ozna

OZNA, short for Odjeljenje za zaštitu naroda (Department for the Protection of the People) in Serbo-Croatian, was the security service of the Yugoslav Partisans during World War II. Established in 1942 by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, OZNA coordinated intelligence, counterintelligence, and policing activities to protect the Partisan movement and to neutralize enemies, including fascist occupiers, collaborationist forces, and internal opponents. Operating under the Partisan supreme headquarters, OZNA ran networks for surveillance, interrogation, and paramilitary actions, and it played a central role in the capture and treatment of collaborators and suspected traitors. The organization worked closely with allied intelligence services and contributed to the wartime consolidation of Partisan control in liberated areas.

After the war, OZNA was integrated into the new state security system of socialist Yugoslavia. Its functions were incorporated into the State Security Administration (UDBA), which inherited many OZNA structures and personnel. The Yugoslav security apparatus as a whole became known for its extensive surveillance and political policing, with OZNA identified in historical study as the Partisan security organ that laid the groundwork for later state security practices.

Outside historical contexts, the term OZNA is sometimes used in discussions of Yugoslav resistance, wartime intelligence, and the early security apparatus. The acronym is widely cited in sources on the history of Yugoslavia and is considered a key element in understanding the development of state security in the region.