Jure Francetić

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Jure vitez Francetić was a Croatian soldier and Politician. In his youth he joined the Ustasha movement and after the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia he was one of its most influential members. As an officer in the Ustasha army, he was the founder and first commander of the Black Legion , an elite Ustasha unit that he led in numerous battles against Chetniks and Yugoslav partisans. He died as a result of being tortured in partisan captivity.

Biography

Youth and emigration

He was born in the hamlet of Vivoz near the town of Otočac, in the family of his mother Kate and father Juraj. He finished elementary school in Otočac , where he later went to high school and finished it in Senj . His uncle paid for his further education, and he earned his high school diploma in Križevci . In 1931 he enrolled in the study of law in Zagreb, and in the same year he joined the Ustasha movement. In 1933, he ended up in prison on charges of pro-Croatian Ustasha propaganda and was expelled from Zagreb for 5 years. In March 1933, he emigrated to Austria and then to Italy, where he received the rank of Ustasha lieutenant colonel. He took the Ustasha oath on April 24, 1933. When Vjekoslav Servatzy took over the leadership of the Ustasha camp  Janka-puszta  in Hungary in 1934, Francetić was appointed his aide. In 1936 he returned to Italy, was interned on the island of Giglio, and at the end of 1937 he returned to his homeland.

Upon his return, he was arrested and imprisoned in his homeland. Nevertheless, in 1938 he managed to come to Zagreb, where he intended to continue his studies, but soon, in the same year, he was called up to serve in the Royal Yugoslav Army in Nis. After completing his military service during which he acquired the rank of sub-sergeant, he returned to Zagreb and continued with Ustasi promotion, distributed leaflets and brochures, received and organized new members of the Ustasha movement in Lika. He was arrested again for this activity and at the end of 1940 he was sentenced to prison and expelled from Zageb at the beginning of 1941, he moved to Germany.

Activities in the Independent State of Croatia

After the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia, he returned to his homeland, and Ante Pavelić appointed him Ustasi commissioner for Bosnia at the end of April. In Sarajevo, he was working on the establishment of a new government and the organization of Ustasha units. In September 1941 (after the death of Bećir Lokmić) he took command of the units of the Sarajevo Ustasi camp, which grew into the Black Legion . After the successful actions of the Black Legion in eastern Bosnia, he was promoted to the rank of Ustasha lieutenant colonel in March 1942. On April 10, 1942, he sent a telegram from the banks of the Drina to A. Pavelić that the Ustasi army had set foot on the eastern historical borders. He received the rank of Ustasha colonel after successful actions in Kupres and around Bugojno, where the Black Legion was sent in July 1942 (He was replaced at the head of the Black Legion by Rafael Boban.) In the summer of that year, he was appointed commander of the standing Ustasha army. In September 1942, he was accompanied by A. Pavelić on the occasion of his visit to Adolf Hitler and Croatian legionnaires on the eastern battlefield. The day before taking off in Lika, Francetić sent Pavelić a letter reading:

"Chief! My blacks (Black Legion) are only loyal to me and only death will stop me from joining the partisans there in the fight against the Italians who are no better than the Chetniks, because they burn and destroy our homeland. And I as a patriot can no longer do that Your loyal and always loyal Jure Francetić.“

Death

On December 22, 1942, the communist partisans severely damaged the plane that Francetić was flying to Gospić and forced him to land near the village of Močile near Slunj, which was communist-controlled territory. Francetić went on a new mission in Lika, where he was to take command of the Ustasha and Home Guard units there. Due to a malfunction on the engine, his plane was flown by Home Guard Ensign Mijo Abičić, forcibly descended near the village of Močila, not far from Slunj. Francetic and his pilot were immediately captured by partisans, who allowed communist loyalists to attack and torture them. They severely wounded them, and Francetic was transferred to a communist hospital where surgeons tried to save his life in exchange for 100 captured partisans but failed. Francetic died on December 27, 1942.

Other actions of Jure Francetić

In 1942, a massacre of Orthodox people took place in the municipality of Vareš: about 320 people were killed in the villages of Brgule and Mikulje. At that time, Jure Francetić was stationed in Sarajevo. When he heard about the massacre, he hurried to the area of ​​the municipality of Vareš with his battalion. He was greeted by about twenty women, weeping and in black. He asked them if they knew who had committed the rapes and massacre, because he would punish the perpetrators. The massacre was found to have been committed by radicalized Muslim Communist sympathizers from surrounding villages. The Orthodox ended up taking revenge for the massacre by killing everyone but the Children in the nearby Croatian Catholic village of Mir. Later, investigating the circumstances of the massacre, Francetić gave an order to examine the bodies, in order to find someone who could still be helped. Among the dead they found a living boy. When asked what his name was, the boy replied that his name was Sreto Gorančić. His entire family was killed, but his mother's body was not there. Seeing that the boy was left without anyone anywhere, Francetić decided to adopt him. 

He took him to Zagreb and Sreto started living with him and his wife. Unfortunately, shortly after that, the plane crash happened, after which Francetić was captured and killed. Little Sreto continued to live with his stepmother until 1957. Sreta's mother survived that terrible massacre and took refuge in the woods. After the war, she continued to inquire about her son and finally found him with the help of the Red Cross. Sreto returned with his mother to his native village of Brgule. He graduated in Zagreb with very good grades and intended to go to university. Returning to Bosnia disrupted these plans.

Dedications

Named after Juri Francetić Streets, squares - Mostar , Otočac (1943 - 1945)

Military units - 19th Battalion "Vitez Jure Francetić" ( HOS ), 13th Battalion "Jure vitez Francetić" ( HOS ), Brigade "Jure Francetić"(after reorganization appointed to the 44th Independent Home Guard Battalion "Jure Francetić" ) ( HVO )

Memorial plaque and controversy

In June 2000 , in the center of Slunj near the Church of the Holy Trinity, citizens erected a 25x30 cm metal memorial plaque to Juri Francetić with the inscription "Croatian Knight Juri Francetić, Otočac, July 2, 1912". It remained in that position until 2004 , when it was removed by communal wardens at six o'clock by the decision of the Government of the Republic of Croatia with strong police security composed of about a hundred members of the special police and with the dissatisfaction of the surrounding Croatian population. In the same year, the memorial plaque to Mila Budak in Sveti Rok was removed. Malicious anti-Croatian newsmedia called the erection of these memorial plaques "the emergence of plaques to Ustasha executioners throughout Croatia" , while the Croatian government explained the removal of memorial plaques with the message "how glorifying the Ustasha commander is unconstitutional and damages the reputation of the Republic of Croatia". A newer marble memorial plaque to Juri Francetić with the inscription "Croatian knight Jure Francetić, glory to him" and with the signature "HD Chicago" was erected by Croatian emigrant Josip Bašan in 2008 at the same place as the first plaque, and was leaning against an unnamed wooden cross , and artificial flowers, lanterns and a headless Vučedol dove were left on the ground. Communal wardens again removed the plaque under police supervision. According to the spokesperson of the Karlovac Police Department, Tanja Petrić, the police conducted an intelligence interview with Josip Bašan, against whom she did not file a report. The media and some advocates and contributors to the removal of the memorial plaque reacted sharply, including a former KOS member, JNA military prosecutor, current member of the SABA Croatian Presidency, member of the Committee for the Removal of the Memorial Plaque to Juri Francetić.