Ivo Rojnica | |
|---|---|
 A portrait of Rojnica in his later years | |
| Authorized Representative of the President of Croatia to Argentina and Latin America | |
| In office 1991–1994 | |
| Ustaše Commissioner of Dubrovnik | |
| In office 23 May 1941 – 12 December 1941 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Vlado Herceg |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 August 1915 Cista, Imotski, Kingdom of Dalmatia |
| Died | 1 December 2007 (aged 92) Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Spouse | Ana Rojnica |
| Awards | |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | |
| Branch/service | |
| Years of service | 1941–1945 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Ivo Rojnica (20 August 1915 – 1 December 2007) was a Croatian Ustaše official and intelligence agent who was active in the World War II Axis puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) from 1941 to 1945. After the war, he escaped to Argentina, where he reinvented himself as a businessman and diplomat.
Having joined the fascist, Croatian nationalist Ustaše movement in 1939, Rojnica was appointed as the commissioner (Croatian: Stožernik) of Dubrovnik shortly after the establishment of the NDH in April 1941. In this capacity, he oversaw the implementation of the Ustaše movement's repressive anti-Serb and anti-Semitic measures there. In June 1941, he issued a decree limiting the freedom of movement of Dubrovnik's Jewish and Serb inhabitants. At least 58 individuals were executed on Rojnica's orders between May and December 1941. After being dismissed from his post, he engaged in intelligence gathering activities for the rest of the war, and received a decoration from Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić. In May 1945, Rojnica fled to Italy, where he was arrested by the British Army. Fearing extradition to Yugoslavia, he feigned a mental breakdown and was transferred to a poorly guarded psychiatric hospital, from which he was able to escape.
Rojnica emigrated to Argentina under a pseudonym in 1947 and was granted Argentine citizenship in 1951. Opening a textile factory, he distinguished himself as a successful businessman and an active member of the country's Croatian émigré community, co-founding several cultural societies and publications. In recognition of his charitable activities, he was awarded the Order of St. Gregory the Great by the Holy See. However, he was also suspected of financing several Croatian nationalist aircraft hijackings in the early to mid-1970s. In 1977, he and former Ustaše official Vjekoslav Vrančić were arrested after landing in New Zealand; Yugoslavia requested their extradition but the two were released at the intervention of the Argentine embassy and returned to Argentina.
A close associate and supporter of Argentine President Carlos Menem, Rojnica was appointed as the Authorized Representative of the President of Croatia to Argentina and Latin America in 1991. During the Yugoslav Wars, he financed the smuggling of Argentine weaponry to Croatia in violation of a United Nations arms embargo. In February 1993, the Government of Croatia announced its intention to appoint him as the country's ambassador to Argentina, despite an appeal for his arrest by the Simon Wiesenthal Center the previous year. The case gained widespread attention that August when the Croatian weekly Feral Tribune published a copy of the anti-Semitic and anti-Serb decree that he had issued in Dubrovnik in June 1941. The Croatian government ultimately reversed its decision, but Rojnica was unapologetic, saying "everything I did in 1941 I would do again". In January 1994, he stepped down as Croatian President Franjo Tuđman's authorized representative in Argentina and Latin America. That November, Tuđman awarded him the Order of Duke Trpimir. Rojnica died in Buenos Aires in 2007, at the age of 92, having never been indicted or stood trial.