{"id":44371,"date":"2025-07-30T16:08:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T14:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/claims-that-jure-francetic-was-not-connected-to-the-crimes-and-camps-of-the-ndh-are-inaccurate"},"modified":"2025-07-30T16:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T14:08:12","slug":"claims-that-jure-francetic-was-not-connected-to-the-crimes-and-camps-of-the-ndh-are-inaccurate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/en\/claims-that-jure-francetic-was-not-connected-to-the-crimes-and-camps-of-the-ndh-are-inaccurate","title":{"rendered":"Claims that Jure Franceti\u0107 was not connected to the crimes and camps of the NDH are inaccurate"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the popular HRT debate show Peti dan<\/a>, in an episode aired on February 21, 2025, during a discussion on the then-upcoming concert of Marko Perkovi\u0107 Thompson <\/strong>in Zagreb, one of its regular commentators, Professor Petar Tomev Mitrikeski<\/strong>, stated: <\/p>\n

\u201eWe 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\u2019s desire to have their own state, the NDH is not connected to crimes. Crimes were committed by specific individuals. Franceti\u0107, 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 Lijev\u010de Field.\u201c[1]<\/a> <\/p>\n

Given that this statement downplays the role of the prominent Usta\u0161e official Jure Franceti\u0107<\/strong> (1912\u20131942) 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 Franceti\u0107, 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<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>). Similar rhetoric was used in July this year by Marko Juri\u010d<\/strong>, the host and editor of the popular YouTube channel Projekt Velebit, who, also in remarks related to Thompson\u2019s performance, stated:
\u201cI have studied Jure Franceti\u0107 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 Franceti\u0107, 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 Franceti\u0107 was a genuine warrior \u2014 a fighter.\u201c[2]<\/a> <\/p>\n

According to historical documents and research, Franceti\u0107 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 Usta\u0161ka Military, colloquially known as the Black Legion, he was regarded from the very beginning of the Usta\u0161e 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]<\/a> followed by frequent arrests, confiscations of property, mass deportations, and murders of members of these groups. Moreover, Franceti\u0107\u2019s statement describing Sarajevo as \u201ca 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\u2019s administration, city administration, factories, and private enterprises being in the hands of Orthodox and Jews (…) and Sarajevo alone had 500 Jewish shops\u201d is often cited as the starting point of these atrocities.[4]<\/a> Immediately afterward, police operations were reorganized so that their work was placed entirely under the control of Franceti\u0107\u2019s 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<\/strong> (1918\u20131945), Nisim Albahari <\/strong>(1916\u20131991), and Vukosava \u0160ain<\/strong> (1902\u20131980).[5]<\/a> He even converted part of the apartment in Sarajevo\u2019s Alifakovac, which had been assigned to him after a Jewish family was expelled, into a prison kitchen and laundry.[6]<\/a> <\/p>\n

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 Nadani\u0107i in the southeast of present-day Bosnia, after which their bodies were thrown into a pit near the village of Korita.[7]<\/a> By direct order from Franceti\u0107, the Black Legion also committed a crime on the night of December 22\u201323, 1941, when a larger group of people, at least twelve of whom were women and children, from the villages of Vini\u0161te and Donje Sole near Konjic, was killed. [8]<\/a> The next day, the same unit killed fifteen residents of the nearby village of \u010celebi\u0107, mostly children, and First Lieutenant Franjo Sudar<\/strong>, who commanded the operation, personally killed three railway workers in Donje Selo.[9]<\/a> It is commonly noted that the number of those killed would likely have been even higher had some of the residents of \u010celebi\u0107 not taken refuge in time in the nearby Muslim village of Ibdor. <\/p>\n

After a secret letter dated July 23, 1941, from the Directorate of Usta\u0161a Surveillance in Zagreb arrived at the Usta\u0161a Commissariat for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, headed by Franceti\u0107, ordering it to \u201cimmediately 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\u201c,[10]<\/a> Franceti\u0107, 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 Gospi\u0107 camp, while the remaining 90, at the time the report was written, remained in the custody of Franceti\u0107\u2019s units.[11]<\/a> After that, Franceti\u0107 also carried out a request sent to him by Vjekoslav \u201cMaks\u201d Luburi\u0107, then head of the 3rd Division of the Usta\u0161a Surveillance Service, and, under the pretext that they would be converted to Catholicism, organized the transport of 74 Serbs to the village of Kru\u0161\u010dica near Vitez for forced labor on the construction of barracks and fencing for the future Kru\u0161\u010dica concentration camp, which later became one of the largest execution sites for Sarajevo\u2019s Jews. [12]<\/a><\/p>\n

