What are the Ustashe?
The Ustashe were the Croatian Nazis who ran the puppet state of Croatia between 1941 and 1945. After 1945 they fled Croatia with the help of the Vatican and others. The Ustashe continued terrorist activities from bases in Spain, Argentine, and the United States. Ustashe front organizations like the Croatian Liberation Movement were involved in a series of terrorist operations in the United States 1976-1980 including an airline hijacking and several bombings in New York. Internationally, Croatian terrorists are alleged to have assasinated the Swedish Prime Minister, plotted the assasination of President Nixon and the Australian Prime Minister, and committed a string of crimes in Sweden, Germany, Australia, Paraguay, and many other countries.
What are the Crimes of the Ustashe?
The crimes of the Ustashe are too numerous to list here but they massacred over 700,000 Serbs, Jews, Roma, Partisans, and others between 1941 and 1945. The Ustashe leader Pavelic was given refuge by the Vatican, Spain, and Argentine. The Ustashe Minister of the Interior, Artukovic, lived openly in California from 1949-1986 when he was finally deported to Yugoslavia and convicted of murder. Thousands of Ustashe escaped justice for their crimes due to their wealth and influence and the backing of the Roman Catholic Church and who along with certain rogue elements in the US government portrayed these war criminals as anticommunist freedom fighters.
What is the Position of the Vatican?
The Vatican has repeatedly denied any participation in Ustashe crimes or the disappearance of the Croatian Treasury yet has refused to open its wartime records despite requests from the US government, Jewish and Roma organizations.
Why is this lawsuit being filed now?
Recent victories by Holocaust survivors against Austrian, French, and Swiss banks and German and Austrian corporations to name a few have provided renewed hope that justice will finally prevail against the Ustashe and their allies.
Survivors have suffered for years while the killers of their families have enjoyed the wealth and power conferred upon them by the Vatican and the Ustashe loot. The US government finally broke the silence about this little known chapter of the Holocaust in 1998.
Who can be a plaintiff?
Any person or who was a victim of the Ustashe or a descendent of a victim may participate in this lawsuit if the court certifies a class action. Any organization, which lost property to the Ustasha or has a stated purpose compatible with the lawsuit, is also invited to join. Victim groups include Serbs, Jews, Roma, former Soviet citizens, and others who were persecuted or had assets looted by the Ustashe.
Another lawsuit was initiated in 2000, Levy v. CIA sought access to US Intelligence files under the freedom of information and in particular the file of the notorious Ustashe-Vatican spy, Fr. Krunoslav Draganovic. The CIA and Army turned over their files in 2001 to the plaintiffs.