In the popular HRT debate show Peti dan, in an episode aired on February 21, 2025, during a discussion on the then-upcoming concert of Marko Perković Thompson in Zagreb, one of its regular commentators, Professor Petar Tomev Mitrikeski, stated:

„We can link the NDH to fascism because it had the iconography of duceanism. However, if we look at the aspect that reflected the Croatian people’s desire to have their own state, the NDH is not connected to crimes. Crimes were committed by specific individuals. Francetić, as far as I know, was not among the group of people associated with those camps. He was a warrior who crushed the Serbs at the Battle of Lijevče Field.“[1]

Given that this statement downplays the role of the prominent Ustaše official Jure Francetić (1912–1942) in the crimes of the NDH, it is important to verify its accuracy on the basis of historiographically confirmed facts. This is especially important because such statements contribute to the creation of a positive narrative about Francetić, which in recent years has been increasingly promoted in the public sphere through right-wing and revisionist media platforms or associations (examples can be seen here, here, and here). Similar rhetoric was used in July this year by Marko Jurič, the host and editor of the popular YouTube channel Projekt Velebit, who, also in remarks related to Thompson’s performance, stated:
“I have studied Jure Francetić in detail, but I have never come across any evidence placing him in the context of committing crimes. I even found, while browsing old newspapers, articles reporting that Jure Francetić, in several instances, punished members of the so-called notorious Black Legion when they exceeded the bounds of military conduct. (…) From all of this, it follows that Jure Francetić was a genuine warrior — a fighter.“[2]

According to historical documents and research, Francetić was indeed connected to the commission of crimes, as well as to the camp system in the NDH. As the founder and first commander of the 1st Active Service Brigade of the Ustaška Military, colloquially known as the Black Legion, he was regarded from the very beginning of the Ustaše state as one of its most prominent figures, especially in the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There, immediately after his forces took control of the levers of local government, the first measures involved the dismissal of all Serbs and Jews employed in public administration and education,[3] followed by frequent arrests, confiscations of property, mass deportations, and murders of members of these groups. Moreover, Francetić’s statement describing Sarajevo as “a city painted with Cyrillic, where in every office there were Orthodox, and in the railway administration 500 Orthodox clerks and various employees, as well as the former Ban’s administration, city administration, factories, and private enterprises being in the hands of Orthodox and Jews (…) and Sarajevo alone had 500 Jewish shops” is often cited as the starting point of these atrocities.[4] Immediately afterward, police operations were reorganized so that their work was placed entirely under the control of Francetić’s forces. There is no doubt that he knew the fate awaiting those arrested, as he personally took part in the arrests and interrogations of individuals labeled as leaders of Jewish or Serbian groups, including the well-known Vaso Miskin (1918–1945), Nisim Albahari (1916–1991), and Vukosava Šain (1902–1980).[5] He even converted part of the apartment in Sarajevo’s Alifakovac, which had been assigned to him after a Jewish family was expelled, into a prison kitchen and laundry.[6]

At the same time, he continued to personally order crimes against civilians, among the first of which was the killing on June 9, 1941, of around twenty Serbs from the villages of Gacko, Avtovac, Rudno Polje, and Nadanići in the southeast of present-day Bosnia, after which their bodies were thrown into a pit near the village of Korita.[7] By direct order from Francetić, the Black Legion also committed a crime on the night of December 22–23, 1941, when a larger group of people, at least twelve of whom were women and children, from the villages of Vinište and Donje Sole near Konjic, was killed. [8] The next day, the same unit killed fifteen residents of the nearby village of Čelebić, mostly children, and First Lieutenant Franjo Sudar, who commanded the operation, personally killed three railway workers in Donje Selo.[9] It is commonly noted that the number of those killed would likely have been even higher had some of the residents of Čelebić not taken refuge in time in the nearby Muslim village of Ibdor.

