Srećko Rover
In these roles Rover was responsible for the capture, torture and executions of a large number of Serbs, Jews and anti-fascists in the Sarajevo and wider Bosnian region.
Rover's father, Josip, also joined the Ustaša regime, becoming the deputy director of the State Administration for the Revision of the Economy, being responsible for the confiscation of Jewish and Serbian property.
In May 1944, Rover was promoted to the rank of Reserve Ustaše Standard Bearer in the armoured corps of Ante Pavelić's elite bodyguard unit, known as the Poglavnikova tjelesna divizija or PTD.
On Adolf Hitler's birthday (20 April) 1944, Pavelić presented Rover with the Small Silver Medal for Bravery for his role in the "cleansing" operations around the Bosnian town of Maglaj.
[1] By the end of 1944, with Pavelić's puppet regime collapsing under the strength and resistance of the anti-fascist Yugoslav Partisans, Rover was transferred to the re-organised Ustaša Armed Forces, joining in the retreat to the north-west.
In April 1945, Rover with the other remaining members of the Ustaša officialdom had fled to the Austrian border, hoping to surrender to the Allied forces stationed there.
He was given aliases and false documents by US and British security services to facilitate travel in Italy, Austria and Germany in order to recruit exiled Ustaše into the Križari.
[1] Rover became the police chief for the International Refugee Organization in the Fermo camp, a position he utilised to enable his migration out of post-war Europe.
In 1952, Rover formed the pro-Nazi anti-Semitic Hrvat newspaper, and in 1953 with other members of the Ustaše regime, such as Josip Babić, Zdanko Danda, Fabijan Lovoković and Rudolf Gabron, he established the pro-Ustaša Australian Croatian Association.
[5] This factional split was bitter and Rover was publicly denounced by Pavelić as a traitor who caused the deaths of 92 Ustaše patriots during the ill-fated Kavran Križari mission.
Accusations of being a traitor followed him though, and in 1957 he took Stanko Ivanković to court for defamation after he vilified Rover by saying that he handed Croats over to the communists during the Križari operations.
He was also involved in harassment, brawls and public fights over control of Ustaše finances gained from various front organisations such as the Melbourne Croatia football club and the Cardinal Stepinac Association.
[9][10] During the same period, the Ustaše in Australia increased the level of their attacks, orchestrating a large number of bombings and other violence on Yugoslav interests in the major cities.
Rover also aggressively tried to take control of the finances of the Australian Ustaše, namely by attempting to make himself president of the Melbourne Croatia football club and use its equity to fund insurgent operations overseas.
When he arrived back, Rover faced increased scrutiny from the authorities and the national media both due to this incident and also a series of major bombings in Sydney and Melbourne.
[10] Rover's house in Fawkner was raided by police and he faced a barrage of media attention, being interviewed by numerous newspaper and television organisations including A Current Affair and Four Corners.
However, he still managed to come under the eye of the authorities and had his passport cancelled again in 1982 due to national security concerns after he expressed support for a plan involving a Soviet Union invasion of Yugoslavia in return for partial Croatian autonomy.
He is buried in the Roman Catholic section of the Fawkner Crematorium and Memorial Park alongside his wife Vilma in the plot next to his parents, Josip and Katica.
