POLITICAL LEADERSHIP AND YOUTH MOVEMENTS OF THE VOLKSGRUPPE IN CROATIA

The Volksgruppe in Croatia had its own facsimile of the NS party of the Reich. Membership of the National-
Socialist German Community in Croatia (National-Soziatistische Deutsche Gefolgschaft in Kroatien, N.S.D.G.K.)
was obligatory for all Persons from the age of 18 upwards. Women had to belong to the Allgemeinen Frauenschaft
(A.F.G.), workers to the Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft (D.A.G.) The Corps of Political Leaders wore a uniform
which appears to have been modeled that of the N.S.D.A.P. The red brassard had an elongated black swastika on a
white lozenge. The Volksgruppe leader, Branimir Altgayer, wore on both collars an Odal rune within a wreath of
oak leaves. Other rank insignia for political leaders is not known but designs may have incorporated the Odal rune.
A black Odal rune on a white circular background on a red field was the flag of the Volksgruppe.
The Volksdeutsche youth was organized along lines very similar to those of the German Hitler Youth as follows:

Deutsche Jungvolk (D.J.V.) - boys of 10 to 14 years

Deutsche Jugend (D.J.) - boys of 14 to 18 years
Jungmadelbund (J.M.B.) - girls of 10 to 14 years
Deutschen Madelbund (D.M.B.) - girls of 14 to 21 years

There were four Youth Banne and two Independent Stamme - Stamm Agram (Zagreb Company and Stamm
Mittelbosnien (Central Bosnia Company). The D.J. had a membership (according to the "Jahrbuch" of 1943) of
15,000. It had, like the Hitler Youth, its own cavalry, motor sport, and glider units. The "Jahrbuch" makes reference
to a I.M.B. Leistungsabzeichen" (Achievement Badge of the J.M.B.) and also a D.M.B. Leistungsabzeichen, but
does not illustrate these. It would appear (from photographs) that the uniforms of the Croat youth move*ment were
virtually identical to those of their Reich counterparts. The emblem of the D.]., for example, is simply the Hitler
Youth badge with D.J. added. It may be noted that the term Deutsche Jugend as a substitute for Hitler lugend was
common to several Volksdeutche youth movements (e.g. those of Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia as well as
Croatia).
There was, as we have seen, a German-speaking unit within the Croat State Labor Service. The German-speaking
Railway Guard Battalion and the German Jager Bat-talion in the Croat Home Army were (as mentioned above)
taken over by the S.S. in the spring of 1943 as part of a general stiffening of internal security against an ever in-
creasing Partisan threat. Police Volunteer Units (Polizei-Freiwilligen-Verbande) were raised by an order from
Himmler dated 15 July 1943. In Croatia seven battalions (each of four companies) were activated. The volunteers
were both Volksdeutsche and Croat, with a cadre of German Police officers and senior NCOs. Each company con-
sisted of two German officers, ten German NCOs, while the rest (three officers and 135 other ranks) could be either
Vo/ksdeutsche or Croat. They wore normal German uniform. For the more elderly Volksdeutsche males, an
Ortsschutz (or Local Home Guard) was formed around this time to act as a static self-defense force. That the
struggle against the Partisans was taking its toll is testified by the figures quoted in the 1944 "lahrbuch" which lists
as "fallen in the battle against the Bolshevik Balkan Par-tisans," 441 names as against only 312 who had "died for
Fuhrer and Fatherland in the East" (this is to say up to mid-1943).

It has been estimated that the Volksdeutsche of Croatia contributed the following to Germany's armed forces:

To the Wehrmacht......................................... . 1,386

To the Waffen S.S.......................................... 17,538|
To Police formations .... 3,488|
To the Org. Todt.............................................. 2,200
More than 14,000 volunteer workers from "German" Croatia went to work in the Reich; 2,636 Volksdeutsche served
in the armed forces of Croatia