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Government of National Salvation Vlada narodnog spasa ( cyr) )Regierung der nationalen Rettung (de | ||
---|---|---|
1941–1944 | ||
Anthem: Puppet government | ||
Prime Minister | ||
• 1941–1944 | Milan Nedić | |
Historical era | Evacuation to Austria | October 1944 |
Currency | Serbian Dinar |
The Government of National Salvation ([Vlada narodnog spasa, Влада народног спаса] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help); German: Regierung der nationalen Rettung), also referred to as the Nedić regime, was the second Serbian puppet government, after the Commissioner Government, established on the Territory of the (German) Military Commander in Serbia[Note 1] during World War II. It was appointed by the German Military Commander in Serbia and operated from 29 August 1941 to October 1944. The Nedic´ regime enjoyed some support.[2] The Prime Minister throughout was General Milan Nedić. The Government of National Salvation was evacuated from Belgrade to Kitzbühel, Austria in the first week of October 1944 before the German withdrawal from Serbia was complete. Nedić himself was captured by the Americans when they occupied Austria, and was subsequently handed over to the Yugoslav communist authorities to act as a witness against war criminals on the understanding he would be returned to American custody to face trial by the Allies. The Yugoslav authorities refused to return Nedić to American custody, and he died on 4 February 1946 after falling out the window of a Belgrade hospital, under circumstances which remain unclear.
History
Formation
Following the
On 29 August 1941, Nedić was installed as the prime minister following the resignation of the Commissioner Administration. His first cabinet included fifteen members. The Germans were particularly impressed with his reputation as a man of authority. They threatened to bring in Bulgarian troops to occupy the whole of Serbia, including Belgrade, if he did not accept.[4] The regime did not have any international standing even among the Axis powers. Although Heinrich Danckelmann, the Military Commander in Serbia, promised to give Nedić and his government a high degree of authority and independence, the deal was never written down, so his oral agreements were void after he was replaced by General Franz Böhme. Although Turner attempted to convince Danckellmann's successors to grant the Government of National Salvation more power, his requests were ignored. However, they did allow him to organize a Serbian State Guard (Srpska državna straža, SDS), unifying the Serbian gendarmerie and other formations.[5]
Waning power
In his first radio address on Radio Belgrade, Nedić condemned the communist-led resistance and gave them an ultimatum to put down their arms. However, Nedić soon lost control of the State Guard, when, on 22 January 1942, General
Relations between the Serbian government and the Bulgarian occupation forces in Serbia were strained. A colonel in the Bulgarian 6th Division noted that the local population hated the Bulgarians as much as they hated the Germans.[7] Nedić frequently complained about their presence to the Germans and demanded that the Bulgarians withdrew from Serbia.[8]
In the
In March 1942, in the face of the government's growing unpopularity, Nedić sent a memorandum to the Germans with suggestions to improve its standing. They included having elections for a head of state, forming a single national political party, giving the head of state command of the SDS, only interfering with the higher levels of the Serbian government to give them more freedom to work with the Serbian people, and withdrawing Bulgarian forces from Serbia. General Paul Bader, the new Military Commander in Serbia, had Turner speak with Nedić, pressuring the prime minister to withdraw the memorandum. Backed by the entire cabinet, Nedić refused to withdraw it and asked for the memorandum to be sent to Berlin for consideration. It was sent, where the German high command ignored it. Nedić tried again in September 1942, this time threatening to resign for greater effect. The Germans declined it but persuaded him to remain in office. German Wehrmacht officers in Serbia nontheless still considered Nedić to be loyal and praised him for being a dependable man.[10]
Relations with the Chetniks
Cooperation between the Serbian puppet government and the Chetniks began in the fall of 1941, during a major German operation in western Serbia against the partisans. The Chetniks wanted to minimize Serbian casualties from German reprisals by defeating the partisans, and later wanted to gain a solid base in the Nedić regime's military and administrative apparatus, so that they could seize control of the government before the partisans at the end of the war. Many members of the Serbian government maintained contact with the Chetniks, including interior minister Milan Aćimović. He later served as the liaison between the Germans and the Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović. Several Chetnik units "legalized" themselves by serving with the quisling forces of the Serbian puppet government, but at the same time, Chetniks also took part in activities against the Germans and their auxiliaries. The government's armed forces gave weapons and other supplies to the Chetniks and provided them with intelligence.[11]
