Jason Kenney's Hero -- Archbishop Stepinac of Nazi-Occupied Croatia

Pathetic Attempt to Reverse the
Verdict of History

– Louis Lang –

Jason Kenney, Minister of Defence, who announced that Canada was sending troops to Ukraine has been one of the most active apologists for the atrocities committed by the neo-nazi forces of the Kiev government. Under the guise of defending the "independence" of Ukraine he is covering up the shelling and bombing in the Donbass area which has taken the lives of tens of thousands of Ukrainians.

Covering up and even glorifying fascism is nothing new for Mr. Kenney. He has often spoken proudly of one of his great heroes Cardinal Stepinac of Croatia. Mr. Kenny has often told the story of a picture which he has on his desk:

"I have on my desk in my office in Ottawa a prayer card with a picture of Cardinal Stepinac, who was himself a kind of martyr for Croatia and for the faith, and he, for me, is one of the great heroes of the 20th century."

An investigation into the history of Cardinal Stepinac tells us a lot not only about this convicted pro-Nazi war criminal but also about Minister Kenney who considers him a "martyr and a great hero of the 20'th century."

Who Was Cardinal Stepinac of Croatia?

When Hitler attacked the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941, the Ustashi,[1] including many Catholic priests who were among its members, directed active fighting in the rear of the regular Yugoslav army. This well-organized Fifth Column helped the German High Command in the conquest of Yugoslavia. After the defeat of the Yugoslav Army the Ustashi and fascist elements of the clergy, launched one of the most horrible massacres in recorded history. Of the two million Serbs who for centuries had lived peacefully among the Croats, the Ustashi program called for one-third of them to be expelled "back to Serbia" -- hundreds of thousands were driven from their villages and towns and their property stolen. Another third were to be murdered -- hundreds of thousands of Serbs were tortured and slaughtered in and out of concentration camps. The rest were "converted," under threat of torture and death, to the Roman Catholic faith. Torture and death were also the lot of Croatians who refused to support the quisling cause, and of the Jews.

The man under whose spiritual blessing and active support these monstrous crimes were committed was Aloysius Stepinac, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Zagreb.

Archbishop Stepinac was arrested in Zagreb on September 18, 1946, on charges of having participated in a conspiracy against the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia. The official indictment of 51 pages contained the charges against the Archbishop. Some of the charges include:

"During the war and enemy occupation, the defendant Aloysius Stepinac participated in political collaboration with the enemy, giving the enemy and his agents, the Ustashi, help during the entire period."

"On April 28, 1941, he issued an official circular to the clergy in the Zagreb archbishopric calling upon the priests to collaborate with the traitors, and told them to influence their parishioners to support the Independent State of Croatia. On June 26, 1941, as chairman of the bishops' conference, after a session at which it was decided to give wholehearted support to the Ustashi authorities, he led a group of Catholic bishops in an audience with Pavelic, and on that occasion greeted this fascist agent as head of the Independent State of Croatia and promised him sincere and loyal cooperation."

After ten days of hearing evidence, the court sentenced him, on October 11, 1946, to 16 years imprisonment at forced labor. With the world press in attendance at the trial, Archbishop Stepinac made no serious attempt to deny the charges.

The trial produced evidence that during the war Stepinac collaborated with Ante Pavelic, who had appointed himself fuhrer of the Independent State of Croatia. With Stepinac's knowledge and assistance the Ustashi set up the notorious Jasenovac concentration camp where hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews and Roma were slaughtered.

Stepinac was the the supreme military vicar in the army of the Independent State of Croatia and therefore held responsible for the monstrous crimes of the Roman Catholic priests who were members of the Ustashi and Domobar units. He was one of the initiators of the forcible conversion of the Orthodox Serbs. In a letter to Pope Pius XII in 1943 he reported that about 244,000 Serbs were forcibly converted.

The report of the trial published by the government