Jure Francetić

Jure Francetić (3 July 1912 – 27 or 28 December 1942) was an Ustashe Commissioner of Bosnia and Herzegovina,Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War by Enver Redžić - Routledge, 2005 
 Page 73: On 23 July 1941 the headquarters of the NDH Ustasha police sent an order to all regions and to Jure Francetić, Ustasha Commissioner of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to begin with arrest and transportation of Serbs and Communists to the Gospić concentration camp Page 74: The Serbian population in eastern Bosnia was also subjected to all manner of Ustasha crimes directed from the highest Ustasha circles in Sarajevo. In this regard, Pavelić's authorized delegates, Francetić, Father Božidar Brale and Professor Hadžić led the way. war criminal, responsible for the lawful arrest of Bosnian SerbsRenewed Survival: Jewish Community Life in Croatia
by Nila Ginger Hofman, Lexington Books, 2006  page 35

Early life
Francetić was born in Otočac on July 3, 1912.Srednja Bosna: ne zaboravimo hrvatske žrtve : 1941.-50./1991.- 95 by Vjenceslav Topalović, Hrvatski informativni centar, 2001  
Ustaše participation
After gymnasium (high school) he went to study law at the University of Zagreb, were he joined the Ustaše movement. Soon after, he was exiled from Zagreb for five years as a result of his anti-Yugoslav political activities. He stayed in Otočac for a short time before emigrating to Italy in March 1933. He took the Ustaše oath in the Borgotaro camp on April 24, 1933, and then spent the following four years in Austria, Italy and Hungary. 

In Hungary, he joined to the Ustaše terrorist group camp at Jankapuszta, under new, conspirative name 'Laszlo'.Ustaški pokret, 1929-1941: pregled njegove poviesti by Miron Krešimir Begić, Naklada Smotre "Ustaša", 1986, page 212
Brief persecution
After the assassination of Alexander I of Yugoslavia he was interned on Sardinia by Mussolini at the request of the Yugoslav government. After a general declaration of amnesty in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Francetić returned to Croatia in November 1937,Holokaust u Zagrebu by Ivo Goldstein, Novi liber, Zagreb 2001 page 99 but was immediately arrested and exiled to his hometown. The next year Francetić returned to Zagreb hoping to complete his study of law but was forced to complete his military service instead.

World War II
In late 1940, he was again arrested in Zagreb because of a congratulatory telegraph to Jozef Tiso, president of the newly formed Slovak Republic (1939–1945), signed by a number of Croat nationalists. He was again exiled to his native Otočac. After delivering an inflammatory nationalistic speech at a local school's New Year's celebration in Otočac on January 12, 1941, he escaped to Germany to avoid another arrest.

Francetić earned his only military education and officer rank while serving the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Army. He became a non-commissioned officer in the rank of sergeant.Bez alternative by Jakov Blažević, "Mladost", 1980, page 477 

About Francetić's military experience and knowledge, his Ustaše superior Eugen Dido Kvaternik wrote,Provokacija ili Manipulacija? by Željka Godec; Nacional, Zagreb, Croatia, June 15, 2000, Kvaternik's Memoirs quoted

Establishment of Independent State of Croatia
After the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was founded in April 1941, he and 10 other Ustaše organized the Black Legion (Croatian: Crna Legija). Jure Francetić became the leader of the Black Legion and earned the rank of colonel in the Ustaša army. Kvaternik believed that Francetić "a born guerrilla and a son of our mountainous Hercegovina" was the reason good enough to put him in the role of military leader in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Sjećanja i zapažanja, 1925-1945: prilozi za hrvatsku povijest by Eugen Kvaternik, Eugen Dido Kvaternik, Jere Jareb, "Starčević" Publishing House, 1995  
Catholicization
In order to consolidate the Ustaše's power, much of the party work in the province he put in the hands of Catholic priests.War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration by Jozo Tomasevich, published by Stanford University Press, 2001  (page 490) But the chief Ustasha delegate in Bosnia and Herzegovina was Jure Francetić, a Catholic and leading Ustashe returnee, and much of the party work in the province was put in the hands of Catholic priests. The most important among the latter were the Reverend Božidar Brekalo, a young parish priest in Sarajevo, and the Reverend Dragutin Kamber, a parish priest in Doboj, both proteges of the archbishop of Sarajevo Monsignor Ivan Šarić 
Genocides
Francetić's Ustaše took control over the local administration by dismissing all civil servants and teachers belonging to the category of "Srbijanci", as well as those who were Jews. 

