Extremely rare original certificate of awarding the Cross of II.Class with Swords of the Order of King Zvonimir ( Red Krune Kralja Zvonimira II-Stupnja s Macevima ) by Poglavnik (Duce) Dr. Ante Pavelic to Major Karl Kleineberg of Amt Ausland Abwehr / III ( Foreign Counterintelligence Service - Section III ) signed in the capital Zagreb ( Dano u glavnom gradu Zagreb ) on February 23, 1943 ( 23.Veliace godine 1943 ).
The certificate is signed by the Minister and Secretary of State of the Armed Forces, General Cavalier Vilko Begic and countersigned by the Notary of the Order, General Nobile Ivan Percevic. The header of the certificate reads: "VIME HRVATSKOGA NARODA POGLAVNIK NESAVISNE DRZAVE HRVATSKE DR. ANTE PAVELIC Podjeluje svojom odrebom br. 1381.ZV. OD 23.II.1943." ( I Dr. Ante Pavelic, Head of the Independent State of Croatia, in the name of the Croatian people issue my order No. 1381 ZV of 23.2.1943 )

The Minister and Secretary of State of the Croatian Armed Forces, General Cavalier Vilko Begic, signatory of the certificate

The Crown Order of King Zvonimir was established on May 17, 1941 by Ante Pavelic (formally prime minister of Croatia and head of the Ustascha government) to worthily reward those, Croatians or foreigners, who distinguished themselves, in peace or in war, in favor of Croatia. The dedicatee of the Order is King Zvonimiro of Croatia, who lived in the 11th century.
The Order was divided into five classes, in turn divided into different grades, the most important of which was the "Grand Cross with Star" awarded only three times. Those who were decorated with the "First Class Cross with Star" also received the title of "Knight" ( Vitez ) as it appears before the signature of Vilko Begic.Cross of II.Class with Swords which was awarded in case of deserving actions towards the enemy.
The decoration consists of a Croatian cross (with three dovetail arms and one normal), enameled in white and edged with gold. On the obverse there is a Latin cross in gold in the center of which, in a medallion, the ancient crown of the kingdom of Croatia is depicted in gold. Above the cross, inserted into the central medallion, are two golden swords. On the back there are two inscriptions in gold: on the upper arm the date "1076" (commemoration of the accession of Zvonimiro to the Croatian throne) and on the lower arm the date "1941" (proclamation of the independent Croatian state). In the two central arms is the inscription "BOG I HRVATI"). The cross, slightly convex, measures 50 x 51 mm and is not marked but its characteristics undoubtedly attribute it to the production of the Braca Knaus company in Zagreb. It is in perfect storage conditions with the right degree of patina left over by time. 

The "Abwehr"(literally "Defense") was an organization totally linked to the German military High Command and in no way dependent on the Party or its formations. Admiral Canaris, who was its leader, was indeed an old member of the Nsdap but came from the ranks of the Kriesmarine from which most of the members of the Abwehr were recruited. The headquarters of the Abwehr Amt were in the OKW building in Berlin at Tripitzufer 72, but the main operational sections were moved to Zossen with the other sections of the OKW in the early summer of 1943, when the Allied bombing of Berlin began to take on dangerous proportions. Functionally the Abwehr was divided into three main operational sections (Abteilungen) and an administrative section. The ABT I dealt with operational intelligence, the ABT II of sabotage and subversion and the ABT III of counterintelligence and to a limited extent of security. L'Abteilung III was the counterintelligence and security section, responsible for the security of the Abwehr and the Armed Forces. For the latter purpose he worked in close connection with the Geheime Feldpolizei (GFP), the Wehrmacht security police.
Regionally, the Abwehr was represented by Abwehrstellen (generally abbreviated to Ast). The Abwehrstellen in Germany corresponded to the country's military divisions (Wehrkreis).
As soon as a country was occupied and the threat of military counterattack removed, the Abwehr was organized along lines similar to those adopted in the Reich. For each military administration unit, there was an AST which was normally designated by the name of the country in which it operated. Within the area of each Ast were subsidiary stations known as Nebenstellen
(  nests) organized along the same lines as the Ast on which they were directly dependent. In addition to counter-espionage, the main function of both Asts and Nebenstellen was to recruit and train agents to be sent to allied or neutral territory. Small specialized units called Aussenstellen (Aust) and Meldekopfe (Mc) were often created to assist them in this. An Aussenstellen was a subsidiary station dedicated to a particular branch of work for the Abwehr. A Meldekopf was simply a center for receiving and transmitting reports and an advanced base from which an Ast or Astl could pass their agents to their assigned area of operation.
L ' Ast Belgradeit was established in April 1943, immediately after the German occupation of Yugoslavia. Its main controlled stations were Ast Zagreb and Sarajevo Nest. The Chief was Oberst Dr. Kohoutek, and the main objective, in addition to reconnaissance and operations against the partisans, was the gathering of information from the Middle East, particularly from Turkey. The Major Karl Kleineberg operated surely within AST Zagreb when he was awarded this decoration. 

Vilko Begicwas born in Cazma, in the then Austro-Hungarian Empire, today in Croatia. He was colonel of the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Army. After the First World War he became a journalist. He was often attacked by the Yugoslav gendarmerie. In 1924 he was arrested for attempting to cross the border illegally. In 1929 he was accused of terrorism, then he was tried together with Vladko Macek. In 1933 he was arrested due to the circulation of leaflets. After the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia he joined the new regular army of Croatia. He was promoted to infantry general and on 14 August 1941 he was appointed Secretary of State and Minister of Defense. He was adviser of the Poglavnik Ante Pavelic which in April 1943 he escorted on a visit to Adolf Hitler. In early September 1943 he was appointed Doglavnik (deputy of the Poglavnik ) and thus became a member of the Poglavnik Council. In February 1944 he was promoted to lieutenant general and in April 1945 colonel general, the highest rank in the Croatian armed forces after Pavelic. In May 1945, when the Croatian troops withdrew to Austria to surrender to the British, he disappeared. There are several versions of his end: some say that he was handed over by the American Command to Tito's troops and shot, others claim to have seen him in an allied prison camp near Salzburg in 1946 after which there is no more news and still others that died in Milan that same year.