The Vatican's Holocaust The sensational account of the most horrifying religious massacre of the 20th century: Chapter 2 THE YEAR OF POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONS By Avro Manhatta

Chapter 2 



THE YEAR OF POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONS 

One day some time in 1933 an Austrian railwayman, having casually made a 
discovery which he thought might be of interest, was getting ready to inform 
his Union when he was approached by a functionary of the Austrian 
Government. What was the price for his silence? If he was willing to forget all 
about certain goods in certain carriages, a large sum would be put at his 
immediate disposal. The railwayman spurned the offer, passed the information 
to his Union, who handed it over to the Press. 



Overnight an obscure occurrence became an international sensation, and what 
the Catholic Austrian Government had until then carried on in the utmost 
secrecy was promptly made known to the world. The Foreign Offices of 
Europe began to hum with unusual activity as the threads of a vast international 
plot, enmeshing half a dozen countries, gradually came to light. 

What the railway trade unionist had discovered was that Austria was blatantly 
dealing in arms, with the connivance of Catholic Dictator Dollfuss. At this 
period Austria, in common with other defeated countries, was supposed neither 
to buy nor sell arms, nor indeed have anything to do with parties connected 
with arms production. The discovery disclosed to Europe that an armaments 
factory at Hinterberg, in Lower Austria, was in full production. More, that the 
Austrian factory was manufacturing rifles, not for the Austrian army, but for 
semi-Fascist Hungary. Highly placed officials of the Austrian Government, an 
extraordinary percentage of whom proved to be fervent Catholics, semi- 
Fascists, or, indeed, fanatical Fascists, were implicated in the smuggling. 

The affair created a political furor. But more was yet to come. The rifles it was 
eventually discovered, were not for Hungary; they were being sent there solely 
as a temporary depot. The weapons in reality were intended for Fascist Italy. 
Had that been the end of the story, the Austrian discovery would have caused 
sufficiently serious international repercussions. But that was by no means all. 
Further investigations proved that the ultimate destination of the weapons was 
with certain separatists who, in accord with Mussolini, were planning an armed 
rising, to detach themselves from their central Government. The separatists: 
certain Catholic Nationalists of Croatia. The central government they wanted to 
fight: that of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. 

The association of such extremists with an aggressive great Power had thus 
transformed a purely regional affair into an international plot. This raised 
awkward international complications, not merely of a diplomatic and political 
nature, but of a racial and religious character as well, which, by trespassing 
national barriers, affected the domestic and foreign policies of various 
countries, of which Fascist Italy was one. Mussolini had developed a grand 
expansionistic design of his own in connection with the Balkans. One of the 
first steppingstones to its fruition was the partial or, if possible, the total 
dismemberment of Yugoslavia. This would have implied not only the 
disappearance of a stumbling-block to Fascist Balkanic ambitions, but also the 
incorporation into Fascist Italy of former Yugoslav provinces, the most coveted 
of which was Dalmatia. 



Italian- Yugoslav relations at this period became so strained that Mussolini 
began to toy with the idea of accelerating the political disintegration of the 
Yugoslav Kingdom by force of arms. This could result in war. Mussolini's 
aggressive plans were welcomed by none more than by certain Separatists (in 
Croatia). This for the obvious reason that a Fascist dismemberment of 
Yugoslavia would have given them the unique opportunity they dreamed of to 
set up an "independent Croatia." Mussolini, the most powerful Fascist dictator 
at that period, being in a position to bring about such changes, became 
therefore the main hope of all those who backed his anti- Yugoslav policy. 
These, realizing that their interests ran parallel with his, soon banked upon his 
active help. The understanding was of a concrete nature, thanks mainly to the 
fact that Mussolini had become the protector of various terrorist bands 
operating throughout the Balkans, the chief aims of such bodies being the 
destruction of the Balkan status quo, which conformed with Fascist Italy's 
expansionist designs. 

In Bulgaria one of these bands was run by members of the GRIM or VRMO 
(Organization Revolutionnaire Interieure Macedonienne). Among other things, 
it was violently anti- Yugoslav. Because of this, one of its leaders, Ivan 
Mihailoff, nicknamed Vantcha, was subventioned by Mussolini with millions 
of lire. In April, 1929, Vantcha met Ante Pavelic, the Ustashi leader, near 
Sofia. Pavelic had recently fled from Yugoslavia into Catholic Austria, King 
Alexander having set up a special tribunal (January, 1929) for the protection of 
the State against the subversive Separatist activities of the Ustashi extremists, 
of whom Pavelic was the chief. The purpose of the meeting was to join forces 
against Yugoslavia, and to put the Bulgarian and Pavelic's terrorist 
organizations under the joint protection of Fascist Italy. In that year ORIM was 
granted 44 million lire. Pavelic visited Mussolini, and asked for financial help. 
He got 25 million lire, plus the promise of further financial aid and political 
protection to come. 

