Jure Francetić
Jure Francetić (born July 3, 1912 in Prozor zu Otočac , † December 28, 1942 in Slunj ) was a general of the fascist Ustaše and the first commander of the " Black Legion ".
Life
Youth and pre-war
Francetić was born on July 3, 1912 in the hamlet of Vivoze, place Prozor (to Otočac) in Lika . He completed elementary school in Otočac and continued his education in Senj . His uncle made it possible for him to do the Abitur in Križevci . In 1930 he began to study law , but was sentenced shortly afterwards to three months in prison and five years' banishment from Zagreb for subversive activities . After his prison sentence he returned to Lika. In March 1933 he emigrated to Austria and shortly afterwards to Italy. When Vjekoslav Servatzy took over command of the Ustasha camp Janka-Puszta in Hungary in 1934, Francetić was assigned to him as a helper. In 1936 he returned to Italy, where he was interned on the island of Giglio . At the end of 1937 he returned to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia .
On his return he was arrested in Zagreb and exiled to the Lika. In 1938, despite being exiled, he managed to get to Zagreb, where he resumed his studies, but was drafted into the Royal Yugoslav Army shortly afterwards. After his military service, from which he was released as a sergeant , he returned to Zagreb again, where he continued to actively participate in the Ustasha movement. He was arrested again, sentenced at the end of 1940 and again banished from Zagreb. At the beginning of 1941 he hid in Germany.
Outbreak of war
After the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) on April 10, 1941, he returned to Croatia shortly afterwards. At the end of April he was appointed confidante for the Bosnia region by the leader of the state Ante Pavelić , where he then expanded the power of the Ustasha and recruited soldiers in Sarajevo . On June 20, 1941, he was promoted to the rank of Ustaša captain ( satnik ). After the Ustasha officer Bećir Lokmić was shot by the Chetniks , he took over command of the Ustasha associations in Sarajevo. On November 15, Francetić was promoted to the rank of Ustasha major ( bojnik ) and founded the “ Black Legion ” together with his deputy captain Rafael Boban . After several successful military operations in Bosnia, he was awarded the Order of the Iron Trefoil on March 6, 1942 and promoted to lieutenant colonel ( dopukovnik ).
Appointment as Ustaše Colonel
After the successful actions in the Kozara and at Kupres , he was appointed Ustasha Colonel ( pukovnik ) on June 24, 1942 . In the summer of 1942 he was temporarily dismissed as commander of the "Black Legion" and was unable to take up this position again due to his subsequent death. During his absence, Ustaše Colonel Ivo Stipković took command of the legion. Francetić was promoted to the General Staff and accompanied Pavelić on a state visit to Adolf Hitler in Germany. Francetić then visited the Croatian troops of the 369th Infantry Regiment , also known as the "Devil's Division ", who were in the service of the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front in the fight against the Soviet Union.
death
From December 22 to 27, 1942, Francetić carried out an inspection of his units in Bosnia . On the return flight on December 27, the aircraft had to make an emergency landing near the partisan-occupied village of Močilo near Slunj due to technical problems . In the subsequent attack by the partisans Francetić was wounded and died on December 28, 1942. Posthumously , he was awarded the gold medal for bravery on March 27, 1943 , which gave him the title of vitez ( knight ). He was also posthumously promoted to the rank of Ustasha General ( Krilnik ) on April 8, 1943 .
Controversy
Although Francetić was glorified in the "Independent State of Croatia" after his death and posthumously made a knight and general , it was known that he was in conflict with Ante Pavelić . His open criticism of the Italian occupation and administration of further Croatian regions in Dalmatia made him extremely unpopular with the most radical Ustaša forces.
The “Black Legion” stood behind Francetić. So wrote Josip Križanac , major of the Legion and author of the Legion anthem , about Francetić:
“ We [legionaries] love him like our own father because he shares good and bad with us. "
After the war, Zlatko Mesić, the private secretary of the then Ustasha County Commander Ante Vokić, reported to the Yugoslav authorities:
“ While he [the Ustasha Ivan Tolj] was in charge of the Sarajevo police , he had almost all the Jews from the city, between two and three thousand in number, transported to the Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška camps . Almost all of them perished in these camps. Tolj murdered among the Serb population in Sarajevo and the surrounding area, and I know that he had a large number of Serbs sent to Jasenovac and other camps. [...] Vokić made Francetić aware of Tolj's reckless behavior. Therefore Francetić asked Artuković to withdraw Tolj and depose him as police chief of Sarajevo, [...] Tolj did not come back, but was appointed police chief of Vinkovci [...] "
Francetić also did not carry out all the orders of his more radical superiors to the complete satisfaction:
“ In December 1941, Francetić was given responsibility for the operations in Eastern Bosnia. When he said goodbye to Vokić, he said that he had been to Pavelić's in Zagreb immediately before , where Artuković was also present, and on this occasion Artuković had repeatedly emphasized that prisoners were not necessary for this action, that is, all prisoners should be put down on the spot. In early 1942 Vokić went to report [...] During this visit Artuković called him over and one of the first questions [...] was whether prisoners had been taken. When Vokić replied in the affirmative, Artuković interrupted him vividly when he asked why Francetić was not following his instructions. [...] I know that before Vokić went to Zagreb he was with Francetić, who came from Eastern Bosnia. Francetić said Vokić had received an order from Artuković to destroy the Serbian population in Eastern Bosnia [...], [...] He told Vokić that the number of those murdered in Eastern Bosnia was in the thousands [...] "
Awards (selection)
- 1942: Order of the Iron Trefoil III. class
- 1943: Gold medal for bravery
Others
During the Bosnian War , Croatian military units of the HVO ( 44th Samostalna domobranska bojna "Jure Francetić" from Zenica ) and the paramilitary HOS ( 13th bojna "Jure vitez Francetić" from Tomislavgrad ) bore his name.
See also
literature
- Zdravko Dizdar: FRANCETIĆ, Jure . In: Darko Stuparić (ed.): Tko je tko u NDH: Hrvatska 1941. – 1945 [Who is who in the NDH: Croatia 1941–1945] . Minerva, Zagreb 1997, p. 117 f . (Croatian).
- Rory Yeomans: 'For us, beloved commander, you will never die!' Mourning Jure Francetić, Ustasha death squad leader . In: Rebecca Haynes, Martyn Rady (Eds.): In the Shadow of Hitler: Personalities of the Right in Central and Eastern Europe . IB Tauris, London 2011, pp. 188 ff .
Web links
- biography
- Short TV documentary in the daily history series TV kalendar on Croatian television HRT (December 27, 2012) on YouTube
Individual evidence
- ↑ Vjestnik Ministarstva oružanih snaga NDH (MINORS) . No. 15, April 10, 1943, p. 517.
- ↑ Josip Križanac: Junácká Dela Jure viteza Francetića u stihovima (The exploits of the Knight Jure Francetić in verse). Brochure. Nova Hrvatska, Zagreb 1943, p. 49.
- ↑ a b Branimir Stanojević: Collaborators of Fascism: Andrija Artuković and the Ustasha regime. Tanjug News Agency , Belgrade 1985, p. 10.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Francetić, Jure |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Croatian soldier and officer, Commander in Chief of the Black Legion |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 3, 1912 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Otočac |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 28, 1942 |
| Place of death | Slunj |