Aleksandar Krajnc

Aleksandar Krajnc (13.2.1872-24.11.1931), was a Yermanian politician and a Lieutenant of the nation's army who rose to notoriety in late 1927, when he campaigned for the election of Draža II to become chancellor.

Krajnc was a controversial figure among the high command and has now earned the reputation of being a war profiteer and a war criminal, who was heartless until the day he himself met the barrel of the gun.

History:

Krajnc was born on the 13th of February, 1872 in the small town of Kočevje, around 50 kilometers away from the Yermanian cultural capital of Ljubljana. He was born into a noble family and became the next count of Kočevje later in his life. Krajnc started studying in school at the age of 6 and eventually graduating from university at the age of 19 in May of 1889.

Krajnc joined the Austro-Hungarian army in the 2nd battalion of Maribor in late 1893, where he trained until he eventually left the battalion at the age of 29 in March of 1901, having climbed to the rank of Sergeant by then. He later joined the Yermanian people's party, a nationalist right-wing party started by Draža I of the house of Božidar. Krajnc rose through the ranks and in 1911, he attended the protests caused by Draža in Ljubljana.

Krajnc was arrested at the protests but was let out in April of 1913, by now, his attitude to the Austro-Hungarian empire changed drastically and he joined a far-right nationalist Yermanian military organization in October of the same year.

First world war:

Krajnc fought in the first world war by sabotaging the supply trains in Austria, as he fought with his military organization. Krajnc was almost captured in April of 1916, while they were fighting near a hill. He was forced to roll down the hill and sustained minor injuries after the fact.

Krajnc deserted from the group after July of 1916, because of the death of it's leader during combat in May of 1916. The group was eventually disestablished on the 23rd of November, 1920. Krajnc eventually reached Maribor in February of 1917, where Draža II was creating a rebellion with other high ranked Yermanian politicians and officers, including the future head of the army, Aleksej Mlakar.

Yermanian republic:

Krajnc decided to declare his allegiance to the Yermanian republic in July of 1919, 5 months after it was created. Krajnc started rising through the ranks of the Yermanian army and by March of 1928, he was a Sergeant General of the army.

In May of 1928, Chancellor Draža II of Yermania made Krajnc the head of his death squad, a battalion which was made to execute Draža's political opponents. Krajnc happily took this job and started out executing small groups of people, but eventually in June of 1929 it had got to the point where he was executing around 70 people each week.

He had also gotten into politics and specifically into making political newspapers, where he praised Draža and heavily insulted and criticized Draža's enemies. The president, Petar Potočnik allowed these things to happen, as he was a supporter and a close friend to the chancellor as well. When Yermania was dissolved, however, Krajnc decided to move to Ljubljana, where he stayed until February of 1930.

Yermanian independence rebellion:

On the 16th of February, 1930, the Yermanian independence rebellion broke out. Aleksandar was immediately promoted to Lieutenant on the 22nd of February by Draža, so that he could have a larger role in the army of the rebellion.

Krajnc was usually present along with Draža almost everywhere they went, if Krajnc wasn't with Draža, he was with other loyal supporters of the former chancellor, such as Petar Zupančič and Aleksej Mlakar. Draža made him one of the most trusted people from the high command, but this came at a high cost, as Krajnc was now known as a war criminal in Serbia, something which would lead to his eventual death.

Krajnc was also ordered to commit many massacres and other atrocities, which he agreed to without any remorse. The most famous ones are the massacres of Karlovac and Banja Luka, in the latter, Krajnc drowned over a thousand orthodox Serb civillians in a lake near the city. He was famously anti-Orthodox and was hated by every Serb in the Kingdom of Serbia.

Some of the high command, such as Jakob Horvat, even decided to blame Krajnc for every single atrocity and called for his arrest in January of 1931, but he was saved by Draža's loyal guard, who brought him to Zagreb.

Arrest, trial and execution:

On the 11th of March, 1931 at around 10 PM, Krajnc decided to escape the battlefield and started running through the landscape of Yermania. He only made it around 4 kilometers away from the front, as he was captured by Serb forces on the 12th at 4 AM. From there, he was held in custody at Zagreb before being transferred to a prison in Belgrade for his trial.

The trial was mostly a mockery, where the Serbs mocked the Yermanian government and mocked Krajnc especially for his physical appearance, which by this point had decayed into an old decrepit man. The trial ended with Krajnc being sentenced to death on the 22nd of November, 1931 and on the 24th of November, 1931, he was led out of his cell into a forest near Belgrade, where he was shot 9 times. Before he was shot, a soldier taunted Krajnc by calling him a "pussy" because of his trembling, as a result, Krajnc's last words were: "I am trembling because it is cold! Do you really think I would be scared of you with your guns?"

Medals and awards:

* Order of Elizabeth and Theresa (Awarded: 25th of May, 1900)
* The Medal for Valour (Awarded: 19th of August, 1919)
* Order for Merits (Awarded: 22nd of July, 1922)
* Order for Exceptional Merits (Awarded: 19th of April, 1929)
* The Golden order of the Freedom of the Republic of Yermania (Awarded: 11th of March, 1930)