The Department for Protection of the People, commonly known under its Serbo-Croatian acronym as OZNA, was the security agency of Communist Yugoslavia that existed between 1944 and 1946.
The OZNA was created as an autonomous entity, a military organization whose unitary structure and centralized leadership were to ensure a tough political line in the intelligence and counter-intelligence services.
The third section organized counter-intelligence protection of armed forces and was active only in the NOVJ & PO (People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia and Partisan Detachments).
The OZNA was led by a chief who was directly subordinate to the Supreme Commander of the Yugoslav Army, Marshal Josip Broz Tito.
Throughout its existence, the OZNA used illegal practices which included occasional mass murders of the "enemies of the people", under the justification of conducting the "revolution".
The "enemies of the people" included not only local anti-communist forces but also notable individuals who did not support the communists,[4] collaborators with the occupying Axis powers,[5][6] wealthy individuals, captured members of Croatian Armed Forces (Independent State of Croatia) and representatives of religious organizations regardless of their specific religion, etc.
[7] This period was also characterized by the presence of strong armed anti-communist and fascist groups in central Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia.
The report of this commission presented a list of 59,554 registered deaths after the communist victory in Serbia since autumn 1944 who died from various reasons.