Legalized Chetnik forces included the Pećanac Chetniks, which fought against the partisans with the Serbian government forces since August 1941. The Germans did not trust them. At the peak of their strength in May 1942, the legalized Chetniks numbered at 13,400 officers, non-commissioned officers, and men. Chetnik detachments were, as with the other Serbian forces, under German command. However, most legalized Chetnik detachments were dissolved in late 1942, with the last being dissolved in March 1943. Some of them joined the SDS or SDK, but the majority returned to Mihailović's illegal Chetniks.[12] The Chetniks made a number of agreements with the Germans in 1943, bypassing the Serbian puppet government, which resulted in Nedić and his regime losing what support it had left among the people. Many members of his administration, including government officials, as well as military and police officers, made secret deals with the Chetniks themselves. Those included Aćimović, Belgrade's mayor, Dragomir Jovanović, and General Miodrag Damjanović of the State Guard.[8]
Accepting refugees
One area in which the Government of National Salvation did have success was the acceptance of Serbian refugees that fled from neighboring states, most notably the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). The Ustaše, a Croatian nationalist organization in the NDH, expelled Serbs from its territory in large numbers. The Germans also transferred some Slovenes to the Serbian rump state as that territory was incorporated into the German Reich. Other sources of refugees included Bulgarian-occupied Macedonia and the Italian governorate of Montenegro. Franz Neuhausen, the German plenipotentiary for economic affairs, estimated that there were about 420,000 refugees in Serbia. The Nedić regime created a Committee for Refugees in May 1941 to handle them, headed by Toma Maksimović, a former factory boss from Borovo. While the committee had difficulties in finding enough food, housing, and other supplies for them, the refugees were well received by the Serbian population. Food was especially difficult to provide due to the Germans exporting it to the Reich or to German forces in Greece. Most of the able-bodied refugees were employed, while children were either placed into different households or orphanages.
German officials pointed out that transfers of people from the NDH to Serbia increased the unrest in the territory, due to the fact some refugees joined the partisans or the Chetniks. The Serbian government, and some German officials, wanted to repatriate some Serbs to the places that they came from, but this was denied by the military administration, due to the difficulties that would be present for them in the NDH.[13]
Final days of the regime
As the tide turned against Germany during the war, the German occupational administration sought to ally all anti-communist forces to fight against the partisans, including Mihailović's Chetniks.
The Germans' workings with the Chetniks angered Nedić, who wrote a nine-page list of complaints to the Germans on 22 February 1944. The list included complaints that the Germans were now giving Mihailović more power than him. He also criticized the large burden of occupation cost and German interference at even the lowest levels of his administration, and the fact that none of his proposals for improving the situation were accepted. After that, the Military Commander in Serbia (Hans Felber, who replaced Bader in 1943) asked Nedić for his opinion about a change of policy towards the Chetniks, but it was also ignored. Only one of Neubacher's policy changes were successful, the easing of reprisals against the Serbian population by German forces.[8]
Nedić and Mihailović met on 20 August 1944 to discuss the situation in Serbia and how they should respond to it. The two agreed that they needed more arms from the Germans for the Chetniks and the SDS to fight the partisans, and were able to convince
After the war
Belgrade was liberated by partisans and Soviet forces in the
Military
Serbian State Guard
The Government of National Salvation founded a military, the
The SDS was equipped using arms and ammunition captured by the Germans from throughout Europe, and was organised as a largely static force split across five regions (oblasts): Belgrade, Kraljevo, Niš, Valjevo and Zaječar, with one battalion per region. Each region was further divided into three districts (okrugs), each of which included one or more SDS companies.[16] An independent force known as the Banat State Guard operated in the Banat region, which numbered less than one thousand men.[9]
Auxiliary formations
In addition to the State Guard, a number of other formations fought in Serbia alongside the Germans. Those included the Serbian Volunteer Corps, formed in September 1941 by as the Serbian Volunteer Detachments, under Dimitrije Ljotić, a member of the fascist Yugoslav National Movement. The organization was divided into nineteen detachments, and after being renamed the Serbian Volunteer Corps, received a new structure that included companies, battalions, and regiments. It consisted of about 12,000 members, and included about 150 Croats. It was the only Serbian quisling formation trusted by the Germans, and was praised by German commanders for its valor in action.[6]
There was also a group of Chetniks, the
Administrative divisions
Serbia's borders initially incorporated parts of the territory of five of the prewar banovinas.[18]
In October 1941, the Germans ordered the Nedić government to reorganise the territory, as the existing structure was not suitable and did not meet military requirements. By means of an order issued on 4 December 1941, the German military commander adjusted the military-administrative structure to conform to German requirements.
