Serbian National Defense Council

Serbian National Defense Council (SND)

Serbian National Defense Council logo
Formation 1914
Headquarters Chicago, Toronto, Sydney
Key people
 Mihajlo Pupin
Jovan Dučić
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The Serbian National Defense Council of America (SND) (Serbian Cyrillic: Српска Народна Одбрана) is an Illinois-Not-for-profit under IRS code 501c3. SND was registered as national, patriotic and charitable organization.

History

Establishment and the First World War

SND was founded by famous Serbian-American Mihajlo Pupin in 1914 in New York City, NY, in midst of anti-Serb tensions leading up to the First World War.[1] Soon after being founded, 83 branches sprung up across the United States and began aiding in the war effort. From 1914 to 1917 SND raised roughly half a million dollars for Serbs in the Balkans, and recruited 17,000 American Serb volunteers to fight on the Salonika Front.[2]

Just before the Great War began, the Serbs of America, motivated by their love for their homeland and the spirit of liberty and unity, formed the Serbian National Defense Council of America (SND) in July of 1914, in New York City. Many of the émigrés in America were young intellectuals, averaging in age between 25 and 30. There were older émigrés as well, among them the renowned Serbian scientist especially known for the advances he made in long distance telephone communication, Michael Pupin, who had come to the United States in 1874. He became the founder and the first president of this new Serbian-American organization dedicated to the preservation of Serbdom. Though based in New York, 83 local lodges soon formed in city centers throughout the United States. With the onset of World War I immediately upon its inception, the SND Council of America would find itself contributing to the Allied war effort overseas in the most meaningful of ways.

The first contribution was humanitarian. Some 180 other patriotic organizations would come to cooperate with Serbian National Defense to collect money and clothing for the soldiers and the families of the soldiers in the homeland. Serbia and Montenegro, allied with the Triple Entente of Great Britain, France and Russia, were up against the combined forces of Germany and Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, the Central Powers. From the beginning of the war in 1914 until September of 1917, SND collected over a half million dollars, huge money at the time, and hundreds of trunks full of clothing that were shipped overseas.


World War Two

By 1941, SND headquarters were relocated to Chicago, Illinois, under the leadership of Mihailo Dučić, and the organization's activities and influence waned. With the arrival of Mihailo's cousin.brother, Jovan Dučić, an esteemed writer/diplomat, the Serbian National Defense Council was revived.[3] Throughout the Second World War, the SND was heavily engaged in collecting relief funds for Serbs and supporting the Chetnik cause.[4]

Post-World War Two

After World War II, the Pro-Tito US government under the FARA act, began an intensive probe into all Serbian Nationalist organizations in the US, primarily SND, and continued until 1947.[4]

The SND engaged itself closely with the new Chetnik émigré groups which were forming in the United States' Midwest, and appointed Chicago-based Chetnik Voivoda Momčilo Đujić as a trustee of the organization in 1949.[5]

In 1951, chapters of the Serbian National Defense Council were established in Hamilton, Canada[6] and Sydney, Australia.[7]

The efforts and contributions of Serbian National Defense cannot be underestimated. It is an organization whose principles are shared by freedom-loving people everywhere. The principles which are at its core – the support of democratic reform in the homeland, the return to the noble ideals of the forefathers and the moral and spiritual values symbolized by Christianity, the obligation to always fight for freedom and liberty and the survival of national identity and the preservation of ones country – are principles that are shared by patriotic Americans and Serbs alike.

Article 1 -Name, Location ,language and scope of work

1) The name of this organization is: The Serbian National Defense Council of America (SND)

2) The official language of this organization is Serbian or English, depending upon need.

3) The headquarters of the SND shell be in the City of Chicago, Cook County,Illinois, U.S.A.

4) The work of the SND is performed on the territory of the Unites States of America

5) The Patron Saint of the SND is St.Great Martyr Lazar of Kosovo.

Article 2 -Purposes and aims

1) To Educate,through the press, publications and radio, the American public and the world community about the Serbian people, especially the contributions made by the Serbian people in the defense of freedom and democracy.


2) To promote among American Serbs, and in every way support and foster, the Serbian Orthodox Church on the North American Continent, especially our church unity and administrative autonomy.


3)To strengthen and promote among American Serbs Serbian cultural and education,and to protect and nurture Serbian history, the Serbian language and the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet.


4)To Help,both morally and financially, Serbian war victims,invalids,refugees and displaces persons, especially Serbian children and young people, and to assist with their immigration into the U.S.A as well as to promote and support charitable-humanitarian causes which benefit all of Serbdom, consistent with purposes and aims of the SND and Constitution of the U.S.A.


5) To help the struggle of American Serbdom against all aspect of communism and fascism with the goal of strengthening the American principles of freedom and democracy.


6) To foster and promote among the citizens and residents of U.S.A. of Serbian heritage, devotion and fidelity to the U.S.A. and to the principles of the American Constitution


7) To Help the struggle of the Serbian people in our ancestrial homeland against all forms of totalitarianism so that they may live and prosper in full and complete democracy


Adopted at 55th Congress of SND held in Chicago on the 29th day of June 1996

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cohen, Philip J. (1997). The World War II and contemporary Chetniks.
  2. ↑ "Bilateral News 2008 | Embassy of the United States Serbia". serbia.usembassy.gov. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  3. ↑ Dragnich, Alex N. (Spring 1988). "American Serbs and Old World Politics". Serbian Studies 4: 19.
  4. 1 2 Lees, Lorraine M. (2007). Yugoslav-Americans and National Security during World War II.
  5. ↑ "Duke Momčilo Djujić | Pogledi". pogledi.rs. Retrieved 2014-06-08.
  6. ↑ Pavlovich, Paul (1999). "Serbs". In Paul R. Magocsi. Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 1147. ISBN 978-0802029386.
  7. ↑ Stefanovic, D.S. (2002). "Serbs". In James Jupp. The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, its People and their Origins. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 678. ISBN 978-0521807890.

External links

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