About the rat lines

[Gunther]

Here are just a few thoughts about the famous post-WW2 ratlines. In this way Nazi criminals were smuggled to South America. This was done with the knowledge and under the guidance of the OSS, a predecessor of the CIA.
The OSS received help from the Catholic Church and specifically from Franciscan friars.

The father of the rat lines is considered to be the priest of the Franciscan Order, Krunoslav Draganović. From 1943 he made the preparations for the monastery routes. Many details with a lot of sources can be found in the book
The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government by David Talbot. The books of Karlheinz Deschner also contain overwhelming source material.

On the involvement of Franciscan priests in war crimes, Otto Köhler wrote in the newspaper Freitag:

Kommandiert wurden die Todesschwadronen der Ustascha häufig von Franziskanermönchen, die zu Grausamkeiten aufriefen, vor denen selbst deutsche Nazis erblassten. Franziskaner waren es dann auch, die im Vatikan ihren Mordkollegen zur Flucht nach Argentinien verhalfen.

Here is my translation:

The death squads of the Ustasha were often commanded by Franciscan friars, who called for cruelties that made even German Nazis pale before them. It was also Franciscans who helped their fellow murderers to escape to Argentina.

You really don't have to dig very deep to find out all this and much more. I'm just shocked when I read in another thread:

In comparison, the WEF is a congregation of poor Franciscan friars

This is a downplaying about the role of the Franciscan Order; it's disgusting and a mockery of the victims.

That's just my humble opinion.

[NoCforMe]

The Devil's Chessboard. Great book. I highly recommend it. Tells where the bodies are buried.

[Gunther]

The Devil's Chessboard. Great book. I highly recommend it. Tells where the bodies are buried.

That's for sure. 

[hutch--]

I have picked up some unusual stuff over time, when Tito took control of then Yugoslavia, the communists tracked down the Ustasha and slaughtered many of them, seems the Ustasha were not universally loved in Yugoslavia.

An even funnier one was the demise of Ante Pavelic. A Serb from Montenegro had migrated to south America and somewhere along the line, he identified Pavelic. He obtained a revolver and managed to shoot Pavelic a number of times, wounding him. Many months later Pavelic succumbed to the infections and did the world a favour by passing away.

For those not familiar with the death camps along the river Sava, the atrocities made real Nazis blush.

[Gunther]

I have picked up some unusual stuff over time, when Tito took control of then Yugoslavia, the communists tracked down the Ustasha and slaughtered many of them, seems the Ustasha were not universally loved in Yugoslavia.

Indeed, the Ustasha with their Franciscan commanders were not popular everywhere. But are you surprised?

[caballero]

I had not heard about that before, quite disgusting. I have found here some kind of summary in Spanish, may be translated.

https://www.libertaddigital.com/internacional/europa/2014-04-13/los-ustachas-los-monstruos-que-horrorizaban-a-los-mismos-nazis-1276515805/

[jj2007]

I'm just shocked when I read in another thread:

In comparison, the WEF is a congregation of poor Franciscan friars

I had no idea that Franciscan friars were war criminals, this is the first time I hear about it - I definitely did not intend a "mockery of the victims".

Sorry that you are shocked. Btw when will you start coding again?

I had not heard about that before, quite disgusting. I have found here some kind of summary in Spanish, may be translated.

Absolutely horrible, incredible, indeed worse than the German nazis (if that is possible)

The Croatian Franciscans were heavily involved in the Ustaše regime. A particularly notorious example was the Franciscan friar Tomislav Filipović, also known as Miroslav Filipović-Majstorović, known as "Fra Sotona" ("Friar Satan"), "the devil of Jasenovac", for running the Jasenovac concentration camp, where most estimates put the number of people killed at approximately 100,000. According to Evans, Filipović led murder squads at Jasenovac. According to the Jasenovac Memorial Site, "Because of his participation in the mass murders in February 1942 the church authorities excommunicated him from the Franciscan order, which was confirmed by the Holy See in July 1942." He was also required to relinquish the right to his religious name, Tomislav. When he was hanged for war crimes, however, he wore his clerical garb.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_clergy_involvement_with_the_Usta%C5%A1e

[Greenhorn]

BTW, the Ustasha got a revival in the 1990s together with the UCK in Croatia ...

[Gunther]

BTW, the Ustasha got a revival in the 1990s together with the UCK in Croatia ...

Of course. It's a long tradition that German governments pact with these nice Nazis from next door: Ustasha, UCK, Bandera gangs... The list is long.