Ante Pavelić

"Pavelić" redirects here. For other people named Pavelić, see Pavelić (surname).

Ante Pavelić
File:Ante Pavelic.jpg
Poglavnik of the Independent State of Croatia
In office 10 April 1941 – 8 May 1945
Monarch	Aimone, Duke of Aosta (1941–1943)
Prime Minister	Nikola Mandić (1943–1945)
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Nikola Mandić (as Prime Minister)
Foreign Minister
In office 16 April 1941 – 9 June 1941
Monarch	Aimone, Duke of Spoleto
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Mladen Lorković
Member of Parliament
In office 11 September 1927 – 7 January 1929
Monarch	Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Prime Minister	Velimir Vukićević (1927–1928) Anton Korošec
Personal details
Born	(1889-07-14)14 July 1889 Bradina, near Konjic, Austria-Hungary
Died	28 December 1959(1959-12-28) (aged 70) Madrid, Spain
Political party	Croatian Liberation Movement (since 1956)
Other political affiliations	Party of Rights (1910–1929) Ustaše (1929–1945) Croatian Statehood Party (1950)
Spouse	Maria Pavelić
Alma mater	University of Zagreb
Occupation	Politician, statesman
Profession	Lawyer

Ante Pavelić (14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian fascist leader, revolutionist, and politician. He ruled as Poglavnik ("head") of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. In the 1930s, he was a founding member and leader of the Croatian fascist movement, the Ustaše. Pavelić was a lawyer and prominent politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, known for his nationalistic beliefs, particularly about an independent Croatia. From 1927 until 1929 he was a member of the Yugoslav Parliament where he declared his beliefs about Croatian independence. During this time he called on Croats for armed revolt agains Yugoslavia, and after King Alexander I declared his January 6th Dictatorship he escaped to Italy where he founded the Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement. At first it was a Croatian nationalist movement with the goal of creating an independent Greater Croatia by means of armed revolt. In October 1934 he planned the assassination of King Alexander I and spent time in prison in Italy until 1935. After the Axis invaded Yugoslavia on April 10, 1941 Slavko Kvaternik declared the Independent State of Croatia in the name of the Poglavnik, Pavelić. As the leader of the Croatian state Pavelić took full control of the country and soon created a political system similar to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. After the war he escaped to Argentina where he remained politically active. In 1958 he was wounded in an assassination attempt by the Yugoslav Department of State Security, following which he went to Spain where he died from his wounds on December 28 1959.

Early life

Birth and education

Ante Pavelić was born in the small Herzegovinian village of Bradina on the slopes of Ivan Mountain north of Konjic, and roughly 15 kilometers southwest of Hadžići, then part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. His parents had moved to the Austrian-Hungarian condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the village Krivi Put on the central part of the Velebit plain, in southern Lika (today's Croatia). In search of work his family moved to a village Jezero outside Jajce where Pavelić started to attend primary school - a Muslim Mekteb. In this mekteb Pavelić listened to Muslim traditions and lessons that influenced on his attitude about Bosnian Muslims and Bosnia. Also, Pavelić stated that name "Ustaša" was taken from Bosnian rebels who called them selfs Ustaše against Austrian-Hungarian occupation from 1878, and that Ustaša hymn "Ustaše March" ("Ustaška koračnica") was remake of Bosnian rebel song from 1878. Pavelić also attended primary school in Travnik, led by Jesuits and grew up in a city where the majority of population was Muslim. Because of that Bosnian Muslim culture made a big influence on his political views. Because of health problems, he interrupted his education for a short time in 1905. In Sommer he found job on railway in Sarajevo and Višegrad on Drina river. After that, he decided to continue his education in Zagreb, where his older brother lived. In Zagreb he finished his fourth class. Because he didn't complete his fourth class exam to end, he attended fourh class two times. In his first high school days in Zagreb, he joined Pure Party of Rights. Pavelić also became a member of the organization known as the "Frankovci", whose founder, Josip Frank, was the father-in-law of Slavko Kvaternik, an Austro-Hungarian colonel. Later he continued to attend high school in Senj in classical gymnasium wher he finished fifth class. Again, because of health reasons, he interrupted his education and started with job on road in Istria near Buzet. In 1909 he continued his education in Karlovac wher he finished his sixth class. He finished his seventh class in Senj and finally graduated in Zagreb 1910. In 1910 he entered Law Faculty at the University of Zagreb. At the time he was also employed as a lawyer in firm of Aleksandar Horvat, the president of the Pure Party of Rights, as lawyer's clerk where he earned his doctorate in 1915.

