Vjekoslav Vrančić (25 March 1904 – 25 September 1990) was a high-ranked Croatian

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 ...

official who held different positions in 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, ...

during

World War II in Yugoslavia World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was Invasion of Yugoslavia, invaded and swiftly conquered by Axis powers, Axis forces and partitioned among Nazi Germany, Germany, Fascist Italy (1922–1943), It ...

. After the proclamation, he served as the Under Secretary of the Ustaše Foreign Affairs Ministry. In 1942, he was Pavelić's envoy to the Italian Second Army. In this role he entered into negotiations with

Chetnik The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...

representatives Jevđeviċ, Grđiċ and Kraljeviċ. Then he served as Under Secretary in the Ustaše Interior Ministry, the "body directly responsible for concentration camps and repressive political apparatus". Vrančić was "decorated by Hitler in honor of his planning skills at the work of mass deportation".

Career

He was a confidant of Ante Pavelić and a delegate to important political and military events in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

. Vrančić was an Ustaša who wrote directives denying Muslims as a nation and claiming that Bosnian Muslims were Croats of Islamic faith. Contrary to Pavelić's confidence in Vrančić, Eugen Dido Kvaternik, a high-ranked Ustaša, wrote that Vrančić was "a blind instrument of Pavelić's personal intrigues". Vrančić, as Pavelić's representative, was in charge of facilitating the establishment of the " Kroatische Waffen-SS Freiwilligen Division" with the SS high-ranked officers in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

on 5 May 1943. He reached the rank of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in the Ustaša forces. More significantly, he held the government posts of Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and later Minister of Labour of the Independent State of Croatia. To facilitate the Ustaše regime surrender to the Western Allies, Pavelić sent Vrančić (with Andrija Vrkljan as interpreter) to the Allied supreme commander 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 ...

. Vrančić and Vrkljan were interned in a POW camp. Vrančić was allowed to escape to protective custody of the

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with the help of United States Intelligence. He fled Italy 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 ...

under false papers obtained with the help of

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Krunoslav Draganović. Goñi, Uki, ''ODESSA -- Smuggling the Nazis to Perón's Argentina'', Granta, New York 2002; , at page 214. He was active in the Croatian community of Argentina, and became vice-president of the Croatian so-called "government in exile" under Ante Pavelić. He was involved in terrorist activities with extreme right-wing Argentine political groups. For his activities among exiled Ustaše, Vrančić was barred from entering

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in 1974. In Argentina, he founded a weekly newspaper, ''Hrvatski narod'' (''Croatian People''). At the Croatian National Council's parliament in 1980, Vrančić claimed the new Croatian nation could not rely on the tradition of the Independent State of Croatia, and would have to minimize that tradition as much as possible.Vrančić profile
, vjesnik.hr; accessed 23 November 2015.

Death

He lived 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 ...

until his death in 1990.

References

{{fascism-stub 1904 births 1990 deaths Croatian collaborators with Fascist Italy Croatian exiles Croatian expatriates in Argentina Croatian military personnel of World War II People from Ljubuški Holocaust perpetrators in Yugoslavia Government ministers of the Independent State of Croatia Ustaše members