| Serbian National Defense Council (SND) | |
| Size: | 150px |
| Formation: | 1914 |
| Headquarters: | Chicago, Toronto, Sydney |
| Type: | Serbian nationalism Pan-Serbism Anti-Globalism Anti-Communism Monarchism |
| Key People: | Mihajlo Pupin Jovan Dučić Momčilo Đujić Nikola Kavaja Dragiša Kašiković |
The Serbian National Defense Council (SND) (Serbian: Српска Народна Одбрана) is a Serb diaspora community organization whose goal is to protect Serbs, the Serbian Orthodox Church and Serbian interests abroad.[1] It is based in Chicago (United States), and also has chapters in Toronto (Canada) and Sydney (Australia).
SND was founded by Mihajlo Pupin in 1914 in New York City, USA, in midst of anti-Serb tensions leading up to the First World War.[2] 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.[3]
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 brother, Jovan Dučić, a poet/diplomat, the Serbian National Defense Council was revived.[4] Throughout the Second World War, the SND was heavily engaged in collecting relief funds for Serbs and supporting the Royal Yugoslav Army which during the resistance was a Chetnik cause, of course, under the command of General Dragoljub Mihailovich, appointed by the London-based Yugoslav government-in-exile at the time.[5]
After World War II, the US government under the FARA act, began an intensive probe into all Serbian Nationalist organizations in the US, primarily SND, and continued until 1947.[5]
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.[6]
In 1951, chapters of the Serbian National Defense Council were established in Hamilton, Canada under the name of Serbian National Shield Society of Canada[7] and Sydney, Australia.[8]
Sloboda-Liberty (AKA Слобода-Liberty, Sloboda=Liberty, Sloboda/Liberty) is the official newspaper of the Serbian National Defense Council.[9] The first issue was published October 1st, 1952. It has been continually published monthly since 1965. As of 2019, the newspaper was circulated to an estimated 2000 people by subscriptions.[10]
Sloboda-Liberty is written in both Cyrillic and English.[11] It covers topics of interest to the Serbian diaspora community, as well as advertising festivals and public events for members of the Serbian National Defense Council.
. Lorraine M. Lees . 2007 . Yugoslav-Americans and National Security during World War II.