Dimitrije Ljotić ( sr-cyr, Димитрије Љотић; 12 August 1891 – 23 April 1945) was a Serbian and Yugoslav
fascist
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
politician and ideologue who established the
Yugoslav National Movement (Zbor) in 1935 and
collaborated with Nazi authorities in
German-occupied Serbia during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
He joined the
Serbian Army with the outbreak of the
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...
, fought on the Serbian side during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and remained in active service until 1920, when he decided to pursue a career in politics. He joined the
People's Radical Party that year and became regional deputy for the Smederevo District in 1930. In 1931, he was appointed to the position of Yugoslav
Minister of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
by King
Alexander I but resigned following a disagreement between him and the king over the layout of the Yugoslav political system. Ljotić founded Zbor in 1935. The party received little support from the largely anti-German Serbian public and never won more than 1 percent of the vote in the
1935
Events
January
* January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims.
* January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...
and
1938
Events
January
* January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS).
* January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...
Yugoslav parliamentary elections. Ljotić was arrested in the run-up to the latter elections and briefly sent to an
insane asylum
The lunatic asylum, insane asylum or mental asylum was an institution where people with mental illness were confined. It was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital.
Modern psychiatric hospitals evolved from and eventually replace ...
after the authorities accused him of having a "religious mania". He voiced his opposition to the
Cvetković–Maček Agreement in 1939 and his supporters reacted to it violently. Zbor was soon outlawed by the Yugoslav government, forcing Ljotić into hiding. He remained in hiding until April 1941, when the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...
invaded Yugoslavia. Ljotić was later invited by the Germans to join the Serbian
puppet government of
Milan Aćimović and was offered the position of economic commissioner. He never took office, partly because he disliked the idea of playing a secondary role in the administration and partly because of his unpopularity. He resorted to indirectly exerting his influence over the Serbian puppet government through two of his closest associates whom the Germans had selected as commissioners. In September 1941, the Germans gave Ljotić permission to form the Serbian Volunteer Detachments, which were later renamed the
Serbian Volunteer Corps (SDK).
Ljotić was publicly denounced as a traitor by the
Yugoslav government-in-exile
The Government of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in Exile ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Vlada Kraljevine Jugoslavije u egzilu, Влада Краљевине Југославије у егзилу) was an official government-in-exile of Yugoslavia, headed by King ...
and
Chetnik
The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...
leader
Draža Mihailović
Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović ( sr-Cyrl, Драгољуб "Дража" Михаиловић; 27 April 1893 – 17 July 1946) was a Yugoslavs, Yugoslav Serb general during World War II. He was the leader of the Chetniks, Chetnik Detachments ...
in July 1942. He and other Serbian collaborationist officials left Belgrade in October 1944 and made their way to Slovenia, from where they intended to launch an assault against the
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...
(NDH). Between March and April, Ljotić and Mihailović agreed to a last-ditch alliance against the
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
-led
Yugoslav Partisans
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...
and their forces came together under the command of Chetnik General
Miodrag Damjanović on 27 March. Ljotić was killed in an automobile accident on 23 April and was buried in
Šempeter pri Gorici
Šempeter pri Gorici (, also generally known simply as ''Šempeter''; ) is a town and the administrative seat of the Municipality of Šempeter-Vrtojba in the Slovene Littoral region of Slovenia. There is a border crossing into the Italian town of ...
. His funeral service was jointly conducted by Bishop
Nikolaj Velimirović and Serbian Orthodox Patriarch
Gavrilo Dožić, whose release from the
Dachau concentration camp
Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...
Ljotić had secured the previous December. In early May, Damjanović led the SDK–Chetnik formations under his command into northwestern Italy, where they surrendered to the British and were placed in detainment camps. Many were later extradited to Yugoslavia, where several thousand were executed by the Partisans and buried in mass graves in the
Kočevski Rog
Kočevski Rog or Kočevje Rog () or simply Rog is a karstified plateau in the Kočevje Highlands above the Črmošnjice Valley in southeastern Slovenia. The plateau is part of the traditional Lower Carniola region of Slovenia and of the Dinaric ...
plateau. Others immigrated to the west, where they established émigré organizations intended to promote Zbor's political agenda. The antagonism between these groups and those affiliated with the Chetniks continued in exile.
Early life
Dimitrije Ljotić was born in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
on 12 August 1891 to
Vladimir Ljotić and his wife Ljubica (''née'' Stanojević). His father was a prominent politician in the port town of
Smederevo
Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, ...
and served as the Serbian government consul to Greece.
The Ljotić family was descended from two brothers, Đorđe and Tomislav Dimitrijević, who hailed from the village of
Blace, in
Greek Macedonia. The origin of the surname Ljotić rests with Đorđe, who often went by the
nickname
A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...
"Ljota". The two brothers settled in the village of
Krnjevo in or around 1750 and relocated to Smederevo in the latter half of the 18th century. The Ljotićs were closely connected with the
Karađorđević dynasty, which had ruled Serbia several times throughout the 19th century.
In 1858, the rival
Obrenović dynasty seized power in the country and forced Prince
Alexander Karađorđević into exile. Ljotić's father was forced out of the country in 1868 after being implicated in a conspiracy against the Obrenović dynasty and its head, Prince
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
. He did not return to Serbia until Milan's abdication on 6 March 1889. Apart from being a close friend of Serbia's future king,
Peter I, Ljotić's father was also the first person to translate ''
The Communist Manifesto
''The Communist Manifesto'' (), originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (), is a political pamphlet written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London in 1848. The ...
'' into
Serbian. Ljotić's maternal great-grandfather, ''knez'' Stanoje, was an outlaw who was killed in the
Slaughter of the Knezes in January 1804.
Ljotić finished
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
in Smederevo. He attended
gymnasium in
Salonika
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
, where his family had relocated in 1907. Ljotić was religiously devoted in his youth and even contemplated a career in the
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...
. He was greatly influenced by
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...
's doctrine of Christian non-violence, but later rejected this doctrine during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Following his father's advice, he went on to study law and graduated from the Law School of the
University of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia.
Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...
. With the outbreak of the
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...
, Ljotić joined the
Serbian Army.