County | Districts |
---|---|
Belgrade County | Sopot, Umka, Veliko Orašje
|
Ivanjica County | Vučitrn
|
Kragujevac County | |
Kraljevo County | Čačak, Guča, Kraljevo, Preljina |
Kruševac County | Aleksandrovac, Brus, Kruševac, Ražanj, Trstenik |
Jagodina County | Ćuprija, Despotovac, Jagodina, Paraćin, Rekovac, Svilajnac, Varvarin |
Leskovac County | Kuršumlija, Lebane, Leskovac, Prokuplje, Vladičin Han, Vlasotince |
Niš County | Aleksinac, Bela Palanka, Lužnica, Niš, Petrovac, Svrljig, Žitkovac |
Požarevac County | Golubac, Kučevo, Petrovac, Požarevac, Veliko Gradište, Žabari, Žagubica |
Šabac County | Bogatić, Krupanj, Ljubovija, Loznica, Obrenovac, Šabac, Vladimirci |
Užice County | Arilje, Bajina Bašta, Čajetina, Kosjerić, Požega, Užice |
Valjevo County | |
Veliki Bečkerek County
|
Veliki Bečkerek, Vršac
|
Zaječar County | Boljevac, Bor, Brza Palanka, Donji Milanovac, Kladovo, Knjaževac, Kraljevo Selo, Negotin, Salaš, Sokobanja, Zaječar |
List of ministers
President of the council of ministers
# | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) |
Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Milan Nedić (1878–1946) |
29 August 1941 | 4 October 1944 | After the war, he was captured and died after falling out of a window at a Belgrade hospital. |
Minister of internal affairs
# | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) |
Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Milan Aćimović (1898–1945) |
29 August 1941 | 10 November 1942 | He was killed by Yugoslav Partisans in May 1945. | |
2 | Tanasije Dinić (1891–1946) |
10 November 1942 | 5 November 1943 | He was captured by Yugoslav authorities after the war and executed. | |
3 | Milan Nedić (1878–1946) |
5 November 1943 | 4 October 1944 | He was the president of the council and interior minister concurrently from November 1943. |
Minister of buildings
# | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) |
Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ognjen Kuzmanović (?) |
29 August 1941 | 4 October 1944 |
Minister of post offices, telegraphs and telephones
# | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) |
Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Josif Kostić (1877–1960) |
29 August 1941 | 4 October 1944 | Survived the war and died around 1960. |
Minister of the presidency council
# | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) |
Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Momčilo Janković (1883–1944) |
29 August 1941 | 5 October 1941 | Left the government after disagreements with other ministers, executed by partisans in 1944. |
Minister of education
# | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) |
Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Miloš Trivunac (1876–1944) |
29 August 1941 | 7 october 1941 | Executed by partisans in 1944. | |
2 | Velibor Jonić (1892–1946) |
7 october 1941 | 4 October 1944 | He was captured by Yugoslav authorities after the war and executed. |
Minister of finance
# | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) |
Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Dušan Letica (?) |
29 August 1941 | 7 October 1941 | Left the government in 1941. | |
2 | Ljubiša Mikić (?) |
7 October 1941 | 10 November 1942 | ||
3 | Dušan Đorđević (?) |
10 November 1942 | 04 october 1944 |
Minister of labor
# | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) |
Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Panta Draškić (?) |
29 August 1941 | 10 November 1942 |
Minister of justice
# | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) |
Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Čedomir Marjanović (?) |
29 August 1941 | 10 November 1942 | ||
2 | Bogoljub Kujundžić (1887–1949) |
10 November 1942 | 4 October 1944 | Survived the war and died in 1949. |
Minister of social policy and people's health
# | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) |
Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jovan Mijušković (1886–1944) |
29 August 1941 | 10 November 1942 | He was captured by Yugoslav partisans and executed in 1944. | |
2 | Stojimir Dobrosavljević (?) |
10 November 1942 | 6 November 1943 | ||
3 | Tanasije Dinić (1891–1946) |
6 November 1943 | 4 October 1944 | He was captured by Yugoslav authorities after the war and executed. |
