Language:
English
Year of publication:
2015
Titel der Quelle:
Catholic Historical Review
Angaben zur Quelle:
101,3 (2015) 488-529
Keywords:
Stepinac, Alojzije,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Rescue
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Catholic Church
;
Righteous Gentiles in the Holocaust
Abstract:
Attempts to revise the widespread historiographic view of Alojzije Stepinac (1898-1960), the archbishop of Zagreb, and later a cardinal, as a staunch supporter of the Nazis and of the Nazi- and fascist-sponsored Independent State of Croatia (NDH). According to this view, Stepinac endorsed the genocide of the Jews and the forced conversion to Catholicism of Serbs, as well as murders of Serbs, in the NDH; or, at the very least, he remained passive facing the Nazi and Ustaše actions against these groups. Argues that extant documents and witness testimonies show that Stepinac distanced himself from NDH authorities and detested the racial laws introduced in Croatia. Moreover, Stepinac and the papal apostolic visitor to Croatia, Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone, took actions to rescue hundreds of Jews and Jewish converts to Catholicism from the Nazis and Ustaše. They aided in the flight of Jews to the Italian zone of occupation in Dalmatia in 1942; saved more than 1,000 Jews who were in mixed marriages; eased the way for the conversion (often spurious) of Jews and Serbs to Catholicism; and tried to defend Jewish converts, Jewish orphans, and other groups of Jews. It was Stepinac's anti-communism and Croatian nationalism that caused him to adopt a conciliatory stance toward the Ustaša regime and prevented his more decisive and uncompromising criticism of NDH policies.
DOI:
10.1353/cat.2015.0192
URL:
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