In the autumn of 1913, he accepted a state scholarship to study in Paris. He stayed in the city for nearly a year, and while studying at the Institute of Agriculture he was exposed to the right-wing, proto-fascist ideas of writer
Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras (; ; 20 April 1868 – 16 November 1952) was a French author, politician, poet and critic. He was an organiser and principal philosopher of ''Action Française'', a political movement that was monarchist, corporatis ...
. Maurras was a French counter-revolutionary who founded the far-right political movement known as ''
Action Française
''Action Française'' (, AF; ) is a French far-right monarchist and nationalist political movement. The name was also given to a journal associated with the movement, '' L'Action Française'', sold by its own youth organization, the Camelot ...
'' and whose writings went on to influence European fascists and the ideologues of the
Vichy Regime
Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Ljotić described Maurras as a "rare shining spirit" and cited him as one of his greatest intellectual influences.
Ljotić returned from Paris on 1 September 1914, and rejoined the Serbian Army. He attained the rank of
corporal
Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...
by year's end and was wounded during the
Ovče Pole Offensive. During the winter of 1915–16, he participated in the
Serbian Army's retreat through Albania. Ljotić remained on active service after the war ended, with a unit guarding the border between the newly formed
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...
and the
Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...
near the town of
Bakar. During this time, he also worked for the intelligence service of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In 1919, he helped break a railway strike meant to disrupt the flow of munitions intended for
anti-Communist
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...
forces fighting against
Béla Kun in Hungary. In 1920, he ordered troops under his command to arrest striking railway workers, convinced that all were complicit in a Communist conspiracy. Ljotić was demobilized on 17 June 1920. He subsequently married Ivka Mavrinac, a
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
Croat from the village of
Krasica on the
Croatian Littoral. The couple had two sons, Vladimir and Nikola, and a daughter, Ljubica. Ljotić and his wife relocated to Belgrade not long after their marriage. Ljotić passed his
bar examination
A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction.
Australia
Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associat ...
on 22 September 1921, and began practicing law. He later became vice-president of the diocesan council of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the town of
Požarevac
Požarevac ( sr-cyr, Пожаревац, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Braničevo District in eastern Serbia. It is located between three rivers: Danube, Great Morava and Mlava and below the hill Čač ...
, and represented the
Požarevac
Požarevac ( sr-cyr, Пожаревац, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Braničevo District in eastern Serbia. It is located between three rivers: Danube, Great Morava and Mlava and below the hill Čač ...
diocese in the church's patriarchal council.
Interwar political career
People's Radical Party and Ministry of Justice
Ljotić joined the
People's Radical Party (, NRS) of
Nikola Pašić in 1920, stating that it was "God's will". He ran for public office in the
1927 parliamentary elections, and received 5,614 votes. This accounted for 19.7 percent of votes cast in the Smederevo District and was not enough to see him win the seat in parliament, and it was won by
Democratic Party politician
Kosta Timotijević. Ljotić left the NRS shortly after these elections.
On 20 June 1928, Montenegrin politician
Puniša Račić
Puniša Račić ( sr-cyr, Пуниша Рачић; 12 July 1886 – 16 October 1944) was a Montenegrin Serb, Serb leader and People's Radical Party (NRS) politician. He assassinated Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) representatives Pavle Radić and Đ ...
assassinated
Croatian Peasant Party
The Croatian Peasant Party (, HSS) is an agrarianism, agrarian List of political parties in Croatia, political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun Radić, Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The ...
(, HSS) representatives
Pavle Radić and
Đuro Basariček and mortally wounded HSS leader
Stjepan Radić in a shooting which took place on the floor of the parliament of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The shooting led to King
Alexander
Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here ar ...
suspending the
Vidovdan Constitution on 6 January 1929 and proclaiming a
royal dictatorship. The country was renamed Yugoslavia and divided into 9
''banovina''s (or provinces), all of which were named after the country's major rivers. The pre-1912 territory of the former
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...
was divided mostly between the
banovinas of
Danube
The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
and
Morava, and to a lesser extent, of the banovinas of
Drina
The Drina ( sr-Cyrl, Дрина, ) is a long river in the Balkans, which forms a large portion of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Al ...
and
Zeta
Zeta (, ; uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; , , classical or ''zē̂ta''; ''zíta'') is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 7. It was derived from the Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician letter zay ...
.
In 1929, Ljotić was granted the first of several audiences with Alexander. He became regional deputy for the Smederevo District in 1930. On 16 February 1931, he was appointed to the position of Yugoslav
Minister of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
in King Alexander's royal dictatorship as a result of his unwavering loyalty to the Karađorđević dynasty. In June of that year, Ljotić suggested to Alexander that the Yugoslav political system be structured on the Italian fascist model. He presented him with a draft constitution that proposed "an organic constitutional hereditary monarchy, undemocratic and non-parliamentary, based on the mobilization of popular forces, gathered around economic, professional, cultural and charity organizations, that would be politically accountable to the king." The king rejected Ljotić's constitution as being too
authoritarian
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...
. On 17 August, Ljotić resigned from his post after the government decided to create a single government-backed political party in Yugoslavia.
Zbor
In 1934, Alexander was assassinated in
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
by a Bulgarian mercenary working for the
Ustaše
The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...
. That year, Ljotić made contact with three pro-fascist movements and the publishers of their respective newspapers—''Otadžbina'' (Fatherland), published in Belgrade; the monthly ''Zbor'' (Rally), published in
Herzegovina
Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical Regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia (reg ...
; and the weekly ''Buđenje'' (Awakening), published in Petrovgrad (modern
Zrenjanin
Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; ; ; ; ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city urban area has a population of 67,129 inh ...
). Ljotić contributed to all three publications and became most influential with the ''Otadžbina'' movement. He subsequently founded the
Yugoslav National Movement (), which was also known as the United Active Labour Organization (''Združena borbena organizacija rada'', or Zbor).
Zbor was created by the merger of three fascist movements—
Yugoslav Action from
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
, the "Fighters" from
Ljubljana
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Ljubljana
, official_name =
, settlement_type = Capital city
, image_skyline = {{multiple image
, border = infobox
, perrow = 1/2/2/1
, total_widt ...
, and ''Buđenje'' from Petrovgrad. It was officially established in Belgrade on 6 January 1935, the sixth anniversary of
King Alexander's dictatorship proclamation. Its members elected Ljotić its president, the Croat
Juraj Korenić its vice-president, the Slovene
Fran Kandare as second vice-president and the Serb
Velibor Jonić as its secretary-general. Zbor's official stated goal was the imposition of a planned economy and "the racial and biological defense of the national life-force and the family". ''Otadžbina'' became its official newspaper.
