Aloysius Stepinac

Stepinac was appointed coadjutor bishop to Bauer on 28 May 1934 at the age of 36 years, having been a priest for only three-and-a-half years, being selected after all other candidates had been rejected. Both Pope Pius XI and King Alexander I of Yugoslavia agreed with his appointment, and although the king wanted to withdraw his assent after he received further information about Stepinac, he was dissuaded by Bauer. According to some sources, Stepinac was the fifth or even eighth candidate to be considered for the role, which brought with it the right to succeed Bauer. Stepinac's decision to join the Yugoslav Legion in 1918 made him a more acceptable candidate to King Alexander.[28]

According to Stepinac's biographer, Friar Šimun Ćorić, Bauer asked Stepinac if he would give his formal consent to being named as Bauer's successor, but after considering the issue for several days, Stepinac refused, saying that he considered himself unfit to be appointed as a bishop. In this version of events, Bauer persisted, and once it was clear that King Alexander had agreed to his appointment, Stepinac consented.[21] Upon his naming, he took In te, Domine, speravi (I place my trust in You, my Lord) as his motto.

At the time of his consecration on 24 June 1934,[22] Stepinac was the youngest bishop in the Catholic Church,[19] and was completely unknown to the Croat people.[21] Two weeks after his consecration, he led a 15,000-strong pilgrimage to the old Marian shrine of the Black Madonna at Marija Bistrica.[19] Stepinac followed this with annual pilgrimages to the site.[29] Bauer delegated many tasks and responsibilities to Stepinac, and he travelled widely within the country.[27]

Stepinac's appointment came at a time of acute political turmoil in Yugoslavia. In June 1928, the popular leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Hrvatska seljačka stranka, HSS) Stjepan Radić and several other Croatian deputies had been shot by a Serb deputy in the Yugoslav Parliament. Two had died immediately and Radić had succumbed to his wounds two months later, the incident causing widespread outrage among Croats.[30] In January of the following year, King Alexander had prorogued Parliament and had effectively become a royal dictator.

In April 1933, the new leader of the HSS Vladko Maček had been sent to prison for three years on charges of separatism after he and other opposition figures had issued the Zagreb Points condemning the royal regime and its policies. While Maček was in prison, his deputy Josip Predavec was apparently murdered by the police.[31] When Stepinac wanted to visit Maček in prison to thank him for his well-wishes on Stepinac's appointment as coadjutor bishop, his request was denied.[32]

In response to the many messages of support, Stepinac "was sincerely thankful for all the congratulations, but said that he was not enthusiastic about the appointment because it was too heavy a cross for him".[21]

On 30 July 1934, Stepinac received the French deputy Robert Schuman, whom he told: "There is no justice in Yugoslavia. [...] The Catholic Church endures much".[33] Throughout 1934, Stepinac spoke with veteran Croatian politician and de facto head of the HSS Ante Trumbić on several occasions. On his views regarding the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Trumbić recorded that Stepinac had

loyalty to the state as it is, but with the condition that the state acts towards the Catholic Church as it does to all just denominations and that it guarantees them freedom.[34]

After his consecration, Stepinac visited Belgrade to pledge his allegiance to King Alexander. The journalist Richard West quotes Stepinac:

I told the King that I was not a politician and that I would forbid my clergy to take part in party politics, but on the other hand I would look for full respect for the rights of Croats. I warned the King that the Croats must not be improperly provoked and even forbidden to use the very name of Croat, something which I had myself experienced.[35]

On 9 October 1934, King Alexander was assassinated in Marseilles by a Bulgarian gunman backed by the Croatian nationalist organisation, the Ustaše.[36] Stepinac, along with Bishops Antun Akšamović, Dionizije Njaradi and Gregorij Rožman, were given special permission by the Papal Nuncio in Belgrade to attend the Serbian Orthodox funeral.[37] Less than a month after the assassination, Stepinac was among those who signed what became known as the "Zagreb Memorandum",[38] which listed a number of demands, including the exoneration of Maček, a general amnesty, freedom of movement and association, restrictions on the activities of government-authorised paramilitaries, and free elections. The key demand of the Memorandum was that the regency that had succeeded the king should address the "Croatian question",[39] the desire of many Croats for self-determination.[40]

In 1936, he climbed Mount Triglav, the tallest peak in Yugoslavia. In 2006, the 70th anniversary of his climb was commemorated with a memorial chapel being built near the summit.[41] In July 1937,[22] he led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (then the British Mandate of Palestine).[42] During the pilgrimage, he blessed an altar dedicated to the martyr Nikola Tavelić, who had already been beatified at that time, and was later canonised as a saint.[43] After his return from Palestine, Stepinac began a campaign for the canonisation of Tavelić, and proposed that a monument to him be built in the Velebit mountains overlooking the Adriatic Sea.[44]

Archbishop Stepinac greeting the fascist Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić

Hitler was furious when he learned of the coup, and later on 27 March 1941 he ordered the invasion of Yugoslavia. Commencing on 6 April, a German-led Axis invasion force began its assault from multiple directions, quickly overcoming the limited resistance. During the fighting, several Croat units mutinied and others performed poorly or defected. On 10 April 1941, with the assistance of the Germans, the senior Ustaše figure in the country, Slavko Kvaternik, proclaimed the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH). German tanks entered Zagreb later that same day and were greeted by cheering crowds.[68]

Before the war the Ustaše were a fascist, ultranationalist, racist and terrorist organization, fighting for an independent Croatia. Ustaše terrorists set off bombs on international trains bound for Yugoslavia,[69] and were convicted in the 1934 assassination of the Yugoslav King and French foreign Minister in Marseilles.[69] Ante Pavelić, Kvaternik and other Ustaše leaders were sentenced to death in absentia by French courts, as the true assassination ringleaders.[70] The Ustaše "17 Principles" proclaimed that those who were not "of Croat blood" (i.e. Serbs and Jews), will not have any political role in the future Croat state. In his 1936 tract, "The Croat Question", the Ustaše leader, Pavelić, spouted anti-Serb and anti-Semitic hatred, calling Jews the enemy of the Croat people.[71]

On 12 April, Stepinac visited Kvaternik and pledged his loyalty to the NDH.[44] The following day, when the Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić arrived in Zagreb, Stepinac did not participate in the welcome, but he did visit Pavelić on 16 April. These meetings and a radio broadcast all occurred prior to the capitulation of the Yugoslav armed forces on 17 April.[44] During this meeting, Pavelić stated that he would not be tolerant toward the Serbian Orthodox Church because it was a political organisation rather than a church. That evening, Stepinac hosted a dinner party for Pavelić and the leading Ustaše.[72] On 27 April, Stepinac recorded in his diary that Pavelić appeared to be "a sincere Catholic and that the Church would enjoy freedom to carry out its work", although he recognised that difficulties lay ahead.[73] On the same day, the official Croatian Catholic newspaper Nedelja praised both Pavelić and Hitler, saying:[74]

God, who directs the destiny of nations and controls the hearts of kings, has given us Ante Pavelić and moved the leader of friendly and allied people, Adolf Hitler, to use his victorious troops to disperse our oppressors and enable us to create an Independent State of Croatia. Glory be to God, our gratitude to Adolf Hitler, and infinite loyalty to our Poglavnik, Ante Pavelić.

On 28 April, Stepinac issued a "rapturous" encyclical to his diocese regarding the creation of the "young Croatian state",[73] which included the words:[74]

Our people has come face to face with its age-old and ardently desired dream. The times are such that it is no longer the tongue which speaks but the blood with its mysterious links with the country, in which we have seen the light of God, and with its people from whom we spring. Do we need to say that the blood flows more quickly in our veins, that the hearts in our breasts beat faster?... It is easy to see God's hand at work here.

Stepinac urged the clergy of his archdiocese to fulfill their duty to the new Croatian state and pray that the head of state, i.e. the Ustashe leader Pavelić,

may have the spirit and wisdom in order to fulfill noble and responsible office for the glory of God and the salvation of the people in truth and justice.[75]

Stepinac's letter captured what was a common sentiment among Croatian nationalists and much of the Catholic Church in the new state.[73] Considering the marginal role of the Church in the political arena during the interwar period, the creation of the NDH appeared to offer the Church and the Croatian Catholic movement an opportunity. The leaders of the new state appeared willing to work with Church leaders, and thus reduce the marginalisation the Church had been subject to under the Yugoslav state.[52]

Stepinac's immediate visits to Kvaternik and Pavelić, and his diocesan letter all assisted the Ustaše in consolidating their control of the new state,[76] and enhanced its credibility with the Croatian people.[77] Cornwell notes that this letter was issued on the same day that nearly 200 Serbs were massacred by the Ustaše near Bjelovar.[72] Even prior to Stepinac's letter, Ustaše and Volksdeutche had already destroyed the Osijek synagogue (14 April), and on 17 April Pavelić had issued the Decree on the Protection of the Nation and the State, the first of the acts that placed Serbs, Jews and Roma outside the law, leading to their persecution and destruction.[78] The Ustaše had opened and started filling their first concentration camp (15 April), and had instituted additional discriminatory edicts against Jews and Serbs (14, 19, 22 and 25 April). Stepinac already knew of the planned racial laws, which Pavelić signed only 2 days after Stepinac issued his letter praising Pavelić and the Ustaše state.

