Telemedicine

WorldCare Consortium(SM) of Top U.S. Hospitals First to Provide e-Consultation For Trauma as Unprecedented Benefit of Auto Insurance Offered by Korea Based Ssangyong Fire & Marine

Cleveland Clinic, Duke University Health System, Johns Hopkins Medicine And Partners HealthCare, Inc., Which Includes Massachusetts General Hospital And Brigham And Women's Hospital, To Collaborate With Korean Physicians 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- WorldCare Inc., a leading provider of global e-health services and solutions, today announced that its affiliate, WorldCare Korea, has finalized an agreement with Korea-based insurance leader, Ssangyong Fire & Marine, to provide specialist e-consultation services to Ssangyong insurance customers who are critically injured in automobile accidents. This new e-health enabled insurance policy is called "My Doctor" Automobile Insurance.

"'My Doctor' Automobile Insurance is an industry breakthrough," stated Jin-Myoung Lee, CEO, Ssangyong Fire & Marine. "It is the first automobile insurance policy to utilize telemedicine, specifically the WorldCare brand of high quality, multi-institutional telemedicine, to provide sub-specialist support. This is a powerful differentiator for Ssangyong," stated Lee. "Through WorldCare's Global e-Health Network(SM) and the expertise of the renowned academic medical centers that comprise The WorldCare Consortium, Ssangyong has been able to design a policy that is unprecedented in the industry. 'My Doctor' Automobile Insurance will maximize the talent of local physicians and provide the highest quality of care to our customers. We are proud of this policy and plan to market it aggressively with a one million dollar advertising budget. We expect to cover 200,000 lives by 2003," concluded Lee.

James H. Thrall, M.D., Chairman, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Chairman of the Worldcare Board stated, "The Worldcare Consortium is pleased to be selected to participate in this innovative, new, e-health enabled insurance program. The value of this program is exceptional. It will enable Consortium-based specialists to consult, on an elective (non-emergency) basis with their peers in Korea who will be treating severely injured patients. Local physicians will stabilize the patient immediately after the accident. They will then have the opportunity, through the assistance of telemedicine coordinators from WorldCare Korea, to digitize and encrypt relevant portions of the patient's medical record and have it transmitted to WorldCare's office in Cambridge for quality assurance review before it is transmitted to a Worldcare Consortium hospital for consultation. A comprehensive diagnosis and treatment plan, reflecting specialist expertise, will be returned to the attending physician on a timely basis. This new policy embodies the best that telemedicine has to offer to insurers, consumers and attending physicians abroad," stated Thrall.

"Worldcare is pleased to bring the expertise of the Worldcare Consortium to South Korea," stated Nasser Menhall, CEO, Worldcare Limited. "Representing over 8,000 physicians, scores of acclaimed specialists and over 1.6 billion dollars in annual biomedical research funding, The Worldcare Consortium is unparalleled, worldwide, for the depth of its medical expertise."

"During the past year, WorldCare Korea has worked diligently with Ssangyong to prove the value added benefits of WorldCare's specialized, U.S. based e-consultation service to the most important segment of Ssangyong's client base, namely its auto insurance customers. During the past several months, WorldCare Korea has completed a number of second opinions for customers in Korea. These expert, and in some cases, multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional opinions, have provided a significant source of comfort and value added benefit to both referring physicians and patients in Korea," stated Rajiv Ramaprasad, CEO, WorldCare Korea, Inc.

About WorldCare Limited 

WorldCare Limited, a pioneer and leader in global e-health services and solutions, facilitates international access to high quality U.S. healthcare through the delivery of highly specialized and personalized electronic second medical opinions and the provision of insurance plans for the U.S. treatment of serious illness. In partnership with the very best medical centers in North America, WorldCare utilizes Internet-empowered technologies and FDA approved protocols to transmit medical records and provide referring physicians and their patients with second opinions. Consultation and treatment are rendered by The WorldCare Consortium(SM), comprised of The Cleveland Clinic, Duke University Health System, Johns Hopkins Medicine and Partners HealthCare System, Inc., which includes Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Special programs sponsored by life and health insurance carriers throughout the world offer WorldCare's second medical opinion services and its serious illness insurance product, The WorldCare Global Health Plan(SM). Founded in 1994, through a joint effort with Massachusetts General Hospital, WorldCare maintains offices in Cambridge, MA, and Paris, France. WorldCare maintains operations in Latin America, The Middle East, Asia and Europe including Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, Bahrain, Beirut, Egypt, Istanbul, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Kuala Lumpur, Korea, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Poland and Slovakia. WorldCare also offers digital image analysis for pharmaceutical clinical trials, healthcare consulting and continuing medical education (CME) services. WorldCare can be found at www.worldcare.com .

About Ssangyong Fire & Marine Inc.

Ssangyong Fire & Marine Insurance was established in 1948 to protect private property and to promote public welfare. Over the last five decades, Ssangyong has consolidated its market position achieving significant customer satisfaction. With strategic management, Ssangyong increased its net profit by 107.8% to 6.25 billion KRW (US $5.23 million) on revenues of 605 million dollars in fiscal year 2001. With deregulation of premium rates in August 2001, mass marketing and the targeting of first time insurance buyers, Ssangyong Fire & Marine has increased its market share from 4.7% to 6.2% as of July 2002. Ssangyong has assets of $806 million (2001) and covers approximately 800,000 lives. With diversification of insurance services, long- term risk management, cyber marketing and Internet services, Ssangyong plans to meet the rapidly changing needs of its client base and become one of the world's leading insurers.

About The Cleveland Clinic Foundation 

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, founded in 1921, integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education in a private, not-for-profit group practice. Approximately 1,100 full-time salaried physicians at The Cleveland Clinic and Cleveland Clinic Florida represent more than 100 medical specialties and subspecialties. In 2001, there were more than 2.2 million outpatient visits to The Cleveland Clinic. Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 80 countries. There were nearly 52,000 hospital admissions to The Cleveland Clinic in 2001.

About Duke University Health System 

Duke University Health System (DUHS) is a fully integrated, non-profit health care network comprised of a widespread network of high-quality hospitals, physician practices, home care services, and other providers. The centerpiece of the system are the world renowned Duke Hospital and the Duke School of Medicine, both of which are consistently ranked among the best in the nation.

About Johns Hopkins Medicine 

Johns Hopkins is one of the world's premier centers for scholarship, research and patient care. Founded in Baltimore, they now reach across the Baltimore-Washington area, with additional facilities in China, Italy and Singapore and partnerships around the world. The Health System that began with Johns Hopkins Hospital now comprises three hospitals, as well as other elements of an integrated system from a community physicians group to home care. Today, Johns Hopkins Medicine unites The Johns Hopkins University of School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Health System.

About Partners Healthcare System, Inc.

Partners HealthCare was founded in 1994 by Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. Partners has developed an integrated health care delivery system throughout the region that offers patients a continuum of coordinated, high-quality care. The system includes primary care and specialty physicians, community hospitals, the two founding academic medical centers, and other health-related entities. Partners HealthCare is a non-profit organization supported in part by charitable contributions.

MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here 

http://tbutton.prnewswire.com/prn/11690X28882814 

SOURCE WorldCare International, Inc.

CO: WorldCare International, Inc.; Ssangyong Fire & Marine; WorldCare Korea, Inc.; WorldCare Limited; Cleveland Clinic Foundation; Duke University Health System; Johns Hopkins Medicine; Partners Healthcare System, Inc.

National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) had recently released microfilms containing full data about 1930 census. The microfilms are now available for viewing to the citizens searching for the facts
about their ancestors, genealogists researching family trees, and scholars writing emigration history of their co-patriots. 

Last Sunday I learned from my American friend how he found out that his grandmother was Croatian. Searching through the microfilms for the data about his grandfather he discovered that under the column "The language spoken in your home before coming to America" his grandmother entered "Croatian". He was
elated.

From that column ( which did not appear on the forms before or after 1930 census) one can learn not only about the nationality of their ancestors but also about more exact numbers of Croatians who immigrated to the Unites States in large numbers before 1930.This information woud become a valuable documented record since in previous censuses Croatians were registered as nationals of the countries they came from, ie. Austria-Hungary before 1918, and Kingdome of Yugoslavia from 1918-1930.

It woud we very commandable for Croatian scholars and interested organizations to undertake 
the research of those microfilms and publish more accurate history of Croatian immigrants in America.

More information about locations of Regional Archives where the microfilms can be viewed, what
questions were asked on the 1930 census and how to view, rent or buy the microfilms can be found on the following Website:

http://1930census.archives.gov

-----------------------------------------------

Nedavno je Uprava nacionalne arhive i podataka (NARA) pustila u javnost mikrofilmove s 
podacima iz popisa stanovnistva SAD obavljenog 1930. godine. Ti podaci su sada dostupni svim 
gradjanima koji zele proucavati rodoslovlje svojih predaka kao i ustanovama i znanstvenicima u 
svrhu prikupljanja podataka o povijesti iseljavanja svojih sunarodnjaka.

Od jednog americkog prijatelja slucajno sam doznao kako je on iz tog popisa ustanovio da je 
njegova baka bila Hrvatica. Trazeci podatke o svome djedu, pod njegovim prezimenom i imenog 
te mjestu boravka pronasao je upitni arak u kojem je izmedju ostalih stajala i rubrika: "Jezik 
kojim se govorilo u Vasem kucanstvu prije dolaska u Ameriku". Njegova baka je upisala 
"hrvatski",

Upravo iz te rubrike o materinskom jeziku (koji se vise ne pojavljuje u kasnijim popisima) moze 
se nesto vise doznati ne samo o vlastitim precima nego se moze ustanoviti i tocniji broj Hrvata 
koji su se iselili u Ameriku do 1930. godine. To bi bio jedan dragocijeni podatak koji je do sada bio 
predmetom nagadjanja obzirom na to da raniji hrvatski iseljenici, koji su se iselili u najvecem 
broju upravo do 1930. godine, u prijasnjim popisima nisu bili upisani kao "Hrvati" ili da govore 
"hrvatskim" jezikom nego do 1918. kao podanici Austro-Ugarske, a od 1918. do 1930. kao podanici 
"Kraljevine Jugoslavije", tj. drzava iz kojih su dosli.

Za nadati se je da ce se naci barem jedan hrvatski znanstvenik ili koja ustanova koji ce 
iskoristiti ovu jedinstvenu priliku i na osnovu podataka iz ovih mikrofilmova dokumentarno 
dopuniti povijet hrvatskog iseljenistva u Ameriku.

Mikrofilmovi se mogu pogledati u uredima Uprave nacionalne arhive i podataka koji se nalaze 
u 12 podrucnih mjesta diljem SAD. Poblizi podaci i adrese tih mjesta mogu se doznati na 
slijedecoj internet adresi:

http://1930census.archives.gov pod:NARA locations.


