Lewis
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Catholics And The Holocaust
- Thread starter Lewis
- Start date
S
stray bullet
Guest
No, that's an Archbishop and the holocaust. Yes, they did convert EO, who were under the influence of those in communist states, to Catholicism, so the Nazis would not touch them.
I saw him standing next to a Nazi soldier, then a series of pictures about the holocaust that make no claim, nor appearance of, any of his involvement.
The Church itself, at the Vatican, smuggled Jews and others out of Rome and continually defied the Nazis as best they could.
From what I see, this forum is called "apologetics" but seems to be more dedicated to propaganda against the Catholic Church.
I saw him standing next to a Nazi soldier, then a series of pictures about the holocaust that make no claim, nor appearance of, any of his involvement.
The Church itself, at the Vatican, smuggled Jews and others out of Rome and continually defied the Nazis as best they could.
From what I see, this forum is called "apologetics" but seems to be more dedicated to propaganda against the Catholic Church.
S
stray bullet
Guest
Lewis W said:
The Vatican officially helped those that were being hunted down during the holocaust at their own peril. Yes, the Vatican made mistakes and perhaps didn't do enough. However, the link you provided was a rather shoddy attempt to link the Vatican with the holocaust. What we see is a bishop converting (and thus, saving from the Nazis) EOs and standing around a few government officials, followed by attriocities committed by the Nazis.
It tries to suggest that because of this one guy, that Vatican somehow conspired with the Nazis against Eastern Orthodox- nothing could be further from the truth and any historian will tell you as much.
Funny, they don't tell you that the communists who rolled over eastern Europe forced Catholics to become Eastern Orthodox (because the eastern Orthodox were in communist states). Even though the Soviet Union is gone, they still refuse to hand over property of the Catholic Church.
Did the EOs conspire with the communists? No, nonsense.
Lewis
Member
Unfortunately, there was no place to run. Countries, including the United States and the British in Palestine, locked their doors against Jewish immigration. During the Holocaust years neither Pope Pious XI nor Pope Pious XII condemned the Nazi atrocities, even when the Jews of Rome were rounded up and sent to the death camps. Not wanting to alienate German Catholics, the Catholic Church carefully remained neutral throughout the Nazi atrocities.
http://www.geocities.com/buddychai/Reli ... caust.html
http://www.geocities.com/buddychai/Reli ... caust.html
Lewis
Member
This story comes from this site.
http://www.sxws.com/charis/history-6.htm
The Vatican and The Nazis
Just about a year ago, I wrote an article examining the atrocities suffered by non-Catholic peoples living in the Balkans during the years of the Second World War. In this paper, Life Under Rome's Umbrella, I documented some of the activities of Fransiscan death camp commandants and priest-commanders of murderous Ustashe ethnic cleansing units. The article documented some of the support they received from princes of the Roman Catholic Church, including the Pope himself.
In a more recent report, I recalled some of the wartime activities of Croatian archbishop Alojzije Stepinac, who was beatified recently by Rome's god maker, John Paul II. I included a few facts concerning the goings-on of another new "Venerable", Slovenian Bishop Anton Martin Slomsek in a third report
It has been more than half a century since the end of World War II and the numbers of people with contemporary knowledge of events as they happened in the Balkans are dwindling. For some time now, Vatican spin doctors have been busily creating a revised history that paints an image of RCC involvement in ethnic cleansing and other atrocities far different from documented reality. I do not doubt that, one day, history books will record how loving Franciscan priests willingly gave their lives to protect Croatian Jews, Serbs and Gypsies who came to them for help. One day people may speak in awed whispers of the selfless sacrifices of Catholic popes and bishops who gave their all to shelter the intended victims of Nazi pogroms.
One day, perhaps, but for now the truth is still available for those willing to examine it with open minds.
The horrors of the Hitler's Holocaust have been well-documented and are part of the collective awareness of the modern history of the western world. At least they are now. There was another holocaust, in every way the equal of Germany's. This reign of terror, centered in the puppet state of Croatia, is virtually unknown except to those who bear the scars in their bodies and in their hearts.
The recent apology by Pope John Paul II holds little weight with the heirs and few elderly survivors of one of the bloodiest chapters in the Roman Catholic Church, the 1941-1945 atrocities by the Croatian Nazis known as the Ustashe. In April 1941, multi-ethnic Yugoslavia fell to the Nazis who wasted no time in installing the fanatical Ante Pavlic's Catholic Ustashe in power in Croatia. With the blessing of the Roman Catholic Church and the active participation of clergy, especially Franciscan monks, the Ustashe killed 750,000 Serbs, Jews, and Roma in an orgy of violence that shocked even some of the Germans and revolted their Italian allies.[1]
"Active participation of the clergy?", one might ask. "Just how involved were those priests and monks?" They were drenched in innocent blood right up to their armpits.
"Nearly half of the 22 concentration camps in Fascist Independent State of Croatia, during WWII were headed by Croatian Roman Catholic clergy."[2]
"Led by Archbishop Stepinac, the Catholic Church was deeply involved in the Holocaust in Yugoslavia - its bishops and priests openly supported the murderous regime of Ante Pavelic, the wartime Croatian leader who pursued a ruthless policy of "kill a third, deport a third, and convert a third" of all the Serbs, Jews and Roma of Croatia and Bosnia. Abbot Marcone [the de facto Papal Legate in Croatia] was Pavelic's confessor and Archbishop Stepinac, [were] convicted of war crimes after the war. Several members of his clergy were involved in the genocide at Jasenovac - notably the Franciscan priest, Pater Miroslav Filipovic, who was one of the commandants of the camp. Stepinac recorded in his diary on 3rd August 1941 that "the Holy See (the Vatican) recognized de facto the independent State of Croatia."[3]
Some might argue that the above statements are pure emotionalism; that they cannot be true, else the world would know about these events. While it is true that few ever heard of Croatia or the Ustashe before the recent troubles in Yugoslavia, that is changing. One historian described Catholic Ustashe rule in Croatia as:
"an act of 'ethnic cleansing' before that hideous term came into vogue, it was an attempt to create a 'pure' Catholic Croatia by enforced conversions, deportations, and mass exterminations. So dreadful were the acts of torture and murder that even hardened German troops registered their horror. Even by comparison with the recent bloodshed in Yugoslavia at the time of writing, Pavelic's onslought against the Orthodox Serbs remains one of the most appalling civilian massacres known to history." [4]
Not surprisingly, the Vatican claims to have been ignorant of all that was going on in Croatia. This, despite the fact that the Pope's legate, Msgr. Marcone, frequently traveled between Zagreb and the Vatican. What Pius XII supposedly was unaware of seems to have been common knowledge among senior members of the Catholic hierarchy.
"Pius Xll could not plead ignorance of what was going on in Croatia by bringing forward the excuse of the obstacles of war. Communication between Rome and Croatia was as easy and as free as in peacetime. From the very beginning of hostilities the Nazi Ambassador at the Vatican was treated as of far greater importance than all the Allied diplomats. In 1940 the Vatican was on the most cordial terms with Hitler. Political and religious Ustashi leaders came and went between Rome and Zagreb as freely as did the Germans and Italians, the Ustashi State then being a satellite of Nazi Germany, and hence a province of the Nazi Empire. Moreover, the Pope knew what was happening in Croatia, not only through the Hierarchical administrative machinery, which kept him up to date on all Croatian events, but also through other reliable sources. They were:
"(a) The Papal Legate. Pius XII, it should never be forgotten, had a personal representative in Croatia, whose task was to implement Vatican policy and coordinate it with that of Pavelic, as well as reporting on religious and political matters to the Pope himself. The Papal Legate to Croatia was Mgr. Marcone, who openly blessed the Ustashi, publicly gave the Fascist salute, and encouraged Catholics (e.g. when he went to Mostar) to be "faithful to the Holy See, which had helped that same people for centuries against Eastern barbarism" -- that is say, against the Orthodox Church and the Serbs. Thus, the Pope's official representative openly instigated religious persecution, as well as praying for victory "under the leadership of the Head of the State Pavelic," against the Yugoslav National Liberation Army in 1944 - 5.
(b) Cardinal Tiseran [sic], head of the Holy Congregation of Eastern Churches. This congregation's specific task was to deal with Eastern Churches. Cardinal Tiseran received detailed reports of every forcible conversion and massacre in Croatia. Between April and June 19 over 100,000 Orthodox Serbs were massacred; yet Cardinal Tiseran on July 17, 1941, had the audacity to declare that Archbishop Stepinac would now do a great work for the development of Catholicism in "the Independent State of Croatia...where there are such great hopes for the conversion of those who are not of the true faith."
