Krunoslav Stjepan Draganović (30 October 1903 – 5 July 1983) was a

Bosnian Croat The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (), often referred to as Bosnian Croats () or Herzegovinian Croats (), are native to Bosnia and Herzegovina and constitute the third most populous ethnic group, after Bosniaks and Serbs. They are also one of ...

Catholic priest associated with the ratlines which aided the escape of

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...

war criminals from Europe after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

while he was living and working at the College of St. Jerome in Rome. He was an Ustaša and a functionary in the fascist puppet state called the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...

Early life

Draganović was born in the village of Matići near

Orašje Orašje ( sr-cyrl, Орашје) is a city and the capital of Posavina Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the northern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the banks of river ...

, in Bosnia and Herzegovina under Austro-Hungarian rule. He attended secondary school in

Travnik Travnik ( cyrl, Травник) is a town and a municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the administrative center of the Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, ...

and studied theology and philosophy in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

. Draganović was ordained a priest on 1 July 1928. From 1932 to 1935, he studied at the

Pontifical Oriental Institute The Pontifical Oriental Institute, also known as the Orientale, is a Catholic institution of higher education located in Rome and focusing on Eastern Christianity. The plan of creating a school of higher learning for Eastern Christianity had bee ...

and

Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyola, and included all ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. In 1937, his German language doctoral dissertation, titled ''Massenübertritte von Katholiken zur Orthodoxie im kroatischen Sprachgebiet zur Zeit der Türkenherrschaft'' (''Mass conversions of Catholics to Orthodoxy in the Croatian-speaking area during the Turkish rule'') was published. This later was used by the Ustaše as a justification for forced conversions to Catholicism. In 1935, he returned to Bosnia, initially as secretary to Archbishop Ivan Šarić.

World War II and Ratlines

Draganović was an

lieutenant-colonel and the vice chief of the Bureau of Colonization. He oversaw confiscation of Serb property in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was the Jasenovac concentration camp

military chaplain A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases, they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations. Although the term ''cha ...

for some time until

Aloysius Stepinac Aloysius Viktor Stepinac (, 8 May 1898 – 10 February 1960) was a Croat prelate of the Catholic Church. Made a cardinal in 1953, Stepinac served as Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his death, a period which included the fascist rule of th ...

sent him in mid-1943 to Rome as the second unofficial Ustaše representative. Arriving in Rome in August 1943, Draganović 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, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

of the Croatian wartime dictator

Ante Pavelić Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and was dictator of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a fasc ...

. Ante Pavelić hid for two years, from 1945 to 1948, in Italy under the protection of Draganović and the Vatican, before surfacing in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

in Argentina. Through his ratline, with assistance from the U.S. Counterintelligence Corps (CIC), Draganović played a major role in helping notorious Nazi war criminals like

Klaus Barbie Nikolaus Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German officer of the ''Schutzstaffel'' and ''Sicherheitsdienst'' who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortu ...

flee from Europe. The two maintained a friendly relationship. Austrian sociologist Klaus Taschwer has emphasized the collaboration of Draganović and Austrian Bishop Alois Hudal as instrumental in aiding the escape of Nazis to Juan Peron's Argentina. Draganović was accused of laundering the Ustaše's treasure of jewellery and other items stolen from war victims in Croatia. In 2002, declassified CIA documents revealed that Draganović worked as a spy for the CIA from 1959 to 1962 for the purpose of gathering intelligence on the Communist but non-aligned regime of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, at the time headed by Tito. His employment with the CIA was eventually terminated as he was considered to be unreliable. According to the CIA, Draganović was "not amenable to control, too knowledgeable of unit personnel and activity, demanded outrageous monetary tribute and U.S. support of Croat organizations as partial payment for cooperation." In 1945, Draganović printed his ''Mali hrvatski kalendar za godinu 1945'' (''Small Croatian Calendar for the year 1945'') in Rome for Croatian emigrants. He maintained regular contacts with the former NDH leader

, who was in hiding.

Return to Yugoslavia

Some mystery surrounds Draganović's later defection to

. After World War II, he lived in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

gathering evidence of communist crimes committed in Yugoslavia. He was wanted by Yugoslavia's Department of State Security (UDBA). On 10 November 1967, the Yugoslavian state attorney declared that Draganović was in Sarajevo—as a free man, as Yugoslav authorities reportedly sought information from Draganović in exchange for granting him freedom. He was supposed to "tell-all", name his colleagues and like-minded people, hand his archive over to Tito's agents, make some positive remarks about Communist Yugoslavia and in return, Belgrade would waive judicial condemnation and imprisonment. UDBA held Draganović in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

for 42 days and once the investigation against him concluded he appeared in Sarajevo where he held a press conference (on 15 November 1967) at which he praised the "democratisation and humanising of life" under Tito. He denied claims made by the Croatian diaspora press that he had been kidnapped or entrapped by the UDBA. Draganović spent his last years in Sarajevo forming a new general register of the Roman Catholic Church in Yugoslavia. Draganović died in Sarajevo on 5 July 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) *''Opći šematizam Katoličke crkve u Jugoslaviji'', en: ''General schematism of the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia'' (1939) *''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, Cerkev v Jugoslaviji 1974'', en: ''General schematism of the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia, The Church in Yugoslavia 1974'' (1975) *''Katarina Kosača – Bosanska kraljica'' (1978) *''Komušina i Kondžilo'' (1981) *''Masovni prijelazi katolika na pravoslavlje hrvatskog govornog područja u vrijeme vladavine Turaka'' (1991)

References

Bibliography

* Anderson, Scott & Anderson, John Lee, Inside the League: The Shocking Expose of How Terrorists, Nazis, and Latin American Death Squads Have Infiltrated the World Anti-Communist League. Dodd Mead, 1986, * Mark Aarons and John Loftus, ''Unholy Trinity: The Vatican, The Nazis, and the Swiss Bankers'', St Martins Press 1991 (revised 1998) *

Uki Goñi Uki Goñi (born 17 October 1953) is an Argentine author. His research focuses on the role of the Vatican, Swiss authorities and the government of Argentina in organizing " ratlines"—escape routes for Nazi criminals and collaborators. Perso ...

: The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Perón's Argentina (Granta Books, 2002, ) * Eric Salerno, ''Mossad base Italia: le azioni, gli intrighi, le verità nascoste'', Il Saggiatore 2010. (Italian text)

External links

Background Report on Krunoslav Draganović, CIA, February 12, 1947
Published on the website of the Jasenovac Committee of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Declassified US CIA files on Krunoslav Draganović on Archive.org
* Some example files on Draganović on cia.gov, find the res
here
*
COVERT ACTION: SPECIAL: NAZIS, THE VATICAN, AND CIA: This issue of CAIB focuses on the fascist connection, in particular the U.S. role in helping hundreds, perhaps thousands, of prominent Nazis avoid retribution at the end of World War
*
DECLASSIFIED AND RELEASED BY CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, NAZI WAR CRIMES DISCLOSURE ACT
{{DEFAULTSORT:Draganovic, Krunoslav 1903 births 1983 deaths People from Orašje People from the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina 20th-century Croatian Roman Catholic priests Catholicism and far-right politics Croatian collaborators with Fascist Italy Croatian collaborators with Nazi Germany Burials at Bare Cemetery, Sarajevo