Mercenaries of a Phantom War The “Hostile Emigration” in Yugoslavia’s Globalized Ideology of Insecurity
Abstract
Yugoslav state security services became infamous for organizing dozens of targeted killings against hostile emigrants abroad. What can be regarded as an interlinked chain of violence and counter-violence has more to it. First, there is the experience of external threats (not only) common to Communist leaders. But in the Yugoslav case, the global non-aligned position of the country strengthened the insecurity felt by the leadership. This was caused by a close identification with Third World countries affected by Cold War interventions. Officials and politicians concerned with security matters interpreted the continuing aggression of the “hostile emigration” as part and proof of a subliminal “Special War” against the socialist self-administration system. As a response, the state security stepped up the lethal operations in the host countries of the “hostile emigration”. The study starts with the development of anti-Communist and pro-Soviet exile activism in the post-war period. It traces the reinforcement of the danger posed by hostile émigrés back to the early 1960s, when Yugoslavia became a prominent member of the Non- Aligned Movement. Also, it analyses the roots of the “Special War” and shows how this idea of external intervention was transferred to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). The consequences of the adaptation to the Yugoslav conditions are addressed as well as the outcome for the treatment of the “hostile emigration.” A critical assessment of émigré terrorism is followed by the presentation of exemplified cases. This essay seeks for a better comprehension of the mental disposition behind the drastic measures applied by Yugoslav secret services. Therefore, it is focused on the importance of the antagonistic emigration for the concept of the “Special War.”
Keywords:
Special War, Specijalni rat, UDBA, SDB, targeted killings, Croatian exiles, Kosovo-Albanian exiles, terrorism, history of emotions, state securityReferences
Adrić, Iris. “Brigama.” In Leksikon YU mitologije. Belgrade, Zagreb: Postscriptum & Rende, 2023. Accessed April 21, 2023. http://www.leksikon-yu-mitologije.net/brigama/.
Anderson, Raymond H. “Rebel ‘Invasion’ Stirs Yugoslavs.” The New York Times, August 20, 1972.
Apor, Péter, James Mark, Piotr Osęka, and Radina Vučetić. “‘We Are with You, Vietnam’. Transnational Solidarities in Socialist Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia.” Journal of Contemporary History 50, no. 3 (2015): 439–64. (Crossref)
Archive of the Republic Slovenia [ARS], Ljubljana. Archive of Yugoslavia [AJ], Belgrade.
Barčet, Vilfred G. Istina o ratu u Vijetnamu. Beograd: Kultura, 1966.
Bašić, Natalija. “Jeder Tag war „Allgemeine Volksverteidigung“ (ONO). Zur militaristischen Kultur und Gewalterziehung im sozialistischen Jugoslawien (SFRJ) 1945–1990.” Jahrbücher für Geschichte und Kultur Südosteuropas 4, (2002): 69–90.
Bator, Angelika. USA-Politik gegen Asien. Die strategischen Grundzüge nach dem 2. Weltkrieg. Berlin: Militärverlag der Dt. Demokrat. Republik, 1986.
Bošković, Milo. Antijugoslovenska fašistička emigracija. Belgrade, Novi Sad: Sloboda, 1980.
Bošković, Milo. Šesta kolona. Nastanak, organizacija i delovanje antijugoslovenske fašističke emigracije. Zagreb, Novi Sad: Birotehnika, 1985.
Brdar, Vladimir. “Snage za vođenje specijalnog rata.” Vojno delo 35, no. 3 (1983): 69–74.
Bubanj, Viktor. Doktrina pobjede. Belgrade: Narodna armija, 1972.
Bubanj, Viktor. “Osnovi vojne doktrine i strategije oružanih snaga SFRJ.” Vojno delo 23, (1971): 3–23.
Bundesbeauftragte für die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (BStU), Berlin.
Cain, Frank. “The Australian Security Organization. An Unofficial History.” Ilford/Es., Portland/Or.: Cass, 1994.