(c) Ante Pavelic, who, by his representative to the Vatican, through whom Pius XII sent "special blessing to the Leader (Pavelic)," forwarded regular reports, at times straight from the Minister of Religions, about the "rapid" progress of the Catholicization of the New Croatia.
(d) Last but not least, Archbishop Stepinac himself, who in person visited Pius XII twice, and who supplied His Holiness with figures of the forcible conversions. In an official document, dated as late as May 8, 1944, His Eminence Archbishop Stepinac, head of the Catholic Hierarchy, in fact, informed the Holy Father that to date "244,000 Orthodox Serbs" had been "converted to the Church of God." [5]
Support for the above allegations is provided by a letter written in March of 1942 by Cardinal Eugene Tisserant to the Croatia representative to the Vatican.
"I know for a fact, that it is the Franciscans themselves, as for example Father Simic of Knin, who have taken part in attacks against the Orthodox populations so as to destroy, the Orthodox Church. In the same way, you destroyed the Orthodox Church in Banja Luka. I know for sure that the Franciscans in Bosnia and Herzegovina have acted abominably, and this pains me. Such acts should not be committed by educated, cultured, civilized people, let alone by priests." [6]
As anyone who has ever seen a English movie involving partisan activity in Europe knows, the BBC incessantly bombarded the airwaves with coded messages to freedom fighters and propaganda/news reports. Given the Catholic Church's widespread interests, I cannot believe that there was not someone in the Vatican monitoring these broadcasts and passing what they heard up the chain of command. What picture did these broadcasts paint of the goings on in Croatia? See for yourself. The following was transmitted on February 16, 1942:
"The worst atrocities are being committed in the environs of the archbishop of Zagreb [Stepinac]. The blood of brothers is flowing in (the) streams. The Orthodox are being forcibly converted to Catholicism and we do not hear the archbishop's voice preaching revolt. Instead it is reported that he is taking part in Nazi and Fascist parades" [7]
A report published by the United States Department of State in June of 1998 unequivocally states that the Vatican was aware of the atrocities in Croatia:
"The Vatican, which maintained an "Apostolic visitor" in Zagreb from June 1941 until the end of the War, was aware of the killing campaign, which started with the internment of most of the 35,000 to 45,000 Croatian Jews in the spring and summer of 1941, and continued with the flight of up to 5,000 Jews from the German-occupied areas of the Croatian state to the Italian portion of the protectorate, and the deportation to Germany of all remaining Croatian Jews beginning in July 1942. Croatian Catholic authorities condemned the atrocities committed by the Ustashi, but remained otherwise supportive of the regime. During his March 1943 visit to Croatia, German Interior Minister Heinrich Himmler demanded that the few remaining Jews be deported to Germany (including those who had been baptized Catholics or married to Catholics). Germany continued its efforts throughout the War to compel the Italians to deport those Jews who had found sanctuary in Italian-occupied Dalmatia. Many of them ultimately found safety on the island of Rab off the Dalmatian coast. The German occupiers boasted that the Jewish population of Croatia had been wiped out by early 1944 (except for those who managed to gain Italian protection or escaped to join the Partisans).[8]
The Catholic Ustashe were not content to merely brutalize, torture and murder Jews, Gypsies and Orthodox Serbs. They also looted their possessions, stealing gold, jewelry and other valuables worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Some of this plunder went to Germany, some of it was recovered after the war ended and some of it disappeared from sight. It bears mentioning that not a lot of the recovered loot was returned to the descendants of those from whom it was stolen. Most apparently went into the treasuries of the victorious powers and a few "neutral" nations. Not an inconsiderable amount of gold ended up in the Vatican.
Among the documents recently released by the United States government was a memo sent to Harold Glasser, Director of Monetary Research, U. S. Treasury Department. The memo, dated October 21, 1946, reads as follows:
"The following report has been recently received from a reliable source in Italy. It is sent to you in the belief that it may be of interest.
"The Ustascha organization (a Croatian fascist organization, headed by Ante Pavelis) removed funds from Yugoslavia estimated to total 350 million Swiss francs. The funds were largely in the form of gold coins.
"Of the funds brought from the former Independent Croat State where Jews and Serbs were plundered to support the Ustascha organization in exile, an estimated 150 million Swiss Franks [sic] were impounded by British authorities at the Austro-Swiss frontier; the balance of approximately 200 million Swiss Francs was originally held in the Vatican for safe-keeping. According to rumor, a considerable portion of this later amount has been sent to Spain and Argentina through the Vatican's "pipeline," but it is quite possible this is merely a smokescreen to cover the fact that the treasure remains in its original repository."[9]
Was the Vatican actually involved in hiding Ustashe fugitives and their plundered treasure? The Vatican, as is to be expected, denies any knowledge of such activities. Against Vatican denials of complicity stand a large number of American and other nations' intelligence reports that appear to prove otherwise. Many of these intelligence documents are referenced in the June, 1998 State Department report. Under Secretary Stuart Eizenstat, announcing the publication of the report, told reporters that it "reflects a solemn commitment by the United States and by the Clinton Administration to confront the largely hidden history of Holocaust-year assets after five decades of neglect."[10] The report implicates the Vatican in the disappearance of the treasury of the wartime Nazi puppet state of Croatia.
Early in 1998, a major weekly news magazine asked the question: "Did gold stolen by Croatian fascists reach the Vatican?"[11] The article points out that the Vatican absolutely refuses to grant investigators access to its secret archives. The folks at the Vatican may be keeping mum, but investigative reporters now have a wealth of recently-declassified intelligence reports to examine. Those reports have provided information concerning the priest the reporters call the "most significant player of all."
"The Rev. Krunoslav Dragonovic, a Franciscan, had been a senior official of the Ustasha committee that handled the forced conversion of Orthodox Serbs. In 1943, the Ustasha arranged for the Croatian Catholic Church to send Father Dragonovic to Rome. There he served as secretary of the Instituto San Girolamo, a seminary for Croatian monks that was in fact a center of clandestine Ustasha acivity. Dragonovic also became Ustasha leader Ante Pavelic's unofficial emissary to the Vatican, and de facto liaison to the Pontifical Relief Commission, a Vatican organization that aided refugees during and after the war." [12]
The State Department, drawing on American intelligence reports, also identifies the College of San Girolamo degli Illirici as center of Ustasha covert activity. The report declares that:
"British intelligence information of March 1946 also identified San Girollamo as the church for the Ustashi managed by a brotherhood of Croatian priests, the "confraternita di San Girolama." This brotherhood issued identity cards with false names to the fugitive Ustashi, allowing them to evade arrest or detention by the allies. [13]
"Monsignor Juraj Madjerec, identified in intelligence reports as an Ustasha supporter, was head of the College, but the prime mover behind this Ustasha activity in Rome was the secretary of the College, Father Dr. Krunoslav Stefano Dragonovic, who was also an Ustasha colonel and former official of the Croat Ministry for Internal Colonization," the agency responsible for the confiscation of Serb property in Bosnia and Hercegovina.
"Regarded by U.S. intelligence officers as Ante Pavelic's "alter ego," the Croatian-born Father Dragonovic had been Professor of Theology at Zagreb University. In 1943 he went to Rome allegedly as the representative of the Croatian Red Cross, but probably to coordinate Ustasha affairs in Italy. Taking advantage of contacts inside the International Red Cross and other refugee and relief organizations, Dragonovic helped Ustasha fugitives emigrate illegally to South America by providing temporary shelter and false identity documents, and by arranging onward transport, primarily to Argentina. U.S> intelligence reports make much of Father Dragonovi's role in helping the Ustashi who sought protection in Rome after the War.He was also reportedly entrusted with the safeguarding of the archives of the Ustasha Legation in Rome, which he hid somewhere in the Vatican, as well as with all the valuables brought out of Croatia by the fleeing Ustashi."[14]
Dragonovic may have been a devoted Catholic and committed to the Croatian cause, but he apparently was not unwilling to take advantage of the times and his own unique position to make a buck or two.
"Dragonovic may also have personally profited from his illegal activities, charging refugees as much as $1,500 for false documents and realizing $625 from each refugee he helped transport to Argentina.[15]
Some of the stolen money that remained under Catholic control – whether Ustashe or Vatican – was used to support Ustashe hiding in Rome and elsewhere. A U.S. intelligence agent reported, in a document recently declassified, that a Croatian priest living at San Girolamo dispensed a monthly allowance equivalent to about $2,700 today.[16] The money followed after fleeing Ustashe war criminals even after they had made their way out of Europe.
