Krunoslav Draganovic
Encyclopedia
Krunoslav Stjepan Draganović (born 30 October 1903, Brčko, Austria-Hungary
, died 3 June 1983, Sarajevo
) was a Croatia
n Roman Catholic priest and historian who is accused as being one of the main organisers of the ratlines
which aided the escape of Nazi war criminals from Europe after World War II
.
(now part of Bosnia and Herzegovina
). He attended secondary school in Travnik and studied theology and philosophy in Sarajevo
. Draganović was ordained a priest on Jul 1, 1928. From 1932-35 he studied at the Papal Oriental Institute and the Jesuit Gregorian University in Rome
. In 1935 he submitted his German language
doctoral dissertation Massenubertritte von Katholiken zur Orthodoxie im kroatischen Sprachgebiet zur Zeit der Turkenherrschaft (Mass conversions of Catholics to Orthodoxy in the Croatian-speaking area during the Turkish rule).
In 1935 he returned to Bosnia, initially as secretary to Bishop Ivan Šarić
. In August 1943 Draganović returned to Rome, where he became secretary of the Croatian 'Confraternity of San Girolamo', based at the monastery of San Girolamo degli Illirici in Via Tomacelli. This monastery became the centre of operations for the Croat ratline, as documented by CIA surveillance files.
He is believed to have been instrumental in the escape to Argentina
of the Croatian wartime dictator Ante Pavelić
. Asked by Klaus Barbie
why he was going out of his way to help him escape to Juan Peron
's Argentina
, he responded: "We have to maintain a sort of moral reserve on which we can draw in the future."
Draganović was a controversial and mysterious figure, who is central to many allegations involving the Vatican Bank, the Central Intelligence Agency
, and the Nazi Party. Declassified CIA documents confirm that Draganović was a member of the Ustase
, a far-right Nazi-affiliated Croatian fascist organisation that was given control of Croatia by the Axis powers
in 1941. Draganović has been accused of laundering the Ustashe's treasure of jewelry and other items stolen from war victims in Croatia.
In 1945 Draganović printed his Mali hrvatski kalendar za godinu 1945 (Small Croatian Calendar for the year 1945) in Rome for Croatian emigrants.
But perhaps the greatest mystery surrounds Draganović's later defection to Josip Broz Tito
's Yugoslavia
. After World War II he lived in Italy
and Austria
gathering evidence of communist crimes committed in Yugoslavia. Because of that he was wanted by the Department of State Security (UDBA). The UDBA held Draganović for 42 days in Belgrade
and after 42 days of investigation he turned up in Sarajevo and gave a press conference on 15 November 1967 at which he praised the "democratisation and humanising of life" under Tito.
He denied the claims made by the Croatian diaspora press that he had been kidnapped or entrapped by the UDBA Yugoslav secret police.
Draganović spent his last years in Sarajevo updating the general register of the Roman Catholic Church in Yugoslavia, and died in June 1983.
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, died 3 June 1983, Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
) was a Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n Roman Catholic priest and historian who is accused as being one of the main organisers of the ratlines
Ratlines (history)
Ratlines were a system of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe at the end of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in South America, particularly Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile. Other destinations included the United States and perhaps...
which aided the escape of Nazi war criminals from Europe after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Biography
Draganović was from TravnikTravnik
Travnik is a city and municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, 90 km west of Sarajevo. It is the capital of the Central Bosnia Canton, and is located in the Travnik Municipality. Travnik today has some 27,000 residents, with a metro population that is probably close to 70,000 people...
(now part of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
). He attended secondary school in Travnik and studied theology and philosophy in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
. Draganović was ordained a priest on Jul 1, 1928. From 1932-35 he studied at the Papal Oriental Institute and the Jesuit Gregorian University in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. In 1935 he submitted his German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
doctoral dissertation Massenubertritte von Katholiken zur Orthodoxie im kroatischen Sprachgebiet zur Zeit der Turkenherrschaft (Mass conversions of Catholics to Orthodoxy in the Croatian-speaking area during the Turkish rule).
