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Vjekoslav Vrančić
Vjekoslav Vrancic
Vjekoslav Vrančić in his minister uniform
4th Minister of Craftmanship and Trade of the Independent State of Croatia

In office
1 February 1944 – 8 May 1945
Prime Minister Nikola Mandić
Preceded by Josip Cabas
Succeeded by Office abolished
Personal details
Born (1904-03-25)25 March 1904
Ljubuški, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary
Died 25 September 1990(1990-09-25) (aged 86)
Ramos Mejia, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Citizenship Argentina
Nationality Croat
Political party Croatian Liberation Movement (1956-1958; 1960-1990; his death)
Other political
affiliations
Croatian Peasant Party (1925-1936)
Ustaše (1936-1945)
Alma mater University of Vienna
Occupation Politician
Profession Economist

Vjekoslav Vrančić (25 March 1904 - 25 September 1990) was a high ranked Croatian Ustaše official who held different positions in the Independent State of Croatia. 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 representatives Jevđeviċ, Grđiċ and Kraljeviċ.[1] Then he served as Under Secretary in the Ustaše Interior Ministry, the "body directly responsible for concentration camps and repressive political apparatus".[2] Vrančić was "decorated by Hitler in honor of his planning skills at the work of mass deportation".[3]

He was a Pavelić's man of greatest confidence and delegate to important political and military events in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Vrančić was an Ustaša who wrote directives denying Muslims as a nation and claiming that Bosnian Muslims were Croats of Islamic faith[4]

Contrary to the Pavelić's confidence in Vrančić, Eugen Dido Kvaternik, a high ranked Ustaša, wrote that Vrančić was "a blind instrument of Pavelić's personal intrigues" and a servant of some Kingdom of Yugoslavia Police attache [5] Vrančić, as Pavelić's representative, was in charge to facilitate the establishment of the "Kroatische Waffen-SS Freiwilligen Division" with the SS high-ranked officers in Zagreb on May 5, 1943.[6]

He reached the rank of Major 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[citation needed]. In order to facilitateUstaše regime surrender to the Western Allies, Pavelić sent Vrančić (with Andrija Vrkljan as interpreter) to the Allied supreme commander in Italy. Vrančić and Vrkljan were put there in a prisoner-of-war camp.[7] He was allowed to escape there into a protective custody of Vatican with the help of United States Intelligence.[8] Vrančić left Italy to Argentina under false papers obtained with the help of Krunoslav Draganovic.[9] He lived the rest of his life there until his death in Buenos Aires in 1990. He was active in the Croatian community of Argentina, and became vice-president of the Croatian so-called "government in exile" under Ante Pavelić.[9] Vrančić was also involved in terrorist activities with extreme right-wing Argentine political groups.[9] Fof his activities among exiled Ustaše, Vrančić was barred from entering Australia in 1974.[10] In Argentina, he formed the weekly paper Hrvatski narod ("Croatian People').[11]

At the Croatian National Council's parliament in 1980, Vrančić stated that 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.[12]

Vrančić was awarded the honorary title Vitez ("knight") and as such the title is often included with his name.[citation needed]

His father was buried in Gacko, Eastern Herzegowina (https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/69162_10151191640433656_421821577_n.jpg)

See also[]

References[]

  1. Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War by Enver Redzic; Psychology Press, Feb 11, 2005, page 150
  2. Unholy Trinity: The Vatican, The Nazis, and The Swiss Banks by Mark Aarons, John Loftus; Macmillan, Jun 15, 1998, page 102
  3. Redeemers: Ideas and Power in Latin America by Enrique Krauze; Harper Collins, Aug 16, 2011 page 287
  4. [Redzic 2005], page 177
  5. Sjećanja i zapažanja: 1925-1945 : prilozi za hrvatsku povijest by Eugen Dido Kvaternik; Starčević, 1995, page 148
    Za cijelo vrijeme mog službovanja, a i kasnije, dr. Vrančić bio je slijepi instrumenat Pavelićevih osobnih intriga. Paveliću je bila dobro poznata Vrančićeva prošlost, no trebao je kompromitiranog roba. Tu leži tajna intimnih odnosa dr. Pavelića i njegova najgrlatijeg paladina. Posebno ružnu ulogu odigrao je kao Povjerenik kod bivše talijanske vojske. U doba kad su postrojbe talijanske vojske odpremale na tisuće nevinih Hrvata u talijanske ... Dr. Vrančić je bio, naime, u to doba doušnik Vladete Milićevića, kraljevskog redarstvenog atašea, koji bi Vrančića za pojedine vijesti i podatke nagradjivao iznosima od 10-15 austrijskih šilinga.
  6. Islamic Terror and the Balkans by Shaul Shay; Transaction Publishers, Oct 31, 2008, pages 30-31
  7. War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration by Jozo Tomasevich; Stanford University Press, Oct 1, 2002, page 753
  8. MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service by Stephen Dorril; Simon and Schuster, May 21, 2002, page 354
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Goñi, Uki, ODESSA -- Smuggling the Nazis to Perón's Argentina, Granta, New York 2002 ISBN 1-86207-522-2, at 214
  10. Croatia press, Volumes 30-33, Croatia Press., 1977, page 14
  11. Croats in Argentina
  12. Parliament in London confirmed the victory of the moderate current and the loss of the most hardline concepts in the battle for the formation of a Croatian state
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