"Croatian Catholic officials were funneling money to war criminals even after they escaped to Argentina, documents show. According to cable intercepts cited in a 1947 U.S. diplomatic report, Pavelic excaped in November of 1947 to Buenos Aires, where he is said to have been met by a retinue of Catholic priests. Newly declassified documents salso show that Bishop Rozman was funneling money to South America from a Swiss bank account set up "to aid refugees of the Catholic religion." U.S. military attache' Davis Harrington reported on March 9, 1948, that Rozman "is going to Bern to take care of these finances. The money is in a Swiss bank, and he plans to have most of it sent to the Ustashas in Argentina."[17]
Many of the fugitives were able to evade capture and flee Europe by passing along a "rat line" operated by sympathetic priests. This underground railroad was established by the American Counter Intelligence Corps to facilitate bringing scientists, espionage agents and defectors out of nations under Communist control.
"According to secret reports from the U.S. Army's Counterintelligence Corps (CIC), written just after World War II and since declassified, Draganovic and his collaborators at San Girolamo provided money, food, housing and forged Red Cross passports for a number of Ustasha war criminals seeking to escape justice. Through an underground railroad of sympathetic priests, known as the "ratline," the Ustashas could move from Trieste, to Rome, to Genoa, and on to neutral countries – primarily Argentina – where they could live out their days unpunished and unnoticed. Along the ratline, virtually then entire Ustasha leadership went free. "All these people were escaping – and this at a time when just getting a meal in Rome was a major accomplishment," recalls William Gowen, a CIC officer in Rome after the war."[18]
The barbarous leader of the Independent State of Croatia, Ante Pavelic, emigrated to Argentina in November of 1948.[19] Where did Pavelic, a wanted war criminal, hide out between the end of the war and his departure from Europe aboard the Italian motor vessel Sistrire? Wherever he may have been before, he reached Rome in late 1946, disguised as a priest and carrying a Spanish passport. According to intelligence reports, he spent the next two years living in San Girolamo and other quarters in Rome.[20]
"Other quarters in Rome>" Don't you just wonder where those other quarters may have been? According to official British sources, one of those other places was the Vatican itself.
"Other reports mention Ustashas meeting with Vatican officials or even living in the Vatican. The British Foreign Officer reported in January 1947 that Pavelic himself was living "within the Vatican City." An earlier report by Gowen, in October, 1946, noted that Pavellic was in Rome and in contact with Draganovic.
"Documents include accounts of Ustashas being hidden at the pope's summer residence at Castel Gandolfo and being seen driving around in Rome in cars with Vatican license plates."[21]
Reports from non-governmental agencies corroborate "official" accounts of Vatican involvement in helping war criminals escape from Europe:
"The Simon Wiesenthal Center says the Vatican set up 22 committees after the war to help Nazis escape from Europe, and claims the gold looted by the Croats may have been used to finance the operation, known as the "rat-line." Among those who escaped was Ustashe leader Ante Pvaelic, who made his way to Latin America using papers allegedly provided by the Vatican, and disguised as a Catholic priest."[22]
The survivors of Catholic-supported atrocities in Croatia and the Ukraine and their heirs have begun a court battle to recover property stolen from them. Chicago-based court reformer Sherman H. Skolnick reports on the lawsuit:
"In apparently the first legal action of its kind, the Vatican Bank has been sued by World War Two victims and their heirs and beneficiaries. Brought as a class action in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the initial plaintiffs are Ukranians and ex-Soviet citizens, but the affected class includes Serbians, Roma, anti-Fascist Croatians, and Jews."[23]
Easton & Levy, California lawyers representing victims and their organizations, filed the original complaint November 15, 1999 and the First Amended Complaint on January 21, 2000. The Franciscan Order was served on a Croatian Franciscan priest in Oakland, California on Tuesday, March 15, 2000. The Vatican Bank was served in Rome on Friday, March 17th.[24]
"The lawsuit is seeking restitution from the Vatican Bank, the Franciscan order and several unnamed private banks, all of which allegedly profited illegally from the Holocaust by accepting valuables stolen by the Nazi-backed Ustashe regime…"
"The suit alleges that gold and other assets worth about $170 million today, not including interest, were looted by the Ustashe and safeguarded by the Vatican after World War II. Vatican officials in Yugoslavia allegedly collaborated closely with the Croatian-led Ustashe, which also wreaked havoc in Ukraine." [25]
Is this lawsuit only about money? Money is a major issue, of course, but there is more to it. Families of victims and survivors of this "hidden" Holocaust want the world to know what went on in Yugoslavia during the years of Nazi domination. And they want closure. Thomas Easton, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, made that clear.
"Our lawsuit is basically about the loot, but the people who are plaintiffs are interested in some recognition of this hidden Holocaust, " Easton said. "It's a Holocaust that has been largely unreported in our history books."[26]
http://www.sxws.com/charis/history-6.htm
Additional information concerning this class action lawsuit and claim forms are available at the Easton & Levy website. [27]
http://www.sxws.com/charis/history-6.htm
The Vatican and The Nazis
Just about a year ago, I wrote an article examining the atrocities suffered by non-Catholic peoples living in the Balkans during the years of the Second World War. In this paper, Life Under Rome's Umbrella, I documented some of the activities of Fransiscan death camp commandants and priest-commanders of murderous Ustashe ethnic cleansing units. The article documented some of the support they received from princes of the Roman Catholic Church, including the Pope himself.
In a more recent report, I recalled some of the wartime activities of Croatian archbishop Alojzije Stepinac, who was beatified recently by Rome's god maker, John Paul II. I included a few facts concerning the goings-on of another new "Venerable", Slovenian Bishop Anton Martin Slomsek in a third report
It has been more than half a century since the end of World War II and the numbers of people with contemporary knowledge of events as they happened in the Balkans are dwindling. For some time now, Vatican spin doctors have been busily creating a revised history that paints an image of RCC involvement in ethnic cleansing and other atrocities far different from documented reality. I do not doubt that, one day, history books will record how loving Franciscan priests willingly gave their lives to protect Croatian Jews, Serbs and Gypsies who came to them for help. One day people may speak in awed whispers of the selfless sacrifices of Catholic popes and bishops who gave their all to shelter the intended victims of Nazi pogroms.
One day, perhaps, but for now the truth is still available for those willing to examine it with open minds.
The horrors of the Hitler's Holocaust have been well-documented and are part of the collective awareness of the modern history of the western world. At least they are now. There was another holocaust, in every way the equal of Germany's. This reign of terror, centered in the puppet state of Croatia, is virtually unknown except to those who bear the scars in their bodies and in their hearts.
The recent apology by Pope John Paul II holds little weight with the heirs and few elderly survivors of one of the bloodiest chapters in the Roman Catholic Church, the 1941-1945 atrocities by the Croatian Nazis known as the Ustashe. In April 1941, multi-ethnic Yugoslavia fell to the Nazis who wasted no time in installing the fanatical Ante Pavlic's Catholic Ustashe in power in Croatia. With the blessing of the Roman Catholic Church and the active participation of clergy, especially Franciscan monks, the Ustashe killed 750,000 Serbs, Jews, and Roma in an orgy of violence that shocked even some of the Germans and revolted their Italian allies.[1]
"Active participation of the clergy?", one might ask. "Just how involved were those priests and monks?" They were drenched in innocent blood right up to their armpits.
"Nearly half of the 22 concentration camps in Fascist Independent State of Croatia, during WWII were headed by Croatian Roman Catholic clergy."[2]
"Led by Archbishop Stepinac, the Catholic Church was deeply involved in the Holocaust in Yugoslavia - its bishops and priests openly supported the murderous regime of Ante Pavelic, the wartime Croatian leader who pursued a ruthless policy of "kill a third, deport a third, and convert a third" of all the Serbs, Jews and Roma of Croatia and Bosnia. Abbot Marcone [the de facto Papal Legate in Croatia] was Pavelic's confessor and Archbishop Stepinac, [were] convicted of war crimes after the war. Several members of his clergy were involved in the genocide at Jasenovac - notably the Franciscan priest, Pater Miroslav Filipovic, who was one of the commandants of the camp. Stepinac recorded in his diary on 3rd August 1941 that "the Holy See (the Vatican) recognized de facto the independent State of Croatia."[3]
Some might argue that the above statements are pure emotionalism; that they cannot be true, else the world would know about these events. While it is true that few ever heard of Croatia or the Ustashe before the recent troubles in Yugoslavia, that is changing. One historian described Catholic Ustashe rule in Croatia as:
"an act of 'ethnic cleansing' before that hideous term came into vogue, it was an attempt to create a 'pure' Catholic Croatia by enforced conversions, deportations, and mass exterminations. So dreadful were the acts of torture and murder that even hardened German troops registered their horror. Even by comparison with the recent bloodshed in Yugoslavia at the time of writing, Pavelic's onslought against the Orthodox Serbs remains one of the most appalling civilian massacres known to history." [4]
Not surprisingly, the Vatican claims to have been ignorant of all that was going on in Croatia. This, despite the fact that the Pope's legate, Msgr. Marcone, frequently traveled between Zagreb and the Vatican. What Pius XII supposedly was unaware of seems to have been common knowledge among senior members of the Catholic hierarchy.