In 1935 he returned to Bosnia, initially as secretary to Bishop Ivan Šarić
Ivan Šaric
Ivan Šarić was a Roman Catholic priest who became the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vrhbosna in 1922...
. In August 1943 Draganović returned to Rome, where he became secretary of the Croatian 'Confraternity of San Girolamo', based at the monastery of San Girolamo degli Illirici in Via Tomacelli. This monastery became the centre of operations for the Croat ratline, as documented by CIA surveillance files.
He is believed to have been instrumental in the escape to Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
of the Croatian wartime dictator Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelic
Ante Pavelić was a Croatian fascist leader, revolutionary, and politician. He ruled as Poglavnik or head, of the Independent State of Croatia , a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia...
. Asked by Klaus Barbie
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus 'Klaus' Barbie was an SS-Hauptsturmführer , Gestapo member and war criminal. He was known as the Butcher of Lyon.- Early life :...
why he was going out of his way to help him escape to Juan Peron
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
's Argentina
History of Argentina
The history of Argentina is divided by historians into four main parts: the pre-Columbian time, or early history , the colonial period , the independence wars and the early post-colonial period of the nation and the history of modern Argentina .The beginning of prehistory in the present territory of...
, he responded: "We have to maintain a sort of moral reserve on which we can draw in the future."
Draganović was a controversial and mysterious figure, who is central to many allegations involving the Vatican Bank, the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
, and the Nazi Party. Declassified CIA documents confirm that Draganović was a member of the Ustase
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
, a far-right Nazi-affiliated Croatian fascist organisation that was given control of Croatia by the Axis powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
in 1941. Draganović has been accused of laundering the Ustashe's treasure of jewelry and other items stolen from war victims in Croatia.
In 1945 Draganović printed his Mali hrvatski kalendar za godinu 1945 (Small Croatian Calendar for the year 1945) in Rome for Croatian emigrants.
But perhaps the greatest mystery surrounds Draganović's later defection to Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
's Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. After World War II he lived in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
gathering evidence of communist crimes committed in Yugoslavia. Because of that he was wanted by the Department of State Security (UDBA). The UDBA held Draganović for 42 days in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
and after 42 days of investigation he turned up in Sarajevo and gave a press conference on 15 November 1967 at which he praised the "democratisation and humanising of life" under Tito.
He denied the claims made by the Croatian diaspora press that he had been kidnapped or entrapped by the UDBA Yugoslav secret police.
Draganović spent his last years in Sarajevo updating the general register of the Roman Catholic Church in Yugoslavia, and died in June 1983.
Works
- Izvješće fra Tome Ivkovića, biskupa skradinskog, iz godine 1630., 1933
- Izvješće apostolskog vizitatora Petra Masarechija o prilikama katoličkog naroda u Bugarskoj, Srbiji, Srijemu, Slavoniji i Bosni g. 1623. i 1624. (1937)
- Hrvati i Herceg-Bosna (1940)
- Hrvatske biskupije. Sadašnjost kroz prizmu prošlosti (1943)
- Katalog katoličkih župa u BH u XVII. vijeku (1944)
- Povijest Crkve u Hrvatskoj (1944)
- Opći šematizam Katoličke crkve u Jugoslaviji (1975)
- Katarina Kosača – Bosanska kraljica (1978)
- Komušina i Kondžilo (1981)
- Masovni prijelazi katolika na pravoslavlje hrvatskog govornog područja u vrijeme vladavine Turaka (1991)
See also
- RatlinesRatlines (history)Ratlines were a system of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe at the end of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in South America, particularly Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile. Other destinations included the United States and perhaps...
for more details and references on Draganović escape-route activities.
External links
- Background Report on Krunoslav Draganovic, CIA, February 12, 1947. Published on the website of the Jasenovac Committee of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church.