REQUIEM MASS CELEBRATED FOR ASSASSINATED ROYAL PAIR

San Francisco Examiner July 29, 1914. An imposing high requiem and sacrifice mass was celebrated yesterday at the Croatian Church of Nativity for the assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand and the Duchess of Hohenburgh. The service was conducted by the Rev. Father Turk, assisted by father Hughes as subdeacon, the sermon being held by Father Footo of St. Ignatius Church. The church and altar were profusely decorated with flowers and mourning. Two beautiful bronze caskets, covered with wreaths and flowers, stood in front of the altar,being symbolic of the commemorial nature of the mass, and on either side were displayed portraits of the late Archduke and Duchess, surrounded with red and white colors of the dual monarchy. The church was filled to overflowing with a congregation of Austrians of Germans. A marital aspect was given to the gathering by the presence of reserve officers of the Austrian Imperial army in full uniform, their swords girded on. Amongst the prominent Austrian-Hungarian residents attending were the Austrian Consul General, Dr. Joseph Goricar, with his staff; Captain of Reserves M. Rasol-Russel, First Lieutenant F. Beck, Second Lieutenant J. Cristich, John Radovich, M. Ranzulo, Martin Perich, C. Petrusich, I. W. Alison, past president of the Austrian Military and Benevolent Society, and many others. The Rev. Father Footo’s sermon had as its text: “Ye shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” The preacher said that the service was strictly a religious service and high mass for the souls of the martyred royal couple, and had no political tendency whatever. The date for the service had been met some time ago, and a requiem mass of this nature had been a practice of the church since time immemorial. On this day it was a month ago since the world was startled by the tragic event which was startled by the tragic event which was commemorated now. All statements attributing a political intention to the service were consequently without foundation. At the conclusion to the sermon the solemn blessing of the caskets was given, the choir singing the “Kyrie Eleison” afterward. The Austrian national anthem, “Got Erhalte Franz den Kaiser” (God Have Our Emperor Francis), and the singing of “Nearer My God, to Thee” concluded the ceremonies. The choir consisted of Mrs. R. W. Gillogley, Miss C. Guntz, Miss Etta O’Brien, Miss J. Donnelly and Miss Bertha Radovich.

SAN FRANCISCO JUGO PLEDGE TO USA IN WORLD WAR 1

San Francisco Chronicle March 25, 1918. Directed by the Croatian League of the USA Frank Krstelj, President; Serbian National Defense League Lazar S. Churich, President; Slavonic Alliance of California Dr. John K. Plincs, President.

Ignorance of the status and ideals of the Jugoslav peoples has worked injustice upon many of those living in California. Because they are ranked as Austrians, they have been discharged right and left from employment. The Council to Establish Status has been approved by the USA.

JUGO-SLAVIA ‘RULED BY TERROR’ STATES ALBERT EINSTEIN

San Francisco Examiner, May 31, 1931. By Emery Derl noted war correspondent, author, editor and authority on central European treaties and politics. The charges of Prof. Albert Einstein, who, in an open letter, accused the Jugoslavian Government of having engineered the sensational murder of Prof. Milan Sufflay, once again have focused the attention of the world upon the heroic struggle of the Croatian people against the terroristic and oppressive rule of Serbian dictatorship. The hideous murder of the famous historian of Zagreb University does not stand alone in Croatia's tragic history of recent years; it is but one link in that endless chain of sinister killings, brutal violence and open blackmail which marked the way of the dictatorship in Croatia ever since King Alexander suspended the constitution and assumed absolute power.

Within the short span of two years hundreds of Croatian patriots had been slain, thousands thrown into jail or forced into exile because they dared to demand full political rights for their native land-once a part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, but since the end of the war a component of the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, commonly called Jugoslavia. On the surface, the cause of the unrest seems to be the Croats' unrelenting demand for self-government and independence from the Serbian political machine. In reality, however, there are other and deeper reasons why the Croats are in open revolt against so-called personal dictatorship of King Alexander. Back of the appalling number of political murders, bomb-throwings, imprisonments, threats, extortion and espionage is the age-old struggle between East and West, the mortal combat between a highly civilized nation, used to western methods of political administration and a group of Balkan politicians, reared in an atmosphere of intrigue and corruption, and accustomed to regard murder and violence as common weapons of actual politics.

Croatia became part of the Jugoslav Kingdom at the close of the World War. The old dream of a union of all southern Slavs had come true, but it was effected in a form entirely unsatisfactory to the Croats. The people of Croatia imagined the new kingdom as a Federalist state with full autonomy for component parts. Instead of a greater freedom, however, they received a form of treatment from their new overlords which ran counter to their national aspirations. In religious matters, the Croat is a Roman Catholic and a believer; the Serb is orthodox and saturated with mild skepticism. Croatia was highly industrialized and looked for capital to Vienna and Budapest, while Serbia is still today primarily an agricultural country.