After a secret letter dated July 23, 1941, from the Directorate of Ustaša Surveillance in Zagreb arrived at the Ustaša Commissariat for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, headed by Francetić, ordering it to “immediately issue the appropriate directive to the local police directorates to most urgently detain all Jews and Orthodox Serbs already known to be communists, or suspected of even slight sympathy for the movement. The same measures should be taken against communists of Catholic and Muslim faiths, as well as others, to be held in custody until further notice, while Serbs and Jews are to be sent immediately to a collection center“,[10] Francetić, on July 31, personally ordered the arrest of 235 Serbian civilians from the Ljubinje district, of whom, according to the report, 80% were women and children. Of these, 145 were sent to the Gospić camp, while the remaining 90, at the time the report was written, remained in the custody of Francetić’s units.[11] After that, Francetić also carried out a request sent to him by Vjekoslav “Maks” Luburić, then head of the 3rd Division of the Ustaša Surveillance Service, and, under the pretext that they would be converted to Catholicism, organized the transport of 74 Serbs to the village of Kruščica near Vitez for forced labor on the construction of barracks and fencing for the future Kruščica concentration camp, which later became one of the largest execution sites for Sarajevo’s Jews. [12]

All of this, in October 1941, culminated in one of the first major public statements by Muslim public figures against the actions of the Ustaša authorities, when a total of 108 officials and members of religious associations, professors, judges, administration officials, merchants, large landowners, and student representatives signed a document distancing themselves from the Ustaša treatment of Serbs, later known as the Sarajevo Resolution. [13] According to some historiographical interpretations, Francetić intended to sentence all its signatories to death, but was stopped only by the disagreement of other prominent Sarajevo Muslims such as Fehim ef. Spaho. .[14] The way Sarajevo Muslims perceived the Ustaša regime, and Francetić as one of its key leaders in Bosnia, is further illustrated by the fact that in August 1942, organized within the Committee for National Salvation, they submitted a petition to Hitler requesting that Bosnia be separated from the NDH as a distinct region under direct German administration.[15]

From 1942 onward, Francetić himself primarily focused on military operations in the wider area of Bosnia, where, after achieving several victories, mostly against partisan units significantly weaker in numbers and weaponry, he took control of the territory up to the Drina River. Although it is often mentioned that, in order to bring the operation to a swift end, Francetić prevented members of his units from committing reprisals against the Serbian population, preserved documents also show that the German side repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction precisely because his units carried out a series of massacres of Serbian civilians during these actions, the largest of which was recorded in the village of Gornji Malovan, where about 70 people were killed.[16] Several other records of such incidents remain, one of the most vivid being the account of the massacre of July 17, 1942, in the village of Urije, written later that month by Milovan Đilas, who entered the village with the partisans. There, Đilas wrote that what he saw “astounded him with its horror,” describing in detail the mutilated corpses of peasants shot in the back of the head or slaughtered, noting that once again most of the victims were women and children. The description of the murdered female infant was particularly harrowing:

„Three or four steps from this pile of blood and flesh stood an empty cradle—without diapers, without a child, the straw inside hardened by the infant’s urine. This straw in the cradle seemed as if it were still warm from the child’s body. The child lay in the pile of corpses. But the head was crushed, the skullcap gone, without a drop of blood in the hollow skull. The brain—was it that child’s?—just a little thick white mush lay next to the head, with pieces of flesh. What was this child killed with? Maybe with a bullet, maybe with a rifle butt, maybe with a stone, or maybe the studded Ustaša boot found the infant’s head soft enough?“[17]

Francetić’s “reputation,” as well as his close ties to the fascist movement, is evidenced by the fact that, together with Foreign Minister Mladen Lorković and military commanders Ivan Perčević and Viktor Prebeg, he was part of the delegation accompanying Poglavnik Pavelić during his visit to Hitler in September 1942. During this visit, Francetić personally spoke with Hitler, who reportedly said that he had “already heard” of him.[18] On the same trip, Francetić also visited members of the 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment, part of the Croatian Legionnaires who, under the command of the German Nazi army, were preparing to move towards Stalingrad.