"Pius Xll could not plead ignorance of what was going on in Croatia by bringing forward the excuse of the obstacles of war. Communication between Rome and Croatia was as easy and as free as in peacetime. From the very beginning of hostilities the Nazi Ambassador at the Vatican was treated as of far greater importance than all the Allied diplomats. In 1940 the Vatican was on the most cordial terms with Hitler. Political and religious Ustashi leaders came and went between Rome and Zagreb as freely as did the Germans and Italians, the Ustashi State then being a satellite of Nazi Germany, and hence a province of the Nazi Empire. Moreover, the Pope knew what was happening in Croatia, not only through the Hierarchical administrative machinery, which kept him up to date on all Croatian events, but also through other reliable sources. They were:
"(a) The Papal Legate. Pius XII, it should never be forgotten, had a personal representative in Croatia, whose task was to implement Vatican policy and coordinate it with that of Pavelic, as well as reporting on religious and political matters to the Pope himself. The Papal Legate to Croatia was Mgr. Marcone, who openly blessed the Ustashi, publicly gave the Fascist salute, and encouraged Catholics (e.g. when he went to Mostar) to be "faithful to the Holy See, which had helped that same people for centuries against Eastern barbarism" -- that is say, against the Orthodox Church and the Serbs. Thus, the Pope's official representative openly instigated religious persecution, as well as praying for victory "under the leadership of the Head of the State Pavelic," against the Yugoslav National Liberation Army in 1944 - 5.
(b) Cardinal Tiseran [sic], head of the Holy Congregation of Eastern Churches. This congregation's specific task was to deal with Eastern Churches. Cardinal Tiseran received detailed reports of every forcible conversion and massacre in Croatia. Between April and June 19 over 100,000 Orthodox Serbs were massacred; yet Cardinal Tiseran on July 17, 1941, had the audacity to declare that Archbishop Stepinac would now do a great work for the development of Catholicism in "the Independent State of Croatia...where there are such great hopes for the conversion of those who are not of the true faith."
(c) Ante Pavelic, who, by his representative to the Vatican, through whom Pius XII sent "special blessing to the Leader (Pavelic)," forwarded regular reports, at times straight from the Minister of Religions, about the "rapid" progress of the Catholicization of the New Croatia.
(d) Last but not least, Archbishop Stepinac himself, who in person visited Pius XII twice, and who supplied His Holiness with figures of the forcible conversions. In an official document, dated as late as May 8, 1944, His Eminence Archbishop Stepinac, head of the Catholic Hierarchy, in fact, informed the Holy Father that to date "244,000 Orthodox Serbs" had been "converted to the Church of God." [5]
Support for the above allegations is provided by a letter written in March of 1942 by Cardinal Eugene Tisserant to the Croatia representative to the Vatican.
"I know for a fact, that it is the Franciscans themselves, as for example Father Simic of Knin, who have taken part in attacks against the Orthodox populations so as to destroy, the Orthodox Church. In the same way, you destroyed the Orthodox Church in Banja Luka. I know for sure that the Franciscans in Bosnia and Herzegovina have acted abominably, and this pains me. Such acts should not be committed by educated, cultured, civilized people, let alone by priests." [6]
As anyone who has ever seen a English movie involving partisan activity in Europe knows, the BBC incessantly bombarded the airwaves with coded messages to freedom fighters and propaganda/news reports. Given the Catholic Church's widespread interests, I cannot believe that there was not someone in the Vatican monitoring these broadcasts and passing what they heard up the chain of command. What picture did these broadcasts paint of the goings on in Croatia? See for yourself. The following was transmitted on February 16, 1942:
"The worst atrocities are being committed in the environs of the archbishop of Zagreb [Stepinac]. The blood of brothers is flowing in (the) streams. The Orthodox are being forcibly converted to Catholicism and we do not hear the archbishop's voice preaching revolt. Instead it is reported that he is taking part in Nazi and Fascist parades" [7]
A report published by the United States Department of State in June of 1998 unequivocally states that the Vatican was aware of the atrocities in Croatia:
"The Vatican, which maintained an "Apostolic visitor" in Zagreb from June 1941 until the end of the War, was aware of the killing campaign, which started with the internment of most of the 35,000 to 45,000 Croatian Jews in the spring and summer of 1941, and continued with the flight of up to 5,000 Jews from the German-occupied areas of the Croatian state to the Italian portion of the protectorate, and the deportation to Germany of all remaining Croatian Jews beginning in July 1942. Croatian Catholic authorities condemned the atrocities committed by the Ustashi, but remained otherwise supportive of the regime. During his March 1943 visit to Croatia, German Interior Minister Heinrich Himmler demanded that the few remaining Jews be deported to Germany (including those who had been baptized Catholics or married to Catholics). Germany continued its efforts throughout the War to compel the Italians to deport those Jews who had found sanctuary in Italian-occupied Dalmatia. Many of them ultimately found safety on the island of Rab off the Dalmatian coast. The German occupiers boasted that the Jewish population of Croatia had been wiped out by early 1944 (except for those who managed to gain Italian protection or escaped to join the Partisans).[8]
The Catholic Ustashe were not content to merely brutalize, torture and murder Jews, Gypsies and Orthodox Serbs. They also looted their possessions, stealing gold, jewelry and other valuables worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Some of this plunder went to Germany, some of it was recovered after the war ended and some of it disappeared from sight. It bears mentioning that not a lot of the recovered loot was returned to the descendants of those from whom it was stolen. Most apparently went into the treasuries of the victorious powers and a few "neutral" nations. Not an inconsiderable amount of gold ended up in the Vatican.
Among the documents recently released by the United States government was a memo sent to Harold Glasser, Director of Monetary Research, U. S. Treasury Department. The memo, dated October 21, 1946, reads as follows:
"The following report has been recently received from a reliable source in Italy. It is sent to you in the belief that it may be of interest.
"The Ustascha organization (a Croatian fascist organization, headed by Ante Pavelis) removed funds from Yugoslavia estimated to total 350 million Swiss francs. The funds were largely in the form of gold coins.
"Of the funds brought from the former Independent Croat State where Jews and Serbs were plundered to support the Ustascha organization in exile, an estimated 150 million Swiss Franks [sic] were impounded by British authorities at the Austro-Swiss frontier; the balance of approximately 200 million Swiss Francs was originally held in the Vatican for safe-keeping. According to rumor, a considerable portion of this later amount has been sent to Spain and Argentina through the Vatican's "pipeline," but it is quite possible this is merely a smokescreen to cover the fact that the treasure remains in its original repository."[9]
Was the Vatican actually involved in hiding Ustashe fugitives and their plundered treasure? The Vatican, as is to be expected, denies any knowledge of such activities. Against Vatican denials of complicity stand a large number of American and other nations' intelligence reports that appear to prove otherwise. Many of these intelligence documents are referenced in the June, 1998 State Department report. Under Secretary Stuart Eizenstat, announcing the publication of the report, told reporters that it "reflects a solemn commitment by the United States and by the Clinton Administration to confront the largely hidden history of Holocaust-year assets after five decades of neglect."[10] The report implicates the Vatican in the disappearance of the treasury of the wartime Nazi puppet state of Croatia.
Early in 1998, a major weekly news magazine asked the question: "Did gold stolen by Croatian fascists reach the Vatican?"[11] The article points out that the Vatican absolutely refuses to grant investigators access to its secret archives. The folks at the Vatican may be keeping mum, but investigative reporters now have a wealth of recently-declassified intelligence reports to examine. Those reports have provided information concerning the priest the reporters call the "most significant player of all."
"The Rev. Krunoslav Dragonovic, a Franciscan, had been a senior official of the Ustasha committee that handled the forced conversion of Orthodox Serbs. In 1943, the Ustasha arranged for the Croatian Catholic Church to send Father Dragonovic to Rome. There he served as secretary of the Instituto San Girolamo, a seminary for Croatian monks that was in fact a center of clandestine Ustasha acivity. Dragonovic also became Ustasha leader Ante Pavelic's unofficial emissary to the Vatican, and de facto liaison to the Pontifical Relief Commission, a Vatican organization that aided refugees during and after the war." [12]
The State Department, drawing on American intelligence reports, also identifies the College of San Girolamo degli Illirici as center of Ustasha covert activity. The report declares that:
"British intelligence information of March 1946 also identified San Girollamo as the church for the Ustashi managed by a brotherhood of Croatian priests, the "confraternita di San Girolama." This brotherhood issued identity cards with false names to the fugitive Ustashi, allowing them to evade arrest or detention by the allies. [13]
"Monsignor Juraj Madjerec, identified in intelligence reports as an Ustasha supporter, was head of the College, but the prime mover behind this Ustasha activity in Rome was the secretary of the College, Father Dr. Krunoslav Stefano Dragonovic, who was also an Ustasha colonel and former official of the Croat Ministry for Internal Colonization," the agency responsible for the confiscation of Serb property in Bosnia and Hercegovina.