All of this, in October 1941, culminated in one of the first major public statements by Muslim public figures against the actions of the Usta\u0161a 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 Usta\u0161a treatment of Serbs, later known as the Sarajevo Resolution. [13]<\/a> According to some historiographical interpretations, Franceti\u0107 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. <\/strong>.[14]<\/a> The way Sarajevo Muslims perceived the Usta\u0161a regime, and Franceti\u0107 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<\/strong> requesting that Bosnia be separated from the NDH as a distinct region under direct German administration.[15]<\/a> <\/p>\n

From 1942 onward, Franceti\u0107 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, Franceti\u0107 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]<\/a> 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 \u0110ilas<\/strong>, who entered the village with the partisans. There, \u0110ilas wrote that what he saw \u201castounded him with its horror,\u201d 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: <\/p>\n

\u201eThree or four steps from this pile of blood and flesh stood an empty cradle\u2014without diapers, without a child, the straw inside hardened by the infant\u2019s urine. This straw in the cradle seemed as if it were still warm from the child\u2019s 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\u2014was it that child\u2019s?\u2014just 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 Usta\u0161a boot found the infant\u2019s head soft enough?\u201c[17]<\/a> <\/p>\n

Franceti\u0107\u2019s \u201creputation,\u201d as well as his close ties to the fascist movement, is evidenced by the fact that, together with Foreign Minister Mladen Lorkovi\u0107 <\/strong>and military commanders Ivan Per\u010devi\u0107<\/strong> and Viktor Prebeg<\/strong>, he was part of the delegation accompanying Poglavnik Paveli\u0107 <\/strong>during his visit to Hitler in September 1942. During this visit, Franceti\u0107 personally spoke with Hitler, who reportedly said that he had \u201calready heard\u201d of him.[18]<\/a> On the same trip, Franceti\u0107 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. <\/p>\n

After returning from this trip, Franceti\u0107 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 Usta\u0161e regime. For example, a preserved document from November 1942 shows Franceti\u0107 proposing the deportation of a group of civilians, alleged Partisan collaborators from Ludbreg and Vara\u017edin, to the Jasenovac concentration camp:[19]<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The mentioned individuals were indeed sent to Jasenovac, and accompanying documentation makes it clear that the NDH administration took Franceti\u0107\u2019s 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]<\/a><\/p>\n

From all of the above, it remains perfectly clear that Jure Franceti\u0107 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 Usta\u0161e politics. Contrary to the information presented by Petar Tomev Mitrikeski, Franceti\u0107 could not have participated in the Battle of Lijev\u010da Field in the spring of 1945, as he had been killed in December 1942. As for Juri\u010d\u2019s final assessment of Franceti\u0107 as a \u201ctrue warrior\u201d and \u201cfighter,\u201d while this is a subjective impression that is difficult to confirm or refute, it should nevertheless be noted that even the commander of the Usta\u0161e Surveillance Service, Dido Kvaternik<\/strong>, wrote that Franceti\u0107, despite his bravery, \u201cwas not a military genius, nor did he have, nor could he have had, solid military knowledge\u201d.[21]<\/a> German reports support this view, describing the formation of the first Usta\u0161e militia units in Sarajevo in August 1941 as \u201cself-proclaimed\u201d or \u201cwild Usta\u0161e\u201d,[22]<\/a> and soon afterwards demanding their disbandment following crimes committed against Serbian civilians in Alipa\u0161in Most and Semizovac, after which most of their members were integrated into other, more organized units.[23]<\/a> The claim of Franceti\u0107 being a \u201ctrue warrior\u201d is further contradicted by records showing that, when faced with German accusations of responsibility for crimes, he shifted the blame onto other Usta\u0161e commanders. [24]<\/a> In the early months of the NDH\u2019s existence, he also clashed with Home Guard Colonel Petar Bla\u0161kovi\u0107<\/strong>, who refused to tolerate his arbitrary methods.[25]<\/a> A similar incident took place in September 1941, when, after Usta\u0161e executed 60 Serbian civilians in Alipa\u0161in Most, Home Guard commander Vladimir Laxa <\/strong>ordered those responsible to be brought before a military court \u2014 something Franceti\u0107 refused to do, prompting Laxa to file a complaint against him with the General Headquarters of the Home Guard.[26]<\/a> Franceti\u0107\u2019s conduct can therefore, in general, be described as highly unprofessional, violent, and arbitrary \u2014 even in his dealings with his own side \u2014 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. <\/p>\n

In conclusion, the available historical sources clearly refute the claim that Jure Franceti\u0107 was not connected to crimes and the camp system in the NDH.<\/u><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

