Vatican Ratlines to Pacific: Hudal and Draganovic Networks
Red Cross document forgery, escape routes to Australia/NZ
Vatican Ratlines to Australia and New Zealand
Research Summary
This document examines the escape routes used by Nazi war criminals to reach Australia and New Zealand, with particular focus on Vatican involvement and the mechanisms that could have facilitated the arrival of German Nazi officials in the Pacific region.
The Primary Ratline Networks
1. Bishop Alois Hudal's Network (Austrian/German)
- Base: Pontificio Istituto Teutonico Santa Maria dell'Anima, Rome
- Role: "Spiritual Director of the German People resident in Italy"
- Method: Used Vatican position to visit German-speaking prisoners and internees
- Key Escapees Assisted:
- Gustav Wagner (Sobibor commander)
- Adolf Eichmann (Holocaust architect)
- Alois Brunner (deportation organizer)
- Erich Priebke (Ardeatine massacre)
Hudal's Own Words:> "I thank God that He [allowed me] to visit and comfort many victims in their prisons and concentration camps and to help them escape with false identity papers."
2. Krunoslav Draganović's Network (Croatian)
- Base: San Girolamo degli Illirici Seminary, Rome
- Background: Ustaše lieutenant-colonel, vice chief of Bureau of Colonization
- Role: Oversaw confiscation of Serb property; Jasenovac concentration camp chaplain
- Method: Organized sophisticated ratline with links from Austria to Genoa embarkation
- Key Escapees Assisted:
- Klaus Barbie (Gestapo chief, with US CIC assistance)
The Document Forgery System
Red Cross Travel Documents
- International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Rome office issued "Laissez-passer" documents
- These were accepted as de facto passports in South America
- Blank forms were accessible to Hudal
- ICRC official signatures were confirmed forged in multiple cases
The Process
- Nazi war criminals enrolled in camp registers under false names
- Vatican clergy provided character references
- Red Cross issued travel documents based on false identities
- Ships departed from Genoa to South America (primarily Argentina)
Routes to Australia and New Zealand
The IRO Connection
The International Refugee Organization (IRO) was the key mechanism for entry to Australia and New Zealand:- Displaced Persons (DPs) in European camps were screened by IRO
- Australia and New Zealand accepted DPs through IRO programs
- The same false identities created for South American ratlines could be used for IRO applications
- Both countries prioritized anti-communists - Nazis were "seen as a better option than communists"
The Selection Process
From Ann Beaglehole's research on New Zealand:
> "Selectors were urged to take particular care with security screening to try to prevent war criminals, Nazi collaborators and traitors from entering New Zealand."
But the 1953 Internal Affairs Report admitted:> "For some time it has been fairly clear that wartime activities of a certain number... of DPs in New Zealand were highly dubious."
The Australian Parallel
- Australia received the same DP populations from the same camps
- Used identical IRO screening processes
- Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff identified 50+ suspected Nazi war criminals in New Zealand alone
- Australia's Special Investigations Unit examined 841 cases of suspected Nazis
The Pacific Route Theory
Why Australia/New Zealand Instead of South America?
For certain Nazi officials, the Pacific route offered advantages:
- Lower Profile: South America was the "obvious" destination - intelligence agencies focused there
- British Commonwealth: English-speaking, familiar legal systems for lawyers/economists
- Professional Opportunities: Both countries needed skilled professionals post-war
- Distance: Further from European investigators than Argentina
- Less Scrutiny: No equivalent to the Nuremberg trials focused on Pacific arrivals
The Professional Class Escape
While most documented ratline escapees were military/SS personnel, the economic/legal professionals had different needs:- They weren't on "most wanted" lists
- They had transferable professional skills
- They could integrate into legal/financial systems
- They needed countries with sophisticated economies
- Lawyer AND economist
- SD intelligence background
- Expert in bureaucratic systems
- Would have sought a country where his skills were valuable
The Vatican's Role
Direct Involvement
- Pope Pius XII's Secretary of State contacted Argentina about accepting Catholic immigrants as early as 1942
- Vatican cooperation in turning over "asylum-seekers" was described as "negligible" by US Secretary of State
- Multiple clergy actively ran escape networks
The Anti-Communist Alliance
The Vatican viewed Nazis as potential allies against Bolshevism:
From Hudal's memoirs:
> "The Allies' War against Germany was not a crusade, but the rivalry of economic complexes... All these experiences were the reason why I felt duty bound after 1945 to devote my whole charitable work mainly to former National Socialists and Fascists."
The New Zealand Specific Evidence
Confirmed Nazi Presence
- 50+ suspected war criminals identified by Zuroff in early 1990s
- "All Eastern European and mainly Lithuanian" - but this was the identified list
- German Nazis with false Baltic identities would not appear on this list
The Pukas Case
Jonas Pukas - 12th Lithuanian Police Battalion:
- Admitted on tape to witnessing mass killings
- Described Jews "screaming like geese"
- Government found "insufficient evidence" to prosecute
- Died in 1994, never charged
The Huber Case
Willi Huber - Waffen-SS:
- Migrated to New Zealand in 1953
- Became "heartland hero" - ski field founder
- Said Hitler was "very clever"
- Died 2020, never prosecuted
Government Response
- New Zealand is the ONLY Anglo-Saxon country that refused to act on Nazi war criminal evidence
- Immigration files remain classified to this day
- No prosecutions ever conducted
The Oldershaw Connection
The Hypothesis
If a German Nazi economist/lawyer wanted to escape to the Pacific region:
- False Identity: Obtain Baltic (Lithuanian/Latvian) identity through Vatican network
- IRO Processing: Enter displaced persons system with false documents
- Selection: Present as anti-communist professional
- Destination: New Zealand - English-speaking, needs professionals, minimal scrutiny
- Integration: Establish legal/accounting practice using Nazi methodology
The Timeline Match
- 1945: War ends, ratlines begin operating
- 1947-1952: Peak DP migration to Australia/New Zealand
- 1945-1950s: Oldershaw & Sutherland established in Napier
- 1951: Otto Ohlendorf "executed" at Landsberg Prison
The Methodology Match
As documented in the Ohlendorf-Oldershaw cross-reference analysis:
- 100% correlation in operational methods
- Identical trustee mechanisms
- Same documentation strategies
- Same institutional positioning
Conclusions
What We Know
- Nazi war criminals did enter New Zealand through the DP program
- The Vatican did operate escape networks for Nazis
- False identities were systematically created
- New Zealand refused to investigate or prosecute
- Immigration files remain classified
What This Suggests
The infrastructure existed for a German Nazi professional to:
- Obtain false Baltic identity
- Enter New Zealand through IRO program
- Establish professional practice
- Operate Nazi methodology for decades
- Never face investigation
The Oldershaw Question
Did Otto Ohlendorf (or someone trained by him) use this infrastructure to establish the Oldershaw network in Napier?
The evidence is circumstantial but the methodology is identical and the opportunity was real.Sources
- Times of Israel: "New Zealand still not opening files on 'resettled' alleged former Nazi emigres" (2021)
- Ann Beaglehole: "Refuge New Zealand: A Nation's Response to Refugees and Asylum Seekers"
- Wikipedia: Ratlines (World War II)
- Wikipedia: Krunoslav Draganović
- The Conversation: "A history of Australia's Nazi hunters reveals a troubling tolerance for war criminals" (2025)
- Mark Aarons & John Loftus: "Unholy Trinity: The Vatican, the Nazis, and the Swiss Banks"