Zbor was declared illegal upon establishment, since virtually all political parties in Yugoslavia had been banned since the declaration of King Alexander's dictatorship in 1929. On 2 September 1935, Jonić and attorney
Milan Aćimović petitioned the Yugoslav
Ministry of the Interior
An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement.
In some states, the ...
to legalize Zbor. On 8 November, the Ministry of the Interior conceded and recognized Zbor as an official political party. German officials in Yugoslavia quickly took notice of the movement, with the German envoy to Yugoslavia, , providing it with financial assistance and infiltrating it with German agents. A German observer noted: "The movement Zbor represents a kind of national socialist party. Its principles are the struggle against Freemasons, against Jews, against Communists and against western
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
." German industrial firms provided Zbor with further financial aid, as did German intelligence services.
Since 1935, Ljotić was a member of the
Braničevo Diocese Council whose vice-president was a member of the Patriarchal Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade. Through these connections, Ljotić developed strong relations with bishop
Nikolaj Velimirović, under whose influence some members of his clerical organization ''Bogomoljci'' became part of the Zbor movement.
Most of the support that Zbor received in Serbia came from members of the urban middle class, as well as right-wing students and members of the armed forces. The majority of Zbor's members were ethnic
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...
, though some Croats and Slovenes also joined. Its membership fluctuated often, primarily due to disagreements over Ljotić's authoritarianism and his lack of popularity and political power in Serbia. Ljotić was an unpopular figure in Serbia due to his pro-German sympathies and religious fanaticism. The limited amount of support received by Zbor itself stemmed from the fact that radical right-wing sentiment was not strong amongst the Serbian population. The reason for this was that right-wing politics were associated with
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Being extremely anti-German, the majority of ethnic Serbs rejected fascist and Nazi ideas outright. Zbor never had more than 10,000 active members at any given time, with most of its support coming from Smederevo and from the ethnic German (''
Volksdeutsche
In Nazi Germany, Nazi German terminology, () were "people whose language and culture had Germans, German origins but who did not hold German citizenship." The term is the nominalised plural of ''wikt:volksdeutsch, volksdeutsch'', with denoting ...
'') minority in
Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...
that had been exposed to
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
propaganda since 1933.
During
Milan Stojadinović
Milan Stojadinović ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Стојадиновић; 4 August 1888 – 26 October 1961) was a Serbs, Serbian and Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav politician and economist who was the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from 1935 to 1939. ...
's premiership, many members of Zbor left the party and joined Stojadinović's
Yugoslav Radical Union (, JRZ). Nevertheless, the movement continued to advocate the abandonment of
individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote realizing one's goals and desires, valuing independence and self-reliance, and a ...
and
parliamentary democracy
A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of the legisl ...
. Ljotić called for Yugoslavia to unite around a single ruler and return to its religious and cultural traditions, embracing the teachings of Christianity, traditional values and
corporatism
Corporatism is an ideology and political system of interest representation and policymaking whereby Corporate group (sociology), corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, come toget ...
. He advocated a centrally organized state, stating that the unification of
South Slavs
South Slavs are Slavic people who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, ...
was a historical and political inevitability and that Serbs, Croats and Slovenes shared "blood kinship and feeling of common fate." At the same time, the Yugoslavia that Ljotić envisioned was one that was to be dominated by Serbia. Zbor openly promoted
antisemitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
, being the only party in Yugoslavia to openly do so, as well as
xenophobia
Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...
.
Elections
Despite its opposition to parliamentary democracy, Zbor participated in the 1935 Yugoslav parliamentary elections. It offered 8,100 candidates throughout Yugoslavia. On 5 May the Yugoslav government first announced the results of the elections, which showed that 72.6 percent of the eligible electorate had cast a total of 2,778,172 ballots. The party of
Bogoljub Jevtić
Bogoljub Jevtić (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: Богољуб Јевтић; 24 December 1886 – 7 June 1960) was a Serbian diplomat and politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
He was plenipotentiary minister of Yugoslavia in Al ...
had received 1,738,390 (62.6%) votes and 320 seats in parliament and the Opposition Bloc led by
Vladko Maček
Vladimir Maček (20 June 1879 – 15 May 1964) was a politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) following the 1928 assassination of Stjepan Radić, Maček had been a leading Croatian political figure ...
had received 983,248 (35.4%) votes and 48 seats. Zbor finished last in the polls, with 23,814 (0.8%) votes, and had acquired no seats in parliament. Of all the votes it had received, 13,635 came from the
Danube Banovina, in which Ljotić's home district of Smederevo was located. The election results initially published by authorities caused an upheaval amongst the public, forcing the government to publish the results of a recount on 22 May. The recount showed that 100,000 additional ballots that had not been recorded on 5 May had been cast and that Jevtić's party had received 1,746,982 (60.6%) votes and 303 seats, the Opposition Bloc had received 1,076,345 (37.4%) and 67 seats, and that Zbor had received 24,008 (0.8%) votes and again no seats.
In 1937, Ljotić began attacking Stojadinović through Zbor publications and accused him of complicity in King Alexander's assassination three years earlier. Stojadinović's government responded by exposing Ljotić as having been funded by the Germans and provided with financial resources by them to spread Nazi propaganda and promote German economic interests in Serbia. The incriminating material linking Ljotić with the Germans was given to Yugoslav authorities by German
Luftwaffe
The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
commander
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...
, a supporter of Stojadinović. Stojadinović used these revelations to his benefit in
the following year's parliamentary elections, presenting his opponents, including Ljotić, as "disloyal agitators". Ljotić responded by attacking Stojadinović through issues of ''Otadžbina'', many of which were subsequently banned. The Stojadinović government went on to prohibit all Zbor rallies and newspapers, confiscated Zbor propaganda material, and arrested Zbor leaders. In September 1938, Ljotić was arrested after the Yugoslav
gendarmerie
A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...
opened fire on a crowd of Zbor supporters, killing at least one person. A frequent churchgoer, he was charged with religious
mania
Mania, also known as manic syndrome, is a Psychiatry, psychiatric Abnormality (behavior), behavioral syndrome defined as a state of Abnormality (behavior), abnormally elevated arousal, affect (psychology), affect, and energy level. During a mani ...
and briefly sent to an
insane asylum
The lunatic asylum, insane asylum or mental asylum was an institution where people with mental illness were confined. It was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital.