After returning from this trip, Francetić spent a short time in the Podravina region, and documents from that period show that he was actively involved in eliminating groups undesirable to the Ustaše regime. For example, a preserved document from November 1942 shows Francetić proposing the deportation of a group of civilians, alleged Partisan collaborators from Ludbreg and Varaždin, to the Jasenovac concentration camp:[19]

The mentioned individuals were indeed sent to Jasenovac, and accompanying documentation makes it clear that the NDH administration took Francetić’s proposals for sending people to the camps more seriously than those issued by the Minister of Internal Affairs, even though this was beyond his jurisdiction.[20]

From all of the above, it remains perfectly clear that Jure Francetić can indeed be linked to a series of crimes, including murders, deportations, and arrests of civilians, and that he was aware of the camp system in the NDH and used it as a means of eliminating undesirable groups. Furthermore, it is evident that he was not merely an ordinary soldier or even a military commander, but an exceptionally important figure in Ustaše politics. Contrary to the information presented by Petar Tomev Mitrikeski, Francetić could not have participated in the Battle of Lijevča Field in the spring of 1945, as he had been killed in December 1942. As for Jurič’s final assessment of Francetić as a “true warrior” and “fighter,” while this is a subjective impression that is difficult to confirm or refute, it should nevertheless be noted that even the commander of the Ustaše Surveillance Service, Dido Kvaternik, wrote that Francetić, despite his bravery, “was not a military genius, nor did he have, nor could he have had, solid military knowledge”.[21] German reports support this view, describing the formation of the first Ustaše militia units in Sarajevo in August 1941 as “self-proclaimed” or “wild Ustaše”,[22] and soon afterwards demanding their disbandment following crimes committed against Serbian civilians in Alipašin Most and Semizovac, after which most of their members were integrated into other, more organized units.[23] The claim of Francetić being a “true warrior” is further contradicted by records showing that, when faced with German accusations of responsibility for crimes, he shifted the blame onto other Ustaše commanders. [24] In the early months of the NDH’s existence, he also clashed with Home Guard Colonel Petar Blašković, who refused to tolerate his arbitrary methods.[25] A similar incident took place in September 1941, when, after Ustaše executed 60 Serbian civilians in Alipašin Most, Home Guard commander Vladimir Laxa ordered those responsible to be brought before a military court — something Francetić refused to do, prompting Laxa to file a complaint against him with the General Headquarters of the Home Guard.[26] Francetić’s conduct can therefore, in general, be described as highly unprofessional, violent, and arbitrary — even in his dealings with his own side — and historiography remembers him as one of those most responsible for crimes against Jews and Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early years of the war.

In conclusion, the available historical sources clearly refute the claim that Jure Francetić was not connected to crimes and the camp system in the NDH.

[1] Visible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1povfZJv_8; from 53:00 (accessed on July 23, 2025)

[2] Visible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxbAnDf3PS0 (accessed on July 23, 2025); created as a clip from the show “Podcast Velebit – Thompson’s Concert and What’s Next” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8A_kulXBpo, accessed on July 23, 2025)

[3] Dulić, Tomislav. Utopias of Nation: Local Mass Killing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1941-42 (Uppsala University Library: 2005), 132-133.

[4] According to: Džeba, Ante. “Maček’s Protection in Collusion with the Ustaše Establishes Power.” In: Sarajevo in the Revolution, Volume 2. (NIŠP Oslobođenje: Sarajevo, 1977)

[5] See: Đurašković, Milutin. “The Arrest in Kakanj and the Escape from Sarajevo Prison.” In: Sarajevo in the Revolution, Volume 2. (NIŠP Oslobođenje: Sarajevo, 1977); and Šain, Vukosava-Vukica. “For People’s Aid and on Courier Routes.” In: Sarajevo in the Revolution, Volume 2. (NIŠP Oslobođenje: Sarajevo, 1977)

[6] Azanjac, Dušan, Ivo Frol, and Đorđe Nikolić. Resistance Behind the Wires: Memories of Prisoners. (Belgrade: Military Publishing House, 1969), p. 447.