Calic, Marie-Janine. Südosteuropa. Weltgeschichte einer Region. Munich: C.H. Beck, 2016. (Crossref)
Čavoški, Jovan. “U potrazi za novim smislom. Jugoslavija i kriza globalne nesvrstanosti 1965–1970.” Istorija 20. veka 39, no. 2 (2021): 353–74. (Crossref)
Čepič, Zdenko. “Politične okoliščine uvajanja vojaške doktrine splošne ljudske obrambe.” Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino 50, no. 3 (2010): 79–100.
Costamagna, Christian. “Yugoslavia and the Special War in Late Socialism. New Research Perspectives.” Serbian Studies Research 8, no. 1 (2017): 121–52.
Croatian State Archives [HDA], Zagreb.
Cuzzi, Marco. “The Refractory Community. Yugoslav Anti-communists in Post-war Italy.” Balcanica 52 (2021): 159–78. (Crossref)
Cvetković, Vladimir. “Obustavljanje antijugoslovenske propagande u susednim „informbiroovskim” zemljama 1953–1954. Godine.” Tokovi istorije, no. 1 (2012): 135–49. (Crossref)
Cvetković, Srđan. “Terorizam i jugoslovenska politička emigracija,” Istorija 20. veka XXXII, no. 2 (2014): 171–97. (Crossref)
Darnton, John. “Yugoslavia Asks U.S. to Curb a Croat Exile Group Suspected of Violence.” The New York Times, 23 March, 1980.
Doder, Milenko. Jugoslavenska neprijateljska emigracija. Zagreb: Centar za Informacije i Publicitet, 1989.
Dokumenti o spoljnoj politici SFRJ 1945, edited by Savezni sekretarijat za inostrane poslove. Belgrade: Jugoslovenski Pregled, 1988.
Đorđević, Nenad. Bezbednost i Jugoslavija. Zagreb: Jugart, 1985.
Dragišić, Petar. “Hrvatska politička emigracija i Jugoslavija početkom osamdesetih godina. Pripreme za završni obračun,” Istorija 20. Veka 38, no. 2 (2020): 203–18. (Crossref)
Dragišić, Petar. Ko je pucao u Jugoslaviju? Jugoslovenska politička emigracija na Zapadu 1968–1980.
Belgrade: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije, 2019.
Foglesong, David. America’s Secret War Against Bolshevism. U.S. Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1917–1920. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1995.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Eastern Europe; Finland; Greece; Turkey, Volume XX, Part 2, edited by Ronald D. Landa, James E. Miller, William F. Sanford, and Sherrill
Brown Wells. Washington DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1993.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume II, Vietnam, 1962, edited by John P. Glennon, David M. Baehler, and Charles S. Sampson. Washington DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1990.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume VIII, National Security Policy, edited by David W. Mabon. Washington DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1996.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volumes VII, VIII, IX, Arms Control; National Security Policy; Foreign Economic Policy, Microfiche Supplement, edited by Evans Gerakas, David W. Mabon, David S. Patterson, William F. Sanford, Jr., and Carolyn B. Yee. Washington DC: Department of State, 1997.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume II, Vietnam, January–June 1965, edited by David C. Humphrey, Ronald D. Landa, and Louis J. Smith. Washington DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1996.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume VII, Vietnam July 1970–January 1972, edited by David Goldman and Erin Mahan. Washington DC: Office of the Historian, 2010.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XL, Germany and Berlin, 1969–1972, edited by David C. Geyer. Washington DC: United States Government Printing Office, 2008.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXIX, Eastern Europe; Eastern Mediterranean, 1969–1972, edited by James E. Miller, Douglas E. Selvage, and Laurie Van Hook. Washington DC: United States Government Printing Office, 2007.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XX, Eastern Europe, edited by Carl Ashley and Mircea A. Munteanu. Washington DC: United States Government Publishing Office, 2015.
Goda, Norman. “The Ustaša. Murder and Espionage.” In U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis, edited by Richard Breitman et al. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2005.
Hadalin, Jurij. “Načrti Jugoslavije in Zahoda za menjavo albanskega režima v času po resoluciji informbiroja.” Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino 51, no. 2 (2011): 91–104.
Hadalin, Jurij. “Odnos varnostno-obveščevalnih služb do albanske manjšine v Jugoslaviji po izbruhu demonstracij na Kosovu leta 1981.” Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino 51, no. 1 (2011): 313–28.
