Julije Makanec (19 September 1904 – 7 June 1945) was a Croatian politician, teacher, philosopher and writer. During the

World War II in Yugoslavia World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the U ...

, he was the Minister of Education of the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

and a high-ranking member of the Ustashas.

Early life

Makanec was born in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

. He was educated in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

and Bihać, and studied philosophy at the University of Zagreb, where he obtained a Ph.D. in 1927. Between 1929 and 1940 he served as a gymnasium professor in

Koprivnica Koprivnica () is a city in Northern Croatia, located 70 kilometers northeast of Zagreb. It is the capital and the largest city of the Koprivnica-Križevci county. In 2011, the city's administrative area of 90.94 km2 had a total po ...

, Bjelovar and several other places in Croatia, as well as in

Leskovac Leskovac (Serbian Cyrillic: Лесковац, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Jablanica District in southern Serbia. According to the 2022 census, City of Leskovac has a 124,889 inhabitants. Etymology Leskovac was historicall ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

. In November 1940, as a member of the

Croatian Peasant Party The Croatian Peasant Party ( hr, Hrvatska seljačka stranka, HSS) is an agrarian political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The Brothers Radić believed that t ...

, he became the mayor of Bjelovar. Here he played an important role in the Bjelovar rebellion of 8 April that year when, after the revolt by Croats in the Royal Yugoslav Army during the early days of

invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was ...

, he declared the "resurrection of the Croatian state".

World War II

By his own account, Makanec swore the

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

oath in April 1941, days after the establishment of the

, but historians believe Makanec may have joined the Ustaše much earlier, in late 1939 or early 1940. Shortly after the formation of the Ustaše government he served as

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

in the Croatian army's Bilogora headquarters, in Bjelovar. From 1942 he was the chief of spiritual upbringing in the Ustaša Youth. In March 1943 he was named extraordinary professor of philosophy at the

Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences or the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb ( Croatian: ''Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu'') is one of the faculties of the University of Zagreb. History The Faculty of Philosophy is the oldest fa ...

. In October 1943 he became the Independent State of Croatia's Minister of National Education. He also wrote books in his field as well as contributing to various periodicals and newspapers. In a 1942 brochure titled ''Ustaše Virtues'' (), Makanec openly advocated for genocide. He wrote: " ..every community has the right to exterminate, destroy, or at least render harmless those individuals who weaken it and bring it to ruin due to their utter lack of virtue." On 6 May 1945, shortly before

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод� ...

entered Zagreb, Makanec fled the city in a group of sixteen government ministers. On 17 May, they surrendered to the British in Tamsweg, Austria, and were extradited to Yugoslav authorities. After a one-day trial before a military tribunal in Zagreb on 6 June he was sentenced to death for high treason and war crimes and executed by firing squad in the morning of the following day.

Works

Books: * ''Marksistička filozofija prirode'' (Zagreb, 1938) * ''O podrijetlu i smislu države'' (Zagreb, 1939) * ''Poglavnik o boljševizmu'' (Zagreb, 1942) * (Zagreb, 1942) * ''Veliko raskršće'' (Zagreb, 1942) * ''Razvoj državne misli od Platona do Hegela (Zagreb, 1943) * ''Hrvatski vidici'' (Zagreb, 1944)

References

Sources

* * * * * *

Early life

World War II

Works

References

Sources

Further reading