Transcript fascist, communists and world war ii

Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

Power Politics in Europe

Germany


Italy


Ideological expansion and the protection of traditional possessions of
the Russian Empire
France


A new Roman Empire
USSR


The Third Reich and New World Order
Contain Germany
Britain


Preserve control over the Mediterranean, contain USSR and Germany
Percentages agreement of 1944: Greece 90/10, Romania 10/90,
Yugoslavia 50/50, Bulgaria 25/75 (10/90)
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

Beginning of World War II in the Balkans




Mussolini’s imperial designs and rivalry with Hitler
Occupation of Albania on April 4, 1939
The ill-prepared invasion of Greece; the ultimatum of
28 October 1940
The start of the initially peripheral Operation Maritsa –
conquest of Greece would deny Britain leverage over
the Mediterranean, completed by June 1941
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

German Pressure on the Balkan Royal
Dictatorships – the map of the Balkans in WWII




Need to secure resources for war
Need to secure obedient regimes and order in its
rearguard
Potential allies for Operation Barbarossa
Yet minimize cost to the German state –reliance on
local fascists and puppets; ground for resentment and
resistance movement
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

Pressure on Romania and King Carol








Loss of oil markets to Britain and France
Fear of loosing Transylvania
Importance of Romanian oil for German war
USSR as a potential threat
Wohltat Agreement on March 23, 1939
Lost Northern Transylvania, Southern Dobrudja, Bukovina and
Bessarabia by August 1940; King Carol fled from the country
The new government of General Antonescu signed the Tripartite
Pact on November 23, 1940
Romania would provide help and troops for the Eastern Front
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

Pressure on Bulgaria and King Boris III




Fear of USSR but refused to conclude an
alliance in 1939
German demands in February 1941 to let
German troops pass made the alliance
unavoidable
German Promises of Macedonia
But refusal to commit troops to the Eastern
Front
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

Pressure on Yugoslavia and Prince Paul






Withdrawing support from the Ustaša
Pressing the German Volksdeutsche in Vojvodina to support the
Stojadinovic Government
Cvetkovic-Maček government signed the Tripartite Pact on March
25, 1941; a coup overthrew that government
German offensive in Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941
Albania, Greece and Yugoslavia were occupied; territorial
occupation and administration split among Germany, Italy, and
Bulgaria
The Independent State of Croatia under Ustaše regime established
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

The Domestic Side of the Royal
Dictatorships





Undermining and elimination of political
parties
Persecution of political opponents; political
police
Censorship
Rise of Fascist movements
Ethnic Cleansing
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

Albania under King Zog and Italian occupation








Since 1928; Aspired to be the strongest, yet remained the weakest
Abolished the independent legislative and judiciary branches; remained the
single authority in the state
No political parties allowed
But he lacked administrative and financial capacity to impose the central
control that was possible in neighboring countries
Italian occupation expanded the territory to include Kosovo and Northwestern
Macedonia in 1941 (Italy also occupied Montenegro); no resistance against
Italy in these extended territories, where they reached to locals for
administrative purposes, who promptly killed 10 000 and expelled 20 000
Serbs
Italians also put less strain on the economy for maintaining occupation and
significantly did not persecute the Jewish community; Albania’s Jewish
population grew to 1800 during the war
But in Albania proper Italian administrative mishandling bred resentment and
opened room for Enver Hohxa’s communist resistance
Inflation, corruption and ultimately lack of military capabilities
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

Greece under Ioannis Metaxas and German-Italian occupation








In 1936 suspended parliament; in 1937 eliminated local self-government;
1938 declared himself Prime Minister for life
Established the National Youth Organization (EON); personality cult – the
creator of the Third Hellenic Civilization; fascist paraphernalia
Enormous power to the Ministry of Interior (Konstantinos Maniadakis)
and security police
Wide persecution of communists or suspected communists
Akronaupia Concentration Camp (some thousands of prisoners)
Anyone who spoke language other than Greek in public, failed to display
national flag on holidays or criticized Metaxas was vulnerable to political
persecution
Phone tapping
Mandated work hours and wages
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

Occupied Greece – division into 3 different
occupation zones created chaos




Italian misadministration, German requisitions, British
Blockade and Bulgarian refusal to send more grain
caused famine in the winter of 1941
40 000 people died of starvation in Athens alone; Red
Cross estimate for the whole of Greece at 250 000
2/3 of government revenue and 20% of GDP went for
maintaining German occupation
Greece’s Jewish population was decimated – 70 000
unless it was in Italian zones
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

Yugoslavia under the Royal Dictatorship, the Ustaša and GermanItalian occupation







King Alexander’s regime was probably the harshest in the region
Centralization and territorial organization; suspension of constitution and
political parties
Appointed his closest military advisor Petar Živcović as both Prime
Minister and Minister of Interior; a court of state protection; recruited a
network of informers
Censorship – Central Press Bureau preventing any publication expressing
‘hatred of the state’
A new Youth Movement – the Sokol
Assassinated by IMRO and the Ustaše
Yugoslavia’s administrative apparatus collapsed with the occupation; its
war-time administration was the messiest and allowed for the country to
turn into a Civil War battleground.
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

