Ivo Rojnica,
20th August, 1915
You just know that in an article about bastards that a Croatian born in 1915 is unlikely to feature prominently on a list of happy-go-lucky, friendly, jovial sorts, right? That’s not to disparage the good people of Croatia, who I have always found to be a good-humoured bunch of rapscallions and their country is a genuinely stunning place to visit. But you know - Ivo Rojnica would have been 26 years old in 1941 and I wish I could tell you he was on this list because he was a lovely chap.
Ivo Rojnica was very much not a lovely chap. Ivo Rojnica was an absolute bastard. Mussolini’s fascists and the Nazis weren’t the only fucking assholes knocking around Europe in the 1940s, of course. All across Europe, Balkans included, there were all manner of nasty shits, from appeasers to conspirators to puppet regimes and maniacs who just wanted to take advantage of the slaughter to feather their own particular blood-soaked nests. Nationalists intent on exploiting the European rampage to further their own ideological agendas were rife, particularly in a world in which the various Kingdoms and fiefdoms of Old Europe had fallen away after the First World War, leaving power vacuums into which nasty fuckers like Rojnica could weave their vile magic.
When the Soviets stomped their own brand of brutality over some of these regions in the post war era, their tyranny at least went some way to keeping whole swathes of Europe thing from just spiralling into civil war. When they went, tear-down-this-wall and all, the corks popped out of some particularly sour vintages and off it all went again, particularly in the fall of Yugoslavia and the staggering slaughter and inhumanity that followed. Amazingly in this period, monsters like Rojnica just had a second wind. Even now there are people who see him as national hero, rather than Holocaust enabling fascist scum. It’s an incredibly depressing and complicated relationship, even in the 21st Century, and understanding it fully is far too complicated to go into briefly here.
But imagine how Churchill is seen as national hero in somewhere like the UK and then imagine how he is seen in India where his polices either directly or indirectly lead to the death of millions from starvation. From a Western viewpoint, it seems obvious. Churchill was a hero, perhaps a flawed one, and he was certainly a man of his time who was what was needed right there, right then, in order to rise to his country’s calling. Well, that’s how some people see assholes like Rojnica, too. Churchill just had the benefit of being on the winning side and the winning side always comes out looking like the righteous one, especially when we’re the winners.
Tell that to the people of India.
Anyway, Rojnica was a fascist piece of shit. Demonstrably.
Ivo Rojnica was born in 1915 in Cista Velika, a small town near Dubrovnik in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Growing up in a region marked by ethnic tensions and nationalist aspirations, Rojnica was shaped by the political turmoil of the early 20th century. Croatia’s place within Yugoslavia, formed after World War I, was a point of contention for many Croats who resented the centralized control imposed by Belgrade. It was in this environment of rising nationalist sentiment that Rojnica found himself drawn toward the Croatian independence movement. His early career was in textile merchandising, a profession he pursued in Dubrovnik, but his ambitions quickly shifted to more political endeavors as he became increasingly involved in nationalist circles.
Rojnica initially intended to study law, which might have set him on a less monstrous path. However, his nationalist leanings took precedence, and by the late 1930s, he was deeply involved with the Ustaše, a radical organization that sought an independent Croatia through violent means. The Ustaše, led by Ante Pavelić, were founded in the late 1920s and gained significant support among Croats who were dissatisfied with their position within the Yugoslav kingdom. The group was known for its extreme ethno-nationalism and anti-Serbian stance, which resonated with Rojnica and many others who felt marginalized under Yugoslav rule.
With the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, the Ustaše came to power in the newly established Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a fascist puppet state supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Rojnica served as an agent of the Abwehr, Germany's military intelligence service, where he received the code name "Ante". The NDH quickly became notorious for its brutal policies toward Serbs, Jews, Roma, and political opponents. Rojnica was appointed to a high-ranking position within the NDH’s administration in Dubrovnik, a city of strategic importance. His role included enforcing Ustaše policies that aimed to “cleanse” the population of non-Croats and opponents of the regime.
During his tenure, Rojnica signed orders that severely restricted the movement of Serbs and Jews in Dubrovnik. These decrees, typical of the Ustaše administration, were part of broader ethnic cleansing campaigns designed to create a homogenous Croatian state. Rojnica’s directives led to widespread persecution, including the confiscation of property, deportations, and mass killings. One of the most infamous incidents linked to him was the execution of 13 Serbs in 1941 near the village of Lisac. Under Rojnica’s watch, many Dubrovnik residents who could not flee were either killed or sent to concentration camps, the most notorious being Jasenovac, where tens of thousands perished.
