Zvonimir Pospišil (9 June 1904 – 17 June 1941) was a Yugoslav revolutionary of Croatian origin, known as one of the main

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...

terrorists who organised the assassination of

King Alexander of Yugoslavia Alexander I Karađorđević (, ; – 9 October 1934), also known as Alexander the Unifier ( / ), was King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 16 August 1921 to 3 October 1929 and King of Yugoslavia from 3 October 1929 until his assassinati ...

in 1934.

Early life

Pospišil was born on 9 June 1904 in Vukovina,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(modern-day

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

) to Ladislav and Marija Kralj and was educated as a mechanic.

Before World War II

On 22 March 1929, Pospišil,

Mijo Babić Mijo Babić (1 September 1903 – 3 July 1941), nicknamed Giovanni, was a deputy of the Croatian fascist dictator Ante Pavelić, and the first commander of all concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia. He was head of the Third Bure ...

Marko Hranilović Marko Hranilović (11 December 1908 – 25 September 1931) was a Croatian nationalist and Secretary of the right-wing separatist Croatian Rights Youth (, ''HPO'') in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which had been banned in 1929. He was executed in 193 ...

, and Matija Soldin murdered Toni Šlegel, the chief editor of newspaper Novosti from Zagreb and president of ''Jugoštampa'', which was the beginning of the terrorist actions of Ustaše. Hranilović and Soldin were both arrested, convicted of murder, and executed by hanging. Stjepan Javor, the leader of the Croatian Rights Youth, the nationalist organization in which the assassins were members was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He died in prison in 1936. On 9 October 1934, Pospišil was involved in the assassination of

King Alexander I of Yugoslavia Alexander I Karađorđević (, ; – 9 October 1934), also known as Alexander the Unifier ( / ), was King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 16 August 1921 to 3 October 1929 and King of Yugoslavia from 3 October 1929 until Alexander I of Y ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The assassin Chernozemski was killed, while Pospišil was arrested, along with Ivan Rajić and Milan Babić. All three men were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison, albeit Yugoslav authorities had hoped they would be executed. Following the German invasion of France in 1940, the men were released from prison.

Death

On 17 June 1941, during the battle in Pržine in the

June 1941 uprising in eastern Herzegovina In June 1941, Serbs in eastern Herzegovina rebelled against the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (, NDH), an Axis powers, Axis puppet state established during World War II on the territory of the defeated and occupied Kingdom of ...

, Pospišil was killed in a battle between 600 Ustaše and rebels which lasted for two hours. Ustaše retreated toward

Gacko Gacko ( sr-cyrl, Гацко) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the region of East Herzegovina (Bosnia and Herzegovina), East Herzegovina. As of 2013, the town has a population of 5,784 inh ...

and

Avtovac Avtovac ( sr-cyrl, Автовац) is a small village in the municipality of Gacko, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Eu ...

and burned the village of Zborna Gomila, after four died on the battlefield including Zvonimir Pospišil. During the uprising in eastern Herzegovina the other two conspirators of the assassination of King Alexander,

and Antun Pogorelac, were also killed during their attacks on rebels.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pospisil, Zvonimir 1904 births 1941 deaths Croatian nationalist assassins Croatian revolutionaries Croatian military personnel killed in World War II Croatian people imprisoned abroad Croatian people convicted of murder Croatian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment People from Velika Gorica People from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia Ustaša Militia personnel People convicted of murder by France Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by France