Killings, arrests, and deportation of Serbs and Jews was a regular duty of Francetić's henchmen – justified by the official Ustashe policy which demanded total extermination of Jews and murder, expulsion, and conversion to Catholicism of Serb population in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Utopias of Nation: Local Mass Killing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1941-42 by Tomislav Dulić, Uppsala Universitet, 2005 pages 124, 132, 133 

Francetić participated personally in arresting and interrogations of prominent Serbian and Jewish leaders (Vaso Miskin, Albahari)Sarajevo u revoluciji: Komunistička partija Jugoslavije u pripremama i organizaciji ustanka by Nisim Albahari, Istorijski arhiv Sarajevo 1977 Page 207 and ordered the murders of some of them.[Tomislav Dulić, 2005 page 133] He even turned his own Sarajevo apartment into the prison kitchen and laundry room.Otpor u žicama: sećanja zatočenika by Dušan Azanjac, Ivo Frol, Đorđe Nikolić, Vojnoizdavački zavod, Belgrade 1969 Page 447
Motives
Justification for the slaughter of Bosnian Serbs and Jews Francetic found in the propaganda of "the Jewish communist hydra" had succeeded in misleading a majority of the Serb Orthodox population in eastern Bosnia into committing "criminal acts against the state" and concluded that the "most drastic means" would have to be employed against them.''Rebecca Haynes, Martyn Rady: In the Shadow of Hitler: Personalities of the Right in Central and Eastern Europe, I.B. Tauris London, New York 2011, page 197
Reactions
Nazi Germany
Ustaše's unseen cruelty and savagery applied against Serbs and Jews even prompted the German command to demand that Francetić, as the commander of the 1st Brigade Black Legion, be dismissed. Pavelić defied and promoted Francetić to commander of all Ustaše field formations.The Forgotten Axis: Germany's Partners and Foreign Volunteers in World War II by J. Lee Ready, McFarland & Co., 1987 , page 172It got so bad that the German command demanded that Jure Francetic, the commander of the First Brigade Black Legion, be dismissed due to his unbridled cruelty. Pavelić replied by promoting Francetić to commander of all Ustashi field formations. 

In the pre-war times about 15,000 Jews lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina. About 3,000 women and children of this number - were arrested and kept in Kruschnitze concentration camp (Bosnia). Later they will be deported to Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska concentration camps.Adolf Eichmann Trial, Tel Aviv 1961 - Alexander Arnon testimony Additional 7,000 Bosnian Jews will be deported directly to Jasenovac concentration camp.

Death
Francetić died on December 27 or 28, 1942. While flying to Gospić on December 22, his plane was downed by Yugoslav Partisans near the village of Močile, near Slunj,Vjesnik Jedinstvene narodno-oslobodilačke fronte Hrvatske 1941-1945: Izbor
by Božidar Novak, Jedinstvena narodno-oslobodilačka fronta Hrvatske, Vlado Stopar
,"Vjesnik" 1970 page 384 title PSETO JURE FRANCETIC U RUKAMA NARODA - Translation: Jure Francetic, the dog, is in the peoples hands which was the Partisan-held area. Both he and his pilot were immediately captured by Partisan village guards and peasants and Francetić received numerous blows with pitchforks.Jasenovac: Proceedings of the First International Conference and Exhibit on the Jasenovac Concentration Camps : October 29-31, 1997, Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York by Wanda Schindley, Petar Makara, Dallas Pub., 1997 page 139  ...was Jure Francetic, one of the founders of the infamous black Ustasha legion. who later on was an Ustasha colonel and was shot down with his plane, and the peasants finished him off with pitchforks in Kordun. Unfortunately, it would have been better had they captured him and exchanged him for 100 Jasenovac inmates. Severely wounded, he was taken to NOVJ General Staff Hospital where Partisan surgeons attempted to save his life in order to exchange him for inmates of Ustaše camps and prisons, but failed.Moja sjećanja na Hrvatsku by Nikola Rušinović, Meditor, 1996  page 151-152

Ustashe authorities were so concerned about the effect of his death would have on supporters of their movement that the news of his death was delayed until the beginning of March 1943. Official announcement of his death came on March 31, 1943., when Ustashe declared eight days of official mourning.[R. Haynes, M. Rady page 198]

Memorials of hatred
Memorial plaque to this Ustashe leader was erected in Slunj (in June 2000, by Ustashe's Association of war veterans, "Hrvatski domobran") as an embrace, by those responsible, of the NDH and ethnic hatred.The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918-2004 by Sabrina P. Ramet, Indiana University Press, 2006  page 588-9Provokacija ili Manipulacija? by Željka Godec

In late 2004 the Croatian government ordered the removal of the memorial plaque in Slunj.

"In January 2005 in the outskirts of Split, unknown persons erected overnight a memorial to Francetic and Budak-to show the extreme right's anger at Sanader's betrayal of the Ustasha cause and the prime minister's cooperation with ICTY"Endgame in the Balkans: Regime Change, European Style by Elizabeth Pond, Brookings Institution Press 2006  pages 135, 136

References

Related pages
 World War II
 Ante Pavelić
 Independent State of Croatia

Other websites
 Francetić's picture 

Category:1912 births
Category:1942 deaths
Category:Yugoslavian military people
Category:Military people killed in World War II
Category:War criminals