WWII Independent State of Croatia 100 kuna 1941. with hand stamp KNOJ

Description

WWII Independent State of Croatia 100 kuna 1941. with hand stamp KNOJ
quality XF
Information about banknotes is that the KNOJ members seized banknotes to the Crusaders and deposited them as evidence that was supposed to be destroyed.
The
People’s Defence Corps of Yugoslavia
or
KNOJ
(
Serbo-Croatian
:
Korpus Narodne Odbrane Jugoslavije
,
Macedonian
:
Корпус на народна одбрана Југославија
,
Slovene
:
Korpus narodne obrambe Jugoslavije
), was a corps of the
Yugoslav Partisans
in charge of internal security of liberated territories during
World War II in Yugoslavia
and later the territory of the
DF Yugoslavia
and the
SFR Yugoslavia
.
KNOJ was created based on a directive by
Marshal of Yugoslavia
,
Josip Broz Tito
, on 15 August 1944.As liberated territories expanded, the corps was established to allow Partisan military intelligence organization (Department for People's Protection,
OZNA
) continued focus on core tasks. The corps comprised about 80,000 men at its peak. The first commander was
Jovan Vukotić
(1907–1982) and the supervision lay with the
political commissar
Vlado Janić
(1904–1991). KNOJ was rarely used at the front, instead fell under the direction and supervision of OZNA.
In July 1944, just before the formation of KNOJ, there were about 5,000 soldiers in defense units that dealt with security on liberated territories. At the end of the war, in May 1945, KNOJ consisted of eight divisions. The basic tasks of the KNOJ were to cleanse the liberated territory from all kinds of enemies, to help the National Liberation Committees in organizing life in the free territory and securing the borders of Yugoslavia. After the end of the war, KNOJ, in cooperation with other security forces, was the basic factor for the security of the country's borders and the destruction of remaining quisling units.
The National Defense Corps of Yugoslavia was disbanded in January 1953, and its jurisdiction was taken over by
Yugoslav People's Army
and
Militsiya
(police).
Crusaders in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina were mostly former personnel of the Armed Forces of the NDH, mostly
Ustaše
, but also
Croatian Home Guard
, members of the former Croatian legionnaire divisions of the
Wehrmacht
and non-military Ustaše members.
Croatian historian Zdravko Dizdar describes the Crusaders mostly as soldiers and other individuals associated with the NDH army who went underground for fear of their lives, because the Partisans had engaged significant
OZNA
resources in tracking them down, which led to either their summary executions, judicial executions, or long prison sentences. Any known associates of eliminated Crusaders, mostly their relatives, were also often targeted by the Partisan military and political apparatus.
Soldiers who returned from abroad in mid-1945 acted in unorganized, small groups, which provided a foundation for future guerrilla forces.
Despite the name, the Crusaders were not a religious movement. Religion was a banner that they used to distinguish themselves from atheist communists. Most supporters of the Crusaders were
Catholic
but there were also many
Muslim
members, including the Crusader commander in
Sarajevo
,
Hasan Biber
. They also stated that the
Yugoslav partisans
were a Serbian anti-Croat movement. There was also support for the Crusaders in anti-Communist emigrant communities, especially in Spain, Argentina, Canada, the United States, and West Germany.
The Yugoslav
Department of State Security
(UDBA) blamed the
Croatian Peasant Party
(HSS, also called
Mačekovci
) and the Catholic clergy for the creation of the Crusaders. The UDBA claimed that the name "Crusaders" was coined in June 1945, when remaining elements of the Croatian Armed Forces and the clerical part of the HSS joined. The UDBA states that remains of
Ustaše bandits
under wing of a Pastoral Letter took the name "Crusaders". The Crusaders' insignia was the Croatian Coat of Arms with the white cross, or the Ustaše sign with the "U" replaced with a white cross. Their flag was the Croatian tricolor with the slogan "For Croatia and Christ Against Communists" ("
Za Hrvatsku i Krista protiv komunista
") on one side, and "By
this sign you will
Conquer" ("
U ovom ćeš znaku pobijediti
") on the other. The Croatian guerrillas were called various names: Crusaders (
križari
), Cavers (
Špiljari
),
Škripari
,
Kamišari
(cavers),
Jamari
(cavers),
Šumnjaci
(forest people), even White Partisans (
bijeli partizani
). The name "Crusaders" was used universally, while the other names were used regionally