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Bulgarian Youth Organization "Brannik" - a copy of Hitler youth
Brannik was one of the official Bulgarian Hitler youth organisations during World War 2
http://aubglibrary.blog.com/2011/11/...nnik%E2%80%9C/Until now, the Bulgarian state youth organization “Brannik” has been almost completely ignored by historical research. It seems, however, that Brannik becomes a highly significant phenomenon not only of Bulgarian, but also of European history, once we analyze it within broader contexts. One of these contexts is the framework of the relations between Bulgaria and Nazi-Germany. The impression that the founding of Brannik, which was entirely a state initiative, was inspired by German influence and the model of the Hitler Youth, is indeed hard to deny. On the other hand, Brannik is also a good example for highlighting the fundamental difference between the Bulgarian and other “fascist” regimes of the time. In contrast to the Hitler Youth, which always viewed itself as the carrier of the future of the Nazi ideology and, thus, as an essentially revolutionary organization, Brannik undertook the attempt to develop a genuine “Brannik ideology”, since the Bulgarian state, to which the organization was attached, was not ideology based in the same way as Nazi Germany.
Another option would be to view Brannik as part of the overall efforts taken by the Bulgarian state during the 1930s/40s in order to widen the societal basis of the modern nation state. In addition to other political measures taken to integrate mainly the rural population into the broader framework of Bulgaria as a modern nation state, Brannik was the first youth organization, which operated really nationwide. It laid a clear emphasis on approaching the peasant youth, which, until then, had remained outside the focus of non-state youth organizations. From this perspective, further research on Brannik, interpreting it as a result of authoritarian state policy of mobilization, might be fruitful. This concept would as well allow for a comparison with post World War 2 communist youth policies.
Prof. Markus Wien received his Ph.D. in History and Civilization at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of History at the American University in Bulgaria. He has received his “Magister Artium” (1999) in History of East and Southeast Europe at the University of Munich, Germany, where he defended a thesis on Anti-Semitism in Bulgaria. Prof. Wien has been an Adjunct Professor at the American University of Rome (2005).
There is no big info, because after 1944, members were persecuted, and symbols destroyed
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Originally Posted by ranger
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