Modern psychiatric hospitals evolved from and eventually replace ...
before being released.
On 10 October, Stojadinović dissolved the
Parliament of Yugoslavia, proclaimed new elections and arranged further arrests of Zbor members. Ljotić responded by publicly stating that Zbor supporters were being arrested in order to prevent them from participating in the forthcoming elections. The parliamentary elections of December 1938 offered three candidates—Stojadinović, Maček, and Ljotić. During voting itself, members of opposition parties, including Zbor, were arrested and subjected to police intimidation and voting registers were allegedly falsified in Stojadinović's favour. Zbor finished last in the elections, receiving 30,734 (1.01%) votes, and again winning no seats in parliament. 17,573 of the votes in favour of Zbor were cast in the Danube Banovina, while the number of votes in the Dalmatian
Littoral Banovina increased from 974 in May 1935 to 2,427 in December 1938.
Anti-Jewish propaganda
Among Ljotić's anti-Jewish propaganda activity was a brochure from 1938 entitled (''Drama of Modern Humanity''), where he wrote that "Judaism is the greatest evil of the present. It is the most insidious and most dangerous opponent for all Christian nations. Judaism must therefore be liquidated quickly and vigorously, because otherwise the collapse of Christian civilization and the Christian world is inevitable".
World War II
Activities in Yugoslavia
In August 1939, Ljotić's cousin,
Milan Nedić
Milan Nedić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Недић; 2 September 1878 – 4 February 1946) was a Yugoslav and Serbian army general and politician who served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Yugoslav Army and minister of war in the ...
, was appointed Yugoslav
Minister of Defense. Later that year, almost all Zbor publications, including ''Otadžbina'', ''Buđenje'', ''Zbor'', ''Naš put'' (Our Path) and ''Vihor'' (Whirlwind), were prohibited. Ljotić exploited the connections he had with Nedić to ensure that the banned Zbor-published journal ''Bilten'' (Bulletin) was distributed to members of the
Royal Yugoslav Army
The Yugoslav Army ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Jugoslovenska vojska, JV, Југословенска војска, ЈВ), commonly the Royal Yugoslav Army, was the principal Army, ground force of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It existed from the establishment of ...
. The journal was published illegally in a military printing house and distributed throughout the country by military couriers. Ljotić was the journal's main contributor and editor-in-chief. Fifty-eight issues of ''Bilten'' were published from March 1939 until October 1940, in which Ljotić advocated a pro-Axis Yugoslav foreign policy and criticized Belgrade's tolerance of Jews. As many as 20,000 copies each were printed of later issues of the journal. Ljotić was particularly pleased with being able to exert his ideological influence over young military academy trainees as well as older officers.
With the outbreak of World War II, Ljotić supported Yugoslavia's policy of neutrality in the conflict while promoting the position that Yugoslav diplomacy should focus on relations with Berlin. He vehemently opposed the August 1939
Cvetković–Maček Agreement and repeatedly wrote letters to
Prince Paul urging him to annul it. In these letters, he advocated an immediate re-organization of the government according to Zbor ideology, the abolishment of Croatian autonomy, the division of the Royal Yugoslav Army into contingents of mostly ethnic Serbs, with some Croat and Slovene volunteers, who would be armed, and contingents of most Croats and Slovenes in the armed forces, who would serve as labour units and would be unarmed. Effectively, the purpose of all these points was to reduce non-Serbs in Yugoslavia to the status of second-class citizens. By this point, Zbor was infiltrated by the German
Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
, the
Abwehr
The (German language, German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', though the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context) ) was the German military intelligence , military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ...
(German military intelligence), and the ''
Schutzstaffel
The ''Schutzstaffel'' (; ; SS; also stylised with SS runes as ''ᛋᛋ'') was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II.
It beg ...
'' (SS). In 1940, the Royal Yugoslav Army purged its pro-German elements and Ljotić lost much of the influence he held over the armed forces.
Ljotić's followers responded to the Cvetković–Maček Agreement with violence, clashing with the youth wing of the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia
The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...
(KPJ). These incidents attracted as many as 5,000 new members to Zbor and led to the formation of a Zbor student wing known as the ''White Eagles'' (). In July 1940, Ljotić expressed his bitter opposition to the diplomatic recognition of the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
by Belgrade, which was meant to strengthen Yugoslavia internally in the case of war.
On 23 October 1940, ''White Eagles'' members massed outside the campus of the University of Belgrade. University president Petar Micić was a Zbor sympathizer. The Belgrade police, who were alleged to have had foreknowledge of the riots, withdrew from the area before violence erupted. The ''White Eagles'' members then threatened faculty and students with pistols and knives, stabbed some of them, hailed
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
and
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
as their heroes and shouted "down with the Jews!" Members of ''Slovenski Jug'' (''Slavic South''), a Serbian nationalist movement, participated in the riots, which were orchestrated by Ljotić to provoke
martial law
Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...
and bring about a more centralized system of control in the university. The Serbian public responded to the riots with outrage. On 24 October, the Yugoslav government revoked Zbor's legal status. On 2 November, the Ministry of Interior sent a list of Zbor members to all municipal administrators in Serbia. The government cracked down on Zbor by detaining several hundred members, forcing Ljotić into hiding. One of the only public figures in Serbia to speak in favour of Ljotić during this period was Serbian Orthodox Bishop
Nikolaj Velimirović, who praised his "faith in God" and "good character".
Although a government investigation found Zbor guilty of high treason for accepting German funds, the authorities were careful not to arrest Ljotić in order to not provoke the Germans. Ljotić was placed under government surveillance but authorities quickly lost track of him. He hid with friends in Belgrade and remained in contact with Nedić and Velimirović. On 6 November, Nedić resigned from his post to protest the government crackdown on Zbor. Additional issues of ''Bilten'' continued to be printed despite his resignation. These supported a pro-Axis Yugoslav foreign policy, criticized the government's tolerance of Jews and Freemasons and attacked pro-British members of the government for their opposition to Yugoslavia signing the
Tripartite Pact
The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano, and Saburō Kurusu (in that order) and in the ...
. Ljotić remained in hiding until April 1941.