"Regarded by U.S. intelligence officers as Ante Pavelic's "alter ego," the Croatian-born Father Dragonovic had been Professor of Theology at Zagreb University. In 1943 he went to Rome allegedly as the representative of the Croatian Red Cross, but probably to coordinate Ustasha affairs in Italy. Taking advantage of contacts inside the International Red Cross and other refugee and relief organizations, Dragonovic helped Ustasha fugitives emigrate illegally to South America by providing temporary shelter and false identity documents, and by arranging onward transport, primarily to Argentina. U.S> intelligence reports make much of Father Dragonovi's role in helping the Ustashi who sought protection in Rome after the War.He was also reportedly entrusted with the safeguarding of the archives of the Ustasha Legation in Rome, which he hid somewhere in the Vatican, as well as with all the valuables brought out of Croatia by the fleeing Ustashi."[14]
Dragonovic may have been a devoted Catholic and committed to the Croatian cause, but he apparently was not unwilling to take advantage of the times and his own unique position to make a buck or two.
"Dragonovic may also have personally profited from his illegal activities, charging refugees as much as $1,500 for false documents and realizing $625 from each refugee he helped transport to Argentina.[15]
Some of the stolen money that remained under Catholic control – whether Ustashe or Vatican – was used to support Ustashe hiding in Rome and elsewhere. A U.S. intelligence agent reported, in a document recently declassified, that a Croatian priest living at San Girolamo dispensed a monthly allowance equivalent to about $2,700 today.[16] The money followed after fleeing Ustashe war criminals even after they had made their way out of Europe.
"Croatian Catholic officials were funneling money to war criminals even after they escaped to Argentina, documents show. According to cable intercepts cited in a 1947 U.S. diplomatic report, Pavelic excaped in November of 1947 to Buenos Aires, where he is said to have been met by a retinue of Catholic priests. Newly declassified documents salso show that Bishop Rozman was funneling money to South America from a Swiss bank account set up "to aid refugees of the Catholic religion." U.S. military attache' Davis Harrington reported on March 9, 1948, that Rozman "is going to Bern to take care of these finances. The money is in a Swiss bank, and he plans to have most of it sent to the Ustashas in Argentina."[17]
Many of the fugitives were able to evade capture and flee Europe by passing along a "rat line" operated by sympathetic priests. This underground railroad was established by the American Counter Intelligence Corps to facilitate bringing scientists, espionage agents and defectors out of nations under Communist control.
"According to secret reports from the U.S. Army's Counterintelligence Corps (CIC), written just after World War II and since declassified, Draganovic and his collaborators at San Girolamo provided money, food, housing and forged Red Cross passports for a number of Ustasha war criminals seeking to escape justice. Through an underground railroad of sympathetic priests, known as the "ratline," the Ustashas could move from Trieste, to Rome, to Genoa, and on to neutral countries – primarily Argentina – where they could live out their days unpunished and unnoticed. Along the ratline, virtually then entire Ustasha leadership went free. "All these people were escaping – and this at a time when just getting a meal in Rome was a major accomplishment," recalls William Gowen, a CIC officer in Rome after the war."[18]
The barbarous leader of the Independent State of Croatia, Ante Pavelic, emigrated to Argentina in November of 1948.[19] Where did Pavelic, a wanted war criminal, hide out between the end of the war and his departure from Europe aboard the Italian motor vessel Sistrire? Wherever he may have been before, he reached Rome in late 1946, disguised as a priest and carrying a Spanish passport. According to intelligence reports, he spent the next two years living in San Girolamo and other quarters in Rome.[20]
"Other quarters in Rome>" Don't you just wonder where those other quarters may have been? According to official British sources, one of those other places was the Vatican itself.
"Other reports mention Ustashas meeting with Vatican officials or even living in the Vatican. The British Foreign Officer reported in January 1947 that Pavelic himself was living "within the Vatican City." An earlier report by Gowen, in October, 1946, noted that Pavellic was in Rome and in contact with Draganovic.
"Documents include accounts of Ustashas being hidden at the pope's summer residence at Castel Gandolfo and being seen driving around in Rome in cars with Vatican license plates."[21]
Reports from non-governmental agencies corroborate "official" accounts of Vatican involvement in helping war criminals escape from Europe:
"The Simon Wiesenthal Center says the Vatican set up 22 committees after the war to help Nazis escape from Europe, and claims the gold looted by the Croats may have been used to finance the operation, known as the "rat-line." Among those who escaped was Ustashe leader Ante Pvaelic, who made his way to Latin America using papers allegedly provided by the Vatican, and disguised as a Catholic priest."[22]
The survivors of Catholic-supported atrocities in Croatia and the Ukraine and their heirs have begun a court battle to recover property stolen from them. Chicago-based court reformer Sherman H. Skolnick reports on the lawsuit:
"In apparently the first legal action of its kind, the Vatican Bank has been sued by World War Two victims and their heirs and beneficiaries. Brought as a class action in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the initial plaintiffs are Ukranians and ex-Soviet citizens, but the affected class includes Serbians, Roma, anti-Fascist Croatians, and Jews."[23]
Easton & Levy, California lawyers representing victims and their organizations, filed the original complaint November 15, 1999 and the First Amended Complaint on January 21, 2000. The Franciscan Order was served on a Croatian Franciscan priest in Oakland, California on Tuesday, March 15, 2000. The Vatican Bank was served in Rome on Friday, March 17th.[24]
"The lawsuit is seeking restitution from the Vatican Bank, the Franciscan order and several unnamed private banks, all of which allegedly profited illegally from the Holocaust by accepting valuables stolen by the Nazi-backed Ustashe regime…"
"The suit alleges that gold and other assets worth about $170 million today, not including interest, were looted by the Ustashe and safeguarded by the Vatican after World War II. Vatican officials in Yugoslavia allegedly collaborated closely with the Croatian-led Ustashe, which also wreaked havoc in Ukraine." [25]
Is this lawsuit only about money? Money is a major issue, of course, but there is more to it. Families of victims and survivors of this "hidden" Holocaust want the world to know what went on in Yugoslavia during the years of Nazi domination. And they want closure. Thomas Easton, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, made that clear.
"Our lawsuit is basically about the loot, but the people who are plaintiffs are interested in some recognition of this hidden Holocaust, " Easton said. "It's a Holocaust that has been largely unreported in our history books."[26]
http://www.sxws.com/charis/history-6.htm
Additional information concerning this class action lawsuit and claim forms are available at the Easton & Levy website. [27]
F
fiat
Guest
I don't have time for a lengthy post now, but you might find this interesting...written by a Jewish rabbi
http://www.catholicleague.org/pius/dalinframe.htm
http://www.catholicleague.org/pius/dalinframe.htm
D
D46
Guest
One might expect as much from a Catholilc website. More apologetic smoke screens.
Sure he did. He saved back just enough-about a thousand or more to funnel throught the Vatican Ratlines or hide them within the Vatican so he'd look like the Jews savior just in case Hitler lost the war. Rome always covers her tracks.
More garbage. Everyone knows Pius II signed a concordat with Hitler and Mussolini. That's old hat. He did not speak out about the Nazis nor the atrocities in Croatia because he knew exactly what was going on. The Vatican backed Hitler and helped finance his rise to power to get "rid" of the Jewish problem for one thing. Pius XII was a bosom buddy of Ante Pavelic of Ustache fame as well. Many pictures of the two together should prove this as with photos of Hitler and Pavelic.. If not read some of the documents about the two of them. Hitler received support and financing from the aristocracy and elite of Germany to include the RCC. After all, Hitler, like Mussolini, was a good Catholic and was quoted as saying he was "only carrying on as the Catholic church had done for the past 1500 years."
Sure he did. He saved back just enough-about a thousand or more to funnel throught the Vatican Ratlines or hide them within the Vatican so he'd look like the Jews savior just in case Hitler lost the war. Rome always covers her tracks.
More garbage. Everyone knows Pius II signed a concordat with Hitler and Mussolini. That's old hat. He did not speak out about the Nazis nor the atrocities in Croatia because he knew exactly what was going on. The Vatican backed Hitler and helped finance his rise to power to get "rid" of the Jewish problem for one thing. Pius XII was a bosom buddy of Ante Pavelic of Ustache fame as well. Many pictures of the two together should prove this as with photos of Hitler and Pavelic.. If not read some of the documents about the two of them. Hitler received support and financing from the aristocracy and elite of Germany to include the RCC. After all, Hitler, like Mussolini, was a good Catholic and was quoted as saying he was "only carrying on as the Catholic church had done for the past 1500 years."