Minister of agriculture
# | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) |
Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Miloš Radosavljević (?) |
29 August 1941 | 10 November 1942 | ||
2 | Radosav Veselinović (?) |
10 November 1942 | 4 October 1944 |
Minister of people's economy
# | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) |
Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mihailo Olćan (1894–1961) |
29 August 1941 | 11 October 1942 | Escaped after the war and died in Australia in 1961. | |
2 | Milorad Nedeljković (1883–1961) |
10 November 1942 | 4 October 1944 | Escaped after the war and died in France in 1961. |
Minister of transportation
# | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) |
Term of Office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Đura Dokić (?) |
7 October 1941 | 10 November 1942 |
Education
Under minister Velibor Jonić, the government abandoned the eight-year elementary school system adopted in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and moved to a four-year program. A new curriculum was introduced:[21]
Subject | I Grade | II Grade | III Grade | IV Grade |
---|---|---|---|---|
Religious education | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Serbian | 11 | 11 | 7 | 7 |
Fatherland and history | - | - | 4 | 6 |
Nature | - | - | 5 | 5 |
Math and geometry | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
Singing | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Physical education | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Total hours | 20 | 20 | 26 | 28 |
See also
Notes
Footnotes
- ^ Hehn (1971), pp. 344-373
- ISBN 0719064678.
- ^ Tomasevich (2001), p. 175
- ^ Tomasevich (2001), pp. 177-180
- ^ a b c d Tomasevich (2001), pp. 182-185
- ^ a b Tomasevich (2001), pp. 187-190
- ^ Tomasevich (2001), pp. 200-201
- ^ a b c d e f g Tomasevich (2001), pp. 222-228
- ^ a b Tomasevich (2001), pp. 205-207
- ^ Tomasevich (2001), pp. 210-212
- ^ Tomasevich (2001), pp. 212-216
- ^ a b Tomasevich (2001), pp. 194-195
- ^ Tomasevich (2001), pp. 217-221
- ISBN 0719064678.
- ^ Tomasevich (2001), pp. 776-777
- ^ Thomas & Mikulan 1995, p. 21.
- ^ Tomasevich (2001), pp. 191-193
- ^ a b Brborić (2010), p. 170
- ^ Tomasevich (2001), p. 74
- ^ Tomasevich (2001), pp. 74-75
- ^ Koljanin (2010), p. 407
References
Books
- Bond, Brian; Roy, Ian (1977). War and society: a yearbook of military history, Volume 2. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-85664-404-7.
- Deroc, Milan (1988). British Special Operations explored: Yugoslavia in turmoil, 1941-1943, and the British response Volume 242 of East European monographs. East European Monographs, University of Michigan. ISBN 978-0-88033-139-5.
- Boško N. Kostić, Za istoriju naših dana, Lille, France, 1949
- Olivera Milosavljević, Potisnuta istina - Kolaboracija u Srbiji 1941–1944, Beograd, 2006
- Pavlowitch, Stevan K. (2002). Serbia: the History behind the Name. London: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 978-1-85065-476-6.
- Ramet, Sabrina P.; Lazić, Sladjana (2011), "The Collaborationist Regime of Milan Nedić", in Ramet, Sabrina P.; Listhaug, Ola (eds.), Serbia and the Serbs in World War Two, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 17–43, ISBN 978-0-23027-830-1
- Thomas, Nigel; Mikulan, Krunoslav (1995). Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941–45. New York: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85532-473-2.
- Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration. Vol. 2. San Francisco: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3615-4.
- United Kingdom Naval Intelligence Division (1944). Jugoslavia: History, peoples, and administration. Michigan: University of Michigan.
Journals
- Brborić, Ivan (2010). "Ministarski savet Milana Nedića decembar 1941 - novembar 1942". Istorija 20. Veka. Vol. 28, no. 3. pp. 169–180.
- Hehn, Paul N. (1971). "Serbia, Croatia and Germany 1941-1945: Civil War and Revolution in the Balkans". Canadian Slavonic Papers. 13 (4). University of Alberta: 344–373. . Retrieved 8 April 2012.
- Koljanin, Dragica (2010). "U službi 'Novog poretka' - osnovno školstvo i udžbenici istorije u Srbiji (1941-1944)". Istraživanja. Vol. 21. pp. 395–415.