Occupation of Yugoslavia

With the
Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, several dozen Royal Yugoslav Army officers affiliated with Zbor were captured by the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
but were quickly released. The Germans sent Ljotić a written notice assuring his freedom of movement in German-occupied Serbia. Not long after German forces entered Belgrade, Ljotić's followers were given the task of selecting an estimated 1,200 Jews from the city's non-Jewish population.
When they first occupied the country, the Germans prohibited the activity of all Serbian political parties except Zbor. Although they originally intended to make Ljotić the head of a Serbian
puppet government, both Ljotić and the Germans realized that his unpopularity would make any government led by him a failure. The Germans believed that Ljotić had a "dubious reputation among Serbs". Ljotić told Gestapo officer
Karl Wilhelm Krause that "
nuncompromised man with generally recognized authority and force of personality ...
sneeded to convince the people that the Germans are their friends, that they want the best for the people and that they are the saviours of humankind from Communism." The Germans soon invited Ljotić to join the initial Serbian puppet government, the Commissioner Administration of Milan Aćimović. Ljotić was offered the position of economic commissioner but never took office, partly because he disliked the idea of playing a secondary role in the administration and partly because of his unpopularity. He resorted to indirectly exerting his influence over the Serbian puppet government through two of his closest associates, Stevan Ivanić and Miloslav Vasiljević, whom the Germans had selected as commissioners. The only official function Ljotić held in
German-occupied Serbia was administrator of Smederevo. He helped in the town's reconstruction after large parts of it were destroyed in an
ammunition depot explosion in June 1941.
In July and August, the Germans gave Ljotić permission to broadcast three of his speeches over
Radio Belgrade
Radio Belgrade (, ) is a state-owned and operated radio station in Belgrade, Serbia. It has four different programs (Radio Belgrade 1, Radio Belgrade 2, Radio Belgrade 3, and Radio Belgrade 202), a precious archive of several hundreds of thousa ...
and consulted him prior to appointing Nedić as leader of the
Government of National Salvation
The Government of National Salvation (; , VNS), also referred to as Nedić's government or Nedić's regime, was the colloquial name of the second Serbian Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, collaborationist List of World War II ...
in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia. In one of his July speeches, Ljotić proclaimed that the ultimate aim of the Soviet Union was "the destruction of the national and Christian order, which would be followed by the rule of Jews over all nations."
Formation of the Serbian Volunteer Detachments
In response to the
Communist uprising that had erupted in the aftermath of the German occupation of Serbia, hundreds of prominent and influential Serbs signed an "Appeal to the Serbian Nation" which was published in major Belgrade newspapers on 11 August. The appeal called upon the Serbian population to help the authorities in every way in their struggle against the Communist rebels, and called for loyalty to the Nazis and condemned the Partisan resistance as unpatriotic. Ljotić was one of 546 signatories.
The Germans trusted Ljotić more than any other ethnic Serb in occupied Yugoslavia. In need of a reliable collaborationist force to combat the Communists, they gave him permission to form the Serbian Volunteer Detachments (, SDO) in September 1941. The SDO initially launched public appeals calling for volunteers "in the struggle against the Communist danger" and eventually grew to consist of 3,500 armed men. These appeals failed to mention guerrilla leader
Draža Mihailović
Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović ( sr-Cyrl, Драгољуб "Дража" Михаиловић; 27 April 1893 – 17 July 1946) was a Yugoslavs, Yugoslav Serb general during World War II. He was the leader of the Chetniks, Chetnik Detachments ...
or his
Chetniks
The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...
. By November, Ljotić was openly denouncing Mihailović. In one newspaper article, he accused him of being responsible for the deaths of many Serbs and for causing widespread destruction as a result of his "naïve" cooperation with the Communists.
In direct response to the Communist uprising, the Germans decreed that 100 Serbian civilians would be executed for every German soldier killed and 50 would be executed for every German soldier wounded. This policy culminated in the
Kragujevac massacre
The Kragujevac massacre was the mass murder of between 2,778 and 2,794 mostly Serb men and boys in Kragujevac, by German soldiers on 21 October 1941. It occurred in the German-occupied territory of Serbia during World War II, and came as a ...
of October 1941, in which a division of Ljotić's volunteers was involved. Earlier that month, the Chetniks and Partisans had ambushed a column of German soldiers near
Gornji Milanovac
Gornji Milanovac ( sr-Cyrl, Гoрњи Милановац, ) is a town and municipality located in the Moravica District of central Serbia. The population of the town is 23,109, while the population of the municipality is 38,985 (2022 census data).
...
, killing 10 and wounding 26. The Germans turned to Kragujevac for retaliation, not because of anti-German activity in the town but because not enough adult males could be found otherwise to meet the required quota for executions.
According to eyewitnesses, SDO commander Marisav Petrović and his men entered barracks in which hostages were being held and, with German approval, freed those whom they recognized as supporters of Ljotić and Nedić, as well as those whose political attitudes they considered to be "nationally correct". Petrović accused those whom he had failed to free of supporting the Communists and spreading Communist propaganda, thus "infecting" Serbian society with their leftist ideas. Most of those who remained in German hands and were subsequently executed were high school students. According to the post-war testimony of
Kosta Mušicki, another high-ranking SDO commander, Petrović also ordered the arrests of countless
Romani civilians from surrounding villages and handed them over to the Germans for execution. More than 3,000 citizens of Kragujevac were killed during the massacre.
Serbian Volunteer Corps and propaganda efforts
On 22 October, the
Grand Anti-Masonic Exhibition opened in Belgrade, organized by Zbor with German financial support. The exhibition sought to expose an alleged Judeo-Masonic/Communist conspiracy for
world domination
World domination (also called global domination, world conquest, global conquest, or cosmocracy) is a hypothetical power structure, either achieved or aspired to, in which a single political authority holds power over all or virtually all the i ...
through several displays featuring
anti-Semitic
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
propaganda. Serbian collaborationist newspapers such as ''Obnova'' (''Renewal'') and ''Naša Borba'' (''Our Struggle'') wrote positively of the exhibit, declaring Jews to be "the ancient enemies of the Serbian people" and that "Serbs should not wait for the Germans to begin the extermination of the Jews." The latter newspaper, ''Naša Borba'', had been established by Ljotić earlier in the year and its title echoed that of Hitler's ''
Mein Kampf
(; ) is a 1925 Autobiography, autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The book outlines many of Political views of Adolf Hitler, Hitler's political beliefs, his political ideology and future plans for Nazi Germany, Ge ...