Rise in politics

During the World War I Pavelić intensively participated in the activities of the Party of Rights. Because he was employee and friend of Horvat, he often attended important party meetings. Later, Pavelić took Horvat's duties, while he was absent. After end of practice in 1918 he worked as an independent lawyer. After unification of State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs with Kingdom of Serbia on December 1, 1918 his party made a public protest day after explaining that Croats got a Serbian king even Croatian people was never asked do they whant one and highest state authorities did not agreed to unification. Further, party expressed their wish for Croatian republic. Already in 1921 Pavelić was on the list of city elected officials in Zagreb, and soon became one of the leading figures in the party, which had a major impact on young members. Soon he entered leadership of the party and started to advocate the independence of Croatia. At first he was member of party's business committee, then secretary and later vice-president of Pure Party of Rights. His quarrelsome nature was increasingly apparent in the years immediately after World War I, when he became involved in a succession of disputes with the Centralist Party and the Croat Peasant Party of Stjepan Radić.

In that year he was arrested because of anti-Yugoslav attitudes, along with several other members of the party, but was released. Pavelić defended his fellow party members at their trial. He married Maria Lovrenčević – who through her mother's family was part Jewish – on August 12, 1922 in St. Mark's Church in Zagreb. Her father was also member of Party of Rights, Martin Lovrenčević, and also a famous journalist. In his marriage with Maria he had three children, son Velimir and daughters Mirjana and Višnja.

He later became vice-president of the Croatian Bar Association, organization of Croatian lawyers. After he was elected for parliament as a member of Croatian Block, he was a contact person of Croatian Party of Rights with Nikola Pašić, a Yugoslav Prime Minister. In June in 1927 he represented Zagreb County on European Congress of Cities in Paris. In his speeches at Yugoslav Parliament he was pointed out in his attitudes against Serbian nationalism and spoke in favor of Croatian independence. His activity with youth in the Croatian Party of Rights was prominent and he started with newspapers "Starčević" and "Kvaternik".

Serbian members of the Yugoslav Parliament disliked him and when a Serbian member said to him "Good night" (in parliament), Pavelić responded: Gentleman, I will be euphoric when I will be able to say to you 'good night'. I will be happy when all Croats can say 'good night' and thank you, for this 'party' we had here with you. I think that you will all be happy when you don't have Croats here any more.

As a member of Yugoslav Parliament he was eyewitness to the assassination of Stjepan Radić.

Life in exile

In 1927 Pavelić defended Macedonians charged in Skopje with terrorist offences. Through his Viennese contacts, Pavelić established clandestine links with the Italian government, but he was less successful in attempting to forge similar links in Hungary, where Budapest authorities were wary of putting relationships with other countries in jeopardy.

Pavelić was elected in 1927 to the national assembly, having previously served on the municipal council of Zagreb. Pavelić was one of two elected on the Croatian Bloc's list, the other being Ante Trumbić. Pavelić held the position of party secretary in the Party of Rights until 1929, the beginning of the royal government in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1928 he founded armed group named Hrvatski domobran ("Croatian Home Guard"), and Yugoslav authorities forbade their activity and declared it illegal. By this act, Pavelić openly called Croats to a revolt. When king Alexander I proclaimed dictatorhip on 6 January 1929, Pavelić left to Italy and then to Wien. He didn't want to have any political activities, but by combination of circumstances he did. He established contact with Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization and was shortly invited to Bulgaria to meet representatives from Macedonian National Committee. At this meeting they made Sofia Declaration in which they formalized cooperation of Ustaše and Macedonian revolutionists. This declaration was very important to Pavelić and Ustaše. Yugoslavia protested to Bulgaria and in court they started prosecution of Pavelić because of high treason and he was sentenced to death in absentia together with Gustav Perčec. Serbian nationalism in Yugoslavia made easier for Pavelić to establish Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Organization. After that his permanent residence in Austria was forbidden and he and his family left for Italy where they lived until April 1941. In Italy he often changed his residence and he lived under false names. The most often name he used was Antonio Serdar. By this Italian authorities didn't want to formally support Ustaše and Pavelić because they didn't want to endanger their reputation, but Pavelić and the Ustaše received support from Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who saw them as a means to help destroy Yugoslavia and expand Italian influence in the Adriatic. Mussolini allowed Pavelić to live in exile in Rome and train his paramilitaries for war with Yugoslavia. Later, many Croats will join to Ustašas because they were dissatisfied with situation in Yugoslavia. Even he left country in 1929, he didn't immediately founded his organization. In first, he used name "Ustaša" for newspaper he wrote, then later, he used that name for organization he founded in 1930 and he named it Ustaša - Hrvatska revolucionarna organizacija (Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Organization; abbreviated UHRO). Short after that Croats in Argentina, United States, Belgium and many other European countries massively joined the organization Hrvatski domobran (Croatian Home Guard) which was led by Pavelić as Poglavnik. Early members of UHRO were later high ranking persons of Ustaša regime - Vjekoslav Luburić (codename Maks), Jure Francetić (codename Laszlo) and Rafael Boban.

