The Growth of the National Liberation Front in the Area of Rijeka (1941-1945)

Abstract

The area of Rijeka comprises the territory of Kastavština, the Liburnian parts of Istria, the city of Rijeka and the Kvarner coastline stretching from Rijeka to Kraljevica. The growth of revolutionary authorities in that area was taking place in stages. Till the middle of 1942 this process was headed by the People’s Aid and National Liberation Front commettees, which since then merged under the name of NOOs (National Liberation Committees). By spring 1943 the vertical growth of NOOs reached the district level and was followed since end of 1943 by the formation of wider administrative areas, the provinces of Gorski Kotar, Hrvatsko Primorje, and Istria, the latter’s administrative boundaries running along the area of Rijeka. The next stage was characterized by the definition of the administrative boundaries between the provinces of Hrvatsko Primorje and Istria, on one hand, and, on the other, the provinces of Hrvatsko Primorje and Gorski Kotar. By the end of the war in 1945 the NOOs became well-organized local authorities of the Federal State of Croatia.