S
stray bullet
Guest
Lewis W said:
Do you have a source?
I mean, a real one, third party news organization, encyclopedia, history channel, etc... not the lies of a ranting lunatic.
S
stray bullet
Guest
D46 said:
Do you have any proof of this? What benefit did the Pope get from it?
Hitler was not a Catholic, we was into the occult and creating his own religion. We was raised in the Catholic Church, but later left.
Did Hitler go to Mass on Sunday?
Show me this conspiracy.
S
stray bullet
Guest
Lewis W said:
You got this from an obvious anti-Catholic site.
Anyone want to show these wild conspiracies and ties at a reputable source? Ever seen a documentary about the Nazis and Catholics on the history channel, the BBC or a major news network?
Funny, how no secular or third party groups ever talk about it. I guess only this blatantly anti-Catholic sites know the truth.
Lewis
Member
Stray Bullet,check out the link that I already posted with the pictures. The 11th & 12th picture down show gold taken from the Jews, that were shipped to Rome, but the 12th picture was not, but a catholic bishop ended up with it.
http://www.sxws.com/charis/history-6.htm
This is another link.
http://www.av1611.org/kjv/kjvhist.html
http://www.sxws.com/charis/history-6.htm
This is another link.
http://www.av1611.org/kjv/kjvhist.html
S
stray bullet
Guest
Lewis W said:
No, what we see is a picture of gold, then a claim that it was shipped to Rome. Okay, let's suppose even this person is telling the truth and should be believed, shipped to Rome would be a thing to do before going to the Nazis. Rome is not the Vatican, Rome is the capital of Italy.
He offers no proof that the Vatican took the gold, much less that the Vatican knew about where the gold came from.
Can you show me proof, I mean real proof, not a picture of gold and a claim it was shipped to Rome and an implication that it means it went to the Vatican and a notion that the Vatican knew where it came from?
If so, then why isn't this obviously important detail absent from all history books and documentaries? How come I only hear about it on an anti-Catholic site, suggested by nothing more than a picture and a piece of text telling me it was Nazi gold, taken from jews and sent to Rome?
It's an anti-Catholic site.
Do you really believe what you read off the internet on obviously biased, hateful sources? Especially when they offer no real proof, only silly claims. Furthermore, when NO reputable or secular source reports this?
Tell me, why am I only hearing about it from these nuts?
S
stray bullet
Guest
Two possibilities...
- The Vatican really did horde gold they knew was stolen from jews and conspired with the Nazis to acquire it. Having done so, they, through a 60 year old international conspiracy, managed to hide it from every news organization, documentary and history book. The entire world is massively deceived over the Vatican's conspiracy and the conspiracy continues today. The only people who found out are anti-Catholic websites on the internet.
- You have anti-Catholics, who are known for obscuring the truth and misrespresenting Catholicism, who took a few photographs, which really show no relationship to each other or the stories they told (a picture of gold doesn't prove the Vatican got gold stripped from jews) and made up a story about the Catholic Church.
- The Vatican really did horde gold they knew was stolen from jews and conspired with the Nazis to acquire it. Having done so, they, through a 60 year old international conspiracy, managed to hide it from every news organization, documentary and history book. The entire world is massively deceived over the Vatican's conspiracy and the conspiracy continues today. The only people who found out are anti-Catholic websites on the internet.
- You have anti-Catholics, who are known for obscuring the truth and misrespresenting Catholicism, who took a few photographs, which really show no relationship to each other or the stories they told (a picture of gold doesn't prove the Vatican got gold stripped from jews) and made up a story about the Catholic Church.
I
Imagican
Guest
D46's opening comment deserves some consideration.
I did a small study of the insane religion created by L Ron Hubbard, called Scientology. I read books and visited web-sites, etc............. I found one thing to be utterly universal in my quest. No matter what the subject, if I were to read of it on a Scientology sponsored web-site, there was little if any 'truth' involved with their view.
I find also that each and every Catholic based web-site that I visit seems more like propaganda than an effort to offer understanding or truth. I can't say, and won't, that there aren't anti-Catholic web-sites that offer this same bias only in reverse, but there is truth out there. Extremist are extremist and there's little that we could expect to be offered by such other than their own perspective. And even though the anti-Catholic web sites are often filled with extremism, there seem to be more tidbits and nuggets of truth to be found there than in anything offered by the Catholics themselves.
I did a small study of the insane religion created by L Ron Hubbard, called Scientology. I read books and visited web-sites, etc............. I found one thing to be utterly universal in my quest. No matter what the subject, if I were to read of it on a Scientology sponsored web-site, there was little if any 'truth' involved with their view.
I find also that each and every Catholic based web-site that I visit seems more like propaganda than an effort to offer understanding or truth. I can't say, and won't, that there aren't anti-Catholic web-sites that offer this same bias only in reverse, but there is truth out there. Extremist are extremist and there's little that we could expect to be offered by such other than their own perspective. And even though the anti-Catholic web sites are often filled with extremism, there seem to be more tidbits and nuggets of truth to be found there than in anything offered by the Catholics themselves.
N
notapseudonym
Guest
Second of three sons born to a poor but pious Catholic family in Russian occupied Poland. His parents, both Franciscan lay tertiaries, worked at home as weavers. His father, Julius, later ran a religious book store, then enlisted in Pilsudski's army, fought for Polish independence from Russia, and was hanged by the Russians as a traitor in 1914. His mother, Marianne Dabrowska, later became a Benedictine nun. His brother Alphonse became a priest.
Raymond was known as a mischievous child, sometimes considered wild, and a trial to his parents. However, in 1906 at Pabianice, at age twelve and around the time of his first Communion, he received a vision of the Virgin Mary that changed his life.
I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both. -Saint Maximilian
He entered the Franciscan junior seminary in Lwow, Poland in 1907 where he excelled in mathematics and physics. For a while he wanted to abandon the priesthood for the military, but eventually relented to the call to religious life, and on 4 September 1910 he became a novice in the Conventual Franciscan Order at age 16. He took the name Maximilian, made his first vows on 5 September 1911, his final vows on 1 November 1914.
Studied philosophy at the Jesuit Gregorian College in Rome from 1912 to 1915, and theology at the Franciscan Collegio Serafico in Rome from 1915 to 1919. On 16 October 1917, while still in seminary, he and six friends founded the Immaculata Movement (Militia Immaculatae, Crusade of Mary Immaculate) devoted to the conversion of sinners, opposition to freemasonry (which was extremely anti-Catholic at the time), spread of the Miraculous Medal (which they wore as their habit), and devotion to Our Lady and the path to Christ. Stricken with tuberculosis which nearly killed him, and left him in frail in health the rest of his life. Ordained on 28 April 1918 in Rome at age 24. Received his Doctor of Theology on 22 July 1922; his insights into Marian theology echo today through their influence on Vatican II.
Maximilian returned to Poland on 29 July 1919 to teach history in the Crakow seminary. He had to take a medical leave from 10 August 1920 to 28 April 1921 to be treated for tuberculosis at the hospital at Zakpane in the Tatra Mountains. In January 1922 he began publication of the magazine Knight of the Immaculate to fight religious apathy; by 1927 the magazine had a press run of 70,000 issues. He was forced to take another medical leave from 18 September 1926 to 13 April 1927, but the work continued. The friaries from which he had worked were not large enough for his work, and in 1927 Polish Prince Jan Drucko-Lubecki gave him land at Teresin near Warsaw. There he founded a new monastery of Niepokalanow, the City of the Immaculate which was consecrated on 8 December 1927. At its peak the Knight of the Immaculate had a press run of 750,000 copies a month. A junior seminary was started on the grounds in 1929. In 1935 the house began printing a daily Catholic newspaper, The Little Daily with a press run of 137,000 on work days, 225,000 on Sundays and holy days.
Not content with his work in Poland, Maximilian and four brothers left for Japan in 1930. Within a month of their arrival, penniless and knowing no Japanese, Maximilian was printing a Japanese version of the Knight; the magazine, Seibo no Kishi grew to a circulation of 65,000 by 1936. In 1931 he founded a monastery in Nagasaki, Japan comparable to Niepokalanow. It survived the war, including the nuclear bombing, and serves today as a center of Franciscan work in Japan.
In mid-1932 he left Japan for Malabar, India where he founded a third Niepokalanow house. However, due to a lack of manpower, it did not survive.
Poor health forced him to curtail his missionary work and return to Poland in 1936. On 8 December 1938 the monastery started its own radio station. By 1939 the monastery housed a religious community of nearly 800 men, the largest in the world in its day, and was completely self-sufficient including medical facilities and a fire brigade staffed by the religious brothers.