[2]<\/a> Visible at: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QxbAnDf3PS0 (accessed on July 23, 2025); created as a clip from the show “Podcast Velebit \u2013 Thompson\u2019s Concert and What\u2019s Next” (https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=R8A_kulXBpo, accessed on July 23, 2025)<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Duli\u0107, Tomislav. Utopias of Nation: Local Mass Killing in Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/em>, 1941-42 (Uppsala University Library: 2005), 132-133.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> According to: D\u017eeba, Ante. “Ma\u010dek’s Protection in Collusion with the Usta\u0161e Establishes Power.” In: Sarajevo in the Revolution<\/em>, Volume 2. (NI\u0160P Oslobo\u0111enje: Sarajevo, 1977) <\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> See: \u0110ura\u0161kovi\u0107, Milutin. “The Arrest in Kakanj and the Escape from Sarajevo Prison.” In: Sarajevo in the Revolution<\/em>, Volume 2. (NI\u0160P Oslobo\u0111enje: Sarajevo, 1977); and \u0160ain, Vukosava-Vukica. “For People’s Aid and on Courier Routes.” In: Sarajevo in the Revolution<\/em>, Volume 2. (NI\u0160P Oslobo\u0111enje: Sarajevo, 1977) <\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Azanjac, Du\u0161an, Ivo Frol, and \u0110or\u0111e Nikoli\u0107. Resistance Behind the Wires: Memories of Prisoners.<\/em> (Belgrade: Military Publishing House, 1969), p. 447.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Skoko, Savo. Massacres of Herzegovinian Serbs 1941. <\/em>Belgrade: Stru\u010dna knjiga, 1991, pp. 31-36.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Ibid., pp. 355-360. 355-360.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Ibid., p. 364. 364.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Jakovljevi\u0107, Danilo. “On the First Crimes Against the Population in the Vicinity of Sarajevo.” In Sarajevo in the Revolution<\/em>, vol. 2. (NI\u0160P Oslobo\u0111enje: Sarajevo, 1977). <\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> According to: Mileti\u0107, Antun. Concentration Camp Jasenovac<\/em>, 1941-1945: Documents, vol. 1. (Belgrade: Stru\u010dna knjiga, 1987), 56. <\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Jakovljevi\u0107, Danilo. “On the First Crimes Against the Population in the Sarajevo Area.” In Sarajevo in the Revolution<\/em>, vol. 2. (NI\u0160P Oslobo\u0111enje: Sarajevo, 1977). <\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> \u201cRemembering the Sarajevo Resolution of El\u2011Hidaje.\u201d 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<\/a>)<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Compare: Had\u017eijahi\u0107, Muhamed. “Muslim Resolutions of 1941” in History of the Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/em> (Sarajevo: Institute for the History of the Workers’ Movement, 1973), 274-282.; Red\u017ei\u0107, Enver. “Bosnian Muslim Policies” in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War<\/em> (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<\/em> 3, 73-83. <\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Donia, Robert. Sarajevo: A Biography<\/em> (University of Michigan Press, 2006), 114.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> 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<\/a> (accessed on July 25, 2025)<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> Kisi\u0107-Kolarevi\u0107, Nada. NDH and Italy<\/em> (Zagreb: Ljevak, 2001), 163.<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> 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<\/a> (accessed July 25, 2025)<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a> 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<\/a> (accessed July 25, 2025)<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> According to: Godec, \u017deljka. “Provocation or Manipulation.” Nacional<\/em> (Zagreb, June 15, 2000). <\/p>\n

[22]<\/a> Br\u010di\u0107, Rafael. \u201cThe Occupation System and the Usta\u0161a Independent State of Croatia in Sarajevo (1941\u201343)\u201d. Sarajevo in the Revolution<\/em>, vol. 2. (NI\u0160P Oslobo\u0111enje: Sarajevo, 1977). <\/p>\n

[23]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[24]<\/a> According to: Collection of Documents and Data on the People\u2019s Liberation War of the Peoples of Yugoslavia<\/em>, vol. 12, book 2. (Belgrade: Military History Institute, 1976), 322. <\/p>\n

[25]<\/a> Jug, Damir. The Armed Forces of the NDH<\/em> (Zagreb: Nova Stvarnost, 2004), 202.<\/p>\n

[26]<\/a> Despot, Zvonimir. The Usta\u0161a Militia<\/em>, vol. 1. (Zagreb: Despot Infinitus, 2013), 81. <\/p>\n

Funded by the European Union \u2013 NextGenerationEU.<\/em><\/p>\n

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. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On HRT programs and in the public appearances of certain right-wing and revisionist figures, Jure Franceti\u0107\u2019s role in NDH crimes is downplayed. However, available historiographical and archival sources clearly show that he was involved in the camp system, mass killings, and deportations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":44372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[392],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-check-en","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Francetic-e1753884194390.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Francetic-e1753884194390.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Leon \u0106evani\u0107","author_link":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/en\/author\/leon"},"rbea_author_info":{"display_name":"Leon \u0106evani\u0107","author_link":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/en\/author\/leon"},"rbea_excerpt_info":"On HRT programs and in the public appearances of certain right-wing and revisionist figures, Jure Franceti\u0107\u2019s role in NDH crimes is downplayed. However, available historiographical and archival sources clearly show that he was involved in the camp system, mass killings, and deportations. ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p-portal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}