On July 17, 1929, the Yugoslav Government condemned Ante Pavelic to death 
in absentia. Pavelic, invigorated by the Duce's money and blessing, went from 
Rome to Vienna to organize, with ORIM and Italian Fascist agents, nothing 
less than a plot for the assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia. The plan 
of the assassination had been studied in all its details by Mussolini, who, to 
help Pavelic's work, granted him every facility. Pavelic organized his terrorist 
bands or Ustashi. At first a villa at Pessario was put at his disposal; then, when 
his bands grew, they were installed at the Fascist camp of Borgotaro, near 
Bologna, where they were reinforced by a brigade of the Fascist Secret Police, 
the OVRA. Pavelic was further supplied with a false passport, arms, and 



counterfeit Yugoslav money. All this with a view to achieving the first 
Mussolini-Vantcha-Pavelic objective: the assassination of King Alexander. A 
sum of 500,000 lire was promised by Mussolini to the Ustashi who would 
execute the King. The attempt took place in Zagreb in 1933. It was made by 
Peter Oreb, a terrorist, but failed completely. Mussolini's anger knew no 
bounds. To make sure that the next attempt should not misfire, he charged his 
son-in-law, Count Ciano, with the task of organizing a second coup. Senator 
Bocini, Chief of OVRA, and Antonio Cortese, head of the Political Department 
of the Fascist Foreign Office, were put at Ciano's disposal. 



King Alexander of Yugoslavia, reclining on the rear seat where he was 
about to expire after having been shot by the Ustashi assassins during 
his official visit to France, October 9, 1934. 

King Alexander had gone to seek French support against the terroristic 
activities of Mussolini and of Ante Pavelie, whose headquarters were 
in Fascist Italy. Pavelie, and with him the Catholic Hierarchy, wanted 
the collapse of Yugoslavia so as to set up an Independent self-ruling 
Croatia. 

The plotters were all Catholic Ustashi. On October 6, 1934 they met in 
Paris. On October 9 King Alexander landed at the old port of 
Marseilles. An Ustashi approached the royal coach, and, to the cry of 
"Long Live the King!", fired his revolver, killing the King and the 
French Minister Barthou. The assassin was killed on the spot by the 
police. His accomplices were imprisoned for life. Ante Pavelie was 
condemned to death by France, but managed to escape. 



Yugoslavia and France, meanwhile, owing to the deterioration of the political 
situation in the Balkans, were planning to strengthen the "Little Entente," the 
Entente Balkanique. Promoted partly by King Alexander himself, this went 
straight against the schemes, not only of Fascist Italy, but also of Nazi 
Germany, who had begun the promotion of a successor to the Kaiser's Drang 
nach Osten. Last but not least, it was anathema to Pavelie and his followers. 
The better to consolidate the Entente, King Alexander planned to visit Bulgaria 
and France. On receiving this news, Count Ciano summoned Ante Pavelie and 
Vantcha Mihailoff to Rome. There, at the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 
they discussed ways and means of killing the King. Mihailoff wanted to carry 
out the attempt at Sofia. Ciano, Boccini, and Cortese, however, were against 



this, fearing that Boris, the Bulgarian King, might be killed at the same time. 
Boris was no mean King. The interests of three Powers depended for their 
success on his head being left on his shoulders. Boris' assassination, in fact, 
would have alienated Mussolini, the Vatican, and the House of Savoy. The 
preservation of Boris' life rested in the fact that he had married King Victor's 
daughter; that by such a marriage Mussolini counted on expanding Italian 
influence in the Balkans; and that the Vatican's plan was to have the Royal 
children brought up as Catholics, in order to install a Catholic king in Orthodox 
Bulgaria, and thus strangle the Orthodox Church there from above. \U 

In order to avoid such risks, therefore, at the next meeting which took place at 
the Hotel Continental in Rome, it was finally decided to kill King Alexander in 
France. Following this, Pavelic would stir up trouble in Croatia, while the 
followers of Mihailoff rebelled in Macedonia. Mussolini would intervene to 
ensure their success, and thus, by setting a foot in the Balkans, carry out his 
expansionist scheme in those regions. Once these plans had been agreed, 
Mussolini met the plotters in his Villa Torlonia. These were Vlada Georgief 
Cernozemski, a Bulgarian, who had already killed two members of the 
Bulgarian Parliament in Sofia; Eugene Kvaternik, later head of the police of 
Zagreb in the Independent State of Croatia; and three more Catholic Ustashi, 
Kralj, Pospisil, and Raitch.[21 

On October 6, 1934, the plotters met in Paris. On October 9 King Alexander 
landed at the old port of Marseilles. As soon as the procession began, 
Cernozemski approached the royal coach in which King 




The body of the French Foreign Minister, Barthou, immediately after 
the assassination. 

Monsieur Barthou, who was driving in the same coach as King 
Alexander, was also purposely killed by the Ustashi for his support of 
the King's policy. His death suited not only Mussolini but also Hitler. 



prevented him from incorporating Austria into Germany. On July 25, 
1934, three months before the murder of King Alexander, a group of 
Nazis had entered the Austrian Chancellory and assassinated Dolfuss. 
The triple murders set the pace of Fascist, Ustashi and Nazi terror 
throughout Europe leading to the outbreak, in 1939, of the Second 
World War. 