Bozidar Abjanic

tabjanic@nethere.com 


National Archives and Records Administration home page
URL:  http://1930census.archives.gov /beginSearch.asp       
inquire@nara.gov 
Last updated March 11, 2002

Ivan Zajc

IVAN ZAJC (1832-1914) - Croatian Composer 
Ivan Zajc was born in Rijeka and the National Opera House in Rijeka carries his name. Like many 
other prodigies, Zajc's talent was evident early in his life and at the age of six he performed in 
public, playing the piano and the violin. 
His musical career Zajc started in Milan at the Conservatory (1850-55) under the tutelage of S. 
Ronchetti-Monteviti (counterpoint & composition), A. Mazzucato (orchestration) and L. Rossi 
(dramatic music). Zajc was considered one of the more gifted students and for his graduation 
work, composed opera La Tirolese (1855) for which was awarded a first prize and a favorable 
comment in the contemporary Milan's newspaper La Fama: "Zajc's music is original, 
spontaneous, clear and proper with many beautiful, delightful and vivacious themes. We have 
met an artist who displays his skill especially in sections of the choir. .... Although he on a few 
occasions imitates Verdi, we cannot begrudge him for that. A number of arias, and whole 
sections, a female duet, a characteristic and vivacious choir, a tenor aria and especially the last 
scene of the opera in which the composer raises his art to the heights of true emotion and 
expresses the catastrophe of the drama in very lively colours and with great passion. The 
audience liked the opera very much and received it with great applause". 
Even though offered a to be a conductor in the Teatro della Scala in Milan Zajc returned to Rijeka 
where he was given the post of conductor and concert master at the Town Theatre Orchestra. 
Zajc also taught stringed instruments at the Philharmonic Institute. 
In 1862 he went to Vienna, the city where the opera and theatre were flourishing. His very first 
work, operetta Mannshaft an Bord (1863) was an enormous success. In Vienna Zajc composed his 
first compositions to Croatian text including the patriotic choral piece To Arms, to arms! (U boj, u 
boj) (1866) which he later on incorporated into the opera "Nikola Subic Zrinski". 
The demise of the nationalistic Illyrian Movement prompted many prominent Croatian 
intellectuals to reawake its ideals. In Vienna Zajc met with progressive Croatian students: Ivan 
Dezman, Franjo Markovic, August Senoa, and others. They tried to convince him to leave Vienna 
and to return to Zagreb. Bishop Juraj Strossmayer (the founder of Croatian Academy of Arts & 
Science, 1866) and the poet Petar Preradovic joined in persuading Zajc to return. Patriotism won, 
Zajc left his lucrative position in Vienna, and thus all chances for a secure, brilliant career as a 
favorite and popular Viennese and Central-European composer have vanished. 
In 1870 Zajc came to Zagreb, only to start his career all over and in a much more uncertain 
conditions than in Vienna. He was offered the leadership of the Opera House and Musical 
Conservatory. Zajc, almost single-handedly and practically from nonexistence was responsible 
for enriching the Opera as an institution of the arts, and in particularly creating a Croatian opera. 
(Only one Croatian opera, Vatroslav Lisinski's Love & Malice was performed in public before his 
arrival). 
Zajc has a prolific musical opus: 87 works were written for the musical stage; in his early career 
some were composed in Italian and German, but after his arrival to Zagreb, he uses exclusively 
Croatian librettos. Through his operas and diverse compositions he educated the audience and 
became a model for other Croatian composers, as well as a torchbearer of patriotism. This is most 
clearly evident in his so-called trilogy: King Mislav , Ban Leget and Nikola Subic Zrinski. In a 
period when the ongoing political struggle of Croats against Hungarians was everywhere 
present, Zajc's works (operatic trilogy, choral song Glasna Jasna, Zrinsko-Frankopanska, aria To 
my Homeland etc.) stressed the greatness of patriotic heroism as a true pledge for the victory of 
the people, their aspirations and ideals. 
"Zajc played an important part in the development of Croatian Music. Acting over a long period 
of time as an organizer, conductor, teacher and composer, he began and successfully carried out 
the struggle against dilettantism and for promoting a serious approach to the composition and 
performance of music, thus paving the way for new and significant achievements of Croatian 
musical culture in the 20th century. Because of all of these efforts Zajc deserves great credit." He 
died in Zagreb on December 16th 1914. 
Information taken from: Andreis, Josip, The Encyclopaedia of Music, and No 3, Lexicographic 
Institute "Miroslav Krleza" Zagreb 1977 

"Heart of Croatia" On Tour!

"Heart of Croatia" On Tour!

On Sunday, September 1, "Heart of Croatia" Gifts will be setting up shop in Youngstown, Ohio, at the popular Annual Radio Benefit Picnic at the CFU Lodge 66 Croatian Home, located at 3200 Vestal Road. Picnic festivities begin at noon, and "Heart of Croatia" is honored and pleased to be a part of this picnic. 

From September 5th-8th, "Heart of Croatia" Gifts will be traveling to New Orleans, Louisiana, to set up shop at the Tamburitza Association of America's Extravaganza. The New Orleans Marriott Hotel is the headquarters for all activities during this wonderful, music-filled three day festival.

We hope you will be able to join us during one or both of these outstanding events. At these two events, we are offering our customers a SNEAK PREVIEW of our many new products. Come see our new Third Edition Santas, commemorating the gold medalist, Janica Kostelic. Also new: our Croatian "Guardian Angel" pins; our adorable Angel Bear, which sings "Sretan Ti Bozic"; our wonderfully-designed "HR" T-shirts; lovely 14k gold Grb charms; special village-inspired "Tiha Noc" Candle Votives; our newly-revised Second Edition Santas; new and beautiful, hand-painted Christmas ornaments by "Mara"; our limited edition "Sretan Bozic" snowmen. And more! Be the first to view our wonderful new collections----all inspired by the traditions and customs of beautiful CROATIA!

Visit www.croatiagifts.com  to see more products. Or, call our toll-free number 877-906-8314 to order.

Melissa Pintar Obenauf and Pam Lacko Kelley, Proprietors

The Midwest Croatian Calendar of Events

To advertise your meeting, performance, sporting activities, banquets,
dances, etc., on the Croatian events calendar, please send all relevant
information to Events at events@midwest-croatians.org. Include contact
information.


Chicago

Sunday October 6
St. Jerome Parish is celebrating its 90th anniversary. A solemn high Mass
will start at 2:00 p.m. and be presided over by Bishop John Gorman, Fr.
Slavko Soldo, Provincial of Croatian Franciscan Fathers in Mostar, and Fr.
Marko Puljic, Custodian of the Croatian Franciscans for USA and Canada. A
dinner reception will follow at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers on 301
East North Water Street in Chicago. Cocktails start at 5:00 p.m. and Dinner
at 6:00 p.m. For more information contact Fr. Jozo Grbes at grbes@aol.com.
For more information about St. Jerome Parish, visit their website at
http://www.stjeromecroatian.org. Link opens in a new window.
Detroit

No new events listed.

Indiana

Sunday September 22
St. Joseph the Worker Croatian Parish will be celebrating its 90th
anniversary with a Mass celebrated by Most Rev. Bishop Dale J. Melczek. Mass
starts at 11:00 a.m. and following Mass, a banquet/dinner will be at the
Croatian Center in Merrillville, 8550 Taft Street. Doors will open at 1:00
PM. Cash bar will be available. Dinner will be served at 2:00 PM. Tamburitza
music will be provided during the Dinner. Tickets for the Banquet cost
$25.00 and can be purchased at the rectory or from a seller in the church
vestibule. We would like you to hurry up to buy tickets for you and the
family, because the deadline to purchase them is September 15. For more
information, contact Fr. Steve Loncar at sloncar@nvnetz.com. 

Kansas City

No new events listed.

Milwaukee

No new events listed.

Ohio

April - August
The Croatian Heritage Museum is pleased to announce the exhibit, "Croatians
in Sports". The exhibit pays tribute to Croatians around the world for their
sports achievements. There are such sports giants as the Kostelics, Sukor,
Ivanisevic, Kukoc, Cosic, Petrovic, as well as American-Croatian sports
heroes; Roger Maris, Mickey Lolich, George Mikan, Fritzie Zivic and many
more. The idea for the exhibit came from the research and record keeping of
Mr. Steve Nekich, of Cleveland. Steve has gathered sports statistics of
Croatians around the world and verified their Croatian roots. This is the
first time that we are aware of that any organization has created a Croatian
sports exhibit. The response has been fantastic with several people offering
info that they had in their procession about Croatian sports figures. We
welcome such donations and encourage others to do the same.

The Museum is located in the American-Croatian Lodge, Cardinal Stepinac,
34900 Lakeshore Blvd, near the intersection of Rte. 91 and Lakeshore Blvd,
Eastlake, Ohio. The Museum is open Friday evenings from 7 PM to 10 PM and
most Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Also special arrangements can be made
for group tours.

And while you are at the Lodge you can plan to enjoy a Croatian meal at
Dubrovnik Garden Restaurant located in the Lodge. For more information
please contact Robert Jerin at rjerin@adelphia.net. 

Friday September 6
The Croatian Youth Club of Cleveland would like to invite everyone to its
LUAU party at the Croatian Center in Chardon, Ohio. The luau starts at 8:00
p.m. and entertainment will be provided by George C from New York City and
Vlatko & Lidija from Cleveland. For more information please contact the
Croatian Youth Club of Cleveland at croyouthclubclev@aol.com or Marko Jelic
at mtjelic@yahoo.com 

St. Louis

No new events listed.

Washington, D.C.

Saturday-Sunday September 7-8
The Croatian Catholic Union will be holding its 32nd annual pilgrimage to
the Croatian Marian shrines of Our Lady of Bistrica and Our Lady of Peace at
the National Basillica of the Immaculate Conception. This year's pilgrimage
will be a two-day event. Special symposiums/ seminars will be held Saturday
September 7th at the Washington Court Hotel, and the Main Pilgrimage with
the Procession and Mass will be held Sunday September 8th. CCU Spiritual
Director Rev. Paul Maslach will be the main concelebrant and Leader at he
Pilgrimage. Rev. Jozo Grbes, pastor of St. Jerome Croatian Parish in
Chicago, will be the moderator Saturday?s Youth Program. Rev. Mate Bizaca,
pastor of St. Anthony's Croatian Parish in Los Angeles, and other priests
will be contributing as well. Participating at the Seminar/Spiritual Retreat
will be a known Croatian writer and journalist, and an activist in the
Croatian Catholic lay movement, Mr. Zoran Vukman, from Trogir, Croatia, the
author of several books among which his recent book on New Age Philosophy
and Cardinal Stepinac received a very plausible acclaim. The program will
also consist of a Musical Academy in honor of Our Lady; Reception;
Sightseeing, and Visits to the While House and to the Croatian Embassy. For
more information, contact Melchior Masina at mmasina@ccu-usa-can.org, or
visit the Croatian Catholic Union website at http://www.ccu-usa-can.org.