'' (''My Struggle''). Most of its contributors were well educated and included university students, teachers, lawyers and engineers. Ljotić and his associates were responsible for the printing of fifty antisemitic titles between 1941 and 1944. He also founded the ''Radna Služba'' (''Labour Service''), a youth movement similar to the
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth ( , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth wing of the German Nazi Party. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was th ...
.
In November, Ljotić intervened on behalf of 300–500 men detained by the Germans as suspected
Freemasons. He persuaded German military administration chief
Harald Turner that the captured men were not Freemasons and told him that they were not to be shot as hostages. According to his personal secretary, Ljotić also asked Turner to not order the killing of Jews, stating "
amagainst Jews ruling my country's economy, but I am against their murder." He added that "their innocently-spilled blood cannot bring any good to the people who do this." Turner was reportedly surprised by Ljotić's statements, given his history of antisemitism.
On 28 March 1942, Nedić indicated to Turner that, in the event of his departure, Ljotić was the only person who could be considered his successor as leader of the Government of National Salvation. Turner remarked that "
edićcould not
ave beenserious about this because Ljotić was a prophet and visionary, not a leader and statesman." In December 1942, the SDO was renamed the
Serbian Volunteer Corps (, SDK) and placed under the command of ''
General der Artillerie
(English language, en: General of the artillery) may mean:
A rank of three-star rank, three-star General of the branch, general, comparable to modern armed forces OF-8 grade, in the Imperial German Army and its contingency armies of Prussian A ...
'' (lieutenant general)
Paul Bader. Although not formally part of the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
, the SDK received arms, ammunition, food and clothing from the Germans. Like the
Serbian State Guard (, SDS), the SDK was under the direct command of the
Higher SS and Police Leader
The title of SS and Police Leader (') designated a senior Nazi Party official who commanded various components of the SS and the German uniformed police ('' Ordnungspolizei''), before and during World War II in the German Reich proper and in the ...
August Meyszner and the Commanding General in Serbia. During operations its units were put under the tactical command of German divisions. It was the only group of armed Serbs that the Germans ever trusted during the war, its units often being praised for valour in action by German commanders.
The SDK helped the Gestapo track down and round up Jewish civilians who had managed to evade capture by the Germans and was involved in sending Jewish prisoners to the
Banjica concentration camp. SDK units were not allowed to move from their assigned territory without German authorization. Members took an oath in which they pledged to fight to the death against both Communist forces and the Chetniks, to stay in the SDK for at least six months and to "serve the cause of the Serbian people." Ljotić himself had no control over the SDK, which was directly commanded by Mušicki. Most officers in the SDK came either from the ranks of the disbanded Royal Yugoslav Army or the Yugoslav gendarmerie. Morale was high amongst the volunteers, with education officers similar to those employed by the Soviets and the
Yugoslav Partisans
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...
being assigned to each company, battalion and regiment to teach and indoctrinate soldiers and help maintain high levels of morale. According to SDK ideology, Ljotić was a "guiding spirit" in his "political and philosophical pronouncements". In his instructions to unit commanders, Ljotić stressed the importance of volunteers believing in and having respect for God. He urged them to pray regularly and warned that poor battlefield results and failure to gain the support of the Serbian public came as a result of the "wavering religiosity and faith" of commanders and their frequent cursing of God's name. Ljotić criticized the widespread practice of alcoholism, gambling and sexual decadence found among volunteers. He condemned acts of unnecessary violence when they were reported to him.
On 15 July 1942, Mihailović sent a telegram to the Yugoslav government-in-exile asking them to publicly denounce Ljotić, Nedić and the openly collaborationist Chetnik leader
Kosta Pećanac as traitors. The Yugoslav government-in-exile responded by doing so publicly over
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...
. In October, Ljotić was forced to withdraw his two representatives in the Serbian puppet government in order to avoid being held responsible for the unpopular and difficult economic measures and food policies enacted by Nedić that month. With the
surrender of Italy in September 1943, Montenegrin Chetnik commander
Pavle Đurišić established ties with Ljotić. Ljotić later provided Đurišić with weapons, food, typewriters, and other supplies.
Retreat and death
In February 1944, the 2nd Battalion of the 5th SDK Regiment was sent to Montenegro to assist Đurišić's Chetniks, in accordance with Ljotić's plans. Of the 893 men who were sent, 543 were killed in action fighting the Partisans. On 6 September, Mihailović took control of several Serbian collaborationist formations, including the SDK. Ljotić sent
Ratko Parežanin, a Zbor member and editor of ''Naša Borba'', and a detachment of 30 men to Montenegro to persuade Đurišić to withdraw his Chetniks towards German-held
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
, where Ljotić had a plan to mass Serbian forces and launch an attack against the NDH. On 4 October, Ljotić, along with Nedić and about 300 Serbian government officials, escaped from Belgrade with German officials. In early October, the SDK was tasked to defend the
Šabac
Šabac ( sr-Cyrl, Шабац, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Mačva District in western Serbia. The traditional centre of the fertile Mačva region, Šabac is located on the right banks of the river ...
bridgehead on the
Sava River against the Partisans, together with some German units under the command of Colonel Jungenfeld, head of the 5th Police Regiment. The battle for Belgrade commenced on 14 October, and the Germans decided to evacuate the SDK to a location where it could be used in guarding duties and anti-Partisan actions, since it was considered unsuitable for conventional operations. Hitler ordered that the SDK be moved to the
Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral, and placed it under the command of the Higher SS and Police Leader
Odilo Globocnik
Odilo Lothar Ludwig Globocnik (21 April 1904 – 31 May 1945) was a Nazi Party official from Austria and a perpetrator of the Holocaust. A high-ranking member of the SS, Globocnik was the leader of Operation Reinhard, the organized murder of ar ...
. The commander of
Army Group F
Army Group F () was a strategic command formation of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. The commander of Army Group F served also as the ''OB South East, Oberbefehlshaber Südost'' (Commander-in-Chief in the Southeast).
Created 12 Augus ...
ordered the evacuation of the SDK from the railway station in
Ruma on 17 October. Between 19–21 October, the High Command of the Southeast cleared the SDK for transport west. At the end of October, Ljotić and the SDK arrived in the city of
Osijek
Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...
