Leon Rupnik

Leon Rupnik, also known as Lav Rupnik or Lev Rupnik (August 10, 1880 – September 4, 1946) was a Slovene general during the Kingdom of Yugoslavia who collaborated with the Fascist Italian and Nazi German occupation forces during World War Two. Known for his visceral antisemitic and openly pro-Nazi views already prior to the war, [Tamara Griesser Pečar, Razdvojeni narod (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 2007), 91] Rupnik served as the President of the Provincial Government of the Nazi-occupied Province of Ljubljana from November 1943 to early May 1945. Between September 1944 and early May 1945, he also served as chief inspector of the Slovene Slovenian Home Guard, a Slovene collaborationist anti-Communist militia, although he did not have any military competences until the last month of the war. [Boris Mlakar, "Slovensko domobranstvo" (Ljubljana: Slovenska matica, 2003)] [Tamara Griesser Pečar, Razdvojeni narod (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 2007), 97, 295-96]

Early career

Rupnik was born in Lokve near Gorizia, in what was then the Austrian County of Gorizia and Gradisca and is now part of the Slovenian municipality of Nova Gorica. A career soldier, from 1895 to 1899 he studied at the infantry cadet school in Trieste and graduated as a Junior Second Lieutenant. His schooling continued in Vienna from 1905 to 1907. After World War I, he joined the Yugoslav army in May 1919 with the rank of active Staff Major. He thereafter climbed the ranks, becoming a Lieutenant-Colonel (1923), Colonel (1927), Brigadier General (1933) and Lieutenant General (1937) [http://www.vojska.net/eng/biography/r/rupnik/leon/ Leon (Lav) Rupnik (1880 - 1946) ] ] . When the Wehrmacht invaded Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941 Rupnik was Chief of Staff of 1st Army Group [ [http://www.vojska.net/eng/world-war-2/kingdom-of-yugoslavia/organization/1941/ Yugoslav Army, April 1941 ] ] .

The Rupnik Line

After the Third Reich and the Kingdom of Italy had formed the Axis alliance, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia decided to construct a line of fortresses along the borders to defend itself against possible attacks from the north and the west. The constructions was mostly carried out on the border with Italy in the Drava Banovina. The line was initially staffed by 15,000, but the number increased to 40,000 by 1941 [ [http://news.webshots.com/album/383479750kNSycN Rupnik Line pictures from military photos on webshots ] ] . As Rupnik was in charge of their completion, the 'Rupnik Line' became the common name for these fortifications [ [http://www.ars-cartae.com/rupdata.htm Rupnikova linija - Rupnik Line - data ] ] .

The defences were built on the French Maginot Line and Czechoslovak models, adapted to local conditions. After the invasion of Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941, few of them were ready and the German Wehrmacht campaign quickly rendered the line obsolete [ [http://www.ars-cartae.com/littorio.htm Rupnikova linija & Vallo Alpino ] ] .

Walking tours of the Rupnik Line are now possible. [ [http://www.slovenia.info/?pohodnistvo=706&title=Along+the+Rupniks+line Ligne Rupnik - Randonnées - Slovenia - Official Travel Guide ] ]

Collaboration

After the quick defeat of the Royal Yugoslav Army, Rupnik was released from German military prision and moved to the Italian-occupied southern Slovenia (known as Province of Ljubljana) on April 17, 1941 . On June 7, 1942, he accepted the position of President of the Provincial Council of Ljubljana, thus replacing Juro Adlešič as mayor under Italian occupation. After the Italian armistice in September 1943, Ljubljana was occupied by the Germans. Friedrich Rainer, Nazi Gauleiter of Carinthia, nominated Rupnik as president of the new provincial government, after an alleged [Tamara Griesser Pečar, Razdvojeni narod (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 2007), 95] consultation with bishop Gregorij Rožman who supposedly recommended Rupnik for this function. [Tone Ferenc, The German Occupier in Ljubljana p211; Jozo Tomašević, War and Revolution in Yugoslavia 1941-1945 p122, available online at http://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC&dq=the+chetniks+by+jozo+toma%C5%A1evi%C4%87&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=-LhVfrc7Pg&sig=5MdcxAM9qowMnXF0Szy38oeOC1k#PPR1,M1] . Rupnik was appointed on 22 September 1943.

Together with Anton Kokalj, Ernest Peterlin and Janko Kregar, Rupnik was also one of the founders of the Slovene Home Guard, an auxiliary military unit of the Wehrmacht, formed as a voluntary militia to fight the partisan resistance movement. The militia was organized mostly by members of Slovene anti-Communist politicians gathered around the underground organization Slovenian Convenant ( _sl. Slovenska zaveza) and by some members of the local Roman Catholic clergy in agreement with the German occupation forces. [Boris Mlakar, "Slovensko domobranstvo" (Ljubljana: Slovenska matica, 2003)] Soon after the formation of the militia in late September 1943, Rupnik nominated himself its commander-in-chief, but was dismissed by Rainer already on November 4 1943. [Tamara Griesser Pečar, Razdvojeni narod (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 2007), 295] In September 1944, he was nominated chief inspector of the Slovene Home Guard, a function with virtually no competence. [Tamara Griesser Pečar, Razdvojeni narod, 295]

