Terrorism in Yugoslavia

Summary

This article includes information on terrorist acts and groups in or against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–45) and Federal Yugoslavia (1945–92). Many of the terrorist acts were carried out outside Yugoslavia against Yugoslav subjects.[1] The post-war period until circa 1985 was marked by frequent terrorist attacks on Yugoslav institutions organized by extremist emigrant organizations.[2] Between 1962 and 1982, they carried out 128 terrorist attacks against Yugoslav civilian and military targets.[3]

Socialist Yugoslavia edit

Ustaše terrorism edit

Ustaše terrorism continued over the years after Ante Pavelić's death. The Croatian Liberation Movement (HOP) conducted several assassinations and attacks on Yugoslav diplomacy and JAT representations in Australia.[4] Between 1962 and 1982, Croatian nationalists carried out 128 terror attacks against Yugoslav civilian and military targets.[5] Croat fascist and HSO member Miljenko Hrkać carried out the bombing of a Belgrade cinema in September 1968, leaving one dead and 85 wounded.[6] In 1969, two Yugoslav diplomats in Western Germany were shot and wounded by Ustaše assassins.[6] In 1970, Yugoslav secretary Vladimir Rolović handed over information on Ustaše and their involvement in terrorist actions to the Australian government (which had tolerated and even trained the Ustaše).[7] The following year, two Ustaše youngsters murdered Rolović while he was the ambassador to Sweden.[7] In January 1972 a JAT plane was bombed allegedly by Croatian ultranationalist agents,[7] killing everyone on board except for one survivor, Vesna Vulović. The crackdown on the Croatian leadership led to heightened anti-Yugoslav activity by Croat emigrant groups. On 29 March 1972 a Yugoslav tourist office was bombed in Stockholm.[8] The last members of the Bugojno group were captured, tried and sentenced on 21 December 1972.

Chetnik terrorism edit

In 1975, Nikola Kavaja, a diaspora Chetnik-sympathizer living in Chicago and belonging to the Serbian National Defense Council (SNDC), was responsible for the bombing of a Yugoslav consul's home, the first in a series of attacks targeting the Yugoslav state in the United States and Canada. He and his co-conspirators were captured in a sting set up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and convicted for terrorism for the incident and for planning to bomb two Yugoslav receptions on Yugoslavia's National Day. Later that year, during his flight to receive his sentence, he hijacked the American Airlines Flight 293 with the intention of crashing the plane into Tito's Belgrade headquarters, but was dissuaded; he ultimately received a 67-year prison sentence.[9]

Events edit

Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–41) edit

Federal Yugoslavia (1945–92) edit

Groups edit

Notable people edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Conflict in Post-War Yugoslavia: The Search for a Narrative". The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
  2. ^ Denich, Bette (1994). "Dismembering Yugoslavia: Nationalist Ideologies and the Symbolic Revival of Genocide". American Ethnologist. 21 (2): 367–390. doi:10.1525/ae.1994.21.2.02a00080. ISSN 0094-0496. JSTOR 645894.
  3. ^ Breaking the Conflict Trap (1st ed.). Massachusetts: World Bank Policy Research Report. 2003. p. 242. ISBN 0-8213-5481-7. Archived (HTML) from the original on June 17, 2022.
  4. ^ Johnstone 2002, p. 152.
  5. ^ Pluchinsky 2010, p. 49.
  6. ^ a b Čubrić 1990, p. 13.
  7. ^ a b c West 2012, p. 179.
  8. ^ Central Intelligence Bulletin, Central Intelligence Agency. 30 March 1972.
  9. ^ Hockenos 2003, pp. 116–19.
  10. ^ Morawski, Konrad. "The assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia in the light of archival press articles" (PDF). RCIN. Retrieved 2023-01-19.

Sources edit

  • Bieber, Florian (2003). "Approaches to political violence and terrorism in former Yugoslavia". Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans. 5 (1): 39–51. doi:10.1080/1461319032000062642. S2CID 149208701.
  • Brown, Gregory Scott (2004). "Coping with long-distance nationalism: Inter-ethnic conflict in a diaspora context" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • Clissold, Stephen (1979). Croat Separatism: Nationalism, Dissidence, and Terrorism. Institute for the Study of Conflict.
  • Cvetković, Srđan (2014). "Terorizam i jugoslovenska politička emigracija". Istorija 20. Veka. 2 (2/2014): 171–197. doi:10.29362/ist20veka.2014.2.cve.171-198.
  • Čubrić, Milan (1990). Između noža i križa. Književne novine. ISBN 9788639101916.
  • Hockenos, Paul (2003). Homeland Calling: Exile Patriotism & the Balkan Wars. Cornell University Press. pp. 62–. ISBN 0-8014-4158-7.
  • Johnstone, Diana (2002). Fools' Crusade: Yugoslavia, Nato, and Western Delusions. NYU Press. ISBN 978-1-58367-084-2.
  • Pluchinsky, Dennis (2010). "Ethnic Terrorism: Themes and Variations". In Tan, Andrew T.H. (ed.). Politics of Terrorism: A Survey. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-13683-336-6.
  • Sadkovich, James J. (1988). "Terrorism in Croatia, 1929-1934". East European Quarterly. 22 (1): 55–.
  • West, Richard (2012). Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia. Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-28110-7.

Further reading edit

  • Tokić, Mate Nikola (2020). Croatian Radical Separatism and Diaspora Terrorism During the Cold War. Purdue University Press. ISBN 9781557538925.

External links edit

  • "The 7 largest terrorist attacks in the history of Yugoslavia" (in Bosnian).
  • "Nothing has changed" (in Bosnian).