Viktor Gutić

Viktor Gutić (23 December 1901 – 1946) was the Ustaše commissioner (stožernik) for Banja Luka in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II. He was responsible for the persecution of Serbs, Jews and Roma in the Bosanska Krajina region of Bosnia between 1941 and 1945, and reported to the principal commissioner for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jure Francetić. As commissioner, Gutić was responsible for organising Ustaše camps and centres in the region and appointing their staff.

Biography
Viktor Gutić was born in Banja Luka on 23 December 1901.

On 23 April 1941, less than two weeks after the proclamation of the NDH, Gutić ordered that all Serbs and Montenegrins then living in the Bosanska Krajina that had been born in Serbia or Montenegro were to leave the area within five days. This order was promulgated in the local "Croatian frontier" (Hrvatska krajine) newspaper. Gutić subsequently announced his intention to kill the entire Serb population over the age of 15 in the Bosanska Krajina, and place the children in the care of monasteries to become "good Catholics", and he was one of the main organisers of the massacres of Serbs that occurred in that region. After the NDH collapsed, Gutić fled to Austria and Italy. In Venice he was recognized, arrested, and taken to the Grottaglie camp. During his captivity he was in the presence of Slovenian general Leon Rupnik and Chetnik commander Dobroslav Jevđević. In early 1946, he was extradited to Sarajevo in Yugoslavia where he was sentenced to death.