Hussein Biščević was the highest ranking Bosnian

Bosnians

Bosnians are people who reside in, or come from, Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the modern state definition a Bosnian can be anyone who holds citizenship of the state. This includes, but is not limited to, members of the constituent ethnic groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and...

 military officer in the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian)

13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian)

The 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar was one of the thirty-eight divisions fielded as part of the Waffen-SS during World War II. Its recruits were composed of Muslim Bosniaks. The Handschar division was a mountain infantry formation, the equivalent of the German "Gebirgsjäger" ...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

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Life

Little is known of Biščević’s background, except that he had served in the Bosnian Herzegovinian Infantry. He “was a Bosnian Muslim who served in the Austrian army during the First World War.”

He was an early volunteer for the Waffen SS Division and was appointed SS Obersturmbannführer

Obersturmbannführer

Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...

(Lieutenant Colonel) . He was posted to the Flak Abteilung 13 in August 1943 and acted as a father figure to the younger men. However he was deemed unsuitable to led men in combat and replaced on 1 March 1944.

Little is known of his fate after the war.

Literature

• Munoz, Antonio J., editor. The East Came West: Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist Volunteers in the German Armed Forces. (chapters 2 and 13) Bayside, NY: Axis Europa, 2001 ISBN 1-891227-39-4
• Malcolm, Noel (1996). Bosnia: A Short History. New York University Press. ISBN 0814755615
• Lepre, George (2000). Himmler's Bosnian Division: The Waffen-SS Handschar Division 1943-1945 Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 0764301349
• Stein, George H. (1984). The Waffen SS: Hitler's Elite Guard at War, 1939-45 Cornell University Press. ISBN 0801492750
• 13.SS 'Handžar' divizija i njen slom u Istočna Bosni (Istočna Bosna, vol.2, 587)
• Redzic, Enver, Muslimansko Autonomastvo I 13. SS Divizija (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1987).