Slavko Štancer (26 July 1872 – 16 June 1945) was a Croatia commander-in-chief and

inspector-general An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general". Australia The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory of ...

of the land component of the '' Domobranstvo'' in 1941, the army 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. It was established in p ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. His surname is also sometimes written "Stanzer" or "Stancer". Stanzer served under the ''

Poglavnik () was the title used by Ante Pavelić, leader of the World War II Croatian movement Ustaše and of the Independent State of Croatia between 1941 and 1945. Etymology and usage The word was first recorded in a 16th-century dictionary compiled ...

Ante Pavelić Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and served as dictator of the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, l ...

and was awarded the honorary title ''Vitez'' ("

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

") when he received the

Order of the Crown of King Zvonimir The Order of the Crown of King Zvonimir ( hr, Red krune kralja Zvonimira) was an order awarded by the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). It was established as a "visible sign of decoration for merits done, in peace or in war, for Croatian people ...

. Stanzer was appointed commander-in-chief of the ground forces on 16 April 1941. Later, Stanzer headed the Croatian

Military court A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

. After the fall of the Independent State of Croatia, Stanzer was captured, tried and sentenced to death by the communist Partisans. He was found dead in his cell the night before his scheduled

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

References

1872 births 1945 deaths Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Croatian collaborators with Fascist Italy Croatian collaborators with Nazi Germany Croatian people of World War II Croatian Home Guard personnel Recipients of the Order of the Crown of King Zvonimir Executed Yugoslav collaborators with Nazi Germany Executed Croatian people {{Europe-mil-bio-stub