ante pavelić was born in bradina, a small village roughly 15 kilometres south west of hadžići in bosnia and herzegovina, then austria-hungary, although he draws his roots from southern lika, in the small town of krivi put on the central part of the velebit plain. his parents moved to bosnia. as an adult, ante pavelić decided to move to zagreb to study the law. an extremist even in his youth, he became a member of the organization known as the "frankovci" whose founder, dr. josip frank, was the father-in-law of slavko kvaternik, an austro-hungarian army officer. in 1919 he was the interim secretary of the pure party of rights. in 1921 he was arrested along with several other members of the party but was released; he defended them at the trial and lost. kvaternik had long been a strong advocate of croat separatism and the german ideas on a separate croat state found in him a ready tool.