In Main Ustaša Department on 1 July 1933 he declared main goals of Ustaše organization in 17 points. As a main goal he marked creation of independent Croatian state on it's historical and ethnic area, and he stated that this is the right what Ustaše must do by any means necessary even with force of weapons. According to rules he made he organizes actions, assassinations and diversions. Ustaše training camps were set up in Italy and Hungary, chiefly at Brescia and Borgotaro in Italy and Jankapuszta in Hungary.

In 1932 at a meeting held in Spittal in Austria, Pavelić, Gustav Perčec and Vjekoslav Servatzy decided to start with small uprising. Uprising started at midnight on 6 September 1932 and it is known as Velebit Uprising. Uprising was led by Andrija Artuković and it was involved about 20 Ustaše members armed with Italian equipment. In uprising Ustaše attacked police station and after half an hour they pulled back to Velebit, all alive. This uprising was just improvisation of Croatian political emigration to scare Yugoslav authorities. On 12 April 1941 Pavelić confirmed that. Even the uprising was small Yugoslav authorities were affraid because they were unaware of Ustaše power and they introduced major security measures.

They later made two attempts to assassinate King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. The lack of armed protection afforded to the Yugoslav monarch, and the general laxity of security precautions when it was well-known that one attempt had already been made on Alexander's life, testify to Pavelić's organizational abilities; he had apparently been able to bribe a high official in the Sûreté General. The Prefect of Police of Marseilles, Jouhannaud, was subsequently removed from office. For the second time, Pavelić was in absentia sentenced to death, this time by a French court. Under pressure of France Italian police arrested Pavelić and several Ustaša emigrants on 17 October 1934. Pavelić was in prison in Turino until 1934. In prison he wrote his novel "Liepa Plavojka" ("The Lovley Blonde")

Disappointed with Italian relations with Ustaše organization he made closer to Nazi Germany which promised to change map of Europe made by Treaty of Versailles. By the end of October in 1936 he finished study for German Foreign Ministry under title "Croatian Question" ("Die kroatische Frage"). But then, the German foreign policy wanted united Yugoslavia so Pavelić's study didn't leave much influence on them. Next book of Pavelić was "Horrors of mistakes" (Italian: Errori e orrori, Croatian: Strahote zabluda) which was made for Italian public. Next day, after the book was published, it was seized and forbidden like any Ustaše activity. Another blow was approaching of Italy and Yugoslavia after Ciano - Stojadinović Agreement on 1 April 1937, Pavelić was forced to declare a regulation in which he dissolves all Ustaše services and camps on territory of Italy. After that he lived in Siena until 1939. After the fall of Stojadinović, Ustaša activity was increased in year 1939, especially in 1940. Nazi Germany was firm in that Yugoslavia must be united, Italians often changed decisions and only Pavelić was firm in creation of Croatian state.

