Black Hand (Serbia)

The Black Hand (Serbian Црна Рука, Crna ruka), from 1911 formally Union or Death (Уједињење или Смрт, Ujedinjenje ili Smrt), was a nationalist-irredentist Serbian secret society of the early 20th century. It was a nationalist-irredentist Serbian secret society of the early 20th century, which also used terrorist means to fight for the establishment of a Greater Serbian or South Slavic nation state, in which all of Bosnia and Herzegovina would be united with Serbia.

The Black Hand was an association of officers, the majority of whom were Serbs, but also a few Croats and Bosniaks (e.g. Oskar Tartaglia). Similar conspiratorial officer connections also existed in Romania and the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. The Black Hand was considered a secret organization, although its existence and some of its members were publicly known.

Members of the Black Hand and its predecessor organization were involved in, among other things, the assassination of Serbian King Aleksandar Obrenović and his wife Draga Mašin, as well as the Sarajevo assassination that triggered the July Crisis, which led to the First World War.

Foundation

The origins of the Black Hand can be traced back to circles in the Serbian officer corps who assassinated Serbian King Aleksandar Obrenović and his wife, Draga Mašin, on 29 Mayjul/11 June 1903greg, ending the rule of the Obrenović dynasty in Serbia^. Aleksandar had made himself unpopular above all through his marriage and his authoritarian, repressive governance, but also through his foreign policy, which was based on that of Austria.

Officers who sympathized with a Greater Serbian nationalism directed primarily against Austria in alliance with Russia and France and who wanted to aggressively implement this policy founded the secret organization "Ujedinjenje ili Smrt" (Union or Death), also called the "Black Hand", in Belgrade on March 3, 1911. Leading it was the general staff officer Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević, called Apis. Other founding members were Colonels Čedomilj A. Popović and Milovan Milovanović, Lieutenant Colonel Velimir S. Vemić, Majors Ilija Radivojević, Vojislav Tankosić and Milan Vasić, Vice-Consul Bogdan Radenković and journalist Ilija Jovanović.

Signatures of the ten founding members on the constitutional charter of the Black Hand.

Internal structure

According to "Ujedinjenje ili Smrt" (Unification or Death), the goal of the organization was the realization of the "national ideal", the unification of all Serbs in one nation-state. According to its own statement, the Black Hand put "the revolutionary struggle ahead of the cultural one" and operated for this purpose:

• influencing all state and social forces in Serbia, citing Piedmont's role in the Italian Risorgimento as a model.
• the formation of a revolutionary organization in all areas where Serbs live
• the fight against their enemies with all means
• maintaining friendly relations with pro-Serbian states, popular associations and individuals, as well as with other national liberation movements

A Supreme Central Administration was established as the supreme body, with headquarters in Belgrade, whose membership was to be as small as possible. The decisions of the Supreme Central Administration were binding on all members of the Organization, and it disposed of their lives and property. The interests of the Organization came first, and its members had to report all information and intelligence concerning the Organization that they learned on duty or in private.

The Supreme Central Administration had the right to pronounce death sentences, which were carried out by particularly trustworthy members. Once someone had become a member, he could not leave the organization, no one was allowed to accept his resignation.

The Black Hand was a secret organization whose existence was to remain unknown to the public. In order to ensure the secrecy of its members, they were not listed by name, but by number. As a rule, the members did not know each other, and they were communicated with through special contact people. Only the Supreme Central Administration knew all the members. Although they did not know the organization as such, its members pledged unconditional obedience and absolute secrecy. Dimitrijević, for example, "burned all his documents at regular intervals", which is why there are still considerable gaps in our knowledge about the organisation.

Vow

The following oath was formulated by Jovanović-Cupa and taken by new members in a darkened room before a hooded figure:

I, who enter the organization "Union or Death," swear by the sun that warms me, by the earth that feeds me, before God, by the blood of my fathers, by my honor and by my life, that from this moment until my death I will faithfully follow the statutes of this organization and always be ready to make all sacrifices to it.

I swear before God, by my honor and by my life, that I will obey all directives and orders without contradiction.

I swear before God, on my honor and on my life, that I will take all the secrets of this organization to the grave.

May God and my comrades in this organization sit in judgment on me if I knowingly break or circumvent this oath.

Group portrait of members of the Black Hand. Lying on the left Dragutin Dimitrijević and on the right Vojislav Tankosić.