On 30 April 1941, Pavelić signed the main Race Laws - the Legal Decree on Racial Origins, and the Legal Decree on the Protection of Aryan Blood and the Honor of the Croatian People. In May 1941 Pavelić visited the Pope. Phayer writes that Stepinac arranged the audience with Pius XII,[79] and "recommended the dictator to the Holy See".[80] Ester Gitman writes that "Stepinac chose not to join Pavelić" and that he was given a private audience with the Pope.[27] Pavelić put pressure on Archbishop Stepinac to write to Pope Pius XII, via Cardinal Maglione, to request official recognition of the Independent State of Croatia.[27] The answer came back in July - in accordance with long-standing tradition during wartime, no Vatican recognition of the NDH was forthcoming. But the Pope did send Abbot Giuseppe Marcone as apostolic visitor, who acted as papal nuncio, which satisfied Stepinac, since he felt "the Vatican had de facto recognized the new state".[79]

Pavelić met Hitler for the first time on 7 June 1941, and told him that many younger clergy were supportive of the Ustaše regime, but mentioned that Stepinac had advised him that he could only rule if he was "as forebearing as possible". Biondich notes that Stepinac was unhappy that many younger priests were overtly supporting the Ustaše.[81] On 26 June 1941, Stepinac met with the Archbishop of Vrhbosna and the bishops of Belgrade, Banja Luka, Split, Hvar, Šibenik and Senj-Modruš. The Bishop of Mostar sent a friar to the meeting. The group decided to go to Pavelić to express their devotion and trust. At the reception with Pavelić, Stepinac stated that "love of religion and country spring only from God", then promised Pavelić their loyalty and co-operation.[82]

Despite initially welcoming the Independent State of Croatia, Stepinac subsequently condemned the Nazi-aligned state's atrocities against Jews and Serbs.[83] He objected to the persecution of Jews and Nazi laws, helped Jews and others to escape and criticized Ustaše atrocities in front of Zagreb Cathedral in 1943.[84] Despite this, Stepinac never broke with the Ustaše regime and continued to attend public gatherings at their side.[85] After the invasion and Italian annexation of much of the Dalmatian coast, the ecclesiastical province of the Zagreb archbishopric included the Archdiocese of Zagreb, as well as the dioceses of Đakovo and Senj-Modruš, and the Greek Catholic Bishopric of Križevci.[86] Stepinac had very limited formal authority over the suffragan bishops of his province, being more of a "first among equals" than a superior. He did not have the power to dictate policy or control the behaviour of the Sarajevo-based Archbishop of Vrhbosna or the other bishops in the NDH.[73]

By the end of Summer 1941, Ante Pavelić publicly blamed the irregular "Wild Ustashe" (some 25,000-30,000 of them, including many criminal elements) for all the atrocities performed by the Ustashe in the previous months. The state authorities never paid members of "Wild Ustashe", nor acknowledged them to be in the military service, though government-controlled press and Ustashe officials in former months clearly encouraged those aggressive but undisciplined groups to go against the "enemy elements", as the regime needed the manpower to execute ethnic cleansing and genocide within the NDH. Some members of that irregular part of the Ustashe Militia were arrested, tried and executed for the crimes against Serbs and Gypsies. This was done to convey a message to the rest of the "Wild Ustashe" to become part of the Ustashe hierarchy through regimentation.[87] Persecution against Serbs, Jews and Roma persisted, however.

According to John Fine, Stepinac enjoyed close associations with the Ustaše leaders, as he was the archbishop of the capital.[1] In contrast to this view, in mid-May 1941, Maglione was already noting that Stepinac and other bishops were treading cautiously with the NDH authorities to avoid "compromising themselves" with the Ustaše leadership.[81] In July 1941, no Te Deum was sung at the Zagreb Cathedral in celebration of Pavelić's birthday, which contributed to tension between Stepinac and the Ustaše leader.[88] In October 1941, shortly after the destruction of the main synagogue in Zagreb, Stepinac preached a sermon in which he said,

A House of God, of whatever religion, is a holy place. Whoever touches such a place will pay with his life. An attack on a House of God of any religion constitutes an attack on all religious communities.[89]

In November 1941, Stepinac chaired a bishop's conference, during which he heard reports from various bishops within the NDH. What he heard made his enthusiasm wane for the new Croatian state. On 20 November he wrote to Pavelić including some of the reports he had received. He stated that he believed that the worst of the atrocities were over, and that he believed they were the work of individuals. The letter did challenge Pavelić, stating that "no-one can deny that these terrible acts of violence and cruelty have been taking place", pointing out that Pavelić himself had condemned the atrocities committed by the Ustaše. He said, "The Croatian nation has been proud of its 1000-year-old culture and Christian tradition. That is why we wait for it to show in practice, now that it has achieved its freedom, a greater nobility and humanity than that displayed by its former rulers".[90] In December 1941, Pavelić met with the Italian foreign minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano, and told him that the lower levels of Catholic clergy displayed a very positive attitude towards the Ustaše regime, but that some of the bishops were openly hostile to the government.[91] Cornwell states that Stepinac was "wholly in accord with the general goals of the new Croatian state".[72]