CroNetwork: The Croatian-American Organization for Young Professionals.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Dragi Hrvati i ljubitelji Hrvatske,


mi smo turistička agencija u Hrvatskoj sa vlastitom flotom visokokvalitetnih turističkih autobusa. Svoj program za 2002/2003. godinu dopunili smo s ponudom za Hrvate u inozemstvu.

Kako nam je u interesu da lijepu našu što više približimo svojim sunarodnjacima kreirali smo ovaj program koji bi obuhvaćao vožnju kroz cijelu Hrvatsku u komfornim autobusima, smještaj u hotelima te posjete nacionalnim parkovima, prirodnim i društvenim atraktivnostima te ratom oštećenih područja.
Naš program bi prvenstveno bio edukativan te bi uz grupe bila pratnja sa stučnim vodićima.

Koncept ovoga programa je zasnovan na želji da Hrvatsku približimo svim našim sunarodnjacima po cijelome svijetu te pogotovo onima koji još nikada nisu bili u Hrvatskoj (onim najmlađima).

Ovim vas pozivamo da nas kontaktirate te da sastavimo program sukladno vašim željama i slobodnim terminima.

Unaprijed se zahvaljujemo te se radujemo budućoj suradnji!


Srdačan pozdrav iz Hrvatske,

Petra Mravičić
PANTURIST plus d.o.o.
poslovnica MAKARSKA
Tel.: 00385 21 678 203
Fax: 00385 21 678 205
E-mail: pt-plus.makarska@panturist.hr 
Web: www.panturist.hr 

Croatia is doingbetter

Greece'sTourism Industry Suffering
By Associated Press

August 6, 2002, 10:10 AM EDT
ATHENS, Greece -- Greece's finance minister appealed to the tourism industryTuesday not to hike prices to compensate for a drop in summer visitors.
Nikos Christodoulakis said the reduced number of tourists to some areas haveprompted merchants and others to increase prices.
"Let's try to present quality and competition and to avoid price increasesin all tourism services," he said after a meeting with hotel and tourismrepresentatives.
The industry has reported a drop in tourism, Greece's biggest industry, so farthis year.
Some tour operators say Greece has lost its appeal because prices oftourism-related services are approaching those in other European countries.Also, there is a worry that tourists could bypass Greece in favor ofless-expensive seacoast resorts in places such as Turkey and Croatia.
Prices on some Greek islands have a 100 percent markup over mainland costs.

Copyright Š 2002, The Associated Press

32^NDANNUAL PILGRIMAGE TO THE CROATIANMARIAN SHRINES OUR LADY OF BISTRICA AND OUR LADY OF PEACEIN THE NATIONAL BASILICA OF THE IMMACULATECONCEPTION IN WASHINGTON D.C.

SEPTEMBER 7^TH& 8^TH , 2002

                                                   P R O G R A M

Melchior Masina, M.A. Croatian Catholic Union of USA andCanada

Tel. 219 942 1191; fax 219 942 8808; E-Mail: Info@ccu-usa-can.org;

E-Mail:  mmasina@ccu-usa-can.org 

Saturday, Sept.7;               PROGRAM FOR THE CROATIAN AMERICAN YOUTH

9:00 A.M.  10:30 A.M.

1:00P.M.  6:00P.M.  

Washington Court Hotel (Official Accommodations Hotel$99.00 per room; tel. 202 628 2100; located only one block from Capitol Hill andUnion Station; 525 New Jersey Avenue, N.W.)

Sunday, Sept. 8:                  SOLEMN PILGRIMAGE PROCESSION AND MASS

1:30 P.M.  4:30 P.M.

Basilica of the National Shrine of the ImmaculateConception

Under the auspices of the Croatian Catholic Union of USAand Canada, this year s Croatian Marian Pilgrimage to our beautiful Chapels Our Lady of Bistrica and Our Lady of Peace inthe Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington D.C. will be a two day event. Special Symposium/Seminar will be held Saturday September 7^that the Washington Court Hotel and the Main Pilgrimage with the Procession andMass will be held Sunday September 8^th. Our CCU Spiritual Director Rev. Paul Maslach will be the mainConcelebrant and Leader at he Pilgrimage.  Weare happy that Rev. Jozo Grbes, the Pastor of the Croatian Parish St. Jerome inChicago, will be the moderator of the Saturday s Youth Program, who will give the meaning, the soul and the heart to thisgathering.  Contributing will bealso  Rev. Mate Bizaca, pastor ofthe Croatian Parish St. Anthony in Los Angeles, and other priests.   Participating at the Seminar/Spiritual Retreat will bea known Croatian writer and journalist, and an Activist in the Croatian Catholiclay movement,  Mr. Zoran Vukman, from Trogir, Croatia, the author of several books among which his recentbook on New Age Philosophy  andCardinal Stepinac received a very plausible acclaim.  The program will also consist of  aMusical Academy in honor of Our Lady;  Reception; Sightseeing, and Visits to the While House and to the Croatian Embassy.   

For your accommodations we have reserved the WashingtonCourt Hotel at $99.00 per room.  WashingtonCourt Hotel is located only one block from the Capitol Hill and from UnionStation, at  525 New Jersey Avenue,N.W. Washington D.C. For reservation please call tel. 202 828  2100. Please mention that you are coming for the CCU Pilgrimage to get a grouprate at $99.00.  Welcome! Dobro namDosli!

   Themain theme of Symposium and  Pilgrimagecoincides with the 

   withthe Holy Father s  Message to the catholic youth gathered at the Catholic Youth  

   Day inToronto, July 23  27, 2002:

                a)  Challenges of culture ofdeath;

b)     Leadership of the Catholic Laity;

c)     Christ the Center of our lives;

Synopsis:   Today s man in his quest for becoming an integral person can not

                   escape the most fundamental questions what this life is all about. Is the

                   predicament  of man sfinality and sense of limitation and ultimately

                   the death, the last response?

                   The young people, however,  havean insatiable thirst for knowledge,

                   limitless possibility to search for truth and an unselfish capacity to love

                   in solidarity with all human beings.            

                  The  Holy Spirit within theChurch has throughout two millennia of                

                   Christianity given us the message of Christ and the mystery of God 

                   Incarnate as the only  way, truth and life .  The way of the Cross is the

                   way of Resurrection ( crucified and taken from the stem  unto thegift,

                   unto an example to live and to die the Croatian poet Tin Ujevic). 

                  The world around us, against the Spirit of  the Gospel, offers, on one side 

                  (negative) the culture death, selfish hedonism, nihilism, drugs, etc, and  

                  onthe other side ( positive ) the  illusionof the new age

                  philosophy,  utopiannaturalism and global government.

                  The lecturers at this Croatian Youth Renewal Weekend will examine these

                  themes,  presentthe most crucial questions and challenges and offer the             

                  solutions  within the realitythat our Croatian American youth  today;

                  Christ is the focus and center of life, internally,  intimatelywithin each

                  individual,   as well asexternally in the active Apostolate in our Parish and

                  Croatian communities, in our Croatian Diaspora and in the homeland of

                  Croatia.    

2)     Speakers:

               Rev.Paul Maslach, CCU Spiritual Director;  

               Fr. Jozo Grbes, Moderator; Pastor St. Jerome Croatian Parish, Chicago;

               Don Mate Bizaca. Pastor St. Anthony Croatian Parish, Los Angeles, CA

               Special Guest speaker; Zoran Vukman, Catholic lay activist, author 

               journalist,  Split, Croatia; 

SCHEDULE:

Saturday, Sept. 7:  9:A.M.  10: 30 A.M.  MorningSession (followed by Brunch, 

                 and  visit to White House)

           1:30P.M.   - 4:00 P.M. AfternoonSession

                4: 00  P.M.  5:00 P.M.Musical Presentation  Academy in honor of Mary;

                6:00 P.M.   Reception

                8:00 P.M.  10:00 P.M. Evening tour (sightseeing) through Washington;

                Visit to the Croatian  Embassy;

Sunday s Program:

9:00 A.M.  1:00 P.M. Pilgrims arrive with buses; NewYork, New Jersey; Allentown,

                                    Steelton, Pittsburgh,  Cleveland,Chicago, Milwaukee, LA,etc;

11: 00 A.M.  2:00 P.M. Confessions in English and Croatian at the Lower Church;

1:30 P.M.   Beginning of forming of the procession;

2:00 P.M.   Procession and Rosary;

2:30 P.M.    CONCELEBRATED MASS;

                   Choirs ( New York SS. Cyril and Methodius Croatian Parish;

                               (L.A. St. Anthony Croatian Parish)

                    Homily in English and Croatian;

3:30 P.M.    Concluding Prayers and Songs in front of the Croatian Chapel

Welcome! Svi nam dobro dosli!

Melchior Masina, M.A.

National President

Croatian Catholic Union of USA and Canada

Tel. 219 942 1191; fax 219 942 8808; E-Mail: Info@ccu-usa-can.org;

E-Mail:  mmasina@ccu-usa-can.org 

This is a hefty piece defending Pope Pius. The author also takes time to defendStepinac (and Croatia)

Brian 

                                      Goldhagen v. Pius XII

Ronald J. Rychlak
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright (c) 2002 First Things 124 (June/July 2002): 37-54.

Tendentious attacks on Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli) are nothing new. Indeed, they have become commonplace. Yet Daniel Goldhagen s recent 27,000 word essay for the New Republic,  What Would Jesus Have Done? Pope Pius XII, the Catholic Church, and the Holocaust (January 21, 2002), calls for special attention. Based upon his forthcoming book, A Moral Reckoning (Knopf), Goldhagen s essay is noteworthy both for the breathtaking scope of its claims and the air of righteous indignation that infuses it. Not content to argue that Pope Pius did less to save the Jews than he should have, as many other scholars have done, Goldhagen goes much further to attack Pacelli as an anti Semite and the Church as a whole as an institution thoroughly, and perhaps inextricably, permeated by anti Semitism. In fact, he even argues that  the main responsibility for producing this all time leading Western hatred lies with Christianity. More specifically, with the Catholic Church. Such charges demand a thorough response.

In his most recent book, Hitler s Willing Executioners, Goldhagen asserted that blame for the Holocaust should be placed on ordinary Germans and their unique brand of anti Semitism. When contemporary historians from both sides of the Atlantic challenged him on this point, he eventually conceded that he had underestimated how factors other than anti Semitism helped lead to the Third Reich s crimes.  I skirted over some of this history a little too quickly, he said. He has skirted again.

