Ustaše

The Ustaše are presented as Croatian counter-revolutionaries within the postwar far-right exile networks gathered in Buenos Aires. The account places them among the groups sheltered by Argentina and shows them both at a private gathering of prominent fugitives and within a political centre seeking to organize a wider European fascist presence in South America.

Identity in the Buenos Aires Exile Milieu

In the late 1940s, Buenos Aires is described as a gathering place for displaced members of Europe’s defeated far right. The Ustaše appear alongside Serbian ultranationalists, Italian Fascists, members of the Arrow Cross Party, and other nationalist and collaborationist groups. This catalogue locates them in a crowded political environment rather than depicting them as an isolated community or explaining their internal organization.

The account places this milieu within a larger system of postwar refuge. Juan Perón’s government welcomed thousands of Nazis, Fascists, and collaborators, while a special Information Office and networks of diplomats, officials, intelligence contacts, and clergy helped arrange routes of escape. The Ustaše are included among the groups concentrated in Argentina, but the account does not assign them a specific role in operating those routes.

The Falken Gathering

One December night, Willem Sassen leads Josef Mengele onto the Falken, where a guarded gathering brings together exiles and political associates. Sassen points out Ante Pavelić, identified as the Croatian poglavnik, surrounded by Ustaše. The passage places Pavelić at the centre of a protected circle and associates his name with an attributed toll of 850,000 Roma, Serbian, and Jewish victims.

The scene makes the Ustaše visible as part of a wider network of former political and military figures, rather than as the gathering’s sole focus. Other attendees include Italian Fascists, French collaborators, and people connected to the Argentine government. The mix of nationalities and political affiliations presents the gathering as a meeting point for factions brought together by exile and continuing far-right commitments.

Political Organizing

A few months before the Falken gathering, Pierre Daye helped establish the National Socialist Centre in Buenos Aires, a group that included Rexists, Fascists, and Ustaše. Its stated aim was to oppose both American capitalism and Russian Bolshevism, and it agitated for amnesty for imprisoned Christian war criminals in Europe. The account presents this as an effort to turn the presence of exiles into an organized political front, not merely a social circle.

At the gathering, Daye frames the cause in religious and political terms, denouncing materialism and calling for the reconciliation of Nazism with Christianity. He praises Perón and presents Argentina as a potential counterweight to the United States, while urging his audience to wait for a future return to Europe. The Ustaše are not singled out as the authors of this program; their inclusion in the centre places them among the groups participating in its broader effort to preserve and renew the defeated far right.

Place in the Wider Narrative

The account’s treatment of the Ustaše is concentrated in these scenes of refuge and attempted political consolidation. It identifies their setting, their presence around Pavelić, and their membership in the National Socialist Centre, but does not trace their internal leadership, activities, or later history as a distinct organization.

After the 1960 kidnapping of Adolf Eichmann, the narrative says that Nazi groups in Buenos Aires fell apart amid suspicion and renewed attention from journalists and pursuers. The Ustaše belong to the broader Buenos Aires milieu under discussion, but the account does not describe a separate outcome for them. Their narrative significance lies chiefly in showing how Argentina’s postwar exile community brought together European fascist groups that sought not only shelter but also a platform for continued political activity.