Croatian Holocaust

The Croatian Holocaust presents us with clear and indisputable evidence that the papacy in modern history is as corrupt and murderous as it was in the days of the Crusades or of the Inquisition. The Croatian Holocaust is distinguished from the Jewish Holocaust in that the victims of it were primarily the Orthodox Serbs, along with a smaller number of Jews and Gypsies (Roma), who were murdered en masse by certain Roman 'catholic'* Croats. This genocide was carried out for the sole purpose of eliminating from Croatia the influence of anything that was not Roman 'catholic': i.e. Orthodoxy, Judaism, etc. Further, this was done in cooperation with—and with the approval of—the Vatican. The Croatian Holocaust under Ante Pavelic and the Ustashe, while in a sense separate and distinct, was also directly connected with the Jewish Holocaust under Adolph Hitler, and was in fact the beginning of it. The eminent Holocaust historian Jonathan Steinberg says it this way: "The omission of Croatia from the conventional Holocaust studies is like a book whose first chapter is torn out." [Quoted in The Real Genocide in Yugoslavia , by Srdja Trifkovic]

The Balkan peninsula (including Croatia and Serbia, etc.) has always been the place of flux of the dividing line between the Western 'papal' and Eastern Orthodox Churches. The division between the two can be traced back to at least the mid-fourth century. Hermais Sozomen (died 450 A.D.) in his Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter XIII writes:

After this Synod [Sardica, 347 A.D.], the Eastern and the Western churches ceased to maintain the intercourse which usually exists among people of the same faith, and refrained from holding communion with each other. The Christians of the West separated themselves from all as far as Thrace; those of the East as far as Illyria.

Socrates Scholasticus (died 450 A.D.) in his Ecclesiastical History, Book II, Chapter XXII, writes:

Those convened at Sardica, as well as those who had formed a separate council at Philippopolis in Thrace, having severally performed what they deemed requisite, returned to their respective cities. From that time, therefore, the Western church was severed from the Eastern; and the boundary of communion between them was the mountain called Soucis, which divides the Illyrians from the Thracians. As far as this mountain there was indiscriminate communion, although there was a difference of faith; but beyond it they did not commune with one another. Such was the perturbed condition of the churches at that period.

Socrates Scholasticus gives us some insight into the different natures of the Eastern (Constantinople) and Western (Rome) bishoprics in his day, in Ecclesiastical History, Book VII, Chapter XI:

And this Celestinus [bishop of Rome, 422 - 432 A.D.] took away the churches from the Novatians at Rome also, and obliged Rusticula their bishop to hold his meetings secretly in private houses. Until this time the Novatians had flourished exceedingly in Rome, possessing many churches there, which were attended by large congregations. But envy attacked them also, as soon as the Roman episcopate, like that of Alexandria, extended itself beyond the limits of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and degenerated into its present state of secular domination. For thenceforth the bishops would not suffer even those who agreed with them in matters of faith to enjoy the privilege of assembling in peace, but stripped them of all they possessed, praising them merely for these agreements in faith. The bishops of Constantinople kept themselves free from this [sort of conduct]; inasmuch as in addition to tolerating them and permitting them to hold their assemblies within the city, as I have already stated, they treated them with every mark of Christian regard.

Modern Croats are the descendents of Slavs who settled in the western Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries, which at that time was Byzantine territory:

In the 6th and 7th centuries AD, Slavs arrived in the western Balkans, settling on Byzantine territory along the Adriatic and in the hinterland and gradually merging with the indigenous Latinized population. Eventually, they accepted the Roman Catholic church, though preserving a Slavonic liturgy. In the 9th century an independent Croatian state developed with its centre in northern Dalmatia, later incorporating Croatia proper and Slavonia as well. This state grew into a powerful military force under King Tomislav (reigned c. 910-928).
Copyright © 1994-2000 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; Croatia, history of

Croatia first joined itself with the Hungarian monarchy in 1102, and later became a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire—considered by papal Rome to be its bulwark against Orthodoxy in the Balkans until its dissolution at the end of World War I in 1918.