Hockenos, Paul. Homeland Calling. Exile Patriotism & the Balkan Wars. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 2003. (Crossref)
Hrvatska u izvještajima partijskih komiteta 1945–1948, edited by Marina Štambuk-Škalić and Marijan Jukić. Fontes 17 (2011): 13–132.
Ivanović, Vladimir. “Ekstremna emigracija u SR Nemačkoj i Jugoslavija.” Istorija 20. veka, no. 1 (2009): 139–47.
Jakir, Aleksandar. “Anti-Communist Guerilla in Croatia 1945–1951.” In Protikomunistický odboj v strednej a východnej Európe. Zborník z medzinárodnej vedeckej konferencie Bratislava 14. – 16. novembra 2011, edited by Peter Jašek, 434–49. Bratislava: Ústav pamäti národa, 2012.
Janjetović, Zoran. “Sticking to Guns. The Disarmament Action in Kosovo 1955/56.” Godišnjak za društvenu istoriju, no. 1 (2021): 73–90.
Jareb, Mario. “Hrvatska politička emigracija od 1928. do 1990. godine.” In Hrvatska politika u XX. stoljeću. Zbornik radova sa znanstvenog skupa održanog u paliči Matice hrvatske od 27. do 29. travnja 2004., edited by Ljubomir Andrić, 307–36. Zagreb: Matica hrvatska, 2006.
“Jugoslawiens Furcht vor inneren und äußeren Feinden.”Osteuropa-Archiv, no. 3 (1979): 190–5.
Knežević, Petar. “Specijalni rat – međunarodnopravni aspekt i nastanak doctrine.” Vojno delo 29, (1977): 120–8.
Kosinski, Leszek. “International Migration of Yugoslavs During and Immediately after World War II,” East European Quarterly 16, no. 2 (1982): 183–98.
Kramer, Mark. “Soviet-Polish Relations and the Crises of 1956. Brinkmanship and Intra-Bloc Politics.“ In Kommunismus in der Krise die Entstalinisierung. 1956 und die Folgen, edited by Roger Engelmann, 61–126. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008.
Krašić, Wollfy. “A Failed Assassination Attempt on the Deželić Family in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1965 by the Yugoslav Security Service.” Zbornik Janković, no. 5–6 (2021): 235–77. (Crossref)
Krolo, Tomislav. Hrvatski politički emigrant 1941.–1991., edited by Ivan Čizmić. Zagreb: self-published, 2009.
Le Normand, Brigitte. “Yugoslavia.” In East Central European Migrations During the Cold War. A Handbook, edited by Anna Mazurkiewicz, 368–95. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter, 2019. (Crossref)
Lompar, Ratko. “Prilog istraživanju borbe jugoslovenskih vlasti protiv pokreta Zbor u zemlji i emigraciji 1944.–1974.” Istorijski zapisi 94, no. 3–4 (2021): 101–22.
Lučić, Ivica. “Security and Intelligence Services in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” National Security and the Future 2, no. 1 (2000): 75–104.
Marijan, Davor. “Koncepcija općenarodne obrane i društvene samozaštite – militarizam samoupravnoga socijalizma.” ČSP, no. 3 (2021): 953–87. (Crossref)
Marković, Dragan, Nikola Milovanović, and Đuro Rebić. Ratnici mira, vol. 3. Specijalni rat. Belgrade: Sloboda, 1979.
Maslić, Andjelko. “Terrorism by Fascist Emigration of Yugoslav Origin.” Socialist Thought and Practice 21, no. 3 (1981): 49–64.
Mihaljević, Josip. “Aktuelno stanje posle 21. Sednice Predsedništva CK SKJ i ocene bezbednosne situacije u Jugoslaviji u 1971. godini, SSUP (SDB).” Fontes 27, no. 1 (2021): 715–44.
Milivojević, Marko, John B. Allcock, and Pierre Maurer (eds). “Yugoslavia’s Security Dilemmas – Armed Forces, National Defence and Foreign Policy.” Oxford: Berg, 1988.
Milošević, Milan. “Organizacija bezbednosno-obaveštajnog sistema FNRJ (1946–1966).” Bezbednost, no. 3 (2007): 168–81.
