Aleksandar Majstorović

Aleksandar Majstorović, (full name: Aleksandar Ante Majstorović) was a Croatian politician and military officer who formerly served as the Ban of Croatia as well as the Prime Minister of Croatia from 1933-1937.

History:

Majstorović was born on the 3rd of May, 1875, in the city of Split, which was formerly located in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Majstorović was not a fan of the Austro-Hungarian government due to it's treatment of Croats and South Slavs in general, considering they didn't have much autonomy in the empire.

Majstorović later fled to Serbia at the age of 18 to avoid being conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army, which he did not want to serve. He joined the Royal Serbian Army on the 17th of February, 1894 and first served under the Obrenović dynasty. Majstorović started advocating for war against the old empires of Europe, including the Ottomans and Austro-Hungarians.

Eventually, Majstorović reached the rank of Colonel by the time the Balkan wars had erupted in Europe. Majstorović fought in the wars but was injured on the 30th of June, 1913, after nearly getting hit by Bulgarian artillery. Majstorović recovered from the injury by May of 1914 and would soon see himself fighting in another war.

First World War:

The First World War broke out on the 28th of July, 1914, a month after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian empire had been killed by a Serbian nationalist as he visited Sarajevo. Majstorović was drafted to the front and fought in the famous battles of Cer and Kolubara. After the Battle of Kolubara, Majstorović was promoted to Brigadier General and was put in charge of the 4th infantry brigade of the 1st army.

Majstorović and his brigade were forced to retreat through the Macedonian mountains in terrible conditions in late 1915 as the Bulgarian army had occupied Southern Serbia and the Austro-Hungarians came from the north. During his excellent service in the Vardar Offensive in September of 1918, Majstorović was promoted to Major General and was present at the Armistice of Salonica.

Yugoslavia:

Majstorović decided to go for a political career after the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was established under the name of The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on the 1st of December, 1918. Majstorović was elected into the parliament of Yugoslavia on the 15th of February, 1919, as he was recognized to be a great war hero.

Majstorović realized the treatment of the Croats by the Serbs and wished for Croatia to gain autonomy at least from Serbia, which got him banned from politics in June of 1926. Majstorović started supporting underground Croat nationalist movements and eventually founded his own, ultra-nationalist party named the Ustaše on the 6th of March, 1929.

The Ustaše, compared to other Croatian nationalist groups was an extremist group which didn't earn it much popularity at first. After the Royal dictatorship which Alexander I of Yugoslavia established on the 6th of January, 1930, the party started gaining more popularity as Croats thought it was a great party which could combat the authoritarianism and the oppression of other ethnic groups by the Serb majority government and population.

Croatian revolution and rise to power:

The Croatian revolution broke out on the 11th of September, 1932, after Majstorović and over 4 000 Ustaše militia men and former Yugoslav Royal army soldiers met up in Zagreb and staged an uprising. Majstorović led his army around all of Slavonia and by late October, half of the entire region was under his control.

More and more pro-Ustaše officers started joining the rebellion, spreading the revolution all across Croatia. One of Majstorović's greatest friends, Major General Jakob Stojanović joined the revolution on the 9th of October, 1932, by starting a rebellion in Mostar. With the help of Vladislav I, the presumed heir to the throne of Croatia, the Ustaše managed to beat the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and occupied all of Croatia and Herzegovina by late January of 1933.

Majstorović later started setting up his first cabinet, such as making Vjekoslav Stanković, a devoted member of the party, the minister of internal affairs, while making himself Prime Minister and self proclaimed "Poglavnik" of the nation, although the title is usually translated to Ban, which is not accurate to what the title represents.

Majstorović started setting up a new cabinet after noticing half of his ministers weren't from his own party and as he wanted to consolidate all power, he decided to replace many of his ministers in late March of 1933.

War in Slovenia:

Shortly after Majstorović and his new cabinet came to power, Majstorović started creating new foreign policies and started meeting with multiple leaders and diplomats across Europe, such as Italy's Benito Mussolini and Czechoslovakia's Edvard Beneš. Majstorović later turned his eyes on getting resources from other nations, as he wanted to be able to trade with multiple countries with rare goods to improve the economy as advised by Finance Minister Ljubomir Vuković.

The Banovina of Croatia later went to war with Slovenia on the 20th of September, 1935. The Banovina's forces quickly sweeped through Slovenia, using the Stojanović plan, which consisted of three divisions in total going through the north, south and center of Slovenia to encircle the capital. The war eventually ended after president Dragan Zadrevac sued for peace on the 17th of January, 1936, after a heavy artillery bombardment of the capital.