The Serbs first settled in South Serbia in the 6th and 7th centuries A.D., and were converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in the 9th century. From there they expanded further northward into central Serbia, and westward into Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. As their southern lands came under conquest by the Ottoman Turks in the 14th and 15th centuries, they spread further northward into Vojvodina and Croatia. In the early part of the 18th century, upon the invitation of Austria, they settled in border areas of Croatia and Hungary, bringing with them the influence of Byzantine Orthodoxy.

Following the Treaty of Carlowitz in 1699, Hungary, Croatia-Slavonia, and Transylvania reverted to the Habsburg crown, and, with the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718, Austria regained the Banat of Temesvár. Immediately afterward, the Austrians invited the Serbs, who had been their recent allies, to settle in the border areas of the Habsburg lands as frontier guards; in return, the Serbs were allowed religious freedom. The Austrian Militärgrenze, or "Military Frontier," thus took the momentous step of introducing Orthodox Serbs into Catholic Croatian and Hungarian territory.
Copyright © 1994-2000 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; Balkans, history of, Decline and retreat

Gottfried Niemietz, in his Editor's Preface to The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican, by Vladimir Dedijer, places this settlement of the Serbs in Habsburg lands in the 16th century (p. 28).

Papal Rome has always held these Orthodox Serbs in contempt:

Already for centuries Papal hatred has been levied loudly against the Orthodox Serbs. Pope Lucius III called the Serbs "slanderers of the Holy Church, plague of the Church, thieves of priestly income," etc. Pope Honorius III (1221) scorned them as "foxes, rebels, heretics, perfidious beasts." Gregory IX (1234) painted the phantom of the perfidia hereticorum Slavoniae on the wall, while Boniface VIII (1298) called them "evil vermin." For Pope John XXII (1319) Bosnia was a "land of heretics and filthy spots of infidelity." For Clemens VI (1351) the Serbs were iniquitatis filii and fidei Christianae adversi. And the record holder among the mass murderers in the name of the Church, the Spanish inquisitor Torquemada, scorned the Orthodox as pestilentes homines.
The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican, by Vladimir Dedijer; Copyright © 1988 AHRIMAN-Verlag, Freiburg, Germany; Copyright © 1992 by Harvey L. Kendall; Editor's Preface by Gottfried Niemietz, p. 28

After the dissolution of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I in 1918, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzogovina, joined with Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro to create a new South-Slav state, which later came to be called Yugoslavia. This early Yugoslavia, or "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes", prior to World War II, was ruled by a Serbian royal dynasty, and Serbia was the central dominant authority. The Orthodox Serb community in Yugoslavia was larger than the Roman 'catholic' community.

Neither papal Rome nor 'catholic' Croatia was happy with this arrangement, as Croatia went from being ruled by Roman 'catholic' Austro-Hungary to being ruled by Orthodox Serbia.

In the nineteenth century, there had begun a Croatian nationalist movement with aspirations for an independent Croatia. The Serbs in Croatia were viewed as an obstacle to this movement, and their elimination—either through forcible conversion to Roman 'catholicism', or by their expulsion—began to be called for. Vehemently outspoken Croatian nationalist Ante Starcevic "the father of Croatia" called them "a race fit for the slaughterhouse". This theme was carried on by Josip Frank, and then by Ante Pavelic who began the actual process of eliminating them. Pavelic, along with others, in January 1929 formed the Ustasha Party, whose goal was the destruction of Yugoslavia and the founding of an Independant State of Croatia.

In 1934, Pavelic and the Ustashe assassinated Serbian King Alexander of Yugoslavia:

The plotters were all Catholic Ustashi. On October 6, 1934 they met in Paris. On October 9 King Alexander landed at the old port of Marseilles. An Ustashi approached the royal coach, and, to the cry of "Long Live the King!", fired his revolver, killing the King and the French Minister Barthou. The assassin was killed on the spot by the police. His accomplices were imprisoned for life. Ante Pavelic was condemned to death by France, but managed to escape.
The Vatican's Holocaust, by Avro Manhattan, chapter 2

Pavelic was tried in absentia by France and Yugoslavia, and sentenced to death. However, he fled to Italy, where he found refuge.

On April 6, 1941, German troops under Hitler invaded Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia signed a capitulation in Belgrade on April 17. The Independant State of Croatia (Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska, or NDH) with Ante Pavelic as its poglavnik (fuehrer/leader) was proclaimed in Zagreb on April 10 by Slavko Kvaternik who became its military commander.

