Croatia Picture Album

Background on Croatia (excerpt taken from "TWENTIETH CENTURY ROMAN CATHOLIC TERROR IN CROATIA ")--

The article "Systematic Murder of Believers -- The Untold History of the Inquisition" (by former Roman Catholic priest Richard Bennett) has a section entitled, "Twentieth Century Inquisition in Croatia". This section surveys Roman Catholic complicity in the 20th century massacre of the people of Croatia. Croatia was basically carved out of Yugoslavia during World War II, the war when Adolf Hitler was in power. Anton Pavelic was the leader. Croatia was meant to be a Roman Catholic state. Excerpt from "Systematic Murder of Believers..."--

During Pavelic's four-year reign, he and Roman Catholic Prelate, Archbishop Alois Stepinac, pursued a "convert or die" policy among the 900,000 Greek Orthodox Serbs, Jews, and others in Croatia. 200,000 were converted; the 700,000 who chose to die were tortured, burned, buried alive, or shot after digging their own graves.

There are two main names to know--(1) The leader of Croatia, Anton PAVELIC and (2) the Roman Catholic Archbishop STEPINAC. More from "Systematic Murder of Belivers..." about the massacre--

The mutilations were horrific, the tortures vicious, and the savagery terrible. The Catholic Church did not leave the execution of a religious war to the secular arm. She was there herself, openly ignoring precautions and bolder than she had been for a very long time. Wielding the hatchet or dagger, pulling the trigger, organizing the massacre, the Roman Catholic priests became their own instruments of the Inquisition....)

More background:

• First Ustashi government constituted April 16, 1941
• Leader: Ante Pavelic
• Senior Military Chaplain: Roman Catholic Dr. Alois/Aloysius Stepinac, Archbishop of Zagreb. Appointed by Pius XII. Subsequent to this appointment A CATHOLIC PRIEST WAS APPOINTED TO SERVE WITH EVERY MILITARY UNIT. (Yallop 362)
• Situation: Genocide--killing people--Serbs, Jews, Gypsies in making Croatia Roman Catholic, also forced conversions (those that "converted" were sometimes killed after "conversion"); looting
• "The campaign of ethnic cleansing was already operating when Pope Pius XII received in audience Pavelic and the state delegation of the ISC [Independent State of Croatia] on 18 May 1941. Secretary of State Montini, later Pope Paul VI, and a number of other Vatican luminaries maintained throughout the war the closest of relationships with Pavelic's regime. (The Power and the Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of John Paul II's Vatican by David Yallop, page 361)

  "In carrying out these acts [murders and forced conversions], the Ustashi were from the very beginning assisted by the Roman Catholic Church both in Rome and within Croatia." (Yallop, 361) "During the immediate postwar years the Vatican provided safe houses for thousands of Ustashi war criminals. (Yallop, 363) Concerning the infamous 'rat line' Yallop notes that through it, over 30,000 war criminals escaped from Europe (and so did much wealth. In 1999, a lawsuit was filed against the Vatican Bank, Franciscan Order and the Croatian Liberation movement seeking, in part, "the return of Nazi loot stolen from wartime Yugoslavia by Croatian Nazis, called the Ustashi." (Yallop, 366) The Vatican claimed immunity as an independent state (as in a country). The case may still be open today. See croatia.htm for information on a case found at vaticanbankclaims.com. A quote from the website

  "The plaintiffs seek an accounting and recovery of the Ustasha Treasury that according to the US State Department was illicitly transferred to the Vatican, the Franciscan Order and other banks after the end of the war.

  "Defendants currently include the Vatican Bank and Francisan Order. These defendants combined to conceal assets looted by the Croatian Nazis from concentration camp victims, Serbs Jews, Roma and former Soviet citizens from Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia 1941-1945."

For more background, visit ROMAN CATHOLIC TERROR IN CROATIA: AN INDEX OF ARTICLES

	". . .Stepinac, [Roman Catholic] Archbishop of Zagreb, shown wearing Ustashi decoration. . . bringing New Year greetings to Ante Pavelic." (lower picture) "Devout Catholic, Dr. Mile Budak, Minister of Education and Cults, said on July 22, 1941: 'The movement of the Ustashi is based on religion. For the minorities--Serbs, Jews and Gypsies, we have three million bullets. We shall kill one part of Serbs. We shall transport another, and the rest of them will be forced to embrace the Roman Catholic religion. Thus, our new Croatia will get rid of all Serbs in our midst in order to become one hundred percent Catholic within ten years.'"
	Ante Pavelic surrounded with Croatian Catholic clergy in April, 1942.
	Pavelic among Croatian Franciscans.
	Nuns marching together with Croatian nazi-legionnaires (Ustashi).
	Nuns also saluting in fascist manner.
	Religous ceremony during the promotion of Ustashi officers held at Kerestinac. Left Paelic (x) and Artukovic (x), Minister of Interior Affairs, look on.
	Croatian clergymen giving the fascist salute during a reception by Pavelic.
	Stane Kukavica, Croatian Franciscan, seen as a member of the Ustashi village sentry, and as a member of the Italian "Feerless [sic] Battalion."
	At an Ustashi celebration. . .and Msgr. Stepinac, the Archbishop of Zagreb.
	Archbishop Stepinac, in his residence (April 1941) giving a banquet for Ustashi emigrants who had returned to Croatia and who some days later were to begin participating in the mass massacre of Orthodox Serbs and Jews.
	An Ustashi manifestation held in November, 1942. Papal Legate Marcone. . .is flanked by Archbishop Stepinac and Andrija Artukovic.
	The whole Croatian Episcopate visiting Pavelic. On Pavelic's right is Archbishop Stepinac. . .
	. . . Archbishop of Zagreb, Stepinac, leads Pavelic in the Church. . .
	Pavelic among Croatian nuns. They were decorated (see decoration on chest) by pavelic for their "heroic" Ustashi deeds.
	The Croat Catholic Press in service to the Ustashi regime
	Two pictures of a Franciscan friar, Miroslav Filipovic-Majstorovic, in the uniform of the Ustashi.

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