A Franciscan friar turned Ustaše officer, Filipović occupies a particular place in the history of wartime atrocity — a man whose religious vocation did not restrain but appeared to coexist with, and then give way entirely to, documented participation in mass killing. His role at Jasenovac, one of the most lethal concentration camps operated by the Axis-aligned Independent State of Croatia, brought him into direct contact with systematic murder on a significant scale. The nickname his victims and guards assigned him was not a rhetorical flourish but a measure of how his conduct was perceived even within that environment.

His decision to declare martial law in December 1981 — suspending civil liberties, interning thousands of Solidarity activists, and placing Poland under military rule — defined his legacy as a leader who chose state control over political reform. He justified the crackdown as a necessary measure to prevent Soviet intervention, a rationale that remained disputed for decades and was later examined in Polish courts. The tension between his wartime service against Nazi Germany and his role in suppressing his own people makes him one of the more complicated figures in Cold War history.