB ("UDBA") or RDB .

Members of the unit and its commander Željko Ražnatović - Arkan are accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of crimes against humanity and war crimes , such as rape and murder of the non-Serbian population.

Members of the SDG were referred to as "Arkan's Tigers" ( Arkanovi Tigrovi ), as they were recruited and managed by Željko Ražnatović , known as Arkan, primarily from the ranks of the Delije Ultras group of the Belgrade Red Star football club, which he himself founded .

The armament of the unit consisted of artillery , tanks , machine guns and sniper weapons . Their strategy during the Croatian war was probably to unite the Serbian settlement areas in Croatia and to drive out the Croatian population through terror and intimidation. In terms of its goals, the SDG resembled the modern Chetnik troops of the Serbian right-wing extremist Vojislav Šešelj .

History and organization

SDG men during the Croatian War in Erdut (December 13, 1991).

The SDG was founded on October 11, 1990 by 20 fans of the football club FK Red Star Belgrade from Belgrade . In the spring of 1991, the then Serbian Interior Minister Mihalj Kertes founded a training camp for the volunteer guard . The command of this force was given to Željko Ražnatović , who was wanted by Interpol at the time . He was also accused of having worked for the Yugoslav secret service UDB-a and to have been involved in spying on and in the murder of Yugoslav emigrants. The headquarters and training center of the SDG was in Erdut (Eastern Croatia), which was controlled by the Republic of Serbian Krajina until 1995 . The core of the group consisted of 150 to 200 men, depending on the deployment, the number of fighters could be increased. The Serbian Volunteer Guard was disbanded in April 1996.

Arkan's tigers were accused of participating in the ethnic cleansing in Bijeljina and Zvornik in 1992. It has also been charged with other cases of civilian murder and violation of the Geneva Conventions . As a result, their leader and his people were tried before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia . The accused offenses included rape and murder by shooting, starving and dying of thirst.

Known members

In art

The Serbian Turbofolk musician Svetomir Ilić Siki dedicated the song Arkanove delije (Arkan's Heroes) to the unit in 1993 .

In Margaret Mazzantini's novel Venuto al mondo (The most beautiful word in the world), mass rapes and massacres by the SDG are discussed. The novel was filmed in 2012 by Sergio Castellitto with Penélope Cruz in the lead role.

Symbols

  • Flag of the SDG

  • SDG winter camo sleeve badge (right)

literature

  • Agilolf Keßelring: The historical analysis of paramilitary units as a challenge for recent military history using the example of command responsibility in the crumbling Yugoslavia . In: Military History Journal . tape 77 , Issue 2. De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Munich 2018, Combined War and Command Responsibility in Krajina and Baranja using the example of Arkan's "Tiger" and Dragan's "Knindže", p. 415–457 , here p. 437 ff. , Doi : 10.1515 / mgzs-2018-0082 .
  • Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] - Office of Russian and European Analysis (ed.): Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict . tape 2 . Washington DC 2003, Annex 17: Eastern Slavonia-Baranja Operations - The Road to Vukovar, Appendix 1: The Serbian Volunteer Guard - Arkan's Tigers, p. 209 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Agilolf Keßelring: The historical analysis of paramilitary units as a challenge for recent military history using the example of command responsibility in the crumbling Yugoslavia . In: Military History Journal . tape 77 , volume 2. De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Munich 2018, result and conclusions, p. 454 , doi : 10.1515 / mgzs-2018-0082 : "The investigation of the connection between paramilitary troops deployed in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Serbian and Croatian leadership in Belgrade and Zagreb based on the sources developed by the ICTY shows that 1. the Serbian "tigers" Ražnatovićs and Knindže / Crvene Beretke Vasiljkovićs are to be regarded as troops of the Serbian secret service, [...] "
  2. ↑ Holger Raschke: Yugoslavia in the curve: Representations of socialist Yugoslavia as a political component of football fan culture in the (post) Yugoslav region . In: Southeastern European Hefts . No. 4 (1) , 2015, pp. 80 f . “At Red Star Belgrade, Željko Ražnatović, known by the nickname“ Arkan ”, brought the fans together under one roof by bringing together several Ultras groups and founding the Delije group in 1989. Arkan also made a decisive contribution to overcoming the internal political camp formation. Some of the Red Star fans supported Slobodan Milošević and another part supported the two dueling nationalist politicians Vojislav Šešelj and Vuk Drašković. [...] One of the best-known paramilitary units was the Serbian Volunteer Guard (Srpska dobrovoljačka garda), also known as "the tigers", which was organized by Željko Ražnatović Arkan and was mainly composed of fans of Red Star Belgrade. "
  3. ↑ Moore. Question of all questions. P. 38.
  4. ↑ Mazower. Was in Bosnia. Pp. 5-6.
  5. ↑ http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/ark-ii970930e.htm
  6. ↑ http://www.icty.org/x/cases/zeljko_raznjatovic/ind/en/ark-ii970930e.pdf
  7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDKRyV6F_8s