Arrested with several of his brothers on 19 September 1939 following the Nazi invasion of Poland. Others at the monastery were briefly exiled, but the prisoners were released on 8 December 1939, and the men returned to their work. Back at Niepokalanow he continued his priestly ministry, The brothers housed 3,000 Polish refugees, two-thirds of whom were Jewish, and continued their publication work, including materials considered anti-Nazi. For this work the presses were shut down, the congregation suppressed, the brothers dispersed, and Maximilian was imprisoned in Pawiak prison, Warsaw, Poland on 17 February 1941.
On 28 May 1941 he was transferred to Auschwitz and branded as prisoner 16670. He was assigned to a special work group staffed by priests and supervised by especially vicious and abusive guards. His calm dedication to the faith brought him the worst jobs available, and more beatings than anyone else. At one point he was beaten, lashed, and left for dead. The prisoners managed to smuggle him into the camp hospital where he spent his recovery time hearing confessions. When he returned to the camp, Maximilian ministered to other prisoners, including conducting Mass and delivering communion using smuggled bread and wine.
In July 1941 there was an escape from the camp. Camp protocol, designed to make the prisoners guard each other, required that ten men be slaughtered in retribution for each escaped prisoner. Francis Gajowniczek, a married man with young children was chosen to die for the escape. Maximilian volunteered to take his place, and died as he had always wished - in service.
Raymond was known as a mischievous child, sometimes considered wild, and a trial to his parents. However, in 1906 at Pabianice, at age twelve and around the time of his first Communion, he received a vision of the Virgin Mary that changed his life.
I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both. -Saint Maximilian
He entered the Franciscan junior seminary in Lwow, Poland in 1907 where he excelled in mathematics and physics. For a while he wanted to abandon the priesthood for the military, but eventually relented to the call to religious life, and on 4 September 1910 he became a novice in the Conventual Franciscan Order at age 16. He took the name Maximilian, made his first vows on 5 September 1911, his final vows on 1 November 1914.
Studied philosophy at the Jesuit Gregorian College in Rome from 1912 to 1915, and theology at the Franciscan Collegio Serafico in Rome from 1915 to 1919. On 16 October 1917, while still in seminary, he and six friends founded the Immaculata Movement (Militia Immaculatae, Crusade of Mary Immaculate) devoted to the conversion of sinners, opposition to freemasonry (which was extremely anti-Catholic at the time), spread of the Miraculous Medal (which they wore as their habit), and devotion to Our Lady and the path to Christ. Stricken with tuberculosis which nearly killed him, and left him in frail in health the rest of his life. Ordained on 28 April 1918 in Rome at age 24. Received his Doctor of Theology on 22 July 1922; his insights into Marian theology echo today through their influence on Vatican II.
Maximilian returned to Poland on 29 July 1919 to teach history in the Crakow seminary. He had to take a medical leave from 10 August 1920 to 28 April 1921 to be treated for tuberculosis at the hospital at Zakpane in the Tatra Mountains. In January 1922 he began publication of the magazine Knight of the Immaculate to fight religious apathy; by 1927 the magazine had a press run of 70,000 issues. He was forced to take another medical leave from 18 September 1926 to 13 April 1927, but the work continued. The friaries from which he had worked were not large enough for his work, and in 1927 Polish Prince Jan Drucko-Lubecki gave him land at Teresin near Warsaw. There he founded a new monastery of Niepokalanow, the City of the Immaculate which was consecrated on 8 December 1927. At its peak the Knight of the Immaculate had a press run of 750,000 copies a month. A junior seminary was started on the grounds in 1929. In 1935 the house began printing a daily Catholic newspaper, The Little Daily with a press run of 137,000 on work days, 225,000 on Sundays and holy days.
Not content with his work in Poland, Maximilian and four brothers left for Japan in 1930. Within a month of their arrival, penniless and knowing no Japanese, Maximilian was printing a Japanese version of the Knight; the magazine, Seibo no Kishi grew to a circulation of 65,000 by 1936. In 1931 he founded a monastery in Nagasaki, Japan comparable to Niepokalanow. It survived the war, including the nuclear bombing, and serves today as a center of Franciscan work in Japan.
In mid-1932 he left Japan for Malabar, India where he founded a third Niepokalanow house. However, due to a lack of manpower, it did not survive.
Poor health forced him to curtail his missionary work and return to Poland in 1936. On 8 December 1938 the monastery started its own radio station. By 1939 the monastery housed a religious community of nearly 800 men, the largest in the world in its day, and was completely self-sufficient including medical facilities and a fire brigade staffed by the religious brothers.
Arrested with several of his brothers on 19 September 1939 following the Nazi invasion of Poland. Others at the monastery were briefly exiled, but the prisoners were released on 8 December 1939, and the men returned to their work. Back at Niepokalanow he continued his priestly ministry, The brothers housed 3,000 Polish refugees, two-thirds of whom were Jewish, and continued their publication work, including materials considered anti-Nazi. For this work the presses were shut down, the congregation suppressed, the brothers dispersed, and Maximilian was imprisoned in Pawiak prison, Warsaw, Poland on 17 February 1941.
On 28 May 1941 he was transferred to Auschwitz and branded as prisoner 16670. He was assigned to a special work group staffed by priests and supervised by especially vicious and abusive guards. His calm dedication to the faith brought him the worst jobs available, and more beatings than anyone else. At one point he was beaten, lashed, and left for dead. The prisoners managed to smuggle him into the camp hospital where he spent his recovery time hearing confessions. When he returned to the camp, Maximilian ministered to other prisoners, including conducting Mass and delivering communion using smuggled bread and wine.
In July 1941 there was an escape from the camp. Camp protocol, designed to make the prisoners guard each other, required that ten men be slaughtered in retribution for each escaped prisoner. Francis Gajowniczek, a married man with young children was chosen to die for the escape. Maximilian volunteered to take his place, and died as he had always wished - in service.
N
notapseudonym
Guest
Born Raymond Kolbe as the Second of three sons born to a poor but pious Catholic family in Russian occupied Poland. His parents, both Franciscan lay tertiaries, worked at home as weavers. His father, Julius, later ran a religious book store, then enlisted in Pilsudski's army, fought for Polish independence from Russia, and was hanged by the Russians as a traitor in 1914. His mother, Marianne Dabrowska, later became a Benedictine nun. His brother Alphonse became a priest.
Raymond was known as a mischievous child, sometimes considered wild, and a trial to his parents. However, in 1906 at Pabianice, at age twelve and around the time of his first Communion, he received a vision of the Virgin Mary that changed his life.
I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both. -Saint Maximilian
He entered the Franciscan junior seminary in Lwow, Poland in 1907 where he excelled in mathematics and physics. For a while he wanted to abandon the priesthood for the military, but eventually relented to the call to religious life, and on 4 September 1910 he became a novice in the Conventual Franciscan Order at age 16. He took the name Maximilian, made his first vows on 5 September 1911, his final vows on 1 November 1914.
Studied philosophy at the Jesuit Gregorian College in Rome from 1912 to 1915, and theology at the Franciscan Collegio Serafico in Rome from 1915 to 1919. On 16 October 1917, while still in seminary, he and six friends founded the Immaculata Movement (Militia Immaculatae, Crusade of Mary Immaculate) devoted to the conversion of sinners, opposition to freemasonry (which was extremely anti-Catholic at the time), spread of the Miraculous Medal (which they wore as their habit), and devotion to Our Lady and the path to Christ. Stricken with tuberculosis which nearly killed him, and left him in frail in health the rest of his life. Ordained on 28 April 1918 in Rome at age 24. Received his Doctor of Theology on 22 July 1922; his insights into Marian theology echo today through their influence on Vatican II.
Maximilian returned to Poland on 29 July 1919 to teach history in the Crakow seminary. He had to take a medical leave from 10 August 1920 to 28 April 1921 to be treated for tuberculosis at the hospital at Zakpane in the Tatra Mountains. In January 1922 he began publication of the magazine Knight of the Immaculate to fight religious apathy; by 1927 the magazine had a press run of 70,000 issues. He was forced to take another medical leave from 18 September 1926 to 13 April 1927, but the work continued. The friaries from which he had worked were not large enough for his work, and in 1927 Polish Prince Jan Drucko-Lubecki gave him land at Teresin near Warsaw. There he founded a new monastery of Niepokalanow, the City of the Immaculate which was consecrated on 8 December 1927. At its peak the Knight of the Immaculate had a press run of 750,000 copies a month. A junior seminary was started on the grounds in 1929. In 1935 the house began printing a daily Catholic newspaper, The Little Daily with a press run of 137,000 on work days, 225,000 on Sundays and holy days.
