8 - “To Be Eternally Young Means to Be an Ustasha”: Youth Organizations as Incubators of a New Youth and New Future

Summary

“Don't ever forget that through You and by You as a new generation the state idea must be secured, the idea of freedom and independence of the Croat people for all times. Never again can traitors, hirelings and slaves be born from your generation, but only strong, highbred and decisive carriers, representatives and warriors of a liberated and strong Croat nation.” It was with these words that Ivan Oršanić, the leader of the Ustasha Youth organization, said goodbye to his young followers when he was reassigned to his new position. Through his words it is possible to discern the guiding role assigned to members of the Ustasha Youth: to be a future ruling elite of the Ustasha state. The question of youth within regimes that aspired to total social and political control has often represented a key project in campaigns aimed at ideological, social, and cultural transformation through the refashioning of citizens. In both Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, an emergent uncompromised and “unsullied” ruling cadre aimed to create a new ideologically committed and unquestioning generation, both loyal citizens and future leaders. Even more so in smaller authoritarian states established during the 1930s and 1940s in Southeast Europe, it was deemed crucial to mold the young into true believers and future leaders, an embryonic “elite” whose purpose and mission would be to safeguard the existing state, order, and its ideas. In the case of the Ustasha movement, the aim was to create a new generation of fanatical, belligerent, politically conscious Croats—that is, young Ustashas.

This chapter explores the various ways in which the generation of Ustasha leaders who came to power in 1941, considering themselves the warriors of the struggle in the 1930s for a liberated independent Croatian homeland, embarked on a project to create a new generation of followers and believers, of Ustashas. This new generation was taught to be proud of the older generation's sacrifices and ruthlessly to defend their achievements, in particular, the successful national liberation struggle.