Croatia was declared an independent state, ruled by Ante Pavelic, chief of the Ustashi. The Ustashi were a group of Croatian Fascists, trained by Mussolini to implement Italian policy in the Balkans. In this age of fanaticism, the Ustashi chose Catholic fanaticism as the mainstay of their policy, and relied on the power of the Vatican.
A Spy in the Vatican, © 1973 by Branko Bokun, p. 1

With the Roman 'catholic' Croatian Ustashe having usurped power, the elimination of the Orthodox Serbs now began in earnest.

In a speech given in Gospic on June 6, 1941, Mile Budak, the Ustasha Minister of Education and Cults, explained the policy of genocide against the Orthodox Serbs as follows:

"One-third of the Serbs we shall kill, another we shall deport, and the last we shall force to embrace the Roman Catholic religion and thus melt them into Croats."
Jasenovac, by Carl Savich

Milovan Zanic, President of the Legislative Council, in a speech at Nova Gradiska reprinted in Novi List of June 3, 1941, explained the genocide and ethnic cleansing policy of the NDH as follows:

"This must be a country of Croats and of no one else, and there is no method that we Ustashe will not use in order to make this country truly Croatian and to cleanse it of Serbs... This is the policy of this state."
ibid.

Mile Budak, Ustasha Minister of Education and Cults, at Vukovar on July 8, 1941:

"They [Serbs] only belong to the Orthodox Church, and it has not worked for us to assimilate them. They should, however, know that our solution is: bow down or get out."
The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican, by Vladimir Dedijer; p. 130

The Ustasha publication, Novi List, July 24, 1941, published this sentiment from Franciscan priest/pastor Mate Mogus, from Ubdina:

"Until now we have worked for the Catholic faith with the prayer book and with the cross. Now the time has come to work with rifle and revolver."
ibid; p. 131

At a meeting in Udbina on June 13, 1941, he [Mate Mogus] gave the following homily:

"Look, people, at these 16 brave Ustashi, who have 16,000 bullets and who will kill 16,000 Serbs, after which we will divide among us in a brotherly manner the Mutilic and Krbava fields"—a speech which was the signal for the beginning of the slaughter of Serbs in the district of Udbina.
The Vatican's Holocaust, by Avro Manhattan, chapter 6

And another from Mile Budak, at Ivanac, August 3, 1941:

"One should remember that the Catholic Church, which is neither a terrorist organization nor led by imbeciles, undertook six crusades for the liberation of Christ's grave. And it even went so far as children undertaking crusades. If this was the case in the 11th and 12th centuries, we are sure that the Church also understands the Ustasha struggle."
The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican, by Vladimir Dedijer; p. 131

Katolicki tednik, publication of the archbishopric of Sarajevo, June 15, 1941, printed the following:

". . . For the Croatian people, the Serbs are the biggest enemies, to which, as in the rest of Europe, we can add the Jews, the Free Masons, and the communists. . . . Therefore: may we finally stop using the dumb claim, so unworthy of the followers of Christ, that one should fight against evil and against ruinous people in a polite and elegant manner. Hildebrandt, the simple Benedictine monk filled with holy rage, and also Pope Gregory VII purged the Church of many parasites, not with elegance but with a strong hand directing the holy revolution. The poglavnik is a courageous man, a great man, a man of God and of the people. May the dear Lord preserve our poglavnik for a long life! And may He preserve him always ready for action in the holy revolution against all evil!"
ibid, p. 132

Papal Rome/the Vatican cannot plead ignorance of the situation in Croatia. Branko Bokun, in his published diary, A Spy in the Vatican tells of how he was sent from Yugoslavia to the Vatican with a file of evidence documenting the ongoing genocide, along with a letter imploring the 'pope' and the Vatican to order a stop to the massacres. Here are but a few examples of the documentary evidence in his file:

'This is very important,' he went on handing me a newspaper cutting. 'It's from the Catholic paper, Katolicki Tjedenik.'

It was headed, 'Why are the Jews persecuted?' 'Love has its own limits,' I read. 'Nazism, which aims to free the world of Jews, is a movement of the Renaissance of Human Dignity. Almighty God is aiding this movement.'

