Franjo Cvijic and the Ustase Treasury
This report from the CIA quotes information from a source which still remains classified today. The circumstance which led to Franjo Cvijic being in neutral Switzerland as the NDH collapsed, with more knowledge of the Ustasha Treasury than anyone but the Poglavnik Ante Pavelic himself, has always seemed too tantalizing to be mere coincidence, as was his arrest and "parole" by American occupation authorities in Austria. In this document, the unknown source hints that Cvijic's wife (who he seems to have picked up during his fugitive adventures - how she wound up back in Yugoslavia is unknown) was working for Yugoslav intelligence. It is perhaps worth pointing out a minor curiosity of the CIA documents in our possession, including this one: the degree to which American intelligence had personalized Yugo-American relations. Men stalking Pavelic are as often "agents of Tito" as they are "Yugoslav agents," and Ustase henchmen, as in here, are "handed over to Tito," as if a head of state is really overseeing the extradition. In comparison, the names Stalin, de Gasperi, Peron and Truman are hardly ever mentioned, and never as a synonym for the states they led. Without going too far, a psychological interpretation to a certain extent may help explain how and why some of the more infamous decisions in relation to American support of Ustase fugitives were made.

 

Subject: Franjo CVIJIC (CVIIC)

Place acquired: [censored]

Evaluation: [censored]

Source: [censored]

  
Report No.: [censored]

Date of Information: Current

Date Acquired: [censored] June 1949

Date of Report: 17 June 1949
     

 

1. [censored] Franjo CVIJIC is a native of Nova Gradiska, Croatia. He was an Ustasha and the last president of the Croatian State Bank in Zagreb. He traveled in that capacity to Switzerland in the spring of 1945 to negotiate commercial treaties with that country in which the Independent State of Croatia held a favorable bank balance. The Pavelic regime assets are reported to have included, 2,500,000 Swiss Francs, 1,700 kilograms of gold in bars, and about 40,000 kilograms of silver.

2. The collapse of the PAVELIC regime found Subject still in Switzerland where he remained for a while, moving later to Vienna where he married. He was arrested and imprisoned in Vienna by the American Military Authorities, and later paroled. Meantime, Subject's wife escaped from Jugoslavia and joined her husband in Vienna. There is some doubt whether Subject's wife effected a legitimate "escape" or if she was allowed to leave under certain commitments to TITO.

3. It seems likely that Subject's travel documents were arranged by Father Stjepan DRAGANOVIC. Subject has not yet arrived in Argentina, but many of his former friends and acquaintances are expecting him.

4. [censored] could not say at this time if Subject and/or his wife are connected in anyway with the Communists. After their arrival in Buenos Aires, [censored] will attempt to ascertain their political affiliations.

 

:: filing information ::
Title: Franjo Cvijic and the Ustase Treasury
Source: CIA, declassified February 1998
Date: June 17, 1949 Added: January 25, 2003