Goldhagen s article is based on no original historical research. It is entirely dependent on secondary sources that are written in English. This contributes to what can only be judged an inexcusable number of errors, small and large. Several of the dates he provides relating to the establishment of European ghettos are wrong (one by more than fifty years). He is also wrong (by three decades) about the beginning of the process for Pius XII s beatification, and he is wrong about the date that the so called  Hidden Encyclical was made public. He is wrong in calling the concordat with the Holy See  Nazi Germany s first international treaty. He is wrong to say that the Belgian Catholic Church was silent; it was one of the first national churches to speak out against Nazi racial theories. He is way off base to suggest that German Cardinals Michael von Faulhaber and Clement August von Galen were insensitive to or silent about Jewish suffering. Goldhagen says that Pius XII  clearly failed to support the protest of the French bishops, when, in fact, he actually had it rebroadcast on Vatican Radio for six consecutive days. He charges that Pius XII never reproached or punished Franciscan friar Miroslav Filopovic Majstorovic for his evil actions in Croatia, when, actually, the so called  Brother Satan was tried, laicized, and expelled from the Franciscan order before the war even ended (in fact, before most of his serious wrongdoing). Goldhagen also misidentifies the role of Vatican official Peter Gumpel (who is the relator or judge, not the postulator or promoter, of Pius XII s cause for sainthood), and he is wrong to say that Gumpel was designated by the Vatican to represent it at a meeting with the recently disbanded Catholic Jewish study group. He seems unaware that Catholic scholars on that committee disassociated themselves from statements issued by their Jewish counterparts following its collapse. He identifies the much admired king of Denmark during the war as Christian II; it was Christian X. He refers to Pope Pius XI as having been Cardinal Secretary of State; it was actually his successor Pope Pius XII. 

A few embarrassments like this might be accounted for by positing carelessness. However, Goldhagen s graver errors each and every one of which cuts against Catholics and the Pope reveal something much more troubling at work in his essay.

The 1942 Christmas Statement

Goldhagen s efforts to trivialize and diminish Pope Pius XII s famous 1942 Christmas statement and its clear denunciation of Nazi ideology are representative of the one sided, biased approach that permeates his work. In the 1942 statement, Pius said that the world was  plunged into the gloom of tragic error and that  the Church would be untrue to herself, she would have ceased to be a mother, if she were deaf to the cries of suffering children which reach her ears from every class of the human family. He spoke of the need for mankind to make  a solemn vow never to rest until valiant souls of every people and every nation of the earth arise in their legions, resolved to bring society and to devote themselves to the services of the human person and of a divinely ennobled human society. He said that mankind owed this vow to all victims of the war, including  the hundreds of thousands who, through no fault of their own, and solely because of their nation or race, have been condemned to death or progressive extinction (emphasis added). 

In making this statement and others during the war, Pius used the word stirpe, which according to Zanichelli s Italian and English Dictionary can mean stock, birth, family, race, or descent, but which had been used for centuries as an explicit reference to Jews. British records (British Public Records Office, FO 371/34363 59337 [January 5, 1943]) reflect the opinion that  the Pope s condemnation of the treatment of the Jews and the Poles is quite unmistakable, and the message is perhaps more forceful in tone than any of his recent statements. The Dutch bishops issued a pastoral letter in defense of Jewish people on February 21, 1943, making express reference to the Pope s statement. 

Moreover, a well known Christmas Day editorial in the New York Times praised Pius XII for his moral leadership in opposing the Nazis:

No Christmas sermon reaches a larger congregation than the message Pope Pius XII addresses to a war torn world at this season. This Christmas more than ever he is a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent. . . . 

When a leader bound impartially to nations on both sides condemns as heresy the new form of national state which subordinates everything to itself; when he declares that whoever wants peace must protect against  arbitrary attacks the  juridical safety of individuals ; when he assails violent occupation of territory, the exile and persecution of human beings for no reason other than race or political opinion; when he says that people must fight for a just and decent peace, a  total peace  the  impartial judgment is like a verdict in a high court of justice.

A similar editorial from the Times of London said:

A study of the words which Pope Pius XII has addressed since his accession in encyclicals and allocutions to the Catholics of various nations leaves no room for doubt. He condemns the worship of force and its concrete manifestation in the suppression of national liberties and in the persecution of the Jewish race.

Obviously, in contrast to what Goldhagen would have us believe, everyone knew to whom the Pope was referring, including the Axis powers.

According to an official Nazi report by Heinrich Himmler s Superior Security Office (the Reichssicher­ heits­ hauptamt) to Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop s office:

In a manner never known before, the Pope has repudiated the National Socialist New European Order. . . . It is true, the Pope does not refer to the National Socialists in Germany by name, but his speech is one long attack on everything we stand for. . . . God, he says, regards all people and races as worthy of the same consideration. Here he is clearly speaking on behalf of the Jews. . . . [H]e is virtually accusing the German people of injustice toward the Jews, and makes himself the mouthpiece of the Jewish war criminals. 

An American report noted that the Germans were  conspicuous by their absence at a Midnight Mass conducted by the Pope for diplomats on Christmas Eve following the papal statement. German Ambassador Diego von Bergen, on the instruction of Ribbentrop, warned the Pope that the Nazis would seek retaliation if the Vatican abandoned its neutral position. When he reported back to his superiors, the German ambassador stated:  Pacelli is no more sensible to threats than we are.  

Vatican Radio

Goldhagen asks rhetorically:  Why, as a moral and practical matter, did [Pius XII] speak out publicly on behalf of the suffering of Poles, but not of Jews? No good answer. He then quotes a Vatican Radio broadcast of January 1940, trying to make the point that the Vatican was concerned only about Polish Catholics and could not spare a good word for Jews. In doing this, he badly misrepresents the truth. 

As an initial matter, the quote cited by Goldhagen does not limit itself to Christian Poles. It merely refers to  Poles. Of course, writings of that time sometimes distinguished  Poles and  Jews, using the former designation to refer to Polish Christians, but this was far from always the case. Moreover, Goldhagen implies that Jews were never mentioned on Vatican Radio. This is simply false.

Goldhagen seems to have taken his Vatican Radio quote from Pierre Blet s Pius XII and the Second World War. That book presents itself as a synopsis. Had Goldhagen actually researched the Vatican Radio transcripts from January 1940 (the month upon which he focuses) he would have found that Jews were indeed expressly and clearly identified. A key passage states:

A system of interior deportation and zoning is being organized, in the depth of one of Europe s severest winters, on principles and by methods that can be described only as brutal; and stark hunger stares 70 percent of Poland s population in the face, as its reserves of foodstuffs and tools are shipped to Germany to replenish the granaries of the metropolis. Jews and Poles are being herded into separate  ghettos, hermetically sealed and pitifully inadequate for the economic subsistence of the millions destined to live there.

Even Michael Phayer (another critic of the Pope) quotes this explicit defense of Jews in his book The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930 1965 (which is listed as one of the books that Goldhagen reviewed for his essay). On October 15, 1940, Vatican Radio denounced  the immoral principles of Nazism, and on March 30, 1941 explicitly condemned  the wickedness of Hitler. These broadcasts were among the first to break the news of the Nazi persecutions, but they were not the only such stories on Vatican Radio. They continued throughout the war.

The Catholic faithful heard these broadcasts and reacted accordingly. French priest rescuer (and later Cardinal) Henri de Lubac paid tribute to the Pope s radio station in his book Christian Resistance to Anti Semitism, describing the profound impact it had upon the French resistance. Similarly, Father Michel Riquet, S.J., an ex inmate of Dachau who was recognized for saving Jewish lives, stated:  Pius XII spoke; Pius XII condemned; Pius XII acted. . . . Throughout those years of horror, when we listened to Radio Vatican and to the Pope s messages, we felt in communion with the Pope in helping persecuted Jews and in fighting against Nazi violence.  

The Hidden Encyclical and Summi Pontificatus

Early in his essay, Goldhagen discusses the so called  hidden encyclical. The story here is that in June 1938, more than a year before the outbreak of World War II, when Eugenio Pacelli was Vatican Secretary of State, Pope Pius XI commissioned a draft papal statement attacking racism and anti Semitism. Unfortunately he died before it was completed. According to Goldhagen, Pius XI drafted it, Pius XII buried it, and it remained hidden until it was published in France in 1995.

This story, if true, would help to support Goldhagen s depiction of Pius XII as a villain. But it isn t true. For starters, there never was an encyclical or even a draft encyclical. Pope Pius XI asked for a paper from Fr. John LaFarge, S.J. The thought was that this might one day be used as the basis for an encyclical. LaFarge was not an expert theologian or historian, so he sought help from two other priests, one from France and the other from Germany. This resulted in three different papers, one written in French, one in English, and one in German. 

The source upon which Goldhagen relies, Georges Passelecq and Bernard Suchecky s The Hidden Encyclical of Pius XI, deals with the French and the English papers, but not the German one. That book also makes clear that contrary to what Goldhagen reports Pius XI was not the author of any of the documents. In fact, as that book further makes clear, there is no evidence that either he or Pius XII even saw these documents. A copy was sent to Pius XI, but by that time he was already gravely ill. When it was found after his death, there were no notations suggesting that he ever reviewed it. The book also explains that the paper disappeared immediately after Pius XI s death, and the men who were working on the project believed (indeed were certain) that Pius XII had not seen it. He therefore could not have buried it. Finally, this matter was made public in 1972 by the National Catholic Reporter and again in 1973 by L Osservatore Romano, not in 1995 when Passelecq and Suchecky s book came out.

The primary author of the German draft, Professor Gustav Gundlach, S.J., helped Pius XII with his first encyclical, Summi Pontificatus, which was released on October 20, 1939, just after the outbreak of war. Not surprisingly, Summi Pontificatus (which expressly mentions Jews and urges solidarity with all who profess a belief in God) contains language that is similar to the paper on which Gundlach had worked. In fact, Fr. LaFarge wrote in America magazine that it was obvious that Summi Pontificatus applied to the Jews of Europe. He was concerned only that Americans might not realize that it also applied to racial injustice in the United States.

Because Goldhagen limited his research to a single and incomplete source, it is not surprising to find that his comments only magnify the errors about the  hidden encyclical. (A much better book on the subject, edited by Anton Rauscher, recently appeared in Germany.) What is very surprising is that Goldhagen neglects even to mention Summi Pontificatus. 

In January 2002, documents from the personal archive of General William J. ( Wild Bill ) Donovan, who served as special assistant to the U.S. chief of counsel during the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, were made public and posted on the Internet by the Rutgers Journal of Law & Religion. In a confidential report documenting Nazi persecution of the Church, prepared for the Nuremberg prosecution, the situation surrounding Summi Pontificatus is discussed as providing grounds for a separate count against the Nazis. The report notes that priests who read that document were reported to the authorities and that Nazi officials stopped its reproduction and distribution. 

 This Encyclical, wrote Heinrich Mueller, head of the Gestapo in Berlin,  is directed exclusively against Germany, both in ideology and in regard to the German Polish dispute; how dangerous it is for our foreign relations as well as our domestic affairs is beyond dispute. Reinhard Heydrich, leader of the SS Security Office in Warsaw, wrote,  This declaration of the Pope makes an unequivocal accusation against Germany. The New York Times headline declared:  Pope Condemns Dictators, Treaty Violators, Racism; Urges Restoring of Poland. Allied forces later dropped 88,000 copies of it behind enemy lines for propaganda purposes. 