…

This is a copy of the special document No. 46468 issue by the Croatian Head of State on 30 July 1941. "Orders for the conversion by force of all remaining Serbs and Jews."…

'This is an excerpt from the Bosnian Archbishop's article in The Catholic Weekly of Sarajevo. I have underlined the following phrase: "It was foolish and unworthy of Christ's disciples to assume that the struggle against evil could be waged in a noble way and with gloves on."

Now a document describing the game of "cut-throat" played by the Ustashi in concentration camps. Whoever is able to kill a Serb or a Jew causing the least agony is the winner. On 14 July the Pope received, and gave his blessing to, a hundred Ustashi policemen. The delegation was selected from the winners of "cut-throat".
A Spy in the Vatican, © 1973 by Branko Bokun, pp. 9 - 10

And here is the letter that accompanied the file:

'Christians and true friends of peace in Yugoslavia beseech the Vatican authorities with all their hearts to employ every possible effort to stop the killing of innocent people in Croatia. We beg this also, for the sake of the Croatians. In the future all these people will be blamed for the dreadful crimes committed by a handful of fanatical Catholics. These Catholics are killing Serbs and Jews, because in their primitive minds they are convinced that it will please the Vatican. If the Vatican does not intervene immediately, the fight between Serbs and Croats will reach such proportions that it will take centuries to die down. If, knowing this, the Vatican does not act, it means that the hatred ad infinitum, between Serbs and Croats, is the basis of the policy of the Vatican in the Balkans, the policy that as long as there is hostility between Serbs and Croats the unity of Yugoslavia remains impossible. But this will only contribute to the success of Communism in this country. In fact, Communism is already taking strong roots, especially in the areas of the massacres…'
ibid., p. 11

Bokun goes on to reveal how he found that there was full knowledge in Rome of what was taking place in Croatia, but it was a matter with which the Vatican hierarchy was merely bored, and upon which it was unwilling to act.

Susan Zuccotti writes of the Vatican's knowledge:

Also in the autumn of 1941, information about the recent murders by Croatian Fascists of thousands of Jews and hundreds of thaousands of Serbs in Italian- and German-occupied Croatia began to trickle into Rome. In September, for example, Italian authorities in Dalmatia unearthed appalling evidence of murder at two abandoned camps for Jews on the island of Pago, and sent reports of their inquest to Catholic prelates, among others.
Under His Very Windows, © 2000 by Susan Zuccotti, p. 98

These are but a sampling of the huge volume of documented evidence that exists proving beyond a doubt not merely the complicity—but the leadership—of papal Rome in the genocide of the Serbs in Croatia. It seems to be a simple thing for the Roman 'catholic' to commit genocide, or to murder his innocent neighbor: just call him an enemy and evil, and make reference to the crusades or some other atrocity of the past, and the "Church" will understand—especially if the 'enemy' is an Orthodox Serb, or some other non-'catholic'.

But the evidence is yet far more damning. The legitimate government of Yugoslavia had gone into exile in London. Fascist Pavelic's NDH was a lawless regime and a puppet of Hitler's Germany. He had come into power under the protection of fascist Roman 'catholics' Mussolini and Hitler—both of whom had entered into concordats with the Vatican—Hitler's concordat having aided his (Hitler's) rise to power. Pavelic was a murderer and a fugitive from justice, sentenced to death for the assassination of Yugoslav King Alexander.

When Slavko Kvaternik proclaimed in Zagreb the founding NDH on April 10, 1941, Pavelic was in Italy with 240 Ustashe. They returned to Croatia on April 15; on April 16, Pavelic received a visit from the archbishop of Zagreb, Dr. Alojzije Stepinac. Regarding this visit, it is recorded in Stepinac's diary, volume IV, pp. 205 - 207, April 27, 1941:

In the first days after the return of the poglavnik, the archbishop had the first meeting with him in the former courtyard of the Banus palace. . . . The archbishop wished him God's blessing on his work. . . . When the archbishop had finished, the poglavnik said that he would be of assistance in everything concerning the Catholic Church. . . . He added that he would not be tolerant of the Serbian-Orthodox Church, because it for him was no church but rather a political organization. From all of that, the archbishop got the impression that the poglavnik was an upright Catholic . . . .
The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican, by Vladimir Dedijer, p. 75

So here Pavelic, the fugitive from justice and puppet of Hitler—under the sentence of death for the assassination of King Alexander, and already voicing his ill intent toward the Orthodox Serbs—is receiving the blessing of the archbishop of Zagreb, who is under the impression that this man is an upright 'catholic'!