Not content with his work in Poland, Maximilian and four brothers left for Japan in 1930. Within a month of their arrival, penniless and knowing no Japanese, Maximilian was printing a Japanese version of the Knight; the magazine, Seibo no Kishi grew to a circulation of 65,000 by 1936. In 1931 he founded a monastery in Nagasaki, Japan comparable to Niepokalanow. It survived the war, including the nuclear bombing, and serves today as a center of Franciscan work in Japan.
In mid-1932 he left Japan for Malabar, India where he founded a third Niepokalanow house. However, due to a lack of manpower, it did not survive.
Poor health forced him to curtail his missionary work and return to Poland in 1936. On 8 December 1938 the monastery started its own radio station. By 1939 the monastery housed a religious community of nearly 800 men, the largest in the world in its day, and was completely self-sufficient including medical facilities and a fire brigade staffed by the religious brothers.
Arrested with several of his brothers on 19 September 1939 following the Nazi invasion of Poland. Others at the monastery were briefly exiled, but the prisoners were released on 8 December 1939, and the men returned to their work. Back at Niepokalanow he continued his priestly ministry, The brothers housed 3,000 Polish refugees, two-thirds of whom were Jewish, and continued their publication work, including materials considered anti-Nazi. For this work the presses were shut down, the congregation suppressed, the brothers dispersed, and Maximilian was imprisoned in Pawiak prison, Warsaw, Poland on 17 February 1941.
On 28 May 1941 he was transferred to Auschwitz and branded as prisoner 16670. He was assigned to a special work group staffed by priests and supervised by especially vicious and abusive guards. His calm dedication to the faith brought him the worst jobs available, and more beatings than anyone else. At one point he was beaten, lashed, and left for dead. The prisoners managed to smuggle him into the camp hospital where he spent his recovery time hearing confessions. When he returned to the camp, Maximilian ministered to other prisoners, including conducting Mass and delivering communion using smuggled bread and wine.
In July 1941 there was an escape from the camp. Camp protocol, designed to make the prisoners guard each other, required that ten men be slaughtered in retribution for each escaped prisoner. Francis Gajowniczek, a married man with young children was chosen to die for the escape. Maximilian volunteered to take his place, and died as he had always wished - in service.
Raymond was known as a mischievous child, sometimes considered wild, and a trial to his parents. However, in 1906 at Pabianice, at age twelve and around the time of his first Communion, he received a vision of the Virgin Mary that changed his life.
I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both. -Saint Maximilian
He entered the Franciscan junior seminary in Lwow, Poland in 1907 where he excelled in mathematics and physics. For a while he wanted to abandon the priesthood for the military, but eventually relented to the call to religious life, and on 4 September 1910 he became a novice in the Conventual Franciscan Order at age 16. He took the name Maximilian, made his first vows on 5 September 1911, his final vows on 1 November 1914.
Studied philosophy at the Jesuit Gregorian College in Rome from 1912 to 1915, and theology at the Franciscan Collegio Serafico in Rome from 1915 to 1919. On 16 October 1917, while still in seminary, he and six friends founded the Immaculata Movement (Militia Immaculatae, Crusade of Mary Immaculate) devoted to the conversion of sinners, opposition to freemasonry (which was extremely anti-Catholic at the time), spread of the Miraculous Medal (which they wore as their habit), and devotion to Our Lady and the path to Christ. Stricken with tuberculosis which nearly killed him, and left him in frail in health the rest of his life. Ordained on 28 April 1918 in Rome at age 24. Received his Doctor of Theology on 22 July 1922; his insights into Marian theology echo today through their influence on Vatican II.
Maximilian returned to Poland on 29 July 1919 to teach history in the Crakow seminary. He had to take a medical leave from 10 August 1920 to 28 April 1921 to be treated for tuberculosis at the hospital at Zakpane in the Tatra Mountains. In January 1922 he began publication of the magazine Knight of the Immaculate to fight religious apathy; by 1927 the magazine had a press run of 70,000 issues. He was forced to take another medical leave from 18 September 1926 to 13 April 1927, but the work continued. The friaries from which he had worked were not large enough for his work, and in 1927 Polish Prince Jan Drucko-Lubecki gave him land at Teresin near Warsaw. There he founded a new monastery of Niepokalanow, the City of the Immaculate which was consecrated on 8 December 1927. At its peak the Knight of the Immaculate had a press run of 750,000 copies a month. A junior seminary was started on the grounds in 1929. In 1935 the house began printing a daily Catholic newspaper, The Little Daily with a press run of 137,000 on work days, 225,000 on Sundays and holy days.
Not content with his work in Poland, Maximilian and four brothers left for Japan in 1930. Within a month of their arrival, penniless and knowing no Japanese, Maximilian was printing a Japanese version of the Knight; the magazine, Seibo no Kishi grew to a circulation of 65,000 by 1936. In 1931 he founded a monastery in Nagasaki, Japan comparable to Niepokalanow. It survived the war, including the nuclear bombing, and serves today as a center of Franciscan work in Japan.
In mid-1932 he left Japan for Malabar, India where he founded a third Niepokalanow house. However, due to a lack of manpower, it did not survive.
Poor health forced him to curtail his missionary work and return to Poland in 1936. On 8 December 1938 the monastery started its own radio station. By 1939 the monastery housed a religious community of nearly 800 men, the largest in the world in its day, and was completely self-sufficient including medical facilities and a fire brigade staffed by the religious brothers.
Arrested with several of his brothers on 19 September 1939 following the Nazi invasion of Poland. Others at the monastery were briefly exiled, but the prisoners were released on 8 December 1939, and the men returned to their work. Back at Niepokalanow he continued his priestly ministry, The brothers housed 3,000 Polish refugees, two-thirds of whom were Jewish, and continued their publication work, including materials considered anti-Nazi. For this work the presses were shut down, the congregation suppressed, the brothers dispersed, and Maximilian was imprisoned in Pawiak prison, Warsaw, Poland on 17 February 1941.
On 28 May 1941 he was transferred to Auschwitz and branded as prisoner 16670. He was assigned to a special work group staffed by priests and supervised by especially vicious and abusive guards. His calm dedication to the faith brought him the worst jobs available, and more beatings than anyone else. At one point he was beaten, lashed, and left for dead. The prisoners managed to smuggle him into the camp hospital where he spent his recovery time hearing confessions. When he returned to the camp, Maximilian ministered to other prisoners, including conducting Mass and delivering communion using smuggled bread and wine.
In July 1941 there was an escape from the camp. Camp protocol, designed to make the prisoners guard each other, required that ten men be slaughtered in retribution for each escaped prisoner. Francis Gajowniczek, a married man with young children was chosen to die for the escape. Maximilian volunteered to take his place, and died as he had always wished - in service.
F
fiat
Guest
Yep. And Maximillian wasn't the only one. Some 2000 priests pasted through the gates of Dachau alone, not to mention individuals like St. Edith Stein.
D
D46
Guest
All that information about this guy came from a Catholic website, giving much credence to what Imagician posted. Here's more on Maximillian...
Maximilian was a ground-breaking theologian. His insights into the Immaculate Conception anticipated the Marian theology of the Second Vatican Council and further developed the Church's understanding of Mary as "Mediatrix" of all the graces of the Trinity, and as "Advocate" for God's people.
In 1941, the Nazis imprisoned Father Maximilian in the Auschwitz death camp. There he offered his life for another prisoner and was condemned to slow death in a starvation bunker. On August 14, 1941, his impatient captors ended his life with a fatal injection. Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian as a "martyr of charity" in 1982. St. Maximilian Kolbe is considered a patron of journalists, families, prisoners, the pro-life movement and the chemically addicted.
That was from http://www.consecration.com/learn-more5.html
Does all that make him a "saint"? More works theology. I submit that unless Maximillian ditched his Marian theology and the "Immaculate Conception" doctrine prior to his demise, he burns in hell even as we speak. He passed purgatory and didn't collect $200.
Maximilian was a ground-breaking theologian. His insights into the Immaculate Conception anticipated the Marian theology of the Second Vatican Council and further developed the Church's understanding of Mary as "Mediatrix" of all the graces of the Trinity, and as "Advocate" for God's people.
In 1941, the Nazis imprisoned Father Maximilian in the Auschwitz death camp. There he offered his life for another prisoner and was condemned to slow death in a starvation bunker. On August 14, 1941, his impatient captors ended his life with a fatal injection. Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian as a "martyr of charity" in 1982. St. Maximilian Kolbe is considered a patron of journalists, families, prisoners, the pro-life movement and the chemically addicted.
That was from http://www.consecration.com/learn-more5.html
Does all that make him a "saint"? More works theology. I submit that unless Maximillian ditched his Marian theology and the "Immaculate Conception" doctrine prior to his demise, he burns in hell even as we speak. He passed purgatory and didn't collect $200.