On more than one occasion, the archbishop professed his support for the Independent State of Croatia and welcomed the demise of Yugoslavia,[1] and continued to do so throughout the war. On 10 April each year during the war he celebrated a mass to celebrate proclamation of the NDH.[6] Pavelić attended services at Zagreb Cathedral only once in the four years he was in power, and Stepinac did not greet him at the entrance on that occasion.[88] Stepinac lost control of the Archdiocese's publication Katolički List under the new regime.[92] In 1942, officials from Hungary lobbied to ecclesiastically attach Hungarian-occupied Međimurje to a diocese in Hungary. Stepinac opposed this and received guarantees from the Holy See that diocesan boundaries would not change during the war.[93] On 26 October 1943, the Germans killed the archbishop's brother Mijo.[94] In 1944, Stepinac received the Polish Pauline priest Salezy Strzelec, who wrote about the archbishop, Zagreb, and Marija Bistrica upon his return to Poland.

According to Tanner, Stepinac remained naive about politics and the nature of the Ustaše regime. In 1943, Stepinac travelled to the Vatican and came into contact with the Croatian artist Ivan Meštrović.[95] According to Meštrović, Stepinac asked him whether he thought Pavelić knew about the killings of Serbs. When Meštrović replied that Pavelić must know everything, Stepinac went pale and burst into tears.[96]

The historian Martin Gilbert wrote that despite initially welcoming the Independent State of Croatia, Stepinac later "condemned Croat atrocities against both Serbs and Jews, and himself saved a group of Jews in an old age home".[83] According to West, Stepinac and the entire Catholic Church remained loyal to Pavelić and the NDH.[97] West states that Stepinac was one of the priests and father-confessors to senior Ustaše such as Pavelić, Budak, Kvaternik and Artuković.[29]

Stepinac (far right) with two Catholic priests at the funeral of President of the Croatian Parliament Marko Došen in September 1944

In May 1943, Stepinac wrote to the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Luigi Maglione, and the contents of the letter reveal aspects of the attitude of the Croatian Catholic Church towards the NDH. Stepinac referred to complaints made by the Yugoslav government-in-exile to the Vatican claiming that the Church had not done its duty towards persecuted members of the Orthodox Church, and also that the Catholic Church had approved and arranged measures such as forced conversions. Stepinac described these complaints as "enemy propaganda" aimed at bringing the NDH into disrepute in the eyes of the Vatican. He admitted that atrocities had been committed against Serbs by irresponsible people without the sanction of the NDH authorities, and claimed that many of those responsible had been executed by the government. He deplored and condemned the atrocities, but stated that they were a reaction to Serb behaviour during the interwar period during which, he claimed, Serbs had violated all the rights of the Croatian people. He also reminded the Cardinal of the assassination of the Croatian deputies in the Parliament in 1928. His letter pointed out that the NDH authorities had taken a lot of actions that were seen as positive by the Church, including opposing abortion, pornography, Freemasonry and communism. Other actions of benefit to the Church mentioned by Stepinac included the Christian education of soldiers, religious education in schools, financial support for seminaries, church-building and maintenance, increased salaries for the clergy, and support for Church charitable work.[98]

In 1944, the NDH Ministry for Justice and Religion proposed, and Stepinac accepted the Order of Merit medal from Pavelić,[99] for "having as archbishop unmasked inside and outside the country the opponents of the Independent State of Croatia"[100]

The Catholic Church in the NDH then began to criticise actions taken by the government, and attempted to distance itself to some extent from the authorities. It had no real alternative, given that the likely alternate governments were led by Serb-chauvinist Chetniks or communists. Instead, the Church maintained its support of the NDH government to the bitter end.[101] This is demonstrated by the pastoral letter issued after the episcopal conference of 24 March 1945, in which the Croatian Catholic Church maintained its formal support for the puppet state and its rulers, despite the fact that most senior regime figures were preparing to flee the country.[102] The Catholic press in the NDH also maintained its support of Pavelić right to the end.[76]

Biondich concludes that claims that Stepinac was an Ustaše sympathiser, and even the spiritual leader of the regime are unfounded. He further states that while Stepinac supported independence, he "began privately to distance himself from the regime within weeks, and certainly within months of the Croatian state's formation." He also observes that while Stepinac continued to attend to his ceremonial duties at official state events, he was privately raising his concerns with the Ustaše leaders.[103]

On the other hand, historian Robert McCormick states, "for all the Archbishop’s hand wringing, he continued to be a tacit participant in the Independent State of Croatia (ISC). He repeatedly appeared in public with the Poglavnik (the Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić), and issued Te Deum’s on the anniversary of the NDH’s creation. His failure to publicly denounce the Ustaše’s atrocities in the name of the NDH, was tantamount to accepting Pavelić’s policies".[104]

On 10 April 1945, Stepinac held a mass in the Zagreb Cathedral for the 4th anniversary of the NDH's founding, and Te Deum's were sung for what was left of the Ustaše state.[105] Richard West writes that, on 15 April, as Pavelić and other Ustaše leaders were getting ready to flee, "Archbishop Stepinac devoted his sermon to what he believed was Croatia’s worst sin, not mass murder, but swearing."[105]

The atrocities committed by the Ustaše can be categorised into four broad areas, all of which fell largely on the Serb population of the NDH; racial laws, mass killings and concentration camps, deportations, and forced conversions to Catholicism.