In the field of cultural activities, too, the Croats were superior to their backward Serbian brethren. Art, literature, science and the theatre were on a western level in Croatia, while across the frontier line there was no such thing as Serbian literature or Serbian science. They soon awoke to the realization that this was impossible under the new constitution and under the system of government introduced by the Serbian political leaders. In the new Jugoslav state the Croats were treated as a vanquished nation; the country was flooded with Serbian officials sent from Belgrade, and soon the policy of centralization was in full swing. The Croats protested, first mildly, then more and more sharply and resolutely, but their protests were answered with threats and oppressive measures. The Croat leaders proclaimed passive resistance throughout the country, whereupon the Serbs introduced their well-tested methods of persecution and terrorism.

All this, however, could not break the resistance of the Croats. They carried on their fight for liberty, sent flaming appeals and protests to the League of Nations, which the Serbs answered with the murder of Stephen Radich, the Croatian leader, and the massacre of the Croatian parliamentarian in the Skupstina in Belgrade. The situation soon became untenable not only for the Croats, but also for the whole country and the dynasty itself. Jugoslavia needed money desperately and the foreign money-lenders were unwilling to grant loans to a country virtually in a state of civil war.,The outside world had to be convinced that Jugoslavia was a united country and the union of the Southern Slavs not an empty dream, a mere scheme designed to further imperialistic plans of the Karageorgevitch dynasty and the Serbian Radical party. This was the reason why King Alexander dissolved Parliament, suspended the constitution and declared his personal dictatorship. Under the cloak of deadly silence which fell upon the whole country the "system" could more easily be put into effect.

AMERICAN-CROATIAN COUNCIL of 1943

On June 4th, 1943 in San Francisco, the Americans of Croatian extraction of the City held a meeting which was a result of a decision made on March 13 when to a mass meeting, the San Francisco Croatian delegate, Mr. Antone Pilkovich, made his report concerning his attendance to the American Croatian Congress held in Chicago, Illinois on February 20-21, 1943. The Meeting was called by, L. Kerpan and Peter Obad, the temporary chairman and secretary, respectively. Many individuals, and numerous delegates from the following organizations attended the meeting: Yerba Buena, (No. 900) Zvonimir, (No. 610, Zvonimir-Dalmatia (No. 876) of the Croatian Fraternal Union; and from the Croatian-American (I.W.O.) and the Jugoslav Sokol Lodges. The purpose of the meeting was to organize an American Croatian organization which would work with the National Council of American Croatians for unlimited sacrifices on behalf of our New Country, America, for Jugoslav Unity, All Slavic Unity, and Unity among the United Nations in our war effort- to crush our fascist and Axis enemies! The American Croatians of San Francisco, at his meeting, organized themselves under the name of American-Croatian Council of San Francisco (Branch of the National Council of Americans of Croatian extraction). The officers selected for the New Council are: Antone Pilcovich, (one of the Vice-Presidents of the National Council,) President; M.J. Tudja- Vice-President; John Kazler,- Secretary; Emil Posich,- Assistant Secretary; J. Ivicevich,- Treasurer. The meeting also selected trusties for the Council: John Parac, John Franulovich, and Antone Petrusich. The Publicity Committee is composed of: Peter Obad (chairman), Matt Spoler, J.L. Kerpan, Mila Glogoski, and Leo Obojcich. In the near future the Council will hold a meeting at which its future plans and activities will be discussed and some of the plans will be adopted.

BAY SLAVIC GROUPS PLAN GRAND BALL FOR WW II VICTIMS

A gala 1943 new Year's Eve celebration centering around a grand ball at San Francisco's Civic Auditorium will be sponsored by seven Slavic groups, comprising some 32 Slavic organizations in the Bay area with a membership of 50,000. The event, a benefit for Russian, Yugoslav and Czechoslovakian war aid, will include among its participating nationalities Croatians, Serbians, Slovenes, Czechs, Slovaks, Russians and Ukrainians. Jacob M. Lomakin, consul general of the U.S.S.R., and Bohus Benes, consul general for Czechoslovakia, are honorary chairmen of the general arrangements committee of which Nick Boskovich is chairman. Girls in native costumes will be in attendance. Among them will be Helen Dulik (Czechoslovakia), Ann Pejovich (Yugoslavia), Olga Orloff (Russia), Zena Marshin (Russia) and Otilia Kurnick (Yugoslavia). The general arrangements committee, headed by Nick Boskovich, includes W.C. Storek, president of All Slavic Council of San Francisco; Peter Cengia, president of the Slavic American Council of the Eastbay and chairman of the publicity committee, and George Vukmanich, secretary of the All Slavic Council.

Adam S. Eterovich