page_title: Catholic Church and Nazi Germany during World War II
section_title: Southern Europe
hierarchical_section_title: Catholic Church and Nazi Germany during World War II / Catholic Church in the Nazi Empire / Southern Europe
caption_attribution_description: English: Alojzije Stepinac (far right) with two Catholic priests at the funeral of President of the Croatian Parliament Marko Došen in September 1944. Hrvatski: Nadbiskup Alojzije Stepinac (krajnji desno) i ostalih crkveni dužnosnici na sahrani Predsjednika Hrvatskog Državnog Sabora Marka Došena. Italiano: L'arcivescovo di Zagabria Alojzije Viktor Stepinac interviene nel 1944 alle esequie del presidente del parlamento croato Marko Došen, una voce critica nei confronti del regime degli Ustascia, mentre alcuni gerarchi tributano il saluto a mano tesa.
context_page_description: Several Catholic countries and populations fell under Nazi domination during the period of the Second World War, and ordinary Catholics fought on both sides of the conflict. Despite efforts to protect its rights within Germany under a 1933 Reichskonkordat treaty, the Church in Germany had faced persecution in the years since Adolf Hitler had seized power, and Pope Pius XI accused the Nazi government of sowing 'fundamental hostility to Christ and his Church'. Pius XII became Pope on the eve of war and lobbied world leaders to prevent the outbreak of conflict. His first encyclical, Summi Pontificatus, called the invasion of Poland an "hour of darkness". He affirmed the policy of Vatican neutrality, but maintained links to the German Resistance. Despite being the only world leader to publicly and specifically denounce Nazi crimes against Jews in his 1942 Christmas Address, controversy surrounding his apparent reluctance to speak frequently and in even more explicit terms about Nazi crimes continues. He used diplomacy to aid war victims, lobbied for peace, shared intelligence with the Allies, and employed Vatican Radio and other media to speak out against atrocities like race murders.
context_section_description: Croatia
  After World War I, the desire of Croatian nationalists for independence was not realised. The region found itself in a Serb dominated dictatorship of Yugoslavia. Repression of the Croat minority spurred extremism, and the Ustaša ("Insurgence") was formed in 1929 by Ante Pavelić, with the support of Fascist Italy. Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary dismembered Yugoslavia in April 1941. In regions controlled by Italy, the Italian authorities protected Jews from Nazi roundups, as occurred throughout Italian territory. Martin Gilbert wrote that when negotiations began for the deportation of Jews from the Italian zone, General Roatta flatly refused, leading Hitler's envoy, Siegfried Kasche, to report some of Mussolini's subordinates "apparently been influenced" by opposition in the Vatican to German anti-Semitism. Most of Croatia fell to the new Independent State of Croatia, where Pavelic's Ustase were installed in power. Unlike Hitler, Pavelic was pro-Catholic, but their ideologies overlapped sufficiently for easy co-operation. Phayer wrote, Pavelic wanted Vatican recognition for his fascist state and Croatian church leaders favoured an alliance with the Ustase because it seemed to hold out the promise of an anti-Communist, Catholic state. According to Hebblethwaite, Pavelic was anxious to get diplomatic relations and a Vatican blessing for the new 'Catholic state' but "Neither was forthcoming": Giovanni Montini (future Pope Paul VI) advised Pavelic the Holy See could not recognise frontiers changed by force. The Yugoslav royal legation remained at the Vatican. When the Italian King advised that Duke of Spoleto was to be "King of Croatia", Montini advised the Pope could not hold a private audience with the Duke once any such coronation occurred. Pius subsequently relented, allowing a half hour audience with Pavelic. The Archbishop of Zagreb, Aloysius Stepinac, wanted Croatia's independence from the Serb dominated Yugoslav state (the jail of the Croatian nation). Stepinac arranged the audience with Pius XII for Pavelic. Montini's minutes of the meeting noted no recognition of the new state could come before a peace treaty. "The Holy See must be impartial; it must think of all; there are Catholics on all sides to whom the [Holy See] must be respectful." Phayer wrote that Montini kept Pius informed of matters in Croatia and Domenico Tardini interviewed Pavelic's representative to Pius; he let the Croat know the Vatican would be indulgent—"Croatia is a young state—Youngsters often err because of their age. It is, therefore, not surprising Croatia has also erred." The Vatican refused formal recognition but Pius sent a Benedictine abbot, Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone, as his apostolic visitor. Phayer wrote that this suited Pavelic well enough. Stepinac felt the Vatican de facto recognised the new state. Gilbert wrote, "In the Croatian capital of Zagreb, as a result of intervention by [Marcone] on behalf of Jewish partners in mixed marriages, a thousand Croat Jews survived the war". While "Stepinac, who in 1941 welcomed Croat independence, subsequently condemned Croat atrocities against both Serbs and Jews, and saved a group of Jews in an old age home".
  In April–May 1941, hundred of thousands of Serbs were murdered and Nazi copycat laws eliminated Jewish citizenship and compelled the wearing of the Star of David. The German army pulled out of Croatia in June 1941. As the terror continued Archbishop Stepinac had begun, May 1941, to distance himself from the Ustase. Hebblethwaite wrote, "The Vatican's policy was to strengthen the hand of [Spepinac] in his rejection of forcible conversions and brutalities". Pavelic told Nazi Foreign Minister Ribbentrop while the lower clergy supported the Ustase, the bishops, and particularly Stepinac, were opposed to the movement because of "Vatican international policy". In July, Stepniac wrote to Pavelic objecting to the condition of deportation of Jews and Serbs. Then, realizing that conversion could save Serbs, he instructed clergy to baptise people upon demand without the usual waiting and i
caption: Archbishop Aloysius Stepinac (far right). Initially Stepinac welcomed Croat independence and the Pavelic regime's atrocities against Jews and Serbs
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