Stepinac protested Ustaše Race Laws, yet at as the historian Ivo Goldstein notes, at first he seemed to concede the validity of these laws, while seeking to modify them. Thus, on 23 April 1941, Stepinac wrote to the Ustaše Interior Minister, Artuković, "on the occasion of the announced passage of anti-Jewish laws”, to caution of “good Catholics who are of the Jewish race and who have converted from the Jewish religion...I consider that it would be necessary, in passing the necessary laws, to take converts of this kind into account."[106] Thus, Stepinac viewed Race Laws as "necessary", but that they should not apply to Jewish converts to Catholicism (Stepinac knew the Ustaše were preparing Race Laws when he supported the Ustaše and Pavelić in his letter of 28 April 1941, issued 2 days before Pavelić signed the race laws).

Stepinac again wrote to Artuković on 22 May to protest the Race Laws and their application to converted Jews, telling him that members of other races should not be discriminated against "through no fault of their own."[73] He wrote, "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.".[107] Stepinac added: "Everyone will certainly approve the attempt for the economy to be in national hands, not to allow a non-national and anti-national element to amass capital, or foreign elements to decide about the State and the people. But to take away any possibility of existence from members of other peoples or other races, and to brand them with the stamp of shame, this is an issue of humanity and a question of morality".[108]

As Goldstein notes, Stepinac seemingly argued for "humane" Race Laws. On 24 May 1942, Stepinac condemned racial persecution in general terms, although he did not 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.[109][110]

In a sermon on 25 October 1942, he further commented on racial acceptance:[111]

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, [but] 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.

In his homily of 31 October 1943, described as his most direct critique of the Ustaše, Stepinac first inveighed against abortion, the "pagan fashions of today’s female world" and "all the licentiousness ...that has been observed... at sea beaches and other bathing spots". He blames these "sins" for the fact that "God like thunder today brings down not just cities and villages, but entire peoples". The speech's primary theme is the defense of the Church's actions, against those who "accuse us of not having arisen in timely or appropriate fashion against the crimes in parts of our homeland". Stepinac states that "the Church cannot force others to behave according to God’s laws" and cannot be responsible for "the hotheads in its own priestly ranks" (i.e. the priests who supported or participated in Ustaše crimes). He proclaims it was not the Church that "created in the souls of people the dissatisfaction and insatiability which has produced such sad consequences", instead he blames "certain circles, organizations, and members of other national groups".

Stepinac then criticizes at length Communism, its denial of private property rights, its approval of divorce, negation of God, refusal to allow religious education in schools, etc. Only after this does he refer to Ustaše crimes, stating “The Catholic Church does not know races that lord over others, or slave races. The Catholic Church knows only races and peoples as the creatures of God, and if it values some more, it is those of noble heart, and not of stronger fist. For her, a king in the royal palace is a man, in the same way as the last pauper and gypsy under a tent ... The system of shooting hundreds of hostages for a crime in which no culprit can be found is a pagan system that never yielded a good fruit”.

In this speech Stepinac condemns “all the wrongdoing, all the killing of the innocent, all the burning of villages”. Much of his public criticism was spoken after most of the genocides were already completed, and it became clear the Nazis and Ustaše would lose. These belated speeches were made before limited audiences, unlike his pastoral letter, condemning the Communists, that he ordered read from all the pulpits across Croatia, only 4 months after the Communists seized power. In a letter to the Vatican of May 1943, Stepinac still praised the Ustaše for the “good things” they had done, including the “strict ban on all pornographic publications, which were first and foremost published by Jews and Orthodox!”.[112] Stepinac continued to support until the very end the same Ustaše state that continued to maintain Nazi-style Race Laws, and continued to kill people based on these laws.