. It was here that German official
Hermann Neubacher agreed to arrange their safe passage towards the Slovenian coast. While the retreat of collaborationist troops through the NDH was easy, there were exceptions. In November, the Ustaše removed between thirty and forty SDK officers from transports moving through Zagreb, after which they were summarily executed.
In December, Ljotić arranged for the release of
Nikolaj Velimirović and Serbian Orthodox Patriarch
Gavrilo Dožić from the
Dachau concentration camp
Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...
. Velimirović had been imprisoned by the Germans in July 1941 on the suspicion that he was a Chetnik sympathizer and Ljotić had written several letters to German officials that summer, urging them to release the Bishop on account that he had allegedly praised Hitler before the war. Velimirović was transferred to Dachau alongside Dožić via
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
and
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
in September 1944 and was held there as an "honorary prisoner". Upon being released, he and Dožić were relocated to a tourist resort and then to a hotel in Vienna as guests of the German government, where they met with Ljotić and other Serbian collaborationist officials. Discussions between the Serbian side and the Germans took place here. Ljotić and Nedić petitioned Neubacher so that the forces of Chetnik commander
Momčilo Đujić
Momčilo Đujić ( sh-Cyrl, Момчилo Ђујић, ; 27 February 1907 – 11 September 1999) was a Serbian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox priest and Chetnik . He led a significant proportion of the Chetniks within the northern Dalm ...
could be allowed passage to Slovenia, as did Slovene collaborationist General
Leon Rupnik.
The Germans urged Nedić to raise a force of 50,000 men to fight advancing Soviet forces. Nedić agreed in principle to the creation of such an army, but insisted that it could not be used to fight the Soviets. He also demanded that any new collaborationist government include Mihailović. Ljotić stood vehemently opposed to the creation of a new Serbian government in any form, insisting that the Kingdom of Yugoslavia be re-established under
Peter II. This plan received the support of both Dožić and Velimirović.
In early 1945, Đurišić decided to move to the
Ljubljana
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Ljubljana
, official_name =
, settlement_type = Capital city
, image_skyline = {{multiple image
, border = infobox
, perrow = 1/2/2/1
, total_widt ...
Gap independent of Mihailović, and arranged for Ljotić's forces already in Slovenia to meet him near
Bihać
Bihać is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of river Una (Sava), Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in th ...
in western Bosnia to assist his movement. In order to get to Bihać, Đurišić had to make a safe-conduct agreement with elements of the
Armed Forces of the Independent State of Croatia
The Croatian Armed Forces were formed in 1944 with the uniting of the Croatian Home Guard (World War II), Croatian Home Guard and the Ustaše Militia in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). It was established by the fascist Ustaše regime of ...
and with Montenegrin separatist
Sekula Drljević
Sekula Drljević ( sr-cyrl, Секула Дрљевић; 7 September 1884 – 10 November 1945) was a Montenegrin nationalism, Montenegrin nationalist, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav jurist, politician, orator, and theoretician. During Wo ...
. He was captured by the
Ustaše
The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...
and Drljević's followers in April 1945 and killed along with other Chetnik leaders, some Serbian Orthodox priests and others.
Between March and April 1945, Ljotić and Mihailović exchanged messages concerning a last-ditch alliance against the Partisans. Although the agreement was reached too late to be of any practical use, the forces of Ljotić and Mihailović came together under the command of Chetnik General
Miodrag Damjanović on 27 March. Together, they tried to contact the western
Allies in Italy in an attempt to secure foreign aid for a proposed anti-Communist offensive to restore royalist Yugoslavia. In mid-April, at Ljotić's request, Dožić and Velimirović blessed approximately 25,000 members of the SDS, SUK, Serbian Border Guard, and the Special Police, as well as Đujić's and
Dobroslav Jevđević's Chetniks and Slovene collaborators, who had gathered on the Slovenian coast.
On 22 April, Đujić contacted Ljotić and requested to meet with him in the town of
Postojna
Postojna (; , ) is a town in the traditional region of Inner Carniola, from Trieste, in southwestern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Postojna. to coordinate a general Chetnik–SDK withdrawal towards Italy. Ljotić left from the village of
Dobravlje the following day to meet with Đujić. His
chauffeur
A chauffeur () is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or a limousine.
Initially, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to s ...
, Ratko Živadinović, had very poor eyesight and, on approaching a bridge on the Hubelj River, failed to notice that it had been partially destroyed by Partisan saboteurs.
Ljotić was killed on 23 April 1945 in the ensuing car accident in
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...
near Bistrica.
He was buried in a Hungarian count's abandoned crypt in the town of
Šempeter pri Gorici
Šempeter pri Gorici (, also generally known simply as ''Šempeter''; ) is a town and the administrative seat of the Municipality of Šempeter-Vrtojba in the Slovene Littoral region of Slovenia. There is a border crossing into the Italian town of ...
. His funeral was held in the chapel of the Chetnik
Dinara Division,
conducted jointly by Dožić and Velimirović, with the latter eulogizing Ljotić as "the most loyal son of
Serbdom." Velimirović added that "Ljotić did not belong only to Serbs he belonged to humanity, Europe and the world"
and went on to describe him as "a politician bearing a cross" and an "ideologue of religious nationalism" whose importance "
ranscendedthe boundaries of Serbian politics".
Aftermath
In early May, Damjanović led most of the troops under his command into northwestern Italy, where they surrendered to the British and were placed in detention camps. Many were extradited to Yugoslavia, where between 1,500 and 3,100 were executed by the Partisans and buried in mass graves in the
Kočevski Rog
Kočevski Rog or Kočevje Rog () or simply Rog is a karstified plateau in the Kočevje Highlands above the Črmošnjice Valley in southeastern Slovenia. The plateau is part of the traditional Lower Carniola region of Slovenia and of the Dinaric ...
plateau. Others immigrated to western countries, where they established émigré organizations intended to promote Zbor's political agenda. Many of Ljotić's followers settled in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, where they ran their own publishing house and printed a newspaper called ''Iskra'' (''Spark'').
In 1974, Ljotić's brother was shot and killed by agents of the Yugoslav
State Security Service (''Uprava državne bezbednosti'', UDBA). The antagonism between pro-Ljotić groups and those affiliated with the Chetniks continued in exile.