Croatian Civil War:

The Croatian Civil war began on the 5th of March, 1936, when a rebellion, led by Brigadier General Goran David Tito in Rijeka was staged. Majstorović was informed of the rebellion a day later by Vjekoslav Stanković, head of Infantry Corps I and the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Ustaše-led government.

Majstorović, after panicking for a short moment, sent Vjekoslav to the front while sending Field Marshal and Minister of Armed forces and Foreign Affairs Jakob Stojanović to Slovenia to bring back troops to fight at the front. Majstorović immediately ordered Minister of Education, Milan Petronijević, to create new propaganda films for the war effort, to strengthen the morale of his troops.

For the majority of the war, Majstorović spent his time quarreling with generals and the parliament, which out of the 200 deputies in it, 27 of which were supporters of the revolution in secret and tried to block every single law the Poglavnik tried to create. Majstorović usually got his way in the end, as he threatened the deputies that he would send them all to Jasenovac if they didn't agree to his policies and plans.

Jasenovac was a prison camp created on the 28th of April, 1936. The camp was built by slave laborers on the orders of Jakob Stojanović from the 28th of February, 1936 to the 28th of April, 1936. The camp would be built as hastily as possible with over 1 000 workers working at the site in March of 1936. The camp was initially being built by Serbs who had been brought in by the government but it later changed to captured soldiers of the revolutionary side.

Horrific crimes were committed in the camp, but Majstorović turned a blind eye to the crimes, as he wanted the captured soldiers to be persecuted and punished for "treason." Majstorović was also involved in the creation of the Stara Gradiška prison camp, a similar camp which was located extremely close to the town of Stara Gradiška. It had been turned into a camp from an abandoned internment camp during WW1 in June of 1936.

Majstorović was eventually informed that the Monarchist revolutionaries had gained a force even larger than his own and were marching towards Zagreb on the 25th of February, 1937, Majstorović went into a panic and ordered a full defensive to be laid all around the country, with resources and men focusing the defense on Zagreb.

During the chaos of the Battle of Zagreb in early April of 1937, Majstorović escaped the city and went eastwards towards the Serbian border with a small group of bodyguards with him. Dressed in regular soldier uniforms, the group's destination was Romania, as there was less border security at the Serbo-Romanian border than at the neighboring Serbo-Hungarian border or the Croato-Hungarian border.

Arrest, trial and execution:

Majstorović was arrested while walking the streets of Osijek with the small group of soldiers by a small military unit stationed in Osijek, who thought he looked familiar on the 30th of May, 1937. Majstorović was transferred to a detainment center where he was confirmed to be the former Poglavnik of the Banovina of Croatia.

He was put on trial on the 11th of September, 1937, along with former government ministers and generals, some of which including Vjekoslav Stanković, Jakob Stojanović, Milan Petronijević, Ljubomir Vuković and Vratimir Vulović. Majstorović was later found guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes on the 16th of September, 1937 and sentenced to death the same day.

Majstorović was executed by hanging on the following day at around 10:45 AM. Reportedly, Majstorović walked into the room at 10:44 AM in the presence of Vladislav I, who had recently been coronated as the King of Croatia. Majstorović was strangled by the noose for around 4 minutes, being one of the longer executions during the trial. Vladislav reportedly looked away, as he couldn't stand looking at Majstorović, who was struggling for air.

* Ustasha Party Badge, golden (Awarded: 1st of January, 1932) (initially a party badge, turned to a state badge on the 23rd of February, 1933.)
* Star of the Ustasha, 1st class (Awarded: 27th of February, 1933)
* Medal for General Merits, 1st class (Awarded: 31st of January, 1936)
* Order of the Croatian Star in the Banovina, 1st class (Awarded: 17th of August, 1936)

Foreign:

* Order of the White Eagle, 4th class (Serbia) (Awarded: 1st of June, 1913)
* Commemorative Medal of the Great Serbian Retreat (Serbia) (Awarded: 20th of November, 1919)
* Military Order of Italy, 3rd class (Italy) (Awarded: 15th of March, 1933)
* Iron Cross, 1st class (Germany) (Awarded: 19th of April, 1935)
* Medal for Service Abroad (Czechoslovakia) (Awarded: 24th of July, 1935)