Leon Rupnik
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Leon Rupnik (August 10, 1880 – 1946) was a Slovenian general.
Rupnik was born in Lokvana, Austria-Hungary (near Nova Gorica, Slovenia. From 1895 to 1899, he studied at the infantry cadet school in Trieste and received the rank of Junior Second Lieutenant. His schooling was continued in Vienna from 1905 to 1907. After World War I, he was admitted to the Yugoslav army in May 1919 with the rank of active Staff Major. He thereafter climbed the ranks, becoming a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1923, a Colonel in 1927, a Brigadier General in 1933 and a Lieutenant General in 1937.
The Rupnik Line
After Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy had forged an alliance, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia felt increasingly threatened. In 1935, construction of a line of fortresses along the borders – mostly on the border with Italy – was commenced, initially staffed by 15,000 men but increased to 40,000 by 1941. As Rupnik was charge with their completion, the "Rupnik Line" became the common name for these fortifications.
The fortifications were built following the French (Maginot Line) and Czech models, adjusted to local conditions. By the time Yugoslavia was attacked during World War II, few of them were ready and the German Wehrmacht campaign quickly rendered the line obselete.
Collaboration
A week after the royal Yugoslav army was dissolved and the Independent State of Croatia was proclaimed, on April 10, 1941, Rupnik moved to Ljubljana, where in 1942 he accepted the position of mayor of Ljubljana under Italian occupation and in 1943 became the chief civilian[?] administrator of the Ljubljana province under German occupation. In 1944, he was appointed Chief Inspector of the Slovensko domobranstvo (the collaborating paramilitary forces) and in 1945 became their commander.
General Rupnik was sentenced to death as a traitor by the communist regime after World War II and was executed by firing squad on September 4, 1946 at Ljubljana's Žale cemetery. He was buried the same day in an unmarked grave.
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