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Ratlines (history)
The ratlines () were systems of escape routes used by German Nazis and other fascists to flee Europe from 1945 onwards in the aftermath of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in South America, particularly Argentina, as well as Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Additional destinations included Spain, Switzerland, Canada, and the United States. Two primary routes from Germany to South America developed independently with their operators eventually collaborating. The first transferred through Spain and the second through Rome and Genoa. The ratlines were supported by some clergy of the Catholic Church, such as Austrian bishop Alois Hudal and Croatian priest Krunoslav Draganović. Starting in 1947, U.S. Intelligence used existing ratlines to move certain Nazi strategists and scientists, known as Operation Paperclip. Ratlines Two primary routes developed independently but their operators eventually collaborated. The first went from Germany to Spain ...
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Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and was dictator of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a fascist List of World War II puppet states, puppet state built out of parts of occupied Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia by the authorities of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, from 1941 to 1945. Pavelić and the Ustaše persecuted many racial minorities and political opponents in the NDH during the war, including Serbs of Croatia, Serbs, Jews in Croatia, Jews, Romani people in Croatia, Romani, and Yugoslav Partisans, anti-fascists, becoming one of the key figures of the Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia, genocide of Serbs, the Genocide of Romani people in the Independent State of Croatia, Porajmos and the The Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia, Holocaust in the NDH. At the start of his career, Pavelić was a lawy ...
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Krunoslav Draganović
Krunoslav Stjepan Draganović (30 October 1903 – 5 July 1983) was a Bosnian Croat Catholic priest associated with the ratlines which aided the escape of Ustaše war criminals from Europe after World War II while he was living and working at the College of St. Jerome in Rome. He was an Ustaša and a functionary in the fascist puppet state called the Independent State of Croatia. Early life Draganović was born in the village of Matići near Orašje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina under Austro-Hungarian rule. He attended secondary school in Travnik and studied theology and philosophy in Sarajevo. Draganović was ordained a priest on 1 July 1928. From 1932 to 1935, he studied at the Pontifical Oriental Institute and Gregorian University in Rome. In 1937, his German language doctoral dissertation, titled ''Massenübertritte von Katholiken zur Orthodoxie im kroatischen Sprachgebiet zur Zeit der Türkenherrschaft'' (''Mass conversions of Catholics to Orthodoxy in the Croatian-speakin ...
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Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State upon its creation on 11 February 1929. Pius XI issued numerous encyclicals, including ''Quadragesimo anno'' on the 40th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII's groundbreaking social encyclical ''Rerum novarum'', highlighting the capitalistic greed of international finance, the dangers of Atheism, atheistic socialism/communism, and social justice issues, and ''Quas primas'', establishing the feast of Christ the King in response to anti-clericalism. The encyclical ''Studiorum ducem'', promulgated 29 June 1923, was written on the occasion of the 6th centenary of the canonization of Thomas Aquinas, whose thought is acclaimed as central to Catholic philosophy and theology. The encyclical also singles out the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquina ...
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Action Française
''Action Française'' (, AF; ) is a French far-right monarchist and nationalist political movement. The name was also given to a journal associated with the movement, '' L'Action Française'', sold by its own youth organization, the Camelots du Roi. The movement and the journal were founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois in 1899, as a nationalist reaction against the intervention of left-wing intellectuals on behalf of Alfred Dreyfus. The royalist militant Charles Maurras quickly joined ''Action Française'' and became its principal ideologist. Under the influence of Maurras, ''Action Française'' became royalist, counter-revolutionary (objecting to the legacy of the French Revolution), anti-parliamentary, and pro-decentralization, espousing corporatism, integralism, and Roman Catholicism. Shortly after it was created, ''Action Française'' tried to influence the public opinion by turning its journal into a daily newspaper and by setting up other organizations. ...
