Zdenko Blažeković Zdenko Blažeković ( 23 September 1915 – 12 January 1947 ) was a Croatian fascist politician , soldier , athlete and writer who acted as the student commissar of the Ustaše University Centre ( USS ) , commander of the male Ustaše Youth , and commissioner for the State Leadership for Physical Education and Sport in the Independent State of Croatia ( NDH ) during World War II . Born in the town of Bihać , he finished high school in Osijek before applying to join a technical college in Zagreb with the intention of becoming a builder . He was a member of various Croatian cultural and athletic organizations during his youth , playing the position of goalkeeper for the football clubs " Hajduk " Osijek and HAŠK Građanski . Briefly a member of the Croatian Peasant Party ( HSS ) , Blažeković was imprisoned several times by Yugoslav authorities because of his involvement with various Croatian youth organizations and was often involved in clashes with Communist students . Joining the Ustaše in 1939 , he was named to the newly formed Ustaše supervisory committee by politician Slavko Kvaternik following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and the establishment of the NDH in April 1941 . That month he became the leader of the Ustaše University Centre and Ustaše Youth , charged with organizing student bodies at the University of Zagreb and promoting the Ustaše ' s policy of preventing all non - Croats from attending universities in the country . In 1942 , he was involved in the formation of the 13th Ustaše Assault Corps and by 1943 had attained a seat in the Croatian Parliament . That year , he joined Ante Pavelić ' s personal bodyguard , being promoted to the rank of Major . He held the position of head of the Ustaše University Centre and Ustaše Youth until January 1945 , when he was appointed commissioner for Physical Education and Sport . He fled Zagreb in May and ended up in a refugee camp in Salzburg , Austria . In August , he was arrested by American forces and extradited to Yugoslavia on 12 February 1946 . He was tried in Zagreb on 12 January 1947 , sentenced to death , and executed the same day . Early life and family . Zdenko Blažeković was born on 23 September 1915 in the town of Bihać , the son of politician Emilijan " Milan " Blažeković . He finished high school in Osijek and later applied to join a technical college in Zagreb with the intention of becoming a builder . In 1935 , he became a member of the " Croatian Academic Society August Šenoa " ( , HADAŠ ) and by 1936 he was its vice - president . A versatile athlete , he played as a goalkeeper for the football clubs " Hajduk " in Osijek and HAŠK Građanski in Zagreb . He also played tennis and was one of the founders of the rowing club " Drava " in Osijek . For a short period of time , Blažeković was a member of the Croatian Peasant Party ( , HSS ) . After leaving the party , he became involved in various Croatian youth organizations and was imprisoned several times in Zagreb and Osijek as a result . During this time , he was also involved in numerous violent confrontations with Communist students . After attending a public celebration of Croatian politician Vladko Maček ' s birthday on 20 June 1935 , Blažeković was imprisoned by Yugoslav authorities and tortured for twelve days in a prison on the island of Korčula . He was subsequently taken to Dubrovnik and charged with conspiring against the Yugoslav state , but wasn ' t convicted . In 1939 , he joined the Ustaše , a Croatian fascist organization fighting for Croatian independence from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . During this period , he came into contact with the fascist leader Slavko Kvaternik . From late 1940 to early 1941 , Blažeković was pursued by Yugoslav authorities because of his association with the Ustaše and hid in Zagreb to avoid capture . World War II . Invasion of Yugoslavia . On 6 April 1941 , Axis forces invaded Yugoslavia . Poorly equipped and poorly trained , the Royal Yugoslav Army was quickly defeated . The country was then dismembered and the extreme Croat nationalist and fascist Ante Pavelić , who had been in exile in Benito Mussolini ' s Italy , was appointed " Poglavnik " ( leader ) of an Ustaše - led Croatian state – the Independent State of Croatia ( often called the NDH , from the ) . The NDH combined almost all of modern - day Croatia , all of modern - day Bosnia and Herzegovina and parts of modern - day Serbia into an " Italian - German quasi - protectorate " . Genocidal policies were then implemented against the Serb , Jewish and Roma population living within the country . Command of the Ustaše University Centre and Ustaše Youth . On 11 April , Kvaternik named Blažeković to the newly formed Ustaše supervisory committee . On 23 April , Blažeković led more than 1 , 100 Croatian students as they gathered in the courtyard of the University of Zagreb before going to St . Mark ' s Square to watch Pavelić give a speech . Here , Blažeković and the students swore loyalty to the " Poglavnik " and the NDH . In a speech afterward , Blažeković told Pavelić that he and the students were ready to follow him " in life and death . " When the Ustaše supervisory committee was disbanded on 9 May , Blažeković was named a commissioner in the main headquarters of the NDH . That same month , he was named the commander of the Ustaše University Centre ( , USS ) . Although this organization technically required all students in the NDH to become members , most kept away from membership . Increasingly , the USS became a wing of the NDH ' s student elite with strict rules of membership and enticing privileges , including being able to attend rallies at which Pavelić spoke and wearing Ustaše uniform . In an interview with " Novi list " , Blažeković stated that all work at the University of Zagreb would be " in harmony with the new Ustaša spirit . . . with which youth had been imbued for years in the decades when the university was the " battleground " of the Croatian struggle for liberation . " He went on to say that the first priority of the USS was to be the social welfare of students and the expansion of student dining rooms and residential halls . He declared that the structure of the university would change to conform with Ustaše principles – each faculty would have its own camp , consisting of a camp leader and seven adjutants responsible for military training , socio - economic welfare , contacts , sports , professional training , education and journals . Blažeković explained that for the first year of academic study , the university would employ " veteran warriors " as teachers who were to be replaced by fully trained " younger forces " who had spent the previous year preparing for their new roles . Furthermore , he stated that student volunteers would collaborate in the creation and popularization of the USS and other Ustaše organizations , which , once they had established themselves in university life , were to establish a professional , non - ideological student organization meant to incorporate all Croatian students . When asked if Serbs and Jews were to be permitted to attend universities in the NDH , Blažeković replied : " In the coming academic year , the university will be swept clean of foreigners hostilely disposed to Croatians and the Ustaša movement , and in this way our endeavours at the university will be made easier . " Later , while dining with the wife of a Swedish diplomat , Blažeković boasted of the large number of Serbs he had killed , claiming that he placed the ears of murdered Serbs on a necklace worn over his smoking jacket . At the same time that he was appointed leader of the USS , Blažeković was also named commander of the male Ustaše Youth . In its first months , many young Croats joined the movement , with recruitment being fueled mostly by extreme Croatian nationalism . Despite this , many were motivated to join because the Youth provided athletic , intellectual and artistic training for " a next generation of Ustaše leaders . " For others , membership gave " a sense of meaning to their lives " and was appealing because it represented " a youthful rebellion against the Yugoslav state . " By May , some Ustaše Youth camps publicly announced their refusal to accept new members as they lacked the capacity to do so . Although it is unclear how many young Croats joined the movement , Blažeković claimed a figure of half - a - million members . He defined the Ustaše Youth as a " secular movement " meant to " promote the brotherly cooperation and mutual life " of peasant , working - class and intellectual youth in the NDH . In late 1941 Blažeković ' s father was appointed mayor of Osijek , holding this position until 1942 . That year , the younger Blažeković was involved in the formation of the 13th Ustaše Assault Corps , using his position as commander of the Ustaše Youth to convince many young Croats to join . In February 1942 , he became a member of the Croatian Parliament . That year he joined Ante Pavelić ' s personal bodyguard , being promoted to the rank of Major . In 1944 , he wrote a book titled " The Youth and the Nation " ( ) . Commissioner for Physical Education and Sport . Blažeković held the functions of commander of the USS and commander of the male Ustaše Youth until January 1945 , when he was named commissioner for the State Leadership for Physical Education and Sport ( , DVTOŠ ) in the NDH . Upon taking this position , he introduced strict new sport laws that emphasized discipline during football matches and criminalized the giving of monentary and material rewards to athletes . Blažeković attempted to justify the new laws by saying : " Croatian sport is an amateur sport , and as such it will remain . " Attempting to tackle the problem of unruly crowds , he introduced new laws banning disorderly spectators from ever entering football stadiums . Warnings by Blažeković and the DVTOŠ were regularly printed in daily party newspapers , calling for citizens and athletes to abide by the new laws . Capture and execution . As Allied forces descended on Zagreb , Blažeković left the city on 6 May 1945 and fled from Slovenia into Austria . He was subsequently placed in a refugee camp in Salzburg . On 28 August , American forces arrested him and sent him to a detainment camp before having him extradited to Yugoslavia on 12 February 1946 . Blažeković was tried in Zagreb on 12 January 1947 , sentenced to death , and executed the same day .