Ustaše regime

File:Prisega vlade NDH (1).jpg

Inauguration of Pavelić's first government in Zagreb, 16 April 1941

In March 1941 Nazi Germany attacked Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Germans thought it would be easier to break this state if they would made contact with people disappointed with king's regime, mainly Croats. As Croatian Peasant Party was supported the most by Croats, Germans wanted to give power to them by newly formed Croatian state, more accurately to Vladko Maček, so in beginning they ignored the existence of Ustašas. Germans thought that Pavelić was just an Italian political figure. When Maček refused to cooperate with Axis, Adolf Hitler decided to agree with Italian proposal for Pavelić and made him Head of State of Croatia. On 10 April 1941, over Radio Station Zagreb, Slavko Kvaternik declared Independent State of Croatia in name of Poglavnik dr. Ante Pavelić. On 13 April 1941 Pavelić entered onto Croatian soil and in night of 15 April he was in Zagreb together with his Ustaša's emigrant escort. After coming to Zagreb he took duties of Head of State and declared new government. Soon, his family also comes to Zagreb.

As new Croatian government wanted to get closer with her allies, they introduced similar political system - one-party state, in this case Ustašas and all other parties were dissolved including Croatian Peasant Party. Many Croats, who wanted to help in development of Croatian state were jailed because they were political misfit, including Vladko Maček who was imprisoned in Jasenovac and later sentenced on house arrest where he was until the end of the war.

File:VisitaDeAntePavelicAHitlerJunio1941.ogv

Ante Pavelić visits Adolf Hitler at Bergohof in June 1941

File:CumpleañosDePavelic1943.ogv

Celebration of birthday of Ante Pavelić, also showing his cult of personality

Pavelić was at the same time Poglavnik of Ustaša's and Poglavnik of Croatian state, and as such he hold absolute power in state. His cult of personality was promoted and he was represented as second most important person after Ante Starčević in Croatian history. His name was pronounced together with the noun liberator of Croatian people. In his honor, many artists write songs, work his sculptures and paint. The most famous sculpture of Pavelić is made by Antun Augustinčić and painting by Ante Kaštelančić.

Pavelić declared new government on 16 April 1941, but all very important decisions where made by him. He called Sabor in February 1942, but no important influence was made on it, and after December 1942 Sabor was never called again. The most influential factor for Croatian state where relations with Germany and Italy, and political system was modeled by German and Italian system. Thing what disrupted Croatian-Italian relations was Italian pretension for Croatian territory. The worst moment of Croatian-Italian diplomacy were Treaty of Rome in which Croatia was forced to give up part of Dalmatia, Krk, Rab, Korčula, Biograd, Šibenik, Split, Čiovo, Šolta, Mljet and part of Konavle and Bay of Kotor in favor of Italy. Croatian proposal that Split and island Korčula have Croatian-Italian administration were ignored by Italy. This annexation was shock for Croatian public generally and only public protest in Independent State of Croatia occurred because of that. Hundreds of citizens, members of Ustaša Movement and Domobranstvo were protesting on Christmas, 25 December 1941. Pavelić tried to return abdicated areas and hide the real condition from him self and Croatian public with good relations with Italy. Croatian diplomacy previously asked for support of Germany with diplomatic conflict with Italy, but for Germans, that part was under Italian influence and they didn't want to involve. Because of communist propaganda, only Italian annexation was mentioned and Pavelić was discredited because of that, but the fact is Pavelić did his best to keep Croatia as whole and refused Italian suggestions about united custom, monetary and personal union. Italian suggestion that Croatia should have Italian king was accepted and Pavelić agreed to name Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta as king of Croatia, but in reality that was never accepted and king never had power over Croatian state.