The Concordat

In 1933, the Holy See and the German government signed an agreement that assured the Church s ability to hold services and function in general in the coming years. Goldhagen misleadingly reports that  Pacelli hastened to negotiate for the Church a treaty of cooperation, the concordat, with Hitler s Germany. He also incorrectly adds that this was  Nazi Germany s first international treaty.  

Goldhagen was probably fooled by James Carroll s Constantine s Sword. Carroll artfully states that the concordat was Nazi Germany s first bilateral treaty. In fact, the Four Powers Pact between Germany, France, Italy, and England preceded the concordat s signing. Moreover, Hitler s representatives were fully accredited and recognized by the League of Nations and took part in the disarmament discussions in Geneva, which also came before the signing of the concordat. The Soviet Union on May 5, 1933 (more than two months before the concordat was signed) renewed a trade and friendship agreement with Germany, and on that same day the British Parliament voted to accept an Anglo German trade agreement. In other words, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the whole League of Nations accredited the new German government before the concordat was signed. Carroll may have been technically correct, if misleading. Goldhagen is just plain wrong.

Goldhagen is also wrong to assert that a  secret annex gave the Church s approval to German rearmament. The concordat merely states that if Germany were to revive its army, Catholic soldiers would have access to chaplains. That is a matter of protecting the sacraments, not approving rearmament. For Goldhagen to transform it into something nefarious is explicable only as part of his determined effort to defame Catholics and the Pope.

The aforementioned recently released confidential report from the Nuremberg prosecution confirms that the concordat was a  Nazi proposition. The Nazis accepted terms that the Church had previously proposed to Weimar, but which Weimar had rejected. The Nazis told the Vatican that the choice was to accept those terms (which assured that the Church would be able to function) or face severe persecution. In fact, to prove that they were serious, the Nazis severely persecuted German Catholics in the weeks leading up to the concordat. In a private conversation with the British chargé d affaires to the Vatican, Pacelli said that the choice was  an agreement on their lines, or the virtual elimination of the Catholic Church in the Reich.

The concordat, of course, came during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI. Like David Kertzer (The Popes Against the Jews), Goldhagen argues that Pius XI was an anti Semite. This is a rare allegation. Pius XI is usually presented as the good, outspoken Pope, in contrast to the  silent Pius XII. Not only did Pius XI condemn racism in major statements issued in 1928, 1930, and 1937, but on September 6, 1938, in a statement which though barred from the Fascist press quickly made its way around the world, he said:

Mark well that in the Catholic Mass, Abraham is our Patriarch and forefather. Anti Semitism is incompatible with the lofty thought which that fact expresses. It is a movement with which we Christians can have nothing to do. No, no, I say to you it is impossible for a Christian to take part in anti Semitism. It is inadmissible. Through Christ and in Christ we are the spiritual progeny of Abraham. Spiritually, we are all Semites. 

In January 1939, the National Jewish Monthly reported that  the only bright spot in Italy has been the Vatican, where fine humanitarian statements by the Pope [Pius XI] have been issuing regularly. When he died the following month, the Nazi press denigrated him as  Chief Rabbi of the Western World.

Despite the ludicrous claim that Pius XI was an anti Semite, Goldhagen twists the facts around so that he can  blame Pius XII for drafting the concordat (which, of course, ultimately was the responsibility of the sitting Pope, not Secretary of State Pacelli). He also  blames Pius XII for drafting the 1937 anti Nazi encyclical Mit brennender Sorge.

Mit brennender Sorge

Of all Goldhagen s outrages, none is less comprehensible than his depiction of the great encyclical Mit brennender Sorge the Vatican s powerful denunciation of German fascism and racism as an anti Semitic screed. Mit brennender Sorge, issued by Pope Pius XI when Pacelli was his Secretary of State, is one of the strongest condemnations of any national regime that the Holy See has ever published. It condemned not only the persecution of the Church in Germany, but also the neo paganism of Nazi racial theories. The encyclical stated in part that: 

Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State, or a particular form of State, or the depositories of power, or any other fundamental value of the human community however necessary and honorable be their function in worldly things whoever raises these notions above their standard value and divinizes them to an idolatrous level, distorts and perverts an order of the world planned and created by God; he is far from the true faith in God and from the concept of life which that faith upholds.

It took direct aim at Hitler and Nazism, saying: 

None but superficial minds could stumble into concepts of a national God, of a national religion; or attempt to lock within the frontiers of a single people, within the narrow limits of a single race, God, the Creator of the universe, King and Legislator of all nations before whose immensity they are  as a drop of a bucket (Isaiah 11:15).

The encyclical also praised leaders in the Church who had stood firm and provided a good example. It concluded that  enemies of the Church, who think that their time has come, will see that their joy was premature.

Unlike most encyclicals, which are written in Latin, Mit brennender Sorge was written in German. It was dated and signed by Pope Pius XI on Passion Sunday, March 14, 1937, but it was smuggled into Germany, distributed to all parishes, and read from the pulpits on Palm Sunday, March 21, 1937.

The only reason Mit brennender Sorge was read to anyone was because the Nazis were caught off guard. It was not published in German newspapers. An internal German memorandum dated March 23, 1937 called the encyclical  almost a call to do battle against the Reich government. The prosecution report for the Nuremberg trials explained the measures that the Nazis took in retaliation: all available copies were confiscated, twelve printing offices were closed, those convicted of distributing the encyclical were arrested, and the Church affiliated publications that ran the encyclical were banned. Later on, the mere mention of the encyc­ lical was made a crime in Nazi Germany. 

The day following the release of Mit brennender Sorge, the Völkischer Beobachter carried a strong counterattack on the  Jew God and His deputy in Rome. Das Schwarze Korps called it  the most incredible of Pius XI s pastoral letters; every sentence in it was an insult to the new Germany. The German ambassador to the Holy See was instructed not to take part in the solemn Easter ceremonies, and German missions throughout Europe were told that the German government  had to consider the Pope s encyclical as a call to battle . . . as it calls upon Catholic citizens to rebel against the authority of the Reich.  

The persecution of Jews, unfortunately, did not lessen; it got worse following the release of Mit brennender Sorge. This reaction is but one of many examples of Nazi retaliation against Jews and Christians that Goldhagen denies ever happened. His attempt to convert this strong papal statement into an anti Semitic, pro Nazi screed is simply incredible. 

Mystici Corporis Christi

Goldhagen also misrepresents Pope Pius XII s 1943 encyclical, Mystici Corporis Christi. Since this was primarily a letter on theology, it contained no express references to Hitler or the Nazis. Still, it was an obvious attack on the theoretical basis of National Socialism. As Israeli diplomat Pinchas E. Lapide wrote in Three Popes and the Jews:  Pius chose mystical theology as a cloak for a message which no cleric or educated Christian could possibly misunderstand.

In Mystici Corporis Christi, Pius wrote:  The Church of God . . . is despised and hated maliciously by those who shut their eyes to the light of Christian wisdom and miserably return to the teachings, customs, and practices of ancient paganism. He wrote of the  passing things of earth, and the  massive ruins of war. He offered prayers that world leaders be granted the love of wisdom and expressed no doubt that  a most severe judgment would await those leaders who did not follow God s will.

Pius appealed to  Catholics the world over to  look to the Vicar of Jesus Christ as the loving Father of them all, who . . . takes upon himself with all his strength the defense of truth, justice, and charity. He explained,  Our paternal love embraces all peoples, whatever their nationality or race.  Christ, by his blood, made the Jews and Gentiles one,  breaking down the middle wall of partition . . . in his flesh by which the two peoples were divided (emphasis added). He noted that Jews were among the first people to adore Jesus. Pius then made an appeal for all to  follow our peaceful King who taught us to love not only those who are of a different nation or race, but even our enemies. Mystici Corporis Christi also strongly condemned the forced conversions (to Catholicism) that were then occurring in Fascist Croatia, which Goldhagen wrongly claims enjoyed Vatican support.

Vatican Radio used the encyclical as the basis for a broadcast that stated:  He who makes a distinction between Jews and other men is unfaithful to God and in conflict with God s commands.

The 1919 Letter

At the center of Goldhagen s anti Catholic thesis is the piece of evidence that John Cornwell centrally relied upon in his deeply flawed book, Hitler s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII. It is a letter, written in 1919 by Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, when he was papal nuncio in Munich. That year, Bolshevik revolutionaries temporarily took power in Bavaria. Many foreign dignitaries left Munich, but Pacelli stayed at his post and became a target of Bolshevik hostility. On one occasion, a car sprayed Pacelli s residence with machine gun fire. Another time, a small group of Bolsheviks broke into the nunciature, threatened Pacelli at gunpoint, and tried to rob him. Yet another time, an angry mob descended on Pacelli s car, screaming insults and threatening to turn the car over. 

When the Bolsheviks seized power, there was valid reason for concern. Their leaders occupied the royal palace and began operating what might best be described as a rogue government. Of particular concern to all diplomats in Munich was that the Bolsheviks violated the sovereign immunity of foreign missions and representatives. Two legations were invaded, and a car was requisitioned from another. The Austro Hungarian Consul General was arrested without cause and held for several hours.

Alarmed by this behavior and concerned for the safety of people under his charge, Nuncio Pacelli sent his assistant, Monsignor Lorenzo Schioppa, to meet with the leaders of the new government. Schioppa, accompanied by a representative from the Prussian legation, met with the head of the Republic of the Councils of Munich, Eugen Leviné. Their purpose was to force Leviné (incorrectly identified as Levien in the later report),  to declare unequivocally if and how the actual Communist Government intends to recognize and oversee the immunities of the Diplomatic Representatives.

The meeting did not go well. The only  commitment that the representatives could get from Leviné was that the Republic of Councils would recognize the extraterritoriality of the foreign legations  if, and as long as the representatives of these Powers . . . do nothing against the Republic of the Councils. Schioppa was warned that if the Nuncio did anything against the new government, he would be  kicked out. Leviné made it clear that  they had no need of the Nunciature.  

Pacelli wrote a letter back to Rome, reporting on this meeting. John Cornwell translated a few sentences from that letter and set them forth as  proof that Pacelli was an anti Semite. The key passage, as translated by Cornwell (and accepted uncritically by Goldhagen), described the palace as follows:

. . . a gang of young women, of dubious appearance, Jews like all the rest of them, hanging around in all the offices with lecherous demeanor and suggestive smiles. The boss of this female rabble was Levien s mistress, a young Russian woman, a Jew and a divorcée, who was in charge. . . . This Levien is a young man, of about thirty or thirty five, also Russian and a Jew. Pale, dirty, with drugged eyes, hoarse voice, vulgar, repulsive, with a face that is both intelligent and sly.

To Cornwell and Goldhagen, these words (taken from Schioppa s report to his superior, Pacelli) prove that Pacelli was an anti Semite.