Stepinac was involved directly and indirectly in efforts to save Jews from persecution. Amiel Shomrony (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.[89] 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).[113]

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.[114] 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.[115]

A Serb family massacred in their home by the Ustaše in 1941

The Ustaše unleashed a reign of terror in which 80% of the Jews (30,000 victims) in the NDH were killed, as well as practically all the Roma (25,000 victims), and almost 20% of the Serb population (340,000 victims – see: Number of victims). As a military vicar, Stepinac dispensed blessings to the Ustaše armies.[116] Stepinac initially responded to these mass killings with private letters of protest. Thus, on 14 May 1941, Stepinac received word of an Ustaše massacre of Serb villagers at Glina. On the same day, he wrote to Pavelić saying:[117]

Just now I received news that the Ustaše in Glina executed without trial and investigation 260 Serbs. I know that the Serbs committed some major crimes in our homeland in these last twenty years. But I consider it my bishop's responsibility to raise my voice and to say that this is not permitted according to Catholic teaching, which is why I ask that you undertake the most urgent measures on the entire territory of the Independent State of Croatia, so that not a single Serb is killed unless it is shown that he committed a crime warranting death. Otherwise, we will not be able to count on the blessing of heaven, without which we must perish.

According to Biondich, in the first weeks or even months after the establishment of the NDH, Stepinac may have not known that the atrocities perpetrated by the Ustaše were a key component of their plan. This view supposes that Stepinac considered the atrocities were either spontaneous or the result of so-called "irresponsible elements" who would be held to account by the authorities. His correspondence with Pavelić tends to suggest he did not believe that the Poglavnik would have sanctioned such actions.[81] Although Stepinac was firmly opposed to the idea of Ustaše to establish a concentration camp within the borders of the Đakovo Bishop's domain, the Đakovo concentration camp was established in the deserted flour mill owned by the Diocese of Đakovo on 1 December 1941.[118]

On the other hand, Phayer writes, "it is impossible to believe that Stepinac and the Vatican did not know that the Ustasha murders amounted to genocide", given the "repression and terrorism of the Ustasha regime were without parallel in the history of Southeastern Europe".[119] Stepinac clearly knew of the May 1941 Glina massacre, and early on that the Ustaše state was sending Jews, Serbs and others to concentration camps. Initially, Stepinac did not oppose these deportations of Jews and others to concentration camps as a matter of principle, but pleaded they be carried out "humanely", by proposing to Pavelić, on 21 July 1941, the introduction of "some particulars to mitigate the procedure: a) for people to be sent to camp in such a way to allow them to prepare what would be the most essential, to allow them to arrange their most urgent obligations both to their families and their jobs; b) for transport not to be in crowded sealed railway cars, especially to distant places; c) to give internees enough food; d) to provide those who are ill with medical treatment; e) to allow the most necessary food to be sent to them, and enable them to correspond with their families.".[120]

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.[121] After seven Slovene priests were killed at Jasenovac, Stepinac wrote to Pavelić on 24 February 1943, saying:[122]

This is a shameful blot and crime which cries to heaven for revenge, as the whole Jasenovac camp is a shameful fault for the Independent State of Croatia... the entire public, and especially the relatives of the killed priests, ask for compensation and satisfaction and ask that the killers, who are the greatest misfortune for Croatia, be brought before a court of justice.

These were still private protest letters. Although later in 1942 and 1943, Stepinac started to speak out more openly against the Ustaše genocides, this was after most of the genocides were already committed, and it became increasingly clear the Nazis and Ustaše will be defeated. Additionally, Stepinac never publicly condemned the numerically greatest Ustaše genocide, that against the Serbs, [123] and Stepinac continued to support until the very end the Ustaše state that had committed these crimes. Addressing defenders of Stepinac's more private approach, Ivo Goldstein notes that "relatively more persecuted Jews were saved when high church dignitaries openly, energetically and in a principled manner opposed this persecution – as in France (especially the Archbishops of Toulouse and Lyon), the Netherlands, Italy and Denmark, and for a time even in Germany itself. Catholic bishops in Slovakia strongly opposed Nazi demands for radical deportations and thus saved the lives of many converted Jews, and the Orthodox Metropolitan Stefan in Sofia, by tireless public defense of Jewish lives, played a fundamental role in preventing even one Jew from being deported to the Nazi camps from Bulgaria.[124]". In nearly all these cases a much greater percent of the Jewish population survived, compared to the nearly 80% of Jews exterminated in the Independent State of Croatia, along with practically the entire Roma population, and nearly one-fifth of Serbs.

Stepinac again wrote to Pavelić on 21 July 1941 in the wake of mass deportations of Serbs from the NDH and the attendant massacres, stating he was sure that Pavelić was not aware of the atrocities, and that others might not be willing to tell him about them. He wrote that this situation meant there was an even greater obligation on Stepinac to bring them to Pavelić's attention. Further, he said he had received information from different sources regarding "inhumane and brutal treatment... during the deportations and at the camps, and even worse, that neither children, old people or the sick are spared." Having heard that some of the deportees were recent converts to Catholicism, he had a duty to show greater concern regarding them. He asked that "humane and Christian consideration... be shown especially to weak old people, young and innocent children, and the sick." According to Biondich, it is highly likely that Stepinac shared these concerns with the Vatican.[81]

When deportation of Croatian Jews began, Stepinac and the papal envoy Giuseppe Marcone protested to Andrija Artukovic.[125] Pope Pius XII had dispatched Marcone as Apostolic Visitor to Croatia, reportedly in order to assist Stepinac and the Croatian Episcopate in "combating the evil influence of neo-pagan propaganda which could be exercised in the organization of the new state".[126] Marcone served as Nuncio in all but name.[127] Mancone reported to Rome on the deteriorating conditions for Croatian Jews, made representations on behalf of the Jews to Croatian officials, and transported Jewish children to safety in neutral Turkey.