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Charles Lescat
Charles Lescat (19 February 1887 – 1948) was an Argentine citizen, who studied in France and wrote in '' Je suis partout'', the ultra- Collaborationist journal headed by Robert Brasillach. Born as Carlos Hipólito Saralegui Lesca in Buenos Aires, he volunteered for the French Army during World War I. There, Lescat became a personal friend of Charles Maurras, leader of the ''Action française'' (AF) monarchist movement. Part of the AF, he presided over the administration council of ''Je suis partout'', and was editor in chief of this review for a time. In 1941 he published an anti-Semitic book titled ''Quand Israël se venge'' (When Israel takes revenge), through the Éditions Grasset publishing house. After the Liberation of Paris, he took refuge in Germany before travelling to Francoist Spain. He arrived in Uruguay in 1946, and later established himself in Juan Peron's Argentina. There, he organized one of the ratlines used by collaborators and Nazi fugitives. Lescat hel ...
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Bolshevism
Bolshevism (derived from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, focused on overthrowing the existing capitalist state system, seizing power and establishing the " dictatorship of the proletariat". Alexander TarasovThe Sacred Function of the Revolutionary Subject/ref> Bolshevism originated at the beginning of the 20th century in Russia and was associated with the activities of the Bolshevik faction within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party led by Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevism's main theorist. Other theoreticians included Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky, Nikolai Bukharin and Yevgeni Preobrazhensky. While Bolshevism was based on Marxist philosophy, it also absorbed elements of the ideology and practice of the socialist revolutionaries of the second half of the 19th century ( ...
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Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it shares Portugal-Spain border, the longest uninterrupted border in the European Union; to the south and the west is the North Atlantic Ocean; and to the west and southwest lie the Macaronesia, Macaronesian archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, which are the two Autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous regions of Portugal. Lisbon is the Capital city, capital and List of largest cities in Portugal, largest city, followed by Porto, which is the only other Metropolitan areas in Portugal, metropolitan area. The western Iberian Peninsula has been continuously inhabited since Prehistoric Iberia, prehistoric times, with the earliest signs of Human settlement, settlement dating to 5500 BC. Celts, Celtic and List of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberia ...
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Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent pope to take the Papal name, pontifical name "Pius". The papacy of Pius XII was long, even by modern standards; it lasted almost 20 years, and spanned a consequential fifth of the 20th century. Pius was a diplomat pope during the destruction wrought by the Second World War, Aftermath of World War II, the recovery and rebuilding which followed, the beginning of the Cold War, and the early building of a new International order, international geopolitical order, which aimed to protect human rights and maintain global peace through the establishment of international rules and institutions (such as the United Nations). Born, raised, educated, ordained, and resident for most of his life in Rome, his work in the Roman Curia—as a priest, then Bi ...
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Luigi Maglione
Luigi Maglione (; 2March 187722August 1944) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1908 and served as a papal nuncio from 1920 to 1935. After a few years working in the Roman Curia, he was Secretary of State from 1939 until his death in 1944. He became an archbishop in 1920 and a cardinal in 1935. Early career and education Born in Casoria, Maglione was educated at the Almo Collegio Capranica and Pontifical Gregorian University, from where he obtained doctorates in philosophy and theology, in Rome. He was ordained a priest on 25July 1901, and then did pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Naples until 1903. Maglione studied at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy from 1905 to 1907; he later taught there from 1915 to 1918. He served an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State from 1908 to 1918, rising to become a Privy Chamberlain (17June 1910) and a Domestic Prelate (22February 1918). He was also a provisiona ...
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World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ...
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Vatican City
Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became independent from the Kingdom of Italy in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty. It is governed by the Holy See, itself a Legal status of the Holy See, sovereign entity under international law, which maintains Temporal power of the Holy See, its temporal power, governance, diplomacy, and spiritual independence. ''Vatican'' is also used as a metonym for the pope, the central authority of the Roman Catholic Church, and the Holy See and the Roman Curia. With an area of and a population of about 882 in 2024, it is the List of countries and dependencies by area, smallest sovereign state in the world both by area and List of countries and dependencies by population, by population. It is among the List of national capitals by population, least populated capit ...
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Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization.Gerald O'Collins, O'Collins, p. v (preface). The church consists of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites#Churches, ''sui iuris'' (autonomous) churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and Eparchy, eparchies List of Catholic dioceses (structured view), around the world, each overseen by one or more Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishops. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the Papal supremacy, chief pastor of the church. The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The ...
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