[7] Skoko, Savo. Massacres of Herzegovinian Serbs 1941. Belgrade: Stručna knjiga, 1991, pp. 31-36.

[8] Ibid., pp. 355-360. 355-360.

[9] Ibid., p. 364. 364.

[10] Jakovljević, Danilo. “On the First Crimes Against the Population in the Vicinity of Sarajevo.” In Sarajevo in the Revolution, vol. 2. (NIŠP Oslobođenje: Sarajevo, 1977).

[11] According to: Miletić, Antun. Concentration Camp Jasenovac, 1941-1945: Documents, vol. 1. (Belgrade: Stručna knjiga, 1987), 56.

[12] Jakovljević, Danilo. “On the First Crimes Against the Population in the Sarajevo Area.” In Sarajevo in the Revolution, vol. 2. (NIŠP Oslobođenje: Sarajevo, 1977).

[13] “Remembering the Sarajevo Resolution of El‑Hidaje.” Accessed July 25, 2025. (From the archived webpage: https://web.archive.org/web/20200621162039/https://www.preporod.com/index.php/sve-vijesti/magazin/sjecanja/item/4467-sjecanje-na-sarajevsku-rezoluciju-el-hidaje)

[14] Compare: Hadžijahić, Muhamed. “Muslim Resolutions of 1941” in History of the Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo: Institute for the History of the Workers’ Movement, 1973), 274-282.; Redžić, Enver. “Bosnian Muslim Policies” in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War (London: Frank Cass, 2011); and Cetin, Onder. “1941 Resolutions of El-Hidaje in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a Case of Traditional Conflict Transformation.” European Journal of Economic and Political Studies 3, 73-83.

[15] Donia, Robert. Sarajevo: A Biography (University of Michigan Press, 2006), 114.

[16] According to: https://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/ovo-je-bio-jure-francetic-lesevi-su-bili-unakazeni-djetetu-je-iz-lubanje-iscurio-mozak/979612.aspx (accessed on July 25, 2025)

[17] Ibid.

[18] Kisić-Kolarević, Nada. NDH and Italy (Zagreb: Ljevak, 2001), 163.

[19] According to: https://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/ovo-je-bio-jure-francetic-lesevi-su-bili-unakazeni-djetetu-je-iz-lubanje-iscurio-mozak/979612.aspx (accessed July 25, 2025)

[20] For more details see: https://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/ovo-je-bio-jure-francetic-lesevi-su-bili-unakazeni-djetetu-je-iz-lubanje-iscurio-mozak/979612.aspx (accessed July 25, 2025)

[21] According to: Godec, Željka. “Provocation or Manipulation.” Nacional (Zagreb, June 15, 2000).

[22] Brčić, Rafael. “The Occupation System and the Ustaša Independent State of Croatia in Sarajevo (1941–43)”. Sarajevo in the Revolution, vol. 2. (NIŠP Oslobođenje: Sarajevo, 1977).

[23] Ibid.

[24] According to: Collection of Documents and Data on the People’s Liberation War of the Peoples of Yugoslavia, vol. 12, book 2. (Belgrade: Military History Institute, 1976), 322.

[25] Jug, Damir. The Armed Forces of the NDH (Zagreb: Nova Stvarnost, 2004), 202.

[26] Despot, Zvonimir. The Ustaša Militia, vol. 1. (Zagreb: Despot Infinitus, 2013), 81.

Funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission, nor the positions of the Agency for Electronic Media. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission, nor the Agency for Electronic Media can be held responsible for them.

This post is also available in: Hrvatski