In 1939 Fortner was appointed as the director of training in
Landeck in Tyrol, Austria. In May 1941 he was appointed to command the newly raised 718th Infantry Division, and this was followed by his promotion to
Generalmajor in June 1941. While Fortner was based in
Sarajevo, he visited the
Bosnian National Museum and demanded that the museum custodians hand over a 14th-century illuminated Jewish manuscript known as the
Sarajevo Haggadah. The chief librarian of the museum, a
Bosnian Muslim, told Fortner that the manuscript had already been handed over to another German officer. The librarian then smuggled the manuscript to a village in the mountains, where the local
imam secreted it amongst the
Korans in his library. The manuscript survived the war and was returned to the museum. Between May 1941 and June 1942, Fortner's division was the only permanent German garrison in the Independent State of Croatia. While under Fortner's command, members of the division executed
Jews and
Romani in the
Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia. In November 1942, Fortner was promoted to
Generalleutnant. On 15 March 1943, Fortner was relieved and placed on the reserve list of generals. On 31 March 1944, he was retired from military duties. Fortner was extradited to Yugoslavia after the war ended, tried and found guilty of the murder of Yugoslav civilians during his command of the 718th Infantry Division. He was sentenced to death on 16 February 1947 and was hanged less than two weeks later. ==Notes==