Pavelic was supported in turn by Mussolini and Hitler. But always 
tacitly by the Vatican, which intermittently dealt with all three to 
further the interests of anyone ready to further the interests of the 
Church. 



Alexander and Louis Barthou, the French Foreign Minister, were riding, and, to 
the cry of "Long live the King" fired his revolver, killing both. Cernozemski 
was instantly killed by the police. His accomplices were arrested and sentenced 
to life imprisonment £31 but Ante Pavelic managed to escape, and was 
condemned to death, in absentia, by a French tribunal. 

But if the first part of the Mussolini-Pavelic plot had succeeded, the second, the 
Pavelic revolt in Yugoslavia, was a complete failure: nothing happened. Pavelic 
and Kvaternik fled to Italy. The French Government asked for their extradition, 
but Mussolini refused, going so far as to declare that if Yugoslavia pressed for 
Pavelic's extradition he would consider the request a casus belli. Yugoslavia 
appealed to the League of Nations. The League, being, like the United Nations, 
its successor, a pawn of the Great Powers, ignored the case and did nothing. 
The assassination created turmoil throughout Europe. In Berlin the reaction was 
ominous: Nazi Germany accelerated the promotion of her Drang nach Osten 
policy. At the sudden elongation of the Hitlerian shadow over the Central 
European landscape, Mussolini became cautious. Hesitation and, above all, the 
growing power of Hitler weakened his resolution, and soon the Duce-Pavelic 
adventure, having become unwholesomely risky, was shelved, pending better 
times. 

Hitler, meanwhile, had not been idle. He had been plotting on his own, going so 
far as to develop a plan in Central Europe opposed to that of Mussolini, viz. the 
incorporation of Austria into Nazi Germany. This was being promoted at the 
very time when Mussolini and Pavelic were hatching their plot against 
Yugoslavia. Indeed, Hitler had decided on the assassination of the Catholic 
Dictator, Dollfuss, prior to Mussolini and Pavelic having carried out their plans 
against King Alexander. On July 25, 1934, in fact, a group of Nazis entered the 



Austrian Chancellory in Vienna, murdered Dollfuss, and attempted to seize the 
Government. Mussolini promptly dispatched two divisions to the Brenner Pass 
to impede Hitler from upsetting the Balkan equilibrium and thus throwing out 
of gear the schemes of Italian Imperialism in those regions. Hitler repaid 
Mussolini by cold-shouldering him after the killing of King Alexander. The 
two assassinations, however, awoke Europe to reality. 

Mussolini and Hitler decided to forget their pride and reach a tacit agreement. 
Mussolini left Austria to Hitler, and Hitler supported Mussolini in his seizure of 
Abyssinia. From then onward Fascist-Nazi terror filled with ever-increasing 
echoes the political corridors of Europe and even of Asia: the assassination of 
the Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss and of King Alexander of Yugoslavia in 
1934, the Fascist war on Abyssinia in 1935, Hitler's occupation of the 
Rhineland in 1936, Japan's attack upon China in 1937, Hitler's incorporation of 
Austria in the spring of 1938, Munich in the autumn of that same year, Hitler's 
dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1939, Hitler's attack on 
Poland in the autumn of 1939. 

While all these ominous events followed one another, Pavelic, directly in touch 
with Catholic and Fascist authorities, presided over sundry plottings and 
intrigues, turning now to Mussolini and now to Hitler, according to which of 
the ambitions of the two dictators seemed to have the greater chance of success. 
Pavelic's strategy consisted of submitting plans to both Mussolini and Hitler for 
waging a terrorist campaign throughout Yugoslavia in order to force the 
Central Government to grant autonomy to Croatia. With the approaching storm 
of the Second World War, however, Hitler, having fitted Yugoslavia into a 
vaster scheme of his own, reoriented his policy and promoted one aimed at 
neutralizing Yugoslavia — indeed, at making her an ally. To avoid antagonizing 
the Yugoslav Government, Pavelic's activities were greatly reduced and 
officially discouraged. 

Hitler's policy paid him handsome dividends. When the Second World War 
broke out, Yugoslavia remained stubbornly neutral. Indeed, on March 24, 1941, 
she entered the Nazi camp, signing a pact with Germany. Pavelic's dream 
seemed to have been flung into the dim future. Yet he continued to wait, in the 
hope that the day when destiny would call on him to implement his life's work 
was, perhaps, not far off. 



Footnotes 

1. For more details of the Vatican's plan, see the author's Catholic Imperialism 
and World Freedom. \Back] 

2. The chief of OVRA gave them all false passports and false names. 
Cernozemski was given two passports, one Czechoslovakian under the name of 
Suck, the other Hungarian under the name of Kalemen. Kralj became Silny and 
Mulny; Kvaternik became Kramer; Pospisil became Nowack, while Raitch 
became Benes, in order to embarrass Benes, the President of the Czech 
Republic. [Back] 

3. To be eventually liberated by the Nazis in 1940 jBackl 



Chapter 3 



THE BIRTH OF A MONSTER: THE INDEPENDENT CATHOLIC 

STATE OF CROATIA