Ante Pavelić and Joachim von Ribbentrop in Salzburg, 6 June 1941

Pavelić's internal policy was partly unaccepted by Croats, especially by arresting political enemies and more by Ustaša's relationship with Croatian Jews (who were accepted in Croatian society). Also, Ustaša's persecution of Serbs made them to join Partisans or Chetniks which was a disaster for peace in Croatia. Croatian relations for Jews was introduced mainly because of German influence on Croatia. The most terrible thing in Ustaša's government were concentration and working camps. The most notorious of them is Jasenovac concentration camp where 70 000 - 80 000 people died. The death of 18 000 Jews in Croatia was very ironic to Croatian public because part of high ranking officers of Army was Jewish, wives of some ministers were Jewish and even Josip Frank was also a Jew, a person in whose party Pavelić also was a member. Ustaša Movement was mostly anti-Serb in orientation, but German influence made it also anti-Semitic. However, the destiny of Serbian Jews was even worse because they were under direct German control. Pavelić founded Ustaša Movement to liberate Croatian people from Serbian oppression and punish Serbs for torture of Croats and it was not based on racial and hate policy. Soon, Serbs revolted and committed a number of crimes against Croats and Muslims in Independent State of Croatia. Worried about this, Pavelić founded Croatian Orthodox Church in hope he will calm revolted Serbs. After that, by following ideology of Ante Starčević, Serbs were considered as Orthodox Croats, and their status was improved, especially in urban ares. People loyal to Pavelić, mainly Ustašas wanted the fight to bitter end, another part of Croats who was scared of new Yugoslavia also supported Pavelić and communism was strange to Croats in that time, so they didn't support Partisans.

File:Alojzije Stepinac meets Ante Pavelić.jpg

Ante Pavelić meets Alojzije Stepinac

File:Svečano otvaranje džamije 18.8.1944.jpg

Pavelić at official opening of the Zagreb mosque (today Meštrović Pavilion), August 18, 1944

At the meeting in Berchtesgaden in early June 1941, Hitler encouraged Pavelić to accept transfer of Slovenes in Croatia and to deport Serbs of Croatia to Nedić's Serbia. Pavelić was advised by Hitler that to much tolerance can be damaging and suggested him that he conducts "fifty years of a nationally intolerant policy" In next few months Ustaše deported around 120,000 Serbs to Serbia of which, some ten thousand fled.

Pavelić and his government have devoted great attention to culture. Mostly because of propaganda but even so, most of the books didn't have ideological basics and culture in Croatia had big success. Croatian National Theatre held a number of performances and it was visited by many world-famous actors. Besides that, the most prominent in culture was publishing of Croatian Encyclopedia which later was became forbidden under the communist regime as ustashoid. Croatian sport was also improved and Croatian Football Association became member of FIFA in 1941 for the first time.

One of the most important moments in history of Independent State of Croatia was Lorković-Vokić coup in 1944. Minister Mladen Lorković and officer Ante Vokić introduced their plans to Pavelić in which they would change sides and Pavelić would no longer be a Head of State because British demanded that. At first, Pavelić supported their ideas, but he was visited by local Gestapo officer and told that Germany will win the war with new weapons. Finally he decided to arrest Lorković and Vokić and others involved in coup, some representatives of Croatian Peasant Party and number of Domobran officers. Lorković and Vokić were shot at the end of April in 1945 in Lepoglava. After the "Anglo-American" coup was discovered, Pavelić started to make agreement with Soviet Union since September 1944 until February 1945. They agreed to recognize Croatian state under condition that they let free access to Red Army and free activity of communists. Pavelić refused their proposal and stayed allied with Nazi Germany until the end of the war.

Sawing that Germany fold and that Croatian army was no longer in condition to resist communists he ordered withdrawal of Croatian Armed Forces to Austria to surrender to British because he beleaved Partisans wouldn't treat his army by Geneva Convention. Pavelić left the country on 6 May 1945, and on 8 May he was on Austrian border. He left Croatian soldiers and civilians in Rogaška Slatina, and because of that, later Croatian emigrant accused him for escape and cowardice. Croatian soldiers and big number of civilians who were scared of communists, retreated to Austria. More than 100.000 Croats was in retreat, and at least 100.000 of them was killed by Partisans what history marked as Bleiburg massacre. Pavelić was aware that could happened, and he moved his family to Austria in late 1944, and him self later, lived there for shorter time in American Occupational Zone. Pavelić reported him self to American intelligence. The most interesting fact is that British and American intelligence were aware about Pavelić's location, but they done nothing to arrest him. Pavelić moved to Rome, where he was hidden by members of the Roman Catholic Church (according to de-classified US Intelligence documents.), but Americans refused to arrest him. Tito and his Communist government accused Catholic Church for hiding Pavelić. The second defendants were Anglo-American "imperialists" who wanted to "revive Nazism" and take communist Eastern Europe. But Communists weren't completely wrong, because Anglo-American Intelligence did use former fascists and nazis as agents against communist state including Pavelić.