Mitrovich, Gregory. Undermining the Kremlin. America’s Strategy to Subvert the Soviet Bloc, 1947–1956. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000.
Molnar, Christopher. “Croatian Émigrés, Political Violence, and Coming to Terms with the Past in 1960s West Germany.” In German-Balkan Entangled Histories in the Twentieth Century, edited by Mirna Zakić and Christopher A. Molnar, 216–30. Pittsburgh: Univ. Press, 2020. (Crossref)
Morgan, Dan. “Belgrade Begins Crackdown on Croat Nationalism.” The Washington Post, July 28, 1972.
National Archives of Australia [NAA], Canberra.
Nobilo, Anto. Obrana hrvatskog kontraobavještajaca Josipa Perkovića na njemačkom sudu. Zagreb: vbz, 2018.
O’Brien, John. “No Blood Is Shed. Chicago Passes 1st Test of Terrorism.” Chicago Tribune, August 20, 1978.
Open Society Archive [OSA], Budapest.
Pavlica, Branko. Antijugoslovenska aktivnost neprijateljske emigracije u SR Nemačkoj (1951–1984). Smederevo: Naš Glas, 1990.
Pavlica, Branko. Jugoslavija i SR Nemačka 1951–1991. Belgrade, Smederevo: B. Pavlica, 2002.
Pavlica, Branko. “Migracije iz Jugoslavije u Nemačku. Migranti, emigranti, izbeglice, azilanti.” Međunarodni problemi 57, no. 1–2 (2005): 121–58.
Perušina, Valentina. “Hrvatska politička emigracija – sigurnosna prijetnja socijalističkoj Jugoslaviji.” Polemos XXII, no. 1–2 (2019): 13–37.
Petrovic, Barney. “Tourist Plans Hit by Yugoslav Riots.” The Guardian, May 30, 1981.
Political Archive of the Auswärtiges Amt [PA AA], Berlin.
Public Records Office [PRO], London.
Rebić, Đuro. Teror Crne Internacionalne. Belgrade: Sloboda, 1979.
“Remarks of President Reagan and President Mika Spiljak of Yugoslavia Following Their Meetings.” February 1, 1984. Accessed May 4, 2023. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-president-reagan-and-president-mika-spiljak-yugoslavia-following-their.
Ritter, László. “Der geheime Krieg zwischen dem Sowjetblock und Jugoslawien 1948 bis 1953.” In: Die Alpen im Kalten Krieg. Historischer Raum, Strategie und Sicherheitspolitik, edited by Dieter Krüger and Felix Schneider, 277–311. Munich: Oldenbourg, 2012. (Crossref)
Robionek, Bernd. “‘Bleiburg’ and the British Treatment of Croatian Collaborators 1945–48.” In 1945. Kraj ili novi početak?, edited by Zoran Janjetović, 277–308. Belgrade: INIS, 2016.
Robionek, Bernd. “Hybride Identitäten in der Emigration. „Volksdeutsche“ und die jugoslawische Staatssicherheit.“ JKGE 3, (2022): 227–40. (Crossref)
Robionek, Bernd. “Outsiders of the Cold War? Changing Attitudes towards anti-Communism within the Croatian Political Emigration (1945–80’s).” In Politický exil z krajín strednej a východnej Európy. Motívy, stratégie, aktivity a perspektívy na Východe a Západe, 1945–1989, edited by Peter Jašek, 84–94. Bratislava: Ústav pamäti národa, 2017.
Robionek, Bernd. “State Security out of Control? The Influence of Yugoslavia’s Political Leadership on Targeted Killings abroad (1965–84).” OEZB Working Paper, March 2020.
Rubinstein, Alvin. Yugoslavia and the Nonaligned World. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1970.
Šarić, Tatjana. “Bijeg iz socijalističke Jugoslavije. Ilegalna emigracija iz Hrvatske od 1945. do početka
šezdesetih godina 20. Stoljeća.” Migracijske i etničke teme 31, no. 2 (2015): 195–220. (Crossref)
Saxon, Wolfgang. “Judge Moderates Prison Sentences Of ‘76 Hijackers.” The New York Times, April 4, 1979.