In truth, however, this translation is grossly distorted. It uses pejorative words, instead of neutral ones that are more faithful to the original Italian. For instance, the most damning phrase in the translation,  Jews like all the rest of them, turns out to be a distorted, inaccurate translation of the Italian phrase i primi. The literal translation would be  the first ones or  the ones just mentioned. (Therefore Goldhagen s statement that  the Communist revolutionaries, Pacelli averred, were  all Jews is wrong. The word  all appears only in the Cornwell/Goldhagen mistranslation.) Similarly, the Italian word schiera is translated by Cornwell as  gang instead of  group, which would be more appropriate. Additionally, the Italian gruppo femminile should be translated as  female group, not  female rabble. Finally, the Italian occhi scialbi should be translated as pale (asky, livid) eyes, not  drugged eyes.

This letter was published in its original Italian in 1992. Church historian John Conway an Anglican and a distinguished scholar reviewed the book in which it was included for the Catholic Historical Review. Neither he, nor anyone else at that time, suggested that the letter was anti Semitic. When the entire letter is read in an accurate translation, it is not anti Semitic. The tone of anti Semitism is introduced only by Cornwell s dubious translation.

Many Bolsheviks were cultural Jews, of course, though alienated from the Jewish faith and very often from their own families. Pacelli (and Schioppa) were perfectly well aware of this. They perceived the threat to the Church as a threat from Bolshevism, not Judaism or Jews as such. It should also be noted that the message was written fourteen years before Hitler came to power and the Jewish persecution began. At this time, the people being described were not victims, but leaders of a revolutionary and oppressive regional government. 

Rather than using unfair translations and fabricating an argument, Goldhagen could have looked to direct, relevant evidence from that same period. During World War I, the American Jewish Committee of New York petitioned the Vatican for a statement on the  ill treatment suffered by Jewish people in Poland. The response came on February 9, 1916 from the office of the Secretary of State, where Eugenio Pacelli was by absolutely every account working hand in hand with Cardinal Secretary of State Gasparri. It said:

The Supreme Pontiff . . . as Head of the Catholic Church, which, faithful to its divine doctrine and to its most glorious traditions, considers all men as brothers and teaches them to love one another, he never ceases to inculcate among individuals, as well as among peoples, the observance of the principles of natural law and to condemn everything which violates them. This law must be observed and respected in the case of the children of Israel, as well as of all others, because it would not be conformable to justice or to religion itself to derogate from it solely on account of religious confessions. The Supreme Pontiff at this moment feels in his fatherly heart . . . the necessity for all men of remembering that they are brothers and that their salvation lies in the return to the law of love which is the law of the gospel.

This response was published in the New York Times on April 17, 1916 under the headline:  Papal Bull Urges Equality for Jews. It also appeared in Civiltŕ Cattolica on April 28 of that year, and in the London Tablet on April 29. Goldhagen, of course, fails even to mention it. 

Papal Efforts in Italy

Among the secondary sources on which Goldhagen relies is Susan Zuccotti s controversial book Under His Very Windows. Zuccotti found that Catholic clergy and lay persons defied the Nazis and the Fascists by providing food, clothing, and shelter to Jews and other refugees throughout Italy. As a result of these efforts, while approximately 80 percent of European Jews perished during World War II, 85 percent of Italian Jews survived Nazi occupation. Despite this, Zuccotti gives no credit to Pope Pius XII, allegedly because she could not find written evidence of a directive from him to the Catholics in Italy. Goldhagen expands this to say that  there is no evidence of the Pope s guiding hand. The identical argument is used by Holocaust deniers to absolve Hitler of responsibility for the death of six million Jews. They too point out that there is no  written evidence of Hitler s guiding hand, much less of a direct order.

While Zuccotti is anything but friendly toward Pius XII, and though she overlooks much evidence in his favor, she actually identifies very substantial evidence of the  Pope s guiding hand. For instance, she discusses a bishop who made a presentation during the war while he held in his hands a letter from Pius directing Catholics to protect Jews. (Zuccotti discounts this report only because other witnesses did not see the actual text of the letter.) She writes about the nuns who said the Pope ordered their convents opened to Jewish refugees. Zuccotti discusses a letter from A. L. Eastman, of the World Jewish Congress, thanking the Pope for helping free imprisoned Jews. She quotes the papal nuncio in Vichy, praising Pope Pius XII for condemning the persecution of Jews and others. She notes gratitude from Jewish people to the Pope following the war. She mentions thanks given to the Pope from Jewish chaplains. At other points along the way she brings up other evidence, including more letters of thanks from Jewish people and testimony from the future Pope Paul VI regarding his efforts on behalf of Jewish victims as having been made at the direction of Pope Pius XII. 

It is true that Zuccotti refuses to believe that there was much papal involvement in rescue efforts, but that is her extremely grudging interpretation of the evidence. Yet she admits that Catholic rescuers  invariably believed that they were acting according to the Pope s will. Her principal argument is that there is no written evidence. Certainly there is a wealth of other types of  evidence of the Pope s guiding hand. Goldhagen s claim that Zuccotti has  devastated Pius XII s reputation goes far beyond anything that the historical facts justify.

Using Zuccotti s argument, Goldhagen wildly charges that Pius  did not lift a finger to forfend the deportations of the Jews of Rome. In addition to voluminous other evidence to the contrary, there is proof showing this to be false in Adolf Eichmann s memoirs, which were released after the Zuccotti book was written. The memoirs confirm that following the notorious roundup on October 16, 1943, the Vatican  vigorously protested the arrest of Jews, requesting the interruption of such action.  

At Eichmann s 1961 trial, Israeli Attorney General Gideon Hausner said in his opening statement that  the Pope himself intervened personally in support of the Jews of Rome. Documents introduced in that trial also confirm Vatican efforts to halt the arrests. In rejecting Eichmann s appeals, the Israeli Supreme Court expressly noted the Pope s protest regarding the deportation of Hungarian Jews. Jewish historian Michael Tagliacozzo (himself a survivor of the Roman raid) explained: 

The documents clearly prove that, in the early hours of the morning, Pius XII was informed of what was happening and he immediately had German Ambassador von Weizsäcker called and ordered State Secretary Luigi Maglione to energetically protest the Jews arrest, asking that similar actions be stopped. . . . In addition, by his initiative he had a letter of protest sent through Bishop Alois Hudal [delivered by Fr. Pfeiffer] to the military commander in Rome, General Rainer Stahel, requesting that the persecution of Jews cease immediately. As a result of these protests, the operation providing for two days of arrests and deportations was interrupted at 2 p.m. the same day. 

Instead of the 8,000 Jews Hitler requested, only 1,259 were arrested. After examination of identity documents (the type routinely provided to Jews by Church officials), over 200 of them were released. From then on, the Germans did not conduct another major roundup in Rome. Such evidence overwhelms Goldhagen s argument regarding an alleged lack of papal involvement. 

The Soviet German War

Like many other papal critics, Goldhagen claims that the Pope favored the Germans in their war against the Soviet Union. The historical record does not support this charge. It is true that in the early and mid 1930s, Hitler and Mussolini were seen by many world leaders (including some officials of the Holy See) as the best defense against the spread of communism. This was, after all, the time of Stalin s show trials and other measures of mass terror. And it was long before the worst Nazi atrocities. Moreover, it is now clear that Church leaders were right to fear communism. After the Allied victory, the Soviets expanded their sphere of influence (and their persecution of the Church) throughout most of Eastern Europe, including half of Germany. They murdered millions of people.

Despite his concern over the spread of communism, however, Pius was neither blind to other threats nor unable to recognize virtue in the Soviet people. As early as 1926, at the direction of Pope Pius XI, then Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli attempted to secure a concordat with the Soviet Union. In 1942, Pius told Fr. Paolo Dezza. S.J. (made a cardinal in 1991):  The Communist danger does exist, but at this time the Nazi danger is more serious. They want to destroy the Church and crush it like a toad. When the Axis sought to have him bless the German  crusade into the godless Soviet Union, he refused. In April 1943, Hungarian Prime Minister Nicholas de Kallay met with Pius XII. He recorded:

His Holiness brought up the matter of conditions in Germany. He depicted the conditions prevailing in Germany, which fill him with great sadness, in dramatic words. He finds incomprehensible all that which Germany does with regard to the Church, the Jews, and the people in occupied territories. . . .

He is quite aware of the terrible dangers of Bolshevism, but he feels that, in spite of the Soviet regime, the soul of the large masses of the Russian people has remained more Christian than the soul of the German people.

In fact, by cooperating with Franklin Roosevelt s request to support extension of the lend lease program to the USSR, Pius actually gave economic and military aid to the Soviets. (Later, his repeated appeals on behalf of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg again revealed his ability to look beyond the  Communist issue.) 

The recently disbanded Catholic Jewish study group found that the evidence does not support the conclusion that Pius favored the Germans over the Soviets. It is no longer surprising that Goldhagen fails to mention this. However, it does seem shocking that Goldhagen quotes the notorious pro Nazi Bishop Franz Justus Rarkowski without mentioning that: 1) he was virtually forced upon the Church by the Nazis (under the threat of having no military ordinary or military chaplains); 2) the Church banned Rarkowski from participation in the German episcopacy; 3) Vatican Radio under Pius XII explicitly denounced Rarkowski; and 4) Vatican Radio declared that:  Hitler s war is not a just war and God s blessing cannot be upon it.

The German Catholic Clergy

Goldhagen is particularly critical of the Catholic clergy in Germany. He makes the sweeping and indefensible claim that  the great majority of Catholic military chaplains  weighed in on the side of the perpetrators, condoning and blessing their crimes. . . . This virtually unknown and unmentioned chapter of the Catholic clergy s role in the Holocaust has barely been investigated. In fact, this subject has been extensively analyzed and interpreted by contemporary German historians, but their findings do not support Goldhagen s conclusion. 

Catholic clergy were among the first people in Germany to recognize the threat posed by the Nazis. In 1930, the bishops of Berlin and Westphalia condemned the Nazis in pastoral letters. In the spring of 1931, the Bavarian bishops also condemned National Socialism and described it as heretical and incompatible with Catholic teaching. Similar statements were made by bishops in Cologne, Paderborn, and the upper Rhine. 

The report from the Nuremberg prosecutor s office outlines dozens of cases where Catholic priests were persecuted due to their opposition to the Nazis. It also shows that the Nazis took steps to silence the Church: 

On 28 October 1935 the Propaganda Ministry imposed censorship before publication on all Church periodicals, and on 30 November 1935 this was extended to all writings and picture material multigraphed for distribution. After 1937, the German Catholic bishops gave up all attempts to print their pastorals, and had them merely read from the pulpit. 

Of course, sometimes it was impossible even to read statements from the pulpit. The Bavarian bishops pastoral letter of September 4, 1938 was confiscated and forbidden, as was the pastoral letter of the Bishops Conference of Fulda, dated August 19, 1938. 