But Pavelic wanted papal recognition of the NDH. From his letter to Pius XII in that regard:

Holy Father! Since divine providence has made it possible that I take over the helm of my people and my homeland, I am firmly determined and wish fervently that the Croatian people, faithful to their laudable past, also in the future remain loyal to the holy apostle Peter and his followers and that our homeland, filled with the law of the New Testament, become Christ's kingdom. In this truly great work, I fervently ask the aid of Your Holiness. As such aid I first see that Your Holiness with Your highest apostolic authority recognize our state, then that You deign as quickly as possible to send Your representative, who will help me with Your fatherly advice, and finally that he impart to me and my people the apostolic blessing. Kneeling at the feet of Your Holiness. I kiss your sacred right hand as the obedient son of Your Holiness. . . ."
ibid., p. 78

While the Vatican could not be so brazen as to grant to the Ustasha-NDH de jure (legal) recognition—it yet maintained recognition of and diplomacy with the exiled Yugoslavian government—it did grant the NDH de facto recognition in a couple of ways: In August 1941, the papal legate Ramiro Marcone, a Benedictine abbot, was sent from Rome to Zagreb, providing a constant Vatican representative in the NDH. The NDH sent its representative Dr. Nikola Rusinovic to the Vatican, who was later replaced by Prince Erwin Lobkowicz. Thus, informal diplomatic relations were maintained. Also, in January 1942, Stepinac was appointed by Pius XII as military vicar "sine titulo" for the Croatian army.

Shortly after the above letter from Pavelic to the pope, on May 18, 1941, a ceremony was held in Italy to crown the Duke of Spoleto as the king of Croatia. This took place in the presence of Mussolini and the king of Italy, Victor Immanuel III. On the day before the crowning, the Duke of Spoleto had an audience with the pope. The next day, following the crowning, Pavelic had a private audience with the pope, after which, at the pontiff's request, he met with Pavelic's entire retinue.

It is necessary to take a look at archbishop Stepinac, whom Pius XII appointed as the military vicar of the Ustashe-NDH army. There are some websites that provide details of Stepinac's criminal involvement with, and support of, the Ustashe in the genocide and forced conversions that took place in Croatia during the Second World War. It will be sufficient here to provide links to those sites, rather than embarking upon a new detailed study.

The first link is The Case of Archbishop Stepinac (1947), which gives some of the background of Stepinac's involvement and complicity in the Ustashi crimes, as well as his trial, conviction, and sentence.

The second link is Patron Saint of Genocide, which is a commentary on the Vatican's move to elevate this man to 'sainthood'. He was 'beatified' by John Paul II in October 1998, which is the last step prior to 'canonization'. This is papal Rome's effort to whitewash this greusome chapter in its history, and to paint it 'holy'.

On November 17 - 18, 1941, the Croatian Catholic Episcopate gathered for a plenary conference. One of its actions was to select a "committee of three ... to solve and debate all problems regarding the conversion of the Greek-Easterners." Archbishop Stepinac was the first on this committee. Thus, he was personally accountable for the the mass-forced-conversions, under the threat of death, of large numbers of Orthodox Serbs to Roman 'catholicism'. And lest one think that he did not take pride in these 'conversions', consider his memorandum to the pope (of May 18, 1943) in which he pleaded with the pope to use his influence to secure the continuation of the Ustashe-NDH:

As you are bringing peace to the world, Holy Father, think also of the Croatian nation which has always been true to Christ and to you. The young Croatian state, which over a period of time of several centuries came into being under more terrible and more difficult circumstances than any other state and which has fought despairingly for its existence, thereby shows that it desires to remain true to his Catholic tradition under all circumstances and wishes better to secure more clearly the influence of the Catholic Church in this part of the globe. In the case of a defeat or of its diminution, thousands of Croatian faithful and priests would willingly and gladly sacrifice their lives to prevent this happening. Not only would those approximately 240,000 people converted from Serb Orthodoxy be lost, but also the whole Catholic population of many areas with all their churches and their cloisters. quoted in The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican, by Vladimir Dedijer, p. 398

Thus, by the middle of 1943, by Stepinac's estimate, 240,000 forcible conversions had taken place. The Ustashe occupied Croatia until May 1945.