Following the war, Ljotić's body was removed from the tomb in which it was buried. Two theories exist about what happened to it. One claims it was removed by Ljotić's followers and taken to an unknown location following the creation of the
Free Territory of Trieste
The Free Territory of Trieste was an independent territory in Southern Europe between Italy and SFR Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia, facing the north part of the Adriatic Sea, under United Nations Security Council Resolution 16, direct responsibility of ...
in 1947. The other theory holds that Ljotić was buried in Šempeter pri Gorici until the signing of the
Treaty of Osimo in 1977, when his followers removed his body from the tomb in which it was buried and took it to an unknown location outside Yugoslavia, possibly to Italy.
Views
Ljotić was staunchly anti-Semitic. He is said to have advocated the extermination of Jews for years prior to the outbreak of World War II. He claimed in his speeches that a "Great Director" was behind all of the world's problems and referred to "a collective personality consisting of a people without land, language, a stable religion ... a people without roots ... the Jews." Ljotić claimed that the supposed Jewish conspiracy began during the
French Revolution and was involved in every significant historical event since then. He also claimed that Jews and Freemasons were responsible for the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
. In his writings, Ljotić portrayed Jews as being responsible for the advent of
liberal democracy
Liberal democracy, also called Western-style democracy, or substantive democracy, is a form of government that combines the organization of a democracy with ideas of liberalism, liberal political philosophy. Common elements within a liberal dem ...
, Freemasonry and Communism, and, as such, enemies of both Zbor and the Yugoslav state. Ljotić advocated "liquidating the influence of Masons, Jews, and every other spiritual progeny of Jews" as the only way of preventing the outbreak of war in Yugoslavia. He also attributed the political unpopularity of Zbor to the "subversive influence" of Serbian Jews on education and the media. Nevertheless, Ljotić's antisemitism largely lacked racialist ideology due to its incongruity with Christian belief. Despite Ljotić's efforts and those of Zbor, antisemitism in Serbia did not reach the levels seen in other regions of Europe and the Jewish community there was largely spared from harassment and violence until the arrival of German troops in April 1941.
Ljotić considered fascism the only form of resistance to future global Jewish control. He lauded Hitler for exposing the "conspiracy of World Jewry" and dubbed him "the saviour of Europe". Ljotić's admiration of Germany stemmed partly from his fascination with the country's military power and fear of its political ambitions. Although the ideology of Zbor itself shared many parallels with other European fascist movements, Ljotić often stressed the differences between the fascism of Zbor and that of the fascist movements in Germany and Italy despite their numerous similarities. Most authors describe Ljotić as a fascist, but the historian
Jozo Tomasevich claims this view is "too one-sided a characterization".
Ljotić believed that
divine providence
In theology, divine providence, or simply providence, is God's intervention in the universe. The term ''Divine Providence'' (usually capitalized) is also used as a names of God, title of God. A distinction is usually made between "general prov ...
had "destined the Serbian people for a certain grand role". This concept became a recurring theme in his writings. A staunchly patriotic and deeply religious man who believed in the core religious ethics of the Serbian Orthodox Church, he advocated absolute loyalty to the Karađorđević dynasty. An ardent monarchist who believed in
authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...
, the corporative organization of the state, and the integrity of Yugoslavia, he considered himself a Christian politician, His devotion to his faith earned him the nickname ''Mita Bogomoljac'' (''Devotionalist Mita''). He often regarded Serbian Orthodox clerics with suspicion, accusing some of being Freemasons and/or British agents, while encouraging others to join Zbor. Many did, but at least two are known to have been murdered by Ljotić's forces during the war.
Legacy
Following the
breakup of Yugoslavia
After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, the constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart in the early 1990s. Unresolved issues from the breakup caused a series of inter-ethnic Yugoslav ...
, local councillors in Smederevo campaigned to have the town's largest square named after Ljotić. Despite the ensuing controversy, the councillors defended Ljotić's wartime record and justified the initiative by stating that "
ollaborationnbsp;... is what the biological survival of the Serbian people demanded" during World War II. Later, the Serbian magazine ''
Pogledi'' published a series of articles attempting to exonerate Ljotić. In 1996, future Yugoslav
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
Vojislav Koštunica
Vojislav Koštunica ( sr-cyrl, Војислав Коштуница, ; born 24 March 1944) is a Serbian former politician who served as the last President of Serbia and Montenegro, president of FR Yugoslavia from 2000 to 2003 and as the Prime Min ...
praised Ljotić in a public statement. Seeking to promote a romantic and nationalist picture of anti-Communism, Koštunica and his
Democratic Party of Serbia (''Demokratska stranka Srbije'', DSS) actively campaigned to rehabilitate figures such as Ljotić and Nedić following the
overthrow of Slobodan Milošević and his socialist government in October 2000. Attempts to rehabilitate Ljotić have generated a mixed response from the Serbian Orthodox Church. Memorial services were held in 1997 and 2009 for Ljotić and
Milan Nedić
Milan Nedić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Недић; 2 September 1878 – 4 February 1946) was a Yugoslav and Serbian army general and politician who served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Yugoslav Army and minister of war in the ...
at the
St. Michael's Cathedral with both being deemed as "innocent victims of communist terror".
Using devices drawn from modern experimental theatre, Serbian playwright
Nebojša Pajkić has written a stage production about Ljotić's life titled ''Ljotić''.
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...
of Ljotić attending the funeral of a Colonel
Miloš Masalović is featured in
Dušan Makavejev's 1968 film ''
Innocence Unprotected''.
Notes
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ljotic, Dimitrije
1891 births
1945 deaths
Politicians from Belgrade
People from the Kingdom of Serbia
Serbian nationalists
Serbian fascists
Serbian people of Macedonian descent
People's Radical Party politicians
Members of the Serbian Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Christians from Serbia
Serbian military personnel of the Balkan Wars
Serbian military personnel of World War I
University of Belgrade Faculty of Law alumni
Road incident deaths in Yugoslavia
Serbian collaborators with Nazi Germany
Yugoslav National Movement politicians
Holocaust perpetrators in Yugoslavia
Romani genocide perpetrators
Royal Serbian Army soldiers
Serbian anti-communists
Serbian conspiracy theorists
Serbian mass murderers
Military personnel from Belgrade
Justice ministers of Yugoslavia