In his function of president of the provincial administration, Rupnik organized a large-scale burocracy which tried to cover all spheres of civilian life, from local administration, to social security and cultural policies. For this purpuse, he relied on two groups of aids: on one side, mostly a-political civil servants and cultural functinaries active already in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (such as Stanko Majcen and Narte Velikonja); on the other side, he involved several highly ideological and fervently pro-Nazi young individuals, such as Ljenko Urbančič and Stanko Kociper. [Tatjana Griesser Pečar, Razdvojeni narod, 96-97] [Bojan Godeša, Kdor ni z nami, je proti nam (Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, 1995)] Rupnik succeeded in keeping almost all Slovene cultural and educational institutions functioning under Nazi occupation, and in 1944 he even managed to rename the "Academy of Sciences and Arts in Ljubljana" to Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Throughout his presidency, Rupnik maintained complete loyalty to the German Nazi occupation authorities. He organized several "anti-Communist rallies", in which he delivered violent speeches against the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People, the Western Allies and the "World Jewish Conspiracy". He also maintained friendly contacts with the SS general and war criminal Erwin Rösener [Three photos of Rupnik, SS General Erwin Rösener and oath-taking ceremony on 30 January 1945:
http://www.250kb.de/u/060426/j/efb134ec.jpg
http://www.delo.si/inc.zoom.php?ppID=188530&target=1
http://www.ericfrattini.com/top_secret/EL%20ARZOBISPO%20PRONAZI%20GREGORY%20ROZMAN%20PASA%20REVISTA%20A%20UNA%20UNIDAD%20DE%20LA%20SS.jpg] , who was also responsible of numerous killings of civilians in Slovenia during the time of Rupnik's presidency of the Province of Ljubljana. [One of Rösener's execution notices: http://shrani.si/files/0s3cj.jpg. It reads:
"Notice. It has been ascertained that the majority of the male inhabitants of the villages of Gradische (Gradišče pri Lukovici) and Koreno, Kreis Stein, have joined bands [of rebels] , while the rest of the population have constantly supported them with reports and food and despite their knowledge of the location and activities of bandits not notified the authorities. For this reason, both villages have been destroyed by fire, the male inhabitants aged over 18 have been shot and the rest of the population evicted".
Two other notices of large scale executions ordered by Rösener in July and November 1942: http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/570/banditenbekanntmachungsty1.jpg] [Count 3(C) MURDER AND ILL-TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF WAR: “In Yugoslavia the German Command and the occupying authorities in the person of the chief officials of the Police, the SS troops (Police Lieutenant General Rosener) and the Divisional Group Command (General Kubler and others) in the period 1941-43 ordered the shooting of prisoners of war”. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/count3.htm.] .

As Chief Inspector of the Slovenian Home Guard from November 1944, Rupnik was also present on the two occasios when selected members of the militia swore allegiance to Hitler's Wehrmacht. [In his speech at the ceremony where the "Domobranci" swore allegiance to Hitler on 20 April 1944 Rösener said "On 24 September 1943 I issued the command for the foundation of "Slovensko domobranstvo". From the few troops of the so-called White Guard legionnaires, as per my order, "Slovensko domobranstvo" has grown. With the help of the Greater German Reich, we have trained, clothed and armed you. Today you have taken an oath, that you will, together with the German Army, the military SS and police fight for the freedom of all of Europe”. "Slovenec" newspaper, 21 April 1944. See
http://www2.arnes.si/~ljgozzb1/javnost17.htm
http://www.sds.si/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1460&p=2] [http://www.muzej-nz.si/images/fototeka/fototeka_ga13.jpg] [http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u305/kamen88/81eeb5c7.jpg] [http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u305/kamen88/6bcc4616.jpg] [ [http://www.mladina.si/tednik/200742/clanek/slo-tema--borut_mekina/img/tema-prisega.html-l2 Mladina Foto ] ] .

Rupnik also rejected all attempts by members of the Slovenian Convenant and some military leaders of the Slovene Home Guard to rise against the Nazis, nor did he intervene when several of his former collaborators were arrested by the Nazis and send to Dachau concentration camp. [Tamara Griesser Pečar, Razdvojeni narod, 100]

On 5 May 1945, Leon Rupnik fled to Austria with a small group of 20 collaborators. [ Anton Zakelj, writing in his diary on Saturday, May 5, 1945 recorded "After the service, we were standing outside, watching hundreds of cars and horse-drawn wagons passing by, all heading north toward Austria. We were surprised to see a large black automobile with the license plate '1A'. Inside were General Rupnik (the leader of the "Domobranci"), his driver Luka Milhari, Dr. Kociper and their wives. Apparently, the general was retreating to Austria. More than anything else, it was the sight of this automobile that convinced me that the end must be near". See http://bbhhs96.dyndns.org/~zakeljdiary/1945eng.htm] He was arrested by the British in on July 23 and returned to Yugoslavia on January 1946. He was put on trial alongside Rösener and others, and was sentenced to death for treason on 30 August 1946 [New York Times 31 Aug 1946:3:1. see photocopy of report at http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=25192] . He was executed by firing squad on September 4, 1946 at Ljubljana's Žale cemetery, and was buried the same day in an unmarked grave.

Rupnik's Anti-Semitism

Rupnik's ideas have been described as "embracing several issues which were unelaborated, generally lacking and even inaccurate. It is obvious that these views, which reflect little creativity, were (...) borrowed from extreme right-wing European movements and ideologies of that time" [ [http://www.inz.si/documents/english/prispevki/prispevki_03-1.htm Institut za novejso zgodovino ] ] . He made several speeches labeling Bolshevism and Judaism as part of the same conspiracy. He also made references to the Aryan race. He nevertheless considered himself a pious Roman Catholic and maintained cordial relations with the bishop of Ljubljana Gregorij Rožman, as well as with some other members of the local Church hierarchy.

Other

His son, Vuk Rupnik, was an active officer of the Slovene Home Guard and commander of one of the most belligerent units in the militia. His son-in-law, Stanko Kociper, later emigrated to Argentina and wrote a book in which he tried to vindicate Rupnik's role in the war.

References