Eugen Dido Kvaternik (1910, Zagreb - 1962) was a Croatian Ustaše General-Lieutenant and the Chief of the Ustaška nadzorna služba (UNS), Internal Security Service in the Independent State of Croatia, a Nazi puppet state during World War II. He was considered at the time the second most important person in Croatia, after Ante Pavelić.
Life[]
Eugen Kvaternik was son of Slavko Kvaternik, a general in the Independent State of Croatia army and a member of the Ustaše, and Olga Frank, daughter of Josip Frank. Through his maternal grandparents he was of Jewish descent.[1]
Kvaternik instituted a regime of terror against Croatian Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and other "enemies of the State", and is believed to bear direct and primary responsibility for the atrocities committed by the Ustaše against those groups. In 1943, after a falling-out with Pavelić, the leader of the Independent State of Croatia, he and his father Slavko Kvaternik, who was the Croatian Minister of War, went into exile in Slovakia, and after the war fled to Argentina with the help of the Catholic Church.
From Argentina, Kvaternik continued in his subversive activities against Josip Broz Tito. He reorganized the Ustashe supporters and continued to publish actively, never expressing any regret for his past deeds. Yugoslavia's multiple extradition requests were all turned down, and Kvaternik was never tried. Eugen "Dido" Kvaternik died in a car crash in Río Cuarto, Argentina in 1962.
Family[]
Kvaternik met his later wife Marija Cvitković in summer 1941 and married her on 10 January 1942. In October 1942 their first son Slavko Eugen was born, on 26 August 1944 their second son Davor and on 2 April 1951 their daughter Olga. Slavko later became professor for political sciences in Argentina, and Davor became Cardiologist in Boston. Olga died with her father Eugen Kvaternik in the car accident on 10 March 1962, whereas Kvaternik's wife and two sons survived.[2][3]
References[]
- ↑ Ivo Goldstein (2001, p. 585)
- ↑ Milan Blažeković: Bio-bibliografski leksikon suradnika Hrvatske revije. Školske novine-Pergamena, Zagreb 1996, S. 262-263. ISBN 953-160-107-0
- ↑ Marija Kvaternik (née Cvitković), interview with Tomislav Jonjić, 23 May 1997.
Bibliography[]
- Goldstein, Ivo (2001). Holokaust u Zagrebu. Zagreb: Novi Liber. ISBN 953-6045-19-2.
External links[]
- Eugen Dido Kvaternik (Croatian)
The original article can be found at Dido Kvaternik and the edit history here.