In a circular letter to his clergy, Stepinac initially insisted that conversion had to be done freely, and only after religious instruction. While this and subsequent regulations were designed to protect "the church hierarchy against charges of promoting forced conversions", they also indicated "the church was willing to cooperate with regime’s forced conversions, provided the canonical rules were followed".[128] On 3 December 1941, Stepinac sent the pope a report, wherein he notes "the best prospects exist for the conversions".[129]

However, the church's instructions were ignored by the Ustaše authorities. The authorities not only conducted forcible conversions, but on occasion they used the prospect of conversion as a means to gather Serbs together so they could kill them, which is what occurred at Glina. Some Serbs demanded that the local Catholic clergy convert them in order to save their lives.[130] 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.[8]

On 18 May 1943, Stepinac wrote a letter to the pope, in which he estimated 240.000 conversions to date (despite some disputes Tomasevich states this letter is authentic[129]). The Catholic Church in Croatia has also had to contend with criticism of what some have 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.[72] According to Cornwell, through his role in the forced conversions, Stepinac displayed a "moral dislocation" that "endorsed a contempt for religious freedom tantamount to complicity with the violence".[131]

While Stepinac did suspend a number of priests, including Ivo Guberina and Zvonko Brekalo, 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, as that power was reserved for the Vatican.[132] Due to the arbitrary nature of justice in the NDH and the absence of proper systems for complaint and redress, people such as Stepinac developed an approach of intervening personally with senior government figures on behalf of victims.[133]

In addition to forced conversions, Tomasevich describes other elements of the "Ustaše massive attack against the Serbian Orthodox Church".[134] The Ustaše killed 157 Orthodox priests, among them 3 Serb Orthodox bishops (cutting the throat of the bishop of Banja Luka and killing the archbishop of Sarajevo),[134] while they jailed and tortured the Orthodox archbishop of Zagreb. The Ustaše expelled to Serbia 327 Orthodox priests and one bishop, while 2 other bishops and 12 priests left on their own.[135] Thus 85% of the Orthodox priests in the Independent State of Croatia were either killed or expelled by the Ustaše, in order to "leave the Orthodox population without spiritual leadership so the Ustašas’ policy of forced or fear-induced conversions to Catholicism would be easier to carry out" [135]

The Ustaše destroyed and desecrated numerous Orthodox Churches,[135] forbade the Cyrillic script and Julian calendar (both used in the Orthodox Church), even prohibited the term "Serbian Orthodox Church". Orthodox schools were shut down,[136] and the Church was prohibited from collecting contributions from believers, robbing it of income.[136] Orthodox Church properties were confiscated by the Ustaše,[136] some turned over to the Croatian Catholic Church. Finally, to destroy the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Ustaše tried to create its own, alternative Croatian Orthodox Church, with an imported Russian priest. but failed to gain adherents.[137]

Despite these many actions by the Ustaše to destroy the Serbian Orthodox Church, Tomasevich found no condemnations of these crimes, public or private, by Stepinac or any other members of the Croatian Catholic Church. On the contrary, he states that this massive Ustaše attack on the Serbian Orthodox Church "was approved and supported by many Croatian Catholic priests",[136] and that the Croatian Roman Catholic Church hierarchy and the Vatican "regarded Ustaše policies against the Serbs and Serbian Orthodox Church as advantageous to Roman Catholicism".[138]

Tomasevich assesses Stepinac's wartime words and deeds in three categories : (1) Private actions to help certain individuals and groups, where he states Stepinac "deserves highest praise, although his actions were not always successful",[139] (2) Proclamations of general human rights, expressed in his sermons at first "occasionally and mildly", but more strongly after 1943 (after the Ustashe had already perpetrated most of the genocides, and it was clear the Nazis and Ustashe would be defeated), also deserve praise,[139] and (3) Statements dealing with overall Church policy toward the wartime Croatian state. Here Tomasevich states "there are serious shortcomings in Stepinac’s statements and actions toward the Ustashe regime and its genocidal actions against the Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church".[16]