Goldhagen charges the German clergy with collaboration in turning over genealogical records to the Nazis. What he does not mention is that much of this information was already available to the Nazis by virtue of the German census. To the extent that information was uniquely in the hands of the clergy, and was demanded by the Nazis (under severe threats, one might add), the collaboration of the German Catholic clergy was far from wholesale. As early as 1946, Monsignor J. Neuhäusler, who himself was imprisoned in Dachau, published a massive series of primary documents demonstrating extensive Church resistance to Nazi anti Semitism, including refusal to hand over genealogical records. The pastoral letters of the German bishops (which were misrepresented in Guenter Lewy s The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany, on which Goldhagen seems to rely) have now been published in full. They vindicate Albert Einstein s famous statement in 1940 that the only organization in Nazi Germany that spoke out against evil was the Church.

Goldhagen s campaign of character assassination against Catholic people goes well beyond Popes Pius XI and Pius XII, but his targets among the German clergy are very poorly chosen. Declassified documents from the OSS show that American intelligence during the war knew well that two of the German Catholic leaders Goldhagen focuses upon (Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich and Bishop von Galen of Münster) were particularly strong in their opposition to the Nazis. (The formerly secret documents are collected in American Intelligence and the German Resistance to Hitler, edited by Jürgen Heideking and Christof Mauch.)

In the 1930s, Cardinal Faulhaber wrote Secretary of State Pacelli, describing the persecution of the Jews as  unjust and painful. In 1935, at an open meeting, Nazis called for him to be killed. In February 1936, the police confiscated and destroyed one of his sermons (this happened twice again the following year). On October 25, 1936, members of the Hitler Youth hurled insults at him as he was entering his car. In August 1938, the Nazis searched his office. In late November 1938, after he had given a speech, a uniformed detachment arrived in front of his residence and threw stones at the windows. They shouted  Take the traitor to Dachau and shattered window frames and shutters. In May 1939, demonstrations against Faulhaber took place throughout Bavaria, and posters were hung saying:  Away with Faulhaber, the friend of the Jews and the agent of Moscow. After the war began, Faulhaber cited Pius XII s encyclical Summi Pontificatus in an address condemning Nazis, resulting in a headline reading  Cardinal Faulhaber Indicts Hitlerism in the London Tablet. 

After the war, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, one of the leading American voices for the Jewish cause, called Faulhaber  a true Christian prelate who  had lifted his fearless voice in defense of the Jews. In fact, Wise felt that Faulhaber had been a much better friend to the Jews of Europe than had Pastor Martin Niemoeller.

Bishop Galen also took a leading role in opposing Nazi racial laws. On February 9, 1936, he made a public anti Nazi speech at Xanten Cathedral. In response, the Nazis charged that Galen was trying to shelter  the corrupters of our race. Galen also helped Pius XI draft the anti Nazi encyclical Mit brennender Sorge. Later, Pius XII sent Galen a letter praising his  open and courageous pronouncements and telling him that letters he had mailed to the Holy See laid the groundwork for the 1942 Christmas message. Upon his death, the regional association of the Jewish communities wrote to the Capitular Vicar in Münster, saying:  Cardinal von Galen was one of the few upright and conscientious men who fought against racialism in a most difficult time. We shall always honor the memory of the deceased Bishop.

Goldhagen notes Galen s protests against the euthanasia program, but he argues that the Nazis did not retaliate against him and asks why the German bishops and the Vatican did not  rally behind Bishop Galen. In fact, on December 2, 1940 well before Galen s famous sermons against euthanasia Pius XII published an official Vatican statement in the Catholic press that unequivocally condemned the killing of  life unworthy of life. This decree went into every diocese in Germany, and was favorably and publicly commented on by the German bishops. On March 9, 1941, in a public sermon, Cardinal Konrad von Preysing (whom Goldhagen wrongly portrays as a critic of Pius XII) made reference to Pius XII,  whom we all know I should say from personal experience as a man of global horizons and broadmindedness [who] has reaffirmed the doctrine of the Church, according to which there is no justification and no excuse for the killing of the sick or of the abnormal on any economic or eugenic grounds. Other German bishops followed suit, culminating in (not beginning with) Galen s famous sermons of July and August of 1941. 

To compound his errors, Goldhagen charges that Galen s protests were successful in ending the euthanasia program and that the Nazis did not retaliate. In fact, the euthanasia campaign was not ended, but continued under greater secrecy until the end of the war. Moreover, as one of Galen s successors, Richard Lettmann, the Bishop of Münster, explained:  After having preached these sermons the Bishop was prepared to be arrested by the Gestapo. . . . The Bishop was deeply dejected when in his place twenty four secular priests and thirteen members of the regular clergy were deported into concentration camps, of whom ten lost their lives. The Nuremberg prosecution report also shows that Galen was at times forbidden to speak to the public or to give blessings. In fact, as a result of his outspokenness, Galen s diocese suffered a far higher death rate than most others. None of these crucial facts are mentioned by Goldhagen. 

Cardinal Adolph Bertram of Breslau, also singled out by Goldhagen, first expressed his opposition to National Socialism in 1930, when he refused a religious funeral for a well known Nazi official. In a widely publicized statement, he criticized as a grave error the one sided glorification of the Nordic race and the contempt for divine revelation that was increasingly taught throughout Germany. He warned against the ambiguity of the concept of  positive Christianity, a highly nationalistic religion that the Nazis were encouraging. Such a religion, he said,  for us Catholics cannot have a satisfactory meaning since everyone interprets it in the way he pleases. In response to Bertram, the Nazi press cited some of Pope Leo XIII s pronouncements about the relations of practicing Catholics to political parties to bolster the argument that Catholics could be National Socialists. Secretary of State Pacelli then ordered a lengthy article to be published in the Vatican newspaper correcting the Nazis distortions of Leo s pronouncements, and saying that a Christian should not belong to any political party which works against Christian ideals.

Goldhagen also makes the allegation that Bertram scheduled a Requiem Mass upon Hitler s death. In point of fact, this is what we know: Bertram was elderly and ill when the war ended. When he died (just weeks later), his papers included a handwritten order scheduling a Requiem Mass for all Germans who died in the war, including Hitler (who was originally reported to have died while fighting), and for the protection of the Catholic Church in Germany. This order was never sent, and the Mass was never held. Bertam s personal secretary later reported being unaware of this paper or any such proposed order. In fact, the order itself was crossed through with two broad strokes. In other words, the evidence suggests that someone (perhaps Bertram, but perhaps not) considered scheduling a Requiem Mass but that Bertram canceled it. Goldhagen here seems to have been misled by Klaus Scholder s A Requiem for Hitler: And Other New Perspectives on the German Church Struggle. The cover of that book shows part of the order, but omits the portion showing that it was crossed through. Once again, Goldhagen s sloppy reliance on secondary sources has led him to make a serious mistake.

On a related note, Goldhagen asserts that the Polish ambassador pleaded with Pius in vain for the Jews, and that by 1944 Pius XII was so  sick of hearing about the Jews that he got angry with the ambassador. Goldhagen gives no documentation for this charge. This is hardly surprising, since it is untrue. Pius XII was upset about reports the ambassador was receiving from people outside of occupied Poland who, relying on erroneous information, complained that the Pope was doing too much for Jews, but not enough for Poles. The Polish ambassador to the Holy See during the War was Kazimierz Papée, whose 1954 Pius XII i Polska (Pius XII and Poland) discussed Pius XII s wartime policies and said that he agreed with them. That record is comprehensively analyzed and supported in Papée s book, of which Goldhagen makes no mention.

The French Bishops

Goldhagen says that Pius XII  clearly failed to support the protest of the French bishops. This is yet another falsehood. At the direction of the Pope, the protests were broadcast and discussed for several days on Vatican Radio. Statements such as  he who makes a distinction between Jews and other men is unfaithful to God and is in conflict with God s commands were broadcast into France, in French, on Vatican Radio. Pierre Cardinal Gerlier, a French Catholic bishop who condemned Nazi atrocities and deportation of the Jews, explicitly stated that he was obeying Pius XII s instructions when he made these statements (Australian Jewish News, April 16, 1943). 

When the deportations began from France, Pius issued a formal protest to Head of State Marshal Henri Pétain, instructed his nuncio to issue another protest, and recommended that religious communities provide refuge to Jewish people. In fact, the American press reported that the Pope protested to the Vichy government three times during August 1942. The result of the protests, unfortunately, was that they angered Vichy leader Pierre Laval, and he reaffirmed his decision to cooperate in the deportation of all non French Jews to Germany. (This is yet another example of the retaliation that Goldhagen says did not take place.) On August 6, 1942, a New York Times headline proclaimed:  Pope Is Said to Plead for Jews Listed for Removal from France. Three weeks later, a headline in the same paper told the story:  Vichy Seizes Jews; Pope Pius Ignored.  

The Canadian Jewish Chronicle ran the following headline on September 4, 1942:  Laval Spurns Pope 25,000 Jews in France Arrested for Deportation. In an editorial dated August 28, 1942, the California Jewish Voice called Pius  a spiritual ally because he  linked his name with the multitude who are horrified by the Axis inhumanity. In a lead editorial, the London Jewish Chronicle said that the Vatican was due a  word of sincere and earnest appreciation from Jews for its intervention in Berlin and Vichy. Stephen S. Wise wrote in 1942:

It appears to be more than rumor that his Holiness Pope Pius XII urgently appealed through the papal nuncio to the Vichy government to put an end to deportations from France, and the appeal of the Pope is said to have been reinforced by petition and protest from the Cardinal Archbishops of Paris and Lyons. . . . If such papal intervention be factual, then Pius XII follows the high example set by his saintly predecessor, whose word in reprobation of anti Semitism,  spiritually we are all Semites, will never fade out of the memory of the people which does not forget but forgives.

In August 1942, Archbishop Jules Gérard Saličge, from Toulouse, sent a pastoral letter to be read in all churches in his diocese. It said:  There is a Christian morality that confers rights and imposes duties. . . . The Jews are our brothers. They belong to mankind. No Christian can dare forget that! The Vatican newspaper L Osservatore Romano praised Saličge as a hero of Christian courage, and when the war ended Pope Pius XII named him a cardinal. 

Goldhagen quotes the recent statement of some French bishops (not the French bishops as he mistakenly reports) in which they confessed to the failings of French Catholics during the war. But that statement was critical only of those areas and dioceses in France that fell prey to anti Semitism. As with the 1995 statement from German bishops, there was no criticism of Pope Pius XII or the Holy See. 

Papal Efforts in Hungary

Even Goldhagen has to admit that Pius XII intervened in Hungary, but he attempts to diminish the importance of the Pope s actions by suggesting that his famous open telegram protesting Jewish deportations was isolated and late. Again, the facts are against Goldhagen or, more to the point, he has set himself against the facts. Jenö Levai, the great authority on Hungarian Jewry, who had direct access to primary archival evidence, documented the Church s rescue efforts in his appropriately titled Hungarian Jewry and the Papacy: Pius XII Was Not Silent.

