Viktor Gutić

Viktor Gutić (23 December 1901 – 20 February 1947) was the Ustaše commissioner for Banja Luka and the Grand Prefect of Pokuplje in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), an Axis puppet state during World War II. He was responsible for the persecution of Serbs, Jews and Roma in the Bosanska Krajina region between 1941 and 1942.

In April 1941, following the establishment of the NDH, Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić placed Gutić in charge of the territory of the former Vrbas Banovina. Gutić initiated a campaign of Croatianizing Banja Luka—banning the Cyrillic script, prohibiting Serbs and Jews from using public transportation, and initiating a series of massacres targeting the Serb population. Pavelić transferred Gutić to Zagreb in August 1941, after the Germans complained about his brutality, but he continued to wield influence in Banja Luka and its surroundings. This culminated in the Drakulić massacre of 7 February 1942, which Gutić helped plan, and resulted in the deaths of more than 2,000 Serb civilians. The following month, he was appointed as the Grand Prefect of Pokuplje, centred in Karlovac. By August 1942, partly due to his excesses and partly due to those of his brother, whom he had appointed as Banja Luka's police chief, Gutić fell out of favour with the Ustaše leadership and tendered his resignation. He moved to Zagreb and remained there until the NDH collapsed in May 1945.

After the Allied victory, Gutić fled first to Austria and then to Italy. He was arrested in Venice several months later after a Jewish refugee from Banja Luka recognized him and reported him to the authorities. He was imprisoned at an Allied prison camp in Grottaglie before being extradited to Yugoslavia in 1946. In February 1947, he was found guilty of collaboration and war crimes, sentenced to death, and executed by hanging in Banja Luka.