Thus, despite the Ustashe genocide against the Serbs, the ethnic cleansing and forced conversions, the killings and expulsions of most Orthodox priests, the destruction and desecration of many Orthodox Churches, “neither Archbishop Stepinac, nor any other Catholic bishop in the state...uttered one word of public protest” against these crimes.[140] “This was not a mere oversight. It was a deliberate policy” as stated by the papal legate Abbot Marcone, when he wrote in 1943 that given the fact that most guerrillas were “schismatics” (i.e. Eastern-Orthodox Serbs) “our Croatian episcopate does not have any special motive to protest publicly against the government in favor of the schismatics”[141] In Stepinac's case this was compounded by his “dim view of Orthodoxy and thought that an unbridgeable gulf existed between Croats and Serbs”.[16] Additionally, given both Stepinac's and the Vatican's desire to see a Catholic state in Croatia and have a legate there, “the Church had to refrain from publicly criticizing the government’s policies”.[16]

Tomasevich concludes "the policy of the Croatian Catholic Church hierarchy and the Vatican of not publicly condemning the Ustasha regime's actions during the war will probably remain controversial. From the standpoint of humanity, justice and common decency, it cannot be defended. But Stepinac was not the only one responsible for it, the Vatican was too".[16]

In the escalating Cold War atmosphere, and with the Vatican putting forward worldwide publicity,[6] the trial was depicted in the West as a typical communist "show trial", in which the testimony was all false. The trial was immediately condemned by the Holy See. All Catholics who had taken part in the court proceedings, including most of the jury members, were excommunicated by Pope Pius XII who referred to the process as the "saddest trial" (tristissimo processo).[165]

In the United States, one of Stepinac's biggest supporters was the Archbishop of Boston, Richard Cushing, who delivered several sermons in support of him.[166] U.S. Acting Secretary of State Dean Acheson on 11 October 1946 bemoaned the conditions in Yugoslavia and stated his regret of the trial.[161]

The National Conference of Christians and Jews at the Bronx Round Table adopted a unanimous resolution on 13 October condemning the trial:

This great churchman has been charged with being a collaborator with the Nazis. We Jews deny that. We know from his record since 1934, that he was a true friend of the Jews ... This man, now the victim of a sham trial, all during the Nazi regime spoke out openly, unafraid, against the dreadful Nuremberg Laws, and his opposition to the Nazi terrorism was never relaxed.[161]

In Britain, on 23 October 1946, Richard Stokes MP declared in the House of Commons that,

[T]he archbishop was our constant ally in 1941, during the worst of the crisis, and thereafter, at a time when the Orthodox Church, which is now comme il faut with the Tito Government, was shaking hands with Mussolini....[167]

On 1 November 1946 Winston Churchill addressed the House of Commons on the subject of the trial, expressing "great sadness" at the result.[168]

This trial was prepared in the political sphere. It was for the purpose of dividing the Catholic Church in Croatia from its leadership at the Vatican. Tito has openly expressed this purpose....The trial was not based on justice, but was an outrage on justice. Tito's regime has no interest in justice. It seeks only to stifle opposition....[161]

On 22 July 2016, Zagreb County Court annulled the verdict in the review process, as requested by the Archbishop's nephew Boris Stepinac, "due to gross violations of current and former fundamental principles of substantive and procedural criminal law". While explaining the verdict, Judge Ivan Turudić stated that the verdict had violated the principle of the right to a fair trial, appeal and a reasoned court decision, as well as the principle of the prohibition of forced labour and the rule of law, adding that it was enough to read some parts of the minutes of the trial, which demonstrated that the court mainly analyzed evidence that instructed witnesses for the prosecution to charge the defendant and that the actual decision in reality was not made by the court but by prosecutor Jakov Blažević. In conclusion, Turudić stated that the verdict has been revised after nearly 70 years which has a profound significance for the history of the Croatian people.[11] This annulment is, however, highly controversial due to its overtly nationalist Croatian sentiments, the fact that lower court (County Court of Zagreb) annuls the verdict of the Supreme Court, the fact that the whole process of annulment was over in only six days,[169] prosecution was on the same side with the defense (they did not appeal on the annulment) and the judge, who is openly anticommunist,[170] obviously made his decision before the start of the trial.[171] Thus, this annulment can be seen as an example of show trial.[172]

A statue of Stepinac in Zagreb

Stepinac was unsuccessfully recommended on two occasions by two individual Croatian Jews to be added to the list of the Righteous Among the Nations. Amiel Shomrony (previously known in Croatia as Emil Schwarz), the secretary to the war-time head rabbi Miroslav Šalom Freiberger, nominated Stepinac in 1970. He was again nominated in 1994 by Igor Primorac. Esther Gitman, a Jew from Sarajevo living in the USA who holds a PhD on the subject of the fate of Jews in the Independent State of Croatia, stated that, for her, "Stepinac is holy man who saved many Jews".[224] However the reason stated by Yad Vashem for denying the requests were that the proposers were not themselves Holocaust survivors, which is a requirement for inclusion in the list; and that maintaining close links with a genocidal regime at the same time as making humanitarian interventions would preclude listing.