Crimes

As leader of NDH, Pavelić was responsible for a campaign of terror against Serbs, Jews, Gypsies, and anti-fascist Croats. Pavelić's Ustaše regime was the most murderous, in relation to its size, in Axis-occupied Europe. Numerous testimonies from the Nuremberg Trials, and in German, Italian and Austrian war archives, bear witness to atrocities perpetrated against the civilian population.

Serbian, Jewish, and Gypsy men, women, and children were literally hacked to death. Whole villages were razed to the ground and the people driven into barns to which the Ustaše set fire. General Edmund von Glaise-Horstenau reported to the OKW on 28 June 1941:

...according to reliable reports from countless German military and civil observers during the last few weeks the Ustaše have gone raging mad.

On 10 July, General Glaise-Horstenau added:

Our troops have to be mute witnesses of such events; it does not reflect well on their otherwise high reputation... I am frequently told that German occupation troops would finally have to intervene against Ustaše crimes. This may happen eventually. Right now, with the available forces, I could not ask for such action. Ad hoc intervention in individual cases could make the German Army look responsible for countless crimes which it could not prevent in the past.

According to these testimonies, German officers themselves were dismayed by the atrocities committed by the Ustaše, to the extent that they occasionally intervened to stop the bloodshed (Jasenovac, 1941), arrested one of the most notorious Ustaše (Friar Miroslav Filipović/Majstorović, Banja Luka, 1942) and disarmed an Ustaše detachment (Eastern Bosnia, 1942).

A Gestapo report to Himmler (17 February 1942) on increased Partisan activities stated that "Increased activity of the bands is chiefly due to atrocities carried out by Ustaše units in Croatia against the Orthodox population. The Ustaše committed their deeds in a bestial manner not only against males of conscript age, but especially against helpless old people, women and children.

Pavelić's regime was not officially recognized by the Vatican, but the Church never condemned the genocide and forced conversions to Catholicism perpetrated by the Ustaše. Soon after coming to power in April 1941, Pavelić was given a private audience in Rome by Pope Pius XII, an act for which the Pope was widely criticized.

Between 197,000-217,000 Serbs were killed on territory of Independent State of Croatia by Ustaše and their Axis allies. As for Jews and Gypsies, the only policy was total annihilation of both. According to an official Yugoslav report, only 1,500 out of 30,000 Croatian Jews remained alive. Approximately 26,000 Gypsies were murdered by the Ustashi in the Independent State of Croatia. There were approximately 40,000 Gypsies living within the borders of the Independent State of Croatia.

Post-war

In the years following World War II Pavelić was hiding in a Jesuit monastery near Napoli in Italy. In the autumn of 1948 he met Krunoslav Draganović, a Roman Catholic priest, in southern Italy, who helped Pavelić obtain a passport issued by the Red Cross in the Hungarian name of Pale Aranios. Draganović allegedly planned to deliver Pavelić to the Italian police, but Pavelić avoided capture and fled to Argentina. He arrived in Argentina on the Italian ship Sestriere on 6 November 1948. Upon his arrival, Pavelić moved in with the writer Vinko Nikolić in an old house in bad condition. They didn't have much money and they lived very cheap. In Buenos Aires he was greeted by his son Velimir and daughter Mirjana. Soon, his wife Maria and older daughter Višnja, also arrived. Upon arriving in Argentina he became a security advisor to Juan Perón. In new environment, Pavelić lived under name Pablo Aranyos which can be found on documents with which he arrived to Argentina. In 1950 Pavelić got amnesty and approval for further stay as other 34,000 of Croats, including those who had been Nazi collaborators and had fled from the Allied advance. After that he took his earlier false name Antonio Serdar, and under that name he continued to live in Buenos Aires. Like for most others political emigrants in Argentina, Pavelić also lived hard and he had to work as a bricklayer to live. His best contact with Perons was Branko Benzon who was in good relationship with Evita Peron. Benzon is unknown to public, but he was Croatian ambassador to Germany in time of war, and he also knew Hitler personally what was good for Croatian-German relations. Thanks to Benzon's friendship with Evita Peron, Pavelić became owner of influential housing firm in Argentina. Soon after arrival he joined to organization "Hrvatski domobran" ("Croatian Home Guard"). He tried to expand activity of this organization, so soon, in 1950, he founded Croatian Statehood Party. This party did not last long, so in 1956 most of Ustaša emigrants founded Croatian Liberation Movement - a organization which led all other Croatian political statehood and combat organizations outside of homeland with same goal. All political emigrants agreed on this on 8 June 1956. Even earlier, at the end of 1940s, many Ustašas split from Pavelić because they thought that Croats, in new circumstances, need new political direction. Also, many other who split from Pavelić continued to call themselves Ustašas and wanted revival of Independent State of Croatia. The most famous person who split with Pavelić was former Ustaša officer, Vjekoslav Luburić who lived in Spain. Pavelić declared that he wants the restoration of Croatian state in borders what is now Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina with Srem and Bay of Kotor. But, in 1954 Pavelić met with former Yugoslav Prime Minister Milan Stojadinović and with him they made new plan for delineation between Croatia and Serbia. It is not known on what they agreed, but in map shown in some Argentinian newspapers the border is Drina river. Pavelić often reported to Croats in emigration and sent various propaganda messages. For many times, communist government in Yugoslavia demanded extradition of Pavelić from Argentina, but for many reasons that was denied.

