Velebit uprising

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The Velebit Uprising , also known as the Likaner Uprising ( Croatian Velebitski ustanak or Lički ustanak ), was an act of terrorism by the Croatian Ustasha movement.

The main act was an armed night attack on the royal Yugoslav gendarmerie station in Brušane near Gospić in Lika from September 6th to 7th, 1932 . The aim of the action was to investigate the willingness and resistance of the Yugoslav authorities and, if possible, to spark a general uprising in Croatia , which at that time was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . The military preparation of the action was in the hands of the former Austro-Hungarian Lieutenant Colonel Stjepan Duić. The implementation was mainly in the hands of Andrija Artuković .

Preconditions

As a member of the Inland Ustasha, who was illegally active in Yugoslavia, Andrija Artuković, who ran a law firm in Gospić, founded a branch of the Ustasha movement there, which under his leadership became the strongest in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

This prompted the Ustaša leader Ante Pavelić to plan a major action by the domestic Ustaše in Gospić and the surrounding area. The Ustascha leaders Ante Pavelić, Vjekoslav Servatzky and Gustav Perčec , among others, met in the Austrian Spital am Semmering and decided to stage an armed uprising on a trial basis following demands from Italian personalities. The timing was chosen so that the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, after the non-renewal of the first Adriatic Pact with Italy, would have faced the foreign policy pact system and thus the encirclement of Italy in an internal political conflict.

Andrija Artuković and Marko Došen were in charge of the operation .

preparation

At the beginning of 1932, the first arms deliveries arrived via the cities of Zadar and Rijeka, which were then part of Italy . In July 1932, five uniformed and armed Ustashe were smuggled in via Italy, who had received military training there in specially set up camps.

On August 28, 1932, most of the rifles and ammunition were brought to the port of Zadar by an Italian ship. From there the weapons were brought to the Velebit Mountains and distributed to Ustaša members, who in turn should distribute them to reliable people. Another five Ustashe came by ship, so that a raid party of ten men had come together on the foothills of the Velebit Mountains. Pavelić also came into the country secretly via Rijeka.

The military training of the members of the inland Ustasha had previously been carried out by the former Austro-Hungarian Lieutenant Colonel Stjepan Duić, who came to Croatia especially for this purpose.

execution

The action began on the night of June 6th to 7th, 1932 with the demolition of the monument of Yugoslav King Peter I in Otočac , which was erected on the pedestal of the monument of the Imperial and Royal Likan Frontier Infantry Regiment No. 1 . This act followed three months later, the main act on the night of September 6th to 7th, 1932, a fire attack on the gendarmerie station in Brušane. Pavelić and Perčec came to Lika personally beforehand. The ten militarily trained Ustashe united with local comrades-in-arms and attacked the gendarmerie station. No gendarme were killed in the half-hour firefight, and nine of the ten Ustashes then returned to their safe ports of departure. Andrija Artuković fled to Italy via the then Italian cities of Zadar and Rijeka. Pavelić and Perčec also managed to escape to Italy.

Royal Yugoslav military and gendarmerie encircled the area with 3,000 soldiers and 2,000 gendarmes, and several hundred people were arrested. A wave of repression from the Royal Yugoslav authorities broke out on the local bystanders in Croatia, resulting in countless arrests and ill-treatment, and farms burned in search of weapons.

Reactions

The action caused great national and international attention and was therefore used by the Ustaša for their propaganda. The Ustaša newspaper wrote in the December 1932 issue:

“ During the attack on the Brušani [sic] gendarmerie station, the Ustashe demonstrated extraordinary daring, willingness to fight and cold-bloodedness. This heroic deed, which can be seen in connection with the rest of the attitude of the Ustashe during the action in the Lika and in particular with the courageous behavior in open combat, deserves special recognition. Therefore, by order of the commander-in-chief, the Ustaša headquarters fulfilled the order for awards, on which the Ustaša local commanders and Ustaschen were awarded the silver chain of bravery [sic]. "

Even the Communist Party of Yugoslavia did not condemn the attempted insurrection, as it called for an autonomous “Soviet Croatia” based on the “right of the oppressed peoples to self-determination up to and including secession”.

Subsequent trials in Yugoslavia revealed that Yugoslav military personnel were also involved in the "uprising". The courts imposed heavy prison sentences and death sentences, and the reprisals by the Yugoslav authorities caused a new wave of Croatian nationalists to flee abroad and strengthen the Ustaše.

Others

Those involved were awarded the Velebit Medal of Bravery by the Ustasha headquarters .

On 7 September 1998, the local built HDZ on the road in Brušane, a large-scale memorial plaque of marble , which reminds of the Velebit Uprising. Framed by Croatian wickerwork , it bears the inscription in capital letters:

“ At this point, on September 7, 1932, with the demolition of the gendarmerie barracks, the Velebit Uprising, the first organized resistance of the Croatian people against the military police terror of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, began. September 7, 1998. City Defense HDZ Gospić. Territorial defense HDZ Brušane-Rizvanuše. "

literature

  • Ivica Abramović: Istina o takozvanom Ličkom ustanku 1932. godine u Brušanima . In: Hrvatski institut za povijest (ed.): Časopis za suvremenu povijest . 22nd year no. 1-2 , 1990, ISSN  0590-9597 , pp. 187 .
  • Mario Jareb: Ustaško-domobranski pokret: od nastanka do travnja 1941. godine [The Ustasha-Domobranen Movement: from its origins to April 1941] . Alfa dd Hrvatski institut za povijest, Zagreb 2006, ISBN 953-060817-9 .
  • Todor Stojkov: O takozvanom Ličkom ustanku 1932 [About the so-called Likaner uprising 1932] . In: Hrvatski institut za povijest (ed.): Časopis za suvremenu povijest . 2nd year no. 2 . Zagreb 1970, p. 167-180 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ladislaus Hory, Martin Broszat: The Croatian Ustascha State 1941-1945 . 2nd Edition. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1965, p. 24 .
  2. ↑ Branimir Stanojević: Collaborators of Fascism: Andrija Artuković and the Ustasha regime. Tanjug News Agency , Belgrade 1985, p. 4 f.
  3. ↑ a b c d Ladislaus Hory / Martin Broszat: The Croatian Ustascha State 1941–1945. 2nd Edition. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1965, p. 23.
  4. ↑ a b c Branimir Stanojević: Collaborators of Fascism: Andrija Artuković and the Ustasha regime. Tanjug News Agency, Belgrade 1985, p. 5.
  5. ↑ General Drinjanin (d. I. Vjekoslav Luburić ): Ustaštvo kao državotvorni i protukomunistički ratni činbenik [The Ustasha as a state-preserving and anti-communist war factor ]. In: Drina. ["Croatian Armed Forces News Bulletin"]. Issue 10–12. Madrid, December 1954.
  6. ↑ Todor Stojkov: O takozvanom Ličkom ustanku 1932. In: Časopis za suvremenu povijest. Vol. 2. Ed. 2. 1970, pp. 172-176.
  7. ↑ Aleksandar Jakir: Dalmatia between the world wars: agrarian and urban living environment and the failure of Yugoslav integration . Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-486-56447-1 , p. 344, paragraph no. 862
  8. ↑ Original text: 'NA OVOM JE MJESTU 7. RUJNA 1932. GODINE / MINIRAJEM ŽANDARSKE KASARNE POČEO / VELEBITSKI USTANAK / PRVI ORGANIZIRANI OTPOR HRVATSKOG NARODA / PROTIVE VOJNO POLICEVAJSKOGANU / PROTIV VOJNO POLICEVAJSKAPE / 1998. RIZVANUŠE '