Ante Pavelić

Ante Pavelić is presented as a former Croatian dictator and a conspicuous figure in the postwar network of Nazi and fascist exiles in South America. At a gathering aboard the Falken in Buenos Aires, he stands behind dark glasses and a pointed goatee, surrounded by Ustaše. The narrative associates his rule with 850,000 Roma, Serbian, and Jewish victims, placing that history in stark contrast with the protection and companionship he encounters in exile.

A Figure in the Buenos Aires Exile Network

On a December night, Willem Sassen points Pavelić out to Josef Mengele aboard the Falken, where men from different European fascist movements and wartime regimes have assembled. Pavelić is described as the gathering’s leading figure, protected by a close ring of Ustaše. His presence makes the ship more than a social venue: it is a meeting place where former political and military power is carried into exile and displayed among associates.

The surrounding network includes people welcomed or accommodated in Argentina after the war. In July 1949, Juan Perón extended amnesty to people who had entered the country under false identities, and sometimes received them at Casa Rosada. Pavelić’s place within this milieu is also personal as well as political: Werner Junker, the West German ambassador in Buenos Aires and a former Nazi diplomat, is described as delighted to find his old friend in the city. The book thus connects Pavelić’s prominence to a wider pattern of former allies and officials re-establishing contact abroad.

Flight to Uruguay

Pavelić’s position proves vulnerable despite the protection of his circle. Yugoslav secret agents shoot at him, and he flees to Uruguay. The account gives no further detail about the attack or his subsequent life there, but the sudden departure marks a reversal: the exile network that offered recognition and companionship could not guarantee safety from pursuit.

Narrative Significance

Pavelić appears briefly, through other people’s descriptions and reactions, rather than as the focus of an independent personal story. His introduction among the exiles, his old friendship with Junker, and his flight after the agents’ attack trace the limits of postwar refuge. Buenos Aires first appears as a place where former allies can gather openly; Pavelić’s departure to Uruguay shows that this security is conditional and that the past remains an active threat.