Despite his prominence, Rojnica’s brutal methods eventually led to his removal from his post in December 1941. However, he remained active within the Ustaše throughout the war, focusing on intelligence-gathering operations and other administrative roles. In 1943, he was promoted to lieutenant in the Ustaše Militia and was awarded the Order of Merit, 2nd Class, by Pavelić. By the war’s end, as the Axis powers began to collapse, Rojnica capitalized on the chaos by extorting refugees attempting to flee through Dubrovnik, demanding payment in exchange for safe passage.
With the defeat of the Axis and the advance of Yugoslav Partisans, Rojnica, like many other Ustaše officials, fled Croatia. In May 1945, he escaped to Austria and then settled in Trieste, Italy, under the alias Ivan Rajčinović. For a time, he lived in hiding with his wife Ana and their young daughter. However, his past caught up with him in 1946 when a woman recognized him as the person responsible for killing a relative. British authorities arrested Rojnica, and Yugoslav officials quickly demanded his extradition, providing a comprehensive dossier detailing his wartime crimes, including the execution of 58 people in Dubrovnik between May and December 1941.
Fearing extradition, Rojnica feigned a mental breakdown, which led to his transfer to a psychiatric hospital. The facility was poorly guarded, and Rojnica managed to escape. In 1947, with the help of a network organized by Krunoslav Draganović, a Catholic priest and key figure in the ratlines that smuggled fascists out of Europe, Rojnica secured passage to Argentina. He arrived as a stowaway under a false identity and was later joined by his family. They settled in Vicente López, a suburb of Buenos Aires, where Rojnica established a textile factory. By 1951, he had obtained Argentine citizenship under his false name, and by 1954, he successfully petitioned to have his name legally changed to Juan Rojnica.
In Argentina, Rojnica integrated into the local Croatian émigré community, which was largely composed of former Ustaše members and sympathizers. He became an influential figure within this community, co-founding several organizations, including the Croatian Republican Union and the Croatian-Argentine Cultural Institute. He also played a significant role in establishing the journal Studia Croatica, which promoted nationalist narratives and downplayed the Ustaše’s war crimes.
Rojnica’s influence within the Croatian diaspora remained strong throughout the Cold War. As the political situation in Yugoslavia deteriorated in the late 1980s, his brand of nationalism found renewed relevance. The Croatian War of Independence in the early 1990s and the subsequent breakup of Yugoslavia allowed Rojnica and others who had been in exile to reassert themselves as defenders of Croatian statehood. Despite his controversial past, Rojnica’s longstanding ties to nationalist movements made him a valuable figure in the eyes of the newly independent Croatian government.
In 1991, Rojnica was appointed as the Croatian ambassador to Argentina, a position that underscored the complexity of Croatia’s post-communist identity. The decision sparked controversy and criticism from various quarters, including human rights organizations. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading voice in pursuing justice for Holocaust and World War II crimes, accused Rojnica of being responsible for numerous atrocities and called for his prosecution. Nevertheless, the Croatian government stood by its decision, reflecting the unresolved tensions in Croatian society regarding the legacy of the Ustaše.
Rojnica’s later years were marked by his continued engagement in Croatian nationalist causes. He wrote memoirs and articles that presented a sanitized version of his activities during World War II, portraying himself as a patriotic defender of Croatian independence. Rojnica admitted to serving as the Ustaše commissioner of Dubrovnik, but dismissed the war crimes allegations against him, calling them "a big lie invented by the Serbs and by the communists", and adding, "I am a hero of Croatia!" These writings largely glossed over the atrocities committed under his watch and instead emphasized the legitimacy of the NDH as a Croatian state. Rojnica’s narrative aligned with the views of many in the Croatian diaspora who saw figures like him as heroes rather than war criminals. Even as late as 2000, when Stjepan Mesić, as the President of Croatia in 2000, voiced support for Rojnica's extradition, he was subjected to death threats.
Despite the allegations against him, Rojnica was never prosecuted. His comfortable life in Argentina continued largely undisturbed, a reflection of the limited international cooperation in pursuing former fascists who had fled to Latin America. He died in Buenos Aires in 2007 at the age of 92. His death prompted renewed discussions about the legacy of the Ustaše and the unresolved historical traumas in Croatia. For some, Rojnica was a patriot who never wavered in his commitment to a free Croatia. For others, he remained a symbol of the atrocities committed in the name of nationalism and an example of the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for some of the darkest episodes of World War II.
If there’s ever any doubt of whether people like him were national heroes or war criminals - and he was a war criminal - then bear in mind that last year, 2023, his grandson, Ivo Esteban Rojnica, was arrested on suspicion of laundering drug money for the Sinaloa Cartel.
These people were never heroes, national or otherwise. Neither were they nationalists, driven for a greater patriotic cause. They always were, and always will be, self-serving chancers out to exploit human misery for their own particular brand of venality. Nothing more than mobsters whose currency was fascism and blood. Ultimately, perhaps, that’s the biggest difference between ‘monsters’ like Churchill and animals like Rojnica.
Perhaps one day we can have a world without any of them?