BISHOP HUDAL, THE “RAT-LINE”, AND THE “CROATIAN CONNECTION”

Bishop Alois Hudal, the rector of the German-Austrian College Santa Maria dell’Anima in Rome, became widely known after a sensationalistic book promoted him into a central figure in the network that supposedly helped Nazi war criminals to escape the justice of the Allies. The author had a privilege to examine the Hudal papers before they became accessible to the public to write this study of bishop’s engagement in the Church’s efforts to help the refugees

Heeding a Good or an Evil Angel: The May Declaration of 1917 and the Collapse of the Middle-European Monarchy

Author analyzes the May Declaration of 30 May 1917, which was issued by the Yugoslav Club in the Emperor\u27s Council. He also presented in details political discussion that followed throughout Croatian lands. He finnally concluded that Yugoslavism was an apple on the Croatian tree that the serpent tempted Croatian politicians to taste

A USEFUL FORGERY: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A LETTER ALLEGEDLY WRITTEN BY ARCHBISHOP STEPINAC TO THE POPE ON MAY 18, 1943

Archbishop Stepinac resolutely denied in the court hearing that he was the author of the letter in question, and his attorney indicated some crucial elements proving that it was a forgery. In addition to explaining the purpose and the peculiarities of this letter for the first time, this paper shows that the letter is actually very useful for historiography, because the author or several authors behind it analysed the war situation in the second half of 1943 by referring to relevant historical sources

BISHOP HUDAL, THE “RAT-LINE”, AND THE “CROATIAN CONNECTION”

Bishop Alois Hudal, the rector of the German-Austrian College Santa Maria dell’Anima in Rome, became widely known after a sensationalistic book promoted him into a central figure in the network that supposedly helped Nazi war criminals to escape the justice of the Allies. The author had a privilege to examine the Hudal papers before they became accessible to the public to write this study of bishop’s engagement in the Church’s efforts to help the refugees

Communist penetration of Croatian American organisations during World War II

It is not surprising that governments in wartime situations consider some of their citizens a danger for national security and that they watch over their activities. It is a matter for speculation as to whether the government of the United States of America would have considered Croatian Americans such a danger during WWII had it not accepted the urgings of the Yugoslav Legation in the USA to watch over its citizens of Croatian descent. Once the FBI and other government institutions accepted the possibility that Croats may represent such a danger, they applied a strict scrutiny of prominent leaders in the Croatian community, Croatian journals, and institutions, even after repeated reports suggested that accusations against Croats were the result of Serbian propaganda and that further surveillance was not necessary

Ivo Pilar’s Role in the Organization of Croats in Bosnia and Hercegovina

Based on the fact that Dr. Ivo Pilar lived and worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina for fifteen years (1905-1920) of his life, the author cautions that no attempt has been made to describe Pilar’s public activities in that part of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy Beginning with an outline of the “Difficulties of Croat Catholics in Bosnia and Hercegovina,” the author gives an overview of the formation of the Croatian People’s Union (1906) and Pilar’s contribution to its work, then the reasons and circumstances of the conflict between this party and the Vrhbosnian Archbishop Josip Stadler, who established the Croat Catholic Association, leading to a split among the Bosnian and Herzegovinian Croats of Catholic faith

Deconstructing a myth: Franjo Tuđman and Bosnia and Herzegovina

Based on the transcripts of conversations held in the Croatian president’s office, other documents and testimony by participants in events, the author presents the essential elements of Franjo Tuđman’s geopolitical thoughts with special focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina

ACCENTUATION OF THE KNOWN AND REPETION OF UNTRUTHS: ABOUT THE BOOK John Cornwell, Hitler\u27s Pope. The Secrete History of Pius XII, Viking, London, 1999, 430 pages.

Autor se kritički osvrće na vrlo zapaženu knjigu engleskog autora o Katoličkoj crkvi općenito i u NDH.While the author is impressed by Cornwell\u27s style and presentation, he is appaled by the lack of seriousness exhibited by author who writes about an important subject (not broached for the first time, by any means) and by demonstrated inability to supress his preconceived notions and even prejudices. Cornwell relies heavily on Owen Chadwick, which assures that he mentions most important facts about the involvement of the Cardinal and Pope Pius XII (whom Cornwell systematicaly entitles by his family name, Pacelli) in contemporary politics, but he bends and ignores Chadwick\u27s research when he makes his judgment about the Pope. Cornwell\u27s treatment of Catholic Church in the Independent Stale of Croatia (he gives it an entire chapter) is a traversy of research and objective writing. His main source, if not the only, for the presentation of the Church in Croatia during the World War li is 35 years old book by Carlo Falconi. Cornwell perhaps did not know, but he could have and must have been informed, that Falconi wrote his piece on the basis of the propagandistic material given to him by the Yugoslav secrete service and propagandists, which served the purpose of anti-Chatolic propaganda in Yugoslavia. A well intended reader could excuse Cornwell (he does not read Croatian and could not know what some authors wrote about Falconi\u27s sources at the time his book appeared), if he did not point those "Croatian materials" as essential not only for the condemnation of Croatian Catholic episcopate, but for Pius XII as well

THE CONVERSIONS IN THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF CROATIA - THE CASE OF THE ŠIBENIK DIOCESE

Autor razmatra problem vjerskih prijelaza u Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj na temelju građe u Arhivu Biskupskog ordinarijata Šibenik. U članku se razmatra pozitivna uloga biskupa Jeronima Milete u nedopuštanju grupnih prijelaza na katolicizam. U tome je šibenski biskup bio suglasan s ostatkom katoličke hijerarhije u NDH.The question of religious conversions has always been a thorny issue in the Balkan territory, because it is often confused with the issue of nationality. The problem of religious conversions in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) (1941-1945) was no exception. Soon after its foundation, the newly established government issued laws, which abolished existing ones pertaining to religious conversions and allowed conversions to one of the »legally recognized religions«. Even though it is not explicitely mentioned, the aim of the law was to allow »conversions« of the Orthodox to Protestantism. Islam or Catholicism, since the government believed that the traditionally strong oppositin to the Croatian state of that segment of the population greatly depended on the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church on it. Contrary to the presuppositions of historiography in former Yugoslavia, the author argues that one of the greatest problems in the relationship between Church and State in the NDH was the issue of conversions. The Catholic Church stood firmly on the principle that no one can be admitted into the Church unless he or she demands admitance free of all pressures and interferences. Likewise, the Church disagreed with the government that it can meddle in the area of conversions, the terrain the Church considered exclusively its own. Bishop Jerome Mileta of Šibenik diocese is one of the most illustrative examples of that attitude of the Church. The author brings forth for the first time documents which shed new light on the issue of »conversions« in that diocese