The attitude of papal Rome regarding its own crimes is exemplified in the concluding statement of "The Case of Archbishop Stepinac (1947)", linked above:

All officials participating in the trial were Croatians and Roman Catholics. Following the conviction, the Vatican excommunicated all persons who had taken part in or were considered responsible for the prosecution of the Archbishop, on the grounds that no member of the Catholic clergy could be prosecuted without consent of the Vatican.

What are realistic numbers of victims of the genocide? A U.S. State Dept. Briefing of May 1, 1998 includes this:

As to the first part of your question, let me say that we have here in our possession, and we can make available also in the Press Office, a copy of a captured Nazi document located in the US National Archives by the US Department of Justice, Office of Special Investigations, which indicated, this document, that as of December 6th, 1943, some 120,000 people had been killed at Jasenovac, which is the site of the massacres, along with 80,000 people at Alt-Gradiska and 20,000 in other camps in Croatia. The United States is making a copy of this document available to Croatian and Argentine prosecutors and the United States will be receptive to further requests for access to US archives of captured Nazi documents which we think can be material to the case and to the prosecution.

"On February 17, 1942, Reinhard Heydrich, the day-to-day supervisor of the Final Solution, scarcely known for his great sensitivity, reported to Reich Führer of the SS Heinrich Himmler:"

"The number of Slavs massacred by the Croats with the most sadistic of methods must be estimated at a count of 300,000.... The fact is that in Croatia, living Serbs who have converted to the Catholic Church, are able to remain residing unharrassed... From this it is clear that the Croat-Serbian state of tension is not least of all a struggle of the Catholic Church against the Orthodox Church."
Karlheinz Deschner With God and Fürher p. 282; quoted in Patron Saint of Genocide

These numbers are not contradictory. The first quote estimates 220,000 victims in the camps by December 6, 1943. Not included in this number are those who were killed outside the camps and thrown into mass graves, or into the ravines, or thrown into the river, or burned in the churches, or left to rot in the fields, houses, etc. The second quote estimates 300,000 before February 17, 1942. The Ustashe occupied Croatia until early May, 1945. A number that is often quoted is 700,000 Serbs murdered, in addition to smaller numbers of Jews and Gypsies. Those numbers are not inconsistent with the above quoted estimates. Of course Croatia claims that the actual numbers are smaller.

After Roman 'catholic' Pavelic and the Ustashe had carried out the large scale genocide of the Serbs in the Balkans, the Vatican did not abandon them to justice, but aided them in their escape via the 'ratline':

The ratline. According to secret reports from the U.S. Army's Counterintelligence Corps (CIC), written just after World War II and since declassified, Draganovic and his collaborators at San Girolamo provided money, food, housing, and forged Red Cross passports for a number of Ustasha war criminals seeking to escape justice. Through an underground railroad of sympathetic priests, known as the "ratline," the Ustashas could move from Trieste, to Rome, to Genoa, and on to neutral countries—primarily Argentina—where they could live out their days unpunished and unnoticed. Along the ratline, virtually the entire Ustasha leadership went free. "All these people were escaping—and this at a time when just getting a meal in Rome was a major accomplishment," recalls William Gowen, a CIC officer in Rome after the war. U.S. News and World Report, March 30, 1998; A Vow of Silence, by Susan Headden, Dana Hawkins, and Jason Vest

According to information gathered at various times by U. S. intelligence, the College of San Girolamo degli Illirici in Rome, which provided living quarters for Croatian priests studying at the Vatican during and after World War II, was a center of Ustasha covert activity and a Croatian "underground" that helped Ustasha refugees and war criminals to escape Europe after the War. [24.] British intelligence information of March 1946 also identified San Girolamo as the church for the Ustashi managed by a brotherhood of Croatian priests, the "confraternita di San Girolama." This brotherhood issued identity cards with false names to the fugitive Ustashi, allowing them to evade arrest or detention by the Allies. [25.] U.S. government report on "Holocaust Assets"