Schindler, John. “Defeating the Sixth Column. Intelligence and Strategy in the War on Islamist Terrorism.” Orbis (2005): 695–712. (Crossref)
Seratlić, Novo. Šesta kolona. Terorističke akcije jugoslovenske neprijateljske emigracije. Belgrade: Vojnoizdavački i Novinski Centar, 1989.
Simić, Pero and Zvonimir Despot, eds. Tito strogo poverljivo. Arhivski dokumenti. Belgrade: Službeni Glasnik, 2010.
Simon, Jeffrey. The Terrorist Trap. America’s Experience with Terrorism, 2nd ed. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana Univ. Press, 2001.
Spehnjak, Katarina, and Tihomir Cipek. “Disidenti, opozicija i otpor – Hrvatska i Jugoslavija 1945.–1990.” ČSP 39, no. 2 (2007): 255–97.
Srpska politička emigracija u analima jugoslovenske diplomatije (1945–1971). Prilozi za diplomatiju i diplomatsku istoriju, vol. 1, edited by Dragan Subotić. Belgrade: Inst. za Političke Studije, 2004.
Steindorff, Ludwig. “Der Kroatische Frühling. Eine soziale Bewegung in einer sozialistischen Gesellschaft.“ In Der Balkan. Eine europäische Krisenregion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, edited by Jürgen Elvert, 197–210. Stuttgart: Steiner, 1997.
Sudetic, Chuck. “Yugoslavia Will Not Survive. A Statement by the Croatian National Congress.” The New York Times, March 14, 1980.
Tanasković, Rajko. „Teritorijalna odbrana.” Vojno delo 22, (1970): 12–74.
Tasić, Dmitar. “Kontraobaveštajna služba (KOS) i rezolucija IB. Prilog istraživanju istorije vojne službe bezbednosti.” Istorijski zapisi 86, no. 1–2 (2013): 151–70.
Thaden, Matthias. “Migration und Innere Sicherheit. Kroatische Exilgruppen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1945–1980.” Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2022. (Crossref)
Tito, Josip Broz. Sabrana djela, vol. 30. 1. decembar 1945 – 18. avgust 1946. Belgrade: Izdavački centar Komunist, 1989.
Tokić, Mate. “Landscapes of Conflict. Unity and Disunity in post-Second World War Croatian Émigré Separatism.” European Review of History 16, no. 5 (2009): 739–53. (Crossref)
Trošelj Miočević, Tanja. “Hrvatsko narodno vijeće od 1974. do 1990.” Obnovljeni Život 75, no. 2 (2020): 229–45. (Crossref)
U.S. “Special War” in South Viet Nam, edited by Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Hanoi: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1964.
Van Hieu, Nguyen. ’Special War’ – an Outgrowth of Neo-Colonialism. Beijing: Foreign Languages Pr., 1965.
Vilić, Dušan, and Mihajlo Vučinić. “’Specijalni rat’ u Vijetnamu.” Vojno delo 25, (1973): 120–46.
Vodinelić, Vladimir. Deset verzija više jedna jednako istina. Zapisi o bonskom i stockholmskom procesu ustaškim teroristima. Split: Marksistički centar, 1973.
Vučinić, Mihajlo. “Dve strategije rata u Vijetnamu. Neka gledišta o američkoj vojnoj strategiji u Vijetnamu.” Vojno delo, no. 2 (1967): 69–91.
Wachtel, Andrew. The Balkans in World History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. (Crossref)
Westad, Odd Arne. The Global Cold War. Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times. Cambridge: Univ. Press, 2007.
Zapisnici Izvršnoga komiteta Centralnoga komiteta Saveza komunista Hrvatske, 1959. – 1963, vol. 5, edited by Marijana Jukić. Zagreb: HDA, 2018.
Zapisnici Politbiroa Centralnoga Komiteta Komunističke Partije Hrvatske, 1952–1954, vol. 3, edited by Branislava Vojnović. Zagreb: HDA, 2008.
Zimmermann, William. Open Borders, Nonalignment, and the Political Evolution of Yugoslavia. Princeton NJ: Univ. Pr., 1987. (Crossref)
Osteuropa-Zentrum, Berlin https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2299-4099
