After fleeing from Zagreb, the head of the Quisling Independent State of Croatia (NDH) Ante Pavelić was hidden by the Vatican on its territory in Rome, documents from 1947 published by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) confirm.
The documents show that in 1947 the Americans and the British planned to arrest Pavelić, but that plan was not carried out.
On May 6, 1945, Pavelić fled with his family to Austria, from where, with forged Peruvian documents in the name of Pedro Goner, disguised as a priest, he was transferred to Italy, where he was taken under the wing of the Vatican.
In Rome, after the fall of the NDH, a group of priests associated with the Saint Jerome Institute established a network that was supposed to enable members of the Quisling regime to move to South America.
According to American documents, Ustasha Air Force Commander Vladimir Kren, NDH Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vjekoslav Vrančić, and Đorđe Perić, Minister of Propaganda in Milan Nedić's Serbian Quisling government, stayed at the Saint Jerome Institute in the center of Rome.
The Americans did not want to arrest Pavelic without British participation, because "it is not in the American interest", since "American intelligence agencies use numerous Croats as informants".
"A significant number of these Croats are loyal to Pavelić's anti-communist activities and Catholic fanaticism," the documents state.
Pavelić was last seen in July 1947 when he was walking around Rome, dressed as a priest, writes Jutarnji list.
The documents claim that earlier that year, the British enabled Pavelić to escape from Genoa, where they organized an operation aimed at arresting quislings who were planning to leave that port city for South America.
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