The same U.S. Government report on "Holocaust Assets" bears witness that Pavelic was harbored by the Vatican until he could make his escape to Argentina:

From early 1946 to late 1947, the Ustashi in Rome harbored Ante Pavelic, as well as other Ustasha leaders. Pavelic arrived in Rome in 1946 disguised as a priest with a Spanish passport. For the next two years he reportedly lived at San Girolamo and other quarters in Rome....
¶ The CIC, which had responsibility for tracking down war criminals, knew of Pavelic's presence in Italy and monitored his activities for nearly two years, attempting to learn his exact whereabouts. In late July 1947, after CIC reported that Pavelic was living in a particular Vatican-owned building in Rome ... . The CIC agents assigned to monitor Pavelic's activities in preparation for his arrest reported that he was enjoying the protection of the British as well as of the Vatican ... . In the end, U.S. forces withdrew from Italy without acting decisively to apprehend Pavelic. However, CIC's interest apparently was sufficient to compel Pavelic to leave Rome for a monastery near the Pope's summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, where he remained for several months prior to his departure from Europe.

While all of the documents are of interest, one that shows clearly the Pavelic-Vatican connection—by U.S. special agent (Counter-Intelligence Corps.) William Gowen, September 12, 1947—says this of Pavelic regarding the Vatican:

PAVELIC's contacts are so high and his present position is so compromising to the VATICAN, that any extradition of Subject would deal a staggering blow to the Roman Catholic Church.

Pavelic was most likely in hiding at the Vatican at the time of this memo. From there, he made his way to Argentina in 1948, and on to Spain in 1957, where he died in Madrid in 1959.

Pavelic had served the papacy well in his life; and he was not abandoned by them in his death. He received the special blessing of John XXIII on December 27, 1959. He died early the next morning, holding a rosary he had received from Pius XII in 1941. see The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican, by Vladimir Dedijer, p. 416

There is presently a class action lawsuit (also here) which names among the defendants: The Vatican Bank, The Franciscan Order, Unknown Catholic Religious Orders, etc. The lawsuit is attempting to recover the Ustashe victim loot, of which some portion is believed to have ended up in the hands of the Vatican. The sites linked above in this paragraph will make available any current news.

Part of a U.S. State Department report on "Holocaust Assets" includes this (in section 'D'), indicating that Ustashe victim loot ended up in the Vatican:

Regarded by U.S. intelligence officers as Ante Pavelic’s "alter ego," the Croatian-born Father Dragonovic had been a Professor of Theology at Zagreb University. In 1943 he went to Rome allegedly as the representative of the Croatian Red Cross, but probably to coordinate Ustasha affairs in Italy. Taking advantage of contacts inside the International Red Cross and other refugee and relief organizations, Dragonovic helped Ustasha fugitives emigrate illegally to South America by providing temporary shelter and false identity documents, and by arranging onward transport, primarily to Argentina.[27] U.S. intelligence reports make much of Father Dragonovic’s role in helping the Ustashi who sought protection in Rome after the War. He was also reportedly entrusted with the safeguarding of the archives of the Ustasha Legation in Rome, which he hid somewhere in the Vatican, as well as with all the valuables brought out of Croatia by the fleeing Ustashi.[28]

[. . .]

The largest estimate of Ustashi treasury reaching Rome was made in the October 1946 U.S. intelligence (SSU) report to the Treasury Department, which estimated that 200 million Swiss francs (about $47 million) "was originally held in the Vatican" before being moved to Spain and Argentina.[37]

Sites that may be helpful, in addition to those linked above:

The Vatican's Holocaust, by Avro Manhattan

Essential Disputes between the Serbs and the Croats in the course of History, by Vasilije Krestic

Jasenovac, The System of Ustasha Death Camps

History of Serbia and Montenegro

The Role of the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia's Holocaust, by Seán Mac Mathúna

Facts about Civil Wars in Ex-Yugoslavia

The Serbs Chose War, by Ruth Mitchell

What is the Vatican Hiding?, by Barry Lituchy

Why Yugo-Nostalgists Are Wrong, by Srdja Trifkovic

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