After the fall of Peron, Ante Pavelić and the Ustaše emigration were no longer protected by the Argentinian government, their security was threatened by the increased activity of Yugoslav intelligence. On 10 April 1957, the 16th anniversary of the founding of the Independent State of Croatia, Pavelić was shot in the back and seriously wounded while getting out of a bus in Lomas del Palomar near Buenos Aires. The assailant remained unknown, while the attempt is usually attributed to the Yugoslav intelligence Department of State Security (UDBA). Despite having a bullet lodged in his spine, Pavelić elected not to be hospitalized. Two weeks after the shooting, the Argentine authorities agreed to grant the Yugoslav government's request to extradite Pavelić, but he went into hiding before he could be extradited. At the end of 1957 Pavelić went to Spain from Chile. Although there were reports that Pavelić had fled to Paraguay to work for the Stroessner regime, his whereabouts remained unknown until late 1959, when it was learned that he had been granted asylum in Spain. He settled in Madrid from where he contacts with supporters World wide. In Spain, Pavelić lived secretly, with family life, probably by agreement with Spanish authorities, but Spain didn't give him citizenship. Ante Pavelić died in Madrid on 28 December 1959 at the German hospital in 70th age of life, reportedly from complications due to the bullet in his spine. He is buried in the oldest private cemetery in Madrid, in the San Isidro.

Sources

• Jakov Sedlar : Pavelić bez maske (engl. Pavelić unmasked); Biographical documentary about Ante Pavelić with text of dr. Mario Jareb from Croatian Institute for History. Country of origin: Croatia. 2009.
• Hermann Neubacher: Sonderauftrag Suedost 1940-1945, Bericht eines fliegendes Diplomaten, 2. durchgesehene Auflage, Goettingen 1956
• Ladislaus Hory and Martin Broszat: Der Kroatische Ustascha-Staat, 1941-1945 Stuttgart, 1964
• Encyclopædia Britannica, 1943 - Book of the year, page 215, Entry: Croatia
• Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, Europe, edition 1995, page 91, entry: Croatia
• Encyclopædia Britannica, Edition 1991, Macropedia, Vol. 29, page 1111.
• Helen Fein: Accounting for Genocide - Victims and Survivors of the Holocaust, The Free Press, New York, Edition 1979, pages 102, 103.
• Alfio Russo: Revoluzione in Jugoslavia, Roma 1944.
• Ruth Mitchell: The Serbs Choose War, Doubleday, Doran, 1943, page 148
• Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, vol. 2, p. 739.
• Avro Manhattan: The Vatican's Holocaust, Ozark Books, 1986, page 48.
• Edmond Paris: Genocide in Satellite Croatia, The American Institute for Balkan Affairs, 1525 West Diversey Parkway, Chicago, Illinois. Published in 1961, 1962, 1990
• Cali Ruchala, Lord of the Danse Macabre: Ante Pavelic and the Independent State of Croatia, Degenerate Magazine © 1996
• Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism: 1914-45, UCL Press Ltd. 1995, page 404-411

External links

• Ante Pavelić biography at Biografije.org Template:Hr icon
• Tied up in the Rat Lines, by Yossi Melman, Haaretz