document count: 2

 

Shortly after arriving in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Ante Pavelic gathered together the surviving Ustase and beneficiaries of the Ratline in the Croatian Liberation Movement (HOP). The founding declaration of the HOP contains the names of a dozen officials from the government of the Independent State of Croatia, all at liberty despite indictments against them for atrocious war crimes committed during World War II, and many living in the "democratic West." Pavelic's successor as the head of HOP was former Croatian Peasant Party politician Stjepan Hefer. Ante Bonifacic controlled the movement in the 1970s from his headquarters in Chicago, and the FBI considered the HOP generally and Bonifacic personally as "non-violent." At the same time, Ustase terrorist attacks against targets both within Yugoslavia and abroad were occurring on an almost monthly basis, including several hijackings of American and European airliners. In the later years of Bonifacic's reign, the Croatian emigrant community was torn apart by Ustase violence, which was increasingly directed at Croatian-Americans who refused to endorse their views or contribute kick-backs to fund their activities. The United States Justice Department finally brought a pair of RICO suit against a half-dozen Croatian terrorists, and charged them with more than fifty counts of racketeering, extortion, and attempted murder for mailing bombs concealed in books to a Croatian-American journalist as well as a Catholic priest. Upon Bonifacic's death, the HOP was taken over by Pavelic's son-in-law, former Ustase officer Srecko Psenicnik.

For a general overview of the successor Ustase organizations, please see The Poglavnik's Family Tree: Unraveling the Ustase Successor Organizations.

Founding Declaration of the Croatian Liberation Movement
June 8, 1956: English translation of the founding document of Pavelic's Croatian Liberation Movement (HOP), signed by Pavelic and 12 former Ustase ministers in exile in Buenos Aires

The Ustase Croatian Liberation Movement
1997: English translation of Croatian Liberation Movement (HOP) tract describing the movement's history

 

Essay: The Poglavnik's Family Tree
Unraveling the Ustase Successor Organizations.