Serbs being converted to Catholicism at Dubica in a mass ceremony

One of the most cynical chapters in the activities of one section of the Catholic Church in Croatia was conversion of the Serbs.

The compulsory change from the Orthodox faith to the Roman Church was part of the Ustashi program of "ridding Croatian territory of foreign elements." The policy of forcible conversion was officially adopted by the Catholic hierarchy in Croatia. On November 17, 1941, Archbishop Stepinac convened a Bishops' conference in Zagreb, at which the program of forcible conversion of Serbs was given canonic sanction. At this conference, the so-called Committee of Three was chosen, whose task was to solve the question of conversions in conjunction with the Ustashi Ministry of Justice and Religion. The Committee consisted of Archbishop Stepinac, the Bishop of Senj, Viktor Buric, and the Apostolic Administrator, Dr. Janko Simrak. The conference also issued a resolution, numbered 253, in which directions were given relating to the way conversions were to be carried out.

On the basis of these directives, many Catholic priests engaged actively in the work of conversion. According to Stepinac's report to the Pope of May 18, 1944, 240,000 Serbs were converted. The man who became Archbishop Stepinac's right hand in pressing a large part of the Orthodox Serbs into the Roman Church was Bishop Janko Simrak. Before his elevation into the hierarchy, Dr. Janko Simrak was editor-in-chief of the Catholic daily Hrvatska Straza.This newspaper all through its existence was most outspoken for fascism, and its chief, Dr. Simrak, played a most important role in the Ustashi movement.

In October, 1941, Dr. Simrak was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Greek-Catholic Bishopric of Krizevci. His task was to force as many Serbs as possible into the Roman Church. In June, 1942, he was appointed Bishop of Krizevci, and in December of that year he was consecrated in the presence of Archbishop Stepinac and other members of the hierarchy. A short time after the Bishops' conference at Zagreb had decided to force the conversion of Orthodox Serbs, the Apostolic Administrator, Dr. Simrak, issued a directive which was published in the official "Bishopric News" of Krizevci, No. 2, 1942. The text reads in part as follows:

Directive regarding the conversion of members of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Slavonia, Srijem and Bosnia.

Special offices and church committees must be created immediately for those to be converted. These committees will help the curates with their work, not only in organizing the conversions, but in creating parishes of those convertees. Let every curate remember that these are historic days for our missions, and we must under no circumstances let this opportunity pass by but must work with all our strength to attain our goals. Now we must show with our work what we have been talking about for centuries in theory. We have done very little until now as far as conversion is concerned, simply because we were undetermined and afraid of small obstacles and complaints from people. Every great work has someone opposing it, but we must not allow our spirits to be lowered. Our universal mission, the salvation of souls and the greatest glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, is involved in this issue. Our work is legal because it is in accord with official Vatican policy, with the directives of the saintly congregation of the Cardinals for the Eastern church ... and with the circular of the government of the Independent State of Croatia of July 30, 1941, which desires that members of the Eastern Orthodox Church be converted to the Catholic faith.

One of the biggest mass conversions of Serbs took place in the bishopric of Djakovo under the leadership of Bishop Aksamovic. There were some priests who thought that forcible conversion was not in the spirit of Christian teaching, but pressure from their bishops obliged them to fall into line. Bishop Aksamovic's chaplain, Dr. Djuka Maric, at a hearing before Yugoslav authorities said:

"I and my friend and colleague Stjepan Bogutovac were forced by our bishop, Aksamovic, to go as missionaries to the Orthodox towns of Paucje and Cenkovo and to perform there the rituals of rechristening all the inhabitants within a week's time."

In 1941, the printer for the official Diocesan journal of Djakovo issued a leaflet which was widely distributed among the Serbs. It read:

A FRIENDLY SUGGESTION
The Lord Jesus Christ said that there shall be one pasture and one shepherd. This unity must be carried out in the Independent State of Croatia. Inhabitants of the Greek-Eastern faith, hear this friendly advice! The Bishop of Djakovo has already received thousands of citizens in the Holy Catholic Church, and these citizens received certificates of honesty from the state authorities. Follow these brothers of yours, and report as soon as possible for rechristening into the Catholic Church. As Catholics, you will be allowed to remain in your homes. You may increase your property in peace and rear your children for God and for the Independent State of Croatia. In the Catholic Church you will insure the saving of your immortal souls.

As soon as the mass conversions of Serbs began many priests and Ustashi went to Serbian towns and began forcibly carrying out the program. Serbian Orthodox Churches were turned into Catholic ones. A hint of how these mass conversions were carried out was given on February 25, 1942, in Nova Hrvatska, an Ustashi newspaper:

"The rechristening was carried out in a very solemn manner by the curate of Petrinja, the most honorable Mihael Razum. An Ustashi company was present at this solemn occasion."

Katolicki List, organ of the Bishopric of Zagreb, whose columns were controlled by Archbishop Stepinac, wrote in its issue No. 38 in 1941:

"The entire village of Budinci was rechristened to the Catholic faith. A parish of over 2,300 souls was created in the village. The preparation for the rechristening was made by the Franciscan from Nasice, Father Sidonije Scholz, and other priests such as the chief curate from Osijek. At a banquet in the public hall many significant speeches were made and the Chieftain and Croatia were acclaimed."

