Aloysius Stepinac - World War II

World War II

Main article: Catholic clergy involvement with the Ustaše See also: Independent State of Croatia and Ustaše

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was set on a course for war after a military coup was conducted on March 27, 1941 by a group of Serb military officers. Large demonstrations were held in Belgrade, with protesters openly calling for conflict with the slogans Better war than the pact and Better the grave than a slave. The coup found little support with the non-Serb population and within days Croatian Peasant Party and Bloc of Popular Accord leader Vladko Maček resigned from the government and returned to Zagreb in anticipation of unrest. The day after the coup Stepinac was quoted:

All in all, Croats and Serbs are of two worlds, north pole and south pole, never will they be able to get together unless by a miracle of God. The Schism is the greatest curse in Europe, almost greater than Protestantism. Here there is no moral, no principles, no truth, no justice, no honesty.

During World War II, on 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by Nazi Germany and the Kingdom's neighbours. The Axis-allied Yugoslav forces maintained a defence up until 17 April, although Croat units performed poorly and some defected with fighting still ongoing. On 10 April 1941, Slavko Kvaternik proclaimed the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia. The Wehrmacht subsequently entered Zagreb without any resistance. Having previously agreed to form a Croatian satellite, the Germans and Italians helped establish the state and installed the Ustaše movement into power. Fiercely nationalistic, the Ustaše were also fanatically Catholic. In the Yugoslav political context, they identified Catholicism with Croatian nationalism and, once established in power, set about persecuting and murdering non-Catholics.

As the archbishop of the capital, Stepinac enjoyed close associations with the Ustaše leaders. When the Ustaše arrived, following the capitulation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (which was itself a member of the Axis), he publicly welcomed their arrival and issued proclamations celebrating the NDH. Stepinac lost control of the Archdiocese's publication Katolički List under the new regime. Even though (with the exception of the Axis) no state around the world, including the Vatican, recognized the NDH as a sovereign nation, Stepinac publicly exhorted his hierarchy to pray for the Independent State of Croatia, and publicly called for God to "fill the Ustaše leader, Ante Pavelić, with a spirit of wisdom for the benefit of the nation". On more than one occasion, the archbishop professed his support for the Independent State of Croatia and welcomed the demise of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and continued to do so throughout the war. On April 10 each year during the war he celebrated a mass to celebrate proclamation of the Ustaše state. In his reports to the Vatican Stepinac spoke only favourably about the regime.

However, during the war on several occasions Stepinac criticized the Ustaše atrocities to certain leaders in private, but continued to give communion to Ustaše leaders and made no public comments about their activities, ignoring complaints about the atrocities and forced conversions, particularly those described to him in great detail by Bishop Alojzije Mišić of Mostar.

Upon hearing news of the Glina massacre, on May 14, 1941 Stepinac sent a letter to Pavelić, requesting that "on the whole territory of the Independent State of Croatia, not one Serb is killed if he is not proven guilty for what he has deserved death." When hearing of the racial laws being enacted, he asked: "We...appeal to you to issue regulations so that even in the framework of antisemitic legislation, and similar legislation concerning Serbs, the principles of human dignity be preserved." On Sunday May 24, 1942 he condemned racial persecution in general terms, though he did not specifically mention Serbs. He stated in a diocesan letter:

All men and all races are children of God; all without distinction. Those who are Gypsies, Black, European, or Aryan all have the same rights (...) for this reason, the Catholic Church had always condemned, and continues to condemn, all injustice and all violence committed in the name of theories of class, race, or nationality. It is not permissible to persecute Gypsies or Jews because they are thought to be an inferior race.

In a sermon on October 25, 1942, he further commented on racial acceptance:

We affirm then that all peoples and races descend from God. In fact, there exists but one race...The members of this race can be white or black, they can be separated by oceans or live on the opposing poles, they remain first and foremost the race created by God, according to the precepts of natural law and positive Divine law as it is written in the hearts and minds of humans or revealed by Jesus Christ, the son of God, the sovereign of all peoples.

After the release of left-wing activist Ante Ciliga from Jasenovac in January 1943, Stepinac requested a meeting with him to learn about what was occurring at the camp. He also wrote directly to Pavelić, saying on 24 February 1943, "The Jasenovac camp itself is a shameful stain on the honor of the ."

Later Stepinac advised individual priests to admit Orthodox believers to the Catholic Church if their lives were in danger, such that this conversion had no validity, allowing them to return to their faith once the danger passed.

Stepinac was involved directly and indirectly in efforts to save Jews from persecution. Amiel Shomrony, alias Emil Schwartz, was the personal secretary of Miroslav Šalom Freiberger (the chief rabbi in Zagreb) until 1942. In the actions for saving Jews, Shomrony acted as the mediator between the chief rabbi and Stepinac. He later stated that he considered Stepinac "truly blessed" since he did the best he could for the Jews during the war. Allegedly the Ustaša government at this point agitated at the Holy See for him to be removed from the position of archbishop of Zagreb, this however was refused due to the fact that the Vatican did not recognize the Ustaše state (despite Italian pressure). Stepinac and the papal nuncio to Belgrade mediated with Royal Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian troops, urging that the Yugoslav Jews be allowed to take refuge in the occupied Balkan territories to avoid deportation. He also arranged for Jews to travel via these territories to the safe, neutral states of Turkey and Spain, along with Istanbul-based nuncio Angelo Roncalli. He sent some Jews for safety to Rev. Dragutin Jeish, who was killed during the war by the Ustaše on suspicion of supporting the Partisans.

In 1942, officials from Hungary lobbied to attach the Hungarian-occupied Međimurje ecclesiastically to a diocese in Hungary. Stepinac opposed this and received guarantees from the Holy See that diocesan boundaries would not change during the war. On October 26, 1943 the Germans killed the archbishop's brother Mijo Stepinac. In 1944, Stepinac received the Polish Pauline priest Salezy Strzelec, who wrote about the archbishop, Zagreb, and Marija Bistrica upon his return to Poland.

The Catholic Church in Croatia has also had to contend with criticism of what some has seen as a passive stance towards the Ustaša policy of religious conversion whereby some Serbs - but not the intelligentsia element - were able to escape other persecution by adopting the Catholic faith. While Stepinac did suspend a number of priests, he only had the authority to do so within his own diocese; he had no power to suspend other priests or bishops outside of Zagreb.