Almost from the first day following the March 1944 invasion of Hungary, Papal Nuncio Angelo Rotta worked to help improve the treatment of the Jews. He issued baptismal certificates and passports that enabled thousands of Jews and converted Jews to leave Hungary. The Holy See also informed other nations about the conditions in Hungary, and this brought international pressure on the Hungarian government. Rotta made several oral protests regarding anti Jewish decrees, and on behalf of Pope Pius XII he was the first foreign envoy to submit a formal written protest. Shortly thereafter, Rotta received a letter of encouragement from Pius in which the Pope termed the treatment of Jews as  unworthy of Hungary, the country of the Holy Virgin and of St. Stephen. From then on, Rotta regularly protested against the treatment of the Jews and the inhuman character of the anti Jewish legislation.

On June 25, Pius himself sent the well known open telegram to the Regent of Hungary, Admiral Miklas Horthy. Goldhagen acknowledges this telegram, but it is worth quoting:

Supplications have been addressed to us from different sources that we should exert all our influence to shorten and mitigate the sufferings that have for so long been peacefully endured on account of their national or racial origin by a great number of unfortunate people belonging to this noble and chivalrous nation. In accordance with our service of love, which embraces every human being, our fatherly heart could not remain insensible to these urgent demands. For this reason we apply to your Serene Highness appealing to your noble feelings in the full trust that your Serene Highness will do everything in your power to save many unfortunate people from further pain and suffering.

Pius XII also sent a telegram to Hungarian Cardinal Justinian Serédi asking for support from the Hungarian bishops. Serédi responded by issuing a statement of his own. It said: 

We would forfeit our moral leadership and fail in our duty if we did not demand that our countrymen should not be handled unjustly on account of their origin or religion. We, therefore, beseech the authorities that they, in full knowledge of their responsibility before God and history, will revoke these harmful measures.

This strong statement, issued pursuant to a request from the Pope, was read publicly in the Catholic churches until Nazi authorities confiscated all copies.

On June 28, Archbishop Francis Spellman of New York broadcast a strong appeal to Hungarian Catholics deploring the anti Jewish measures, which, he said,  shocked all men and women who cherish a sense of justice and human sympathy. These measures were, he said,  in direct contradiction of the doctrines of the Catholic faith professed by the vast majority of the Hungarian people. He called it incredible  that a nation which has been so consistently true to the impulses of human kindness and the teachings of the Catholic Church should now yield to a false, pagan code of tyranny. Time magazine reported:  This week listeners at Europe s thirty six million radio sets might have heard New York s Archbishop Francis Joseph Spellman preaching civil disobedience. The Archbishop s . . . broadcast . . . eloquently urged Hungary s nine million Catholics to disobey their government s new anti Semitic decrees. The Allies dropped printed copies of it over Hungary. Spellman later confirmed that he had made the statement at the express request of Pope Pius XII.

Admiral Horthy complained to the Germans that he was being bombarded with telegrams from the Vatican and others and that the nuncio was calling on him several times each day. In the face of these protests, Horthy withdrew Hungarian support from the deportation process, making it impossible for the Germans to continue. Horthy s reply cable to the Pope said:  It is with comprehension and profound gratitude that I receive your cable and request you to be convinced that I shall do all within my power to make prevail the demands of Christian humanitarian principles. Horthy agreed to work against the deportations, and he even signed a peace agreement with the Allies. For once it appeared that Pius XII s pleas on behalf of the victims might actually have had a positive effect. The Germans, however, would not be dissuaded by mere words. 

The Germans arrested Horthy in October, put Hungary under the control of Hungarian Nazis, and the deportations resumed. The Pope and his representatives then made many more protests to German authorities, issued a report documenting the Vatican s work with the Jews of Hungary, and encouraged Catholics to help the victims. In October, Pius joined in an effort to raise money to support Hungarian refugees, urging the faithful to redouble their efforts on behalf of all victims of the war, regardless of their race. Almost every Catholic church in Hungary provided refuge to persecuted Jews during the autumn and winter of 1944.

On November 10, 1944, Nuncio Rotta protested to the German foreign ministry, saying that  from a humanitarian perspective but also to protect Christian morality, the Holy See protests the inhumane attitude adopted toward the Jews. When Nazi officials suggested that Jews were merely being sent to Germany to work, not for any evil purpose, Rotta sarcastically responded: 

When old men of over seventy and even over eighty, old women, children, and sick persons are taken away, one wonders for what work these human beings can be used? . . . When we think that Hungarian workers, who go to Germany for reasons of work, are forbidden to take their families, we are really surprised to see that this great favor is granted only to Jews.

The nunciature in Budapest had been bombed and half destroyed, communications with the Vatican were extremely difficult, and the lives of those Catholic officials still in the city were in constant danger. Nuncio Rotta sent a message to Rome asking what to do. The reply from Pope Pius was:  If it is still possible to do some charity, remain!  

The Germans were finally forced out of Budapest two days before Christmas, 1944. Despite the terrible losses that had taken place during their occupation, most of the Jews in Budapest were saved from the gas chamber.

The World Jewish Congress, at its December 1944 war emergency conference in Atlantic City, sent a telegram of thanks to the Holy See for the protection it gave  under difficult conditions to the persecuted Jews in German dominated Hungary. Similarly, the American Jewish Committee sent an expression of deep thanks to Pius and Cardinal Luigi Maglione for having helped stop the deportations from Hungary. On May 25, 1945, Nuncio Andreas Cassulo informed the Vatican:

[Chief] Rabbi Safran has expressed to me several times . . . his gratitude for what has been done for him and for the Jewish community. Now he has begged me to convey to the Holy Father his feelings of thankfulness for the generous aid granted to prisoners in concentration camps on the occasion of the Christmas festivities. At the same time, he told me he had written to Jerusalem, to the Chief Rabbi [Herzog], and also elsewhere, in America, to point out what the nunciature has done for them in the time of the present difficulties.

Chief Rabbi Safran also told other Jewish leaders about the Catholic Church s efforts to protect Jewish people. Apparently, however, no one told Goldhagen.

Slovakia and Croatia

In attempting to implicate Pius XII in the atrocities carried out in the Nazi satellite states of Slovakia and Croatia, Goldhagen again makes many inexcusable errors. He mentions the work of Livia Rothkirchen, a respected authority on the annihilation of Slovak Jewry, but he fails to mention that in documenting and appropriately condemning the savageries committed by anti Semitic Slavs, Rothkirchen emphasizes that they were done in spite of, not because of, Pope Pius XII. In fact, she concludes her major work on the subject with the statement that the several letters of protest delivered by the Vatican during the years 1941 1944  prove sufficiently that the Vatican objected to the deportation of Jews from Slovakia.  

Goldhagen suggests that Vatican actio

Origins ofthe Word Croat

an alternative hypothesis:

Most texts dealing with the origins of theword Croat, or more specifically the slavic variants of Hrvat or Horvat, seem toaccept the thesis that the term can be traced directly to Persian inscriptionsfrom about 500 BC. This view holds that the name derives from an ancient Iranianpeople living in a region referred to as Harahvatis, which, in modern terms, wassituated in what is now present-day Afghanistan.On the face of it, the seemingsimilarity of the words Harahvatis and Hrvat lends credence to this theory.However, it should be noted that such superficial similarities in form are notnecessarily indicative of a direct linguistic link; especially when the positedcognates (ie supposedly related words) are from different language families, asis the case with the Harahvatis / Hrvat hypothesis.

In point of fact, the field of linguisticsis rife with instances of false etymologies. Even in closely related languagessuch as English and German, phonetic similarities can be misleading. Take forexample the word form gift, which exists both in modern English and German. Tothe casual observer these words might seem related. However, the English wordgift actually is derived from the postulated Indo-European root 'ghebh,' and iscognate, not with the German word gift (poison), but with the German word geben(to give).

Not being familiar with the extent andnature of the specific data which gave rise to the Harahvatis thesis, obviously,I am not able to attempt a categorical analysis of this theory's viability.However, if, as it appears to be, the primary basis for the Harahvatis theory isphonetic similarity, then I believe serious questions might well be raised.Common sense alone
dictates that any phonetic reconstruction of a dead language be taken with agrain of salt. In fact, linguists have long argued over the merits of evenattempting phonetic reconstruction; critics pointing out that the"comparative method" used in historical linguistics should only beascribed to reconstructing phonemic forms without respect to detailed phoneticattributes.

Simply put, a phoneme represents a soundin a given language which is linguistically significant. For example, thecontrast between p and b in such English words as pin and bin. Phoneticanalysis, on the other hand, is a detailed description of the physical qualitiesof a sound (ie is it voiced, aspirant, nasal, sibilant, etc). In extinctlanguages we can, at
best, only make educated guesses at what the underlying sounds related to theorthography might have been. Therefore, just how similar the forms Harahvatisand Hrvat really are to one and other is not necessarily as close
as our modern-day interpretation might lead us to believe. In any case, there isperhaps another possible explanation for the derivation of the term Hrvat, whichavoids some of these uncertainties, and is perhaps more analytically"elegant" in being less removed from recent facts, both in terms oftime and space. The basis of this alternative explanation is to be found in awell established sound change occurring in the Czech and Slovak languages,wherein g becomes h. For example, the word for hunger in modern Croatian (andmost other slavic languages) is 'glad,'whereas the corresponding Czech andSlovak form is 'hlad.' Examples showing that this shift from g to h is aregularly occurring sound change are many and included the following:

gavran (raven) > havran
glas (voice) > hlas
golub (pigeon) > holub
grad (city) > hrad
griva (mane) > hriva
grom (thunder) > hrom
jagoda (strawberry) > jahoda
knjiga (book) > kniha

Along the same lines, the word formountain, gora, has the corresponding form hora. Given the fact that theancestors of modern-day Croats appear to have migrated into the Dinaric rangefrom the central European tablelands
(ie modern Slovakia, and Poland) it seems quite plausible that these people maywell have been referred to as something like 'those who went into the mountains'or "hora," and thus, by extension, the word "Horvat" (whichis
the current slavic form of the word in all but the south slavic languages; withthe "o" apparently having elided into a vocalic r in south slavic) .

It has not been my intention in this briefpaper to write an exhaustive argument for the "hora" derivationalexplanation of the word Horvat, but merely to raise the issue as a possiblealternative. Given the inherent difficulties in dealing with extinct languages,as well as the possible complication of ascribing a slavic "corevocabulary" word's origins to a
non-slavic language, it seems the "hora" explanation provides asimpler and more direct derivation. In linguistics, as indeed in mostdisciplines, often times the least complicated solution also proves to be themost accurate.

Article by: EdKesich

original site: http://www.nycroats.com/political_origins.htm  

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