Ustashi authorities organized a special government division for religion to expedite the work of rechristening the Serbs. The Ustashi priest Dionizija Juric, a Franciscan and close friend of Pavelic, was appointed to head this division, which devised a plan for the systematic conversion of those Serbs who had been spared from persecution and massacre. Then a veritable race began among some Catholic bishops and priests to see who could convert the most Serbs to the Catholic faith and take the most property from Serb parishes.

A few cases out of hundreds from the files of the Commission for Investigating War Crimes may be cited. One of the most fanatical missionaries for conversion was priest Ante Djuric in the District of Dvor. He ordered the slaughter, plunder and burning of many villages and sent hundreds of Serbs to the concentration camp in Kostajnica. He personally mutilated and killed Serbs from Bosanska Kostajnica. In his speeches he always emphasized that the Serbs in the District of Dvor "have only three ways out: to accept the Catholic faith, to move out or to be cleansed with the metal broom."

Priest Ambrozije Novak, Guardian of the Capucine Monastery in Varazdin, went in 1941 to the village of Mostanica, accompanied by Ustashi and ordered the Serbian people to assemble. He told them, according to the testimony of many witnesses, "you Serbs are condemned to death and you can only escape that sentence by accepting Catholicism!"

Franjo Pipinic, priest in Pozega, carried out mass conversions of Serbs toward the end of 1941 with the assistance of the Ustashi Captain Peranovic. He told the Serbian people that acceptance of Catholicism was the only way in which they could save themselves from death in concentration camps.

Priest Dr. Peter Berkovic, well known as a fascist, participated in mass conversions in the vicinity of Osijek. The services rendered by him are described in the Ustaska Velika Zupa No. 1372, of April 27, 1942, in connection with his transfer to the "Office of Colonization." This report reads in part:

"... His work covers the period from preparation of the members of the Eastern Orthodox Church for conversion to Catholicism until they were actually converted, and thus in the counties of Vocin, Cacinci and Ceralije he converted more than 6,000 persons. . . ."

The curate of Ogulin, Canon Ivan Mikan, wrote leaflets addressed to the Serbs asserting they would suffer unless they allowed themselves to be rechristened. He charged 180 dinars for each conversion so that in one Serb village alone--Jasenak--he collected 80,000 dinars from the Serbs.

Ante Djuric, priest in Divusa, became an Ustashi administrator immediately after establishment of the Independent State of Croatia. He took part in compulsory conversions of the Serbian people. Serbian Orthodox priests, the Very Reverend Mladen Ostojic, from Zirovac, and the Very Reverend Ilija Vranjesevic, from Ljubina, gave the following testimony about Djuric's activities:

"Before our escape, all (Serbian) government employees and teachers received an order from priest Djuric to submit their petitions for conversions to Catholicism or to leave their residence and posts. After they applied for conversion they were told confidentially to coerce all other Serbs to accept Catholicism or else to move wherever they could if they wanted to escape execution.

"In this manner, all heads of families were compelled to come to their local teacher, with a 10 dinar tax stamp, to make out a petition for conversion to Catholicism for themselves and their families....

"The Serbs in the District of Dvor na Uni shook with fear at the mention of the name of Priest Djuric, who imprisoned the Serbs in his stable and barn where he tortured them with hunger and whipping until they accepted Catholicism."

Josip Orlic, priest in Sunja, an old sworn Ustashi, compelled the Serbs in his district to accept Catholicism by threatening them with concentration camps. A great majority of the Serbs there changed to Catholicism in fear for their lives. But even many of those rechristened were carried away to the Jasenovac concentration camp in May, 1942, where practically all of them were killed. In this district the Ustashi destroyed the Serbian Orthodox churches in Drljace, Brdjani. Kinjacka, Cetvrkovac, Petrinja and Svinjica. Priest Sidonije Scholz was one of those missionaries "not afraid of small obstacles" in the conversion of the Serbs. Peter V. Kovacevic, teacher from Belenice, gave the following testimony about this priest:

"All evils were endured by the Serbs from the Catholic priests. We accepted the Catholic faith under conditions of most frightful terror. In our district (Nasice) the thunderer among those priests was Pater Sidonije Scholz. He ordered our local priest, George Bogic, to be killed in a most bestial manner. They took him out of his home at night and butchered him--cut off his nose, his tongue, his ears and beard; they cut open his belly and wound the intestines around his neck..."

In all villages where Serbs had been converted or "rechristened," the people were compelled by the local Roman priests to send congratulatory telegrams to Archbishop Stepinac expressing their profound devotion. Stepinac was informed of every mass conversion performed in the individual parishes. Many of these telegrams were printed in full in the Ustashi paper Nova Hrvatska and in Archbishop Stepinac's own official Diocesan Journal, "Katolicki List." As an example, the Ustashi paper "Nova Hrvatska" in its issue of April 9, 1942, printed four such telegrams, all addressed to Archbishop Stepinac, in which mass conversions in villages were reported. One of the four telegrams runs as follows:

"2,300 persons, assembled in Slatinski Drenovac from the villages of Drenovac, Pusina, Kraskovic, Prekorecan, Miljani and Gjurisic, accepted today the protection of the Roman Catholic Church and send their profound greetings to their Head."

NEXT:    The Roman Church and the Ustashi Regime

THE CASE OF ARCHBISHOP STEPINAC

Croatian Holocaust

Papacy Uncovered