Serbia under Occupation




The Independent State of Croatia under the Ustaše of Ante Pavelic enjoyed relative
autonomy (with expanded territory control over 1.5 million Serbs)





Serbia and Banat only under German control; drew on 130 000 local Germans to administer
200 000 Serb solider captured and sent to forced labor or prison camps
16 000 Serb Jews captured and murdered outright; only a few thousand Jews would survive
(small fascist party – Zbor under Milan Nedic)
Newly appointed police to expel Serbs - a flood of 200 000; many killed in the process; created
problems with the German authorities
Concentration camps for Jews, Serbs and Roma (Jasenovac, where by 1942 150 000 people
would perish; 2/3 of the 39 000 Jews would perish
Prepared the ground for Tito’s communist resistance to occupiers; but they also engaged in
vicious fights with the Chetniks of Draža Mihailovic
The Chetniks collaborated with the Italians against the Partisans and the Ustaše; in 1942
participated in a massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Foča in Western Bosnia; the SS Handžar
Division massacred Serbs in 1944 in Eastern Bosnia in revenge
Fighting most extensive in the Italian zone and Croatia
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

Romania under King Carol, the Iron Guard, and a German Ally






King Carol’s Dictatorship established formally only in 1938 but since 1933 he was
virtually the most-dominant player in Romanian politics
Freedom of speech repressed
Martial law imposed since 1934; the Siguranţa pollitical police
The official justification – the rise of the Iron Guard
The Legion of the Archangel Michael and Corneliu Zelea Codreanu – messianic,
populist, cult of death and personality, explicitly anti-Semitic and ultra-nationalist;
paramilitary organization – the Iron Guard; surrogate party – Fatherland Party won
16 percent of vote in 1937 elections
King Carol’s attitude towards the Iron Guard shifted; in 1933 he tried to ban them –
Prime Minister Ion Duca assassinated; in 1938 he approached them to share power
with him if he would be declared the leader; then his Interior and then Prime
Minister Armand Calinescu to finish them; Coderanu and the other leaders were
arrested and murdered; Calinescu was assassinated by the Iron Guard the following
year but then the movement never recovered from the ensuing fractionalization
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

Under Antonescu and before that a flurry of anti-Semitic laws based on
Germany’s Nuremberg Laws’; additionally anti-worker legislation – the
Legionary State






In their participation in Operation Barbarossa the Romanian government committed
troops to the Eastern Front (155 000 would die in the Siege of Stalingrad)
In the march the troops and Romanian administration engaged in a series of antiSemitic activities
In Iaşi in June 1940 a pogrom that killed 6000 Jews and put 2600 more on the death
trains
In Transnistria a sabotage of Romanian headquarters led to a misdirected reprisal.
The Romanian police and troops killed almost all of the 50 000 Jews they could
find in Odessa
Another 10 000 had been shot in Chişinau and at least 120 000 transported to labor
camps in Transnistria; a majority of them and the 25 000 Roma did not survive
Plans for Jewish Deportation only suspended after turn of fortunes on the front,
heavy casualties and labor shortage; this was the reason why a majority of the 310
000 Jewish population of Romania survived
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

Bulgaria under King Boris III, and a German ally






King Boris III left the Military coup of Zveno to deal with IMRO
and only after that assumed control in a Royal dictatorship
The most benign regime in the Balkans; a search for ‘controlled
representation’; restricted suffrage, parties and legislative powers
Refused participation on the Eastern Front but this did not save
Bulgaria in 1944 when USSR declared war on Bulgaria
And refused Jewish Deportation in Bulgaria proper (55 000);
protection did not extend to occupied territories (12 000 in
Macedonia)
The King died in 1934; subsequent governments more pro-German
In occupied territories Bulgarian heavy-handed administration and
German requisitions caused resentment; harsh treatment of Greek
majority in Thrace
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans

The uneasy path of the Communist parties





Structural constraints
Lack of Working Class
Predominantly peasant societies
In Albania in 1941; Bulgaria 1903; Romania 1921; Greece 1918;
Yugoslavia -1919
The Third Communist International (1919 – 1935) in its first several
congresses had formulated a position on the national question in favor
of the self-determination of minorities. This almost doomed the
communist parties in all of the countries (no such party in Albania); the
activists of the Communist party in Romania were very often Jews and
Hungarians; those of the Greek Communist Party-Macedonian;
communist parties perceived as treacherous
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans







Banned in the 1920s – leadership forced into exile in USSR and
subject to Stalinization
Comintern initially approved exclusive parties based on working class
only
Yugoslavia: initial legal membership 60000, down to 1000;
At its last Congress in 1935 Comintern makes to changes in its official
position that further the prospects of the Communist parties on the
Balkans; the endorment of the Popular Front against Fascism changed
constraints on membership and privileged national integrity over
minority rights
But Soviet Foreign Policy would introduce further constraints
the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 1939 once again put a
break on resistance movements until Operation Barbarossa
Percentages agreement
Fascists, Communists and World War II in the
Balkans




Greek Civil War – lasted until 1949
Miscalculations of the Greek Communist Party
Unwillingness of Greek political sides to
compromise
Aftermath



155 000 casualties
700 000 internally displaced
More than 100 000 (20 000 children) most of them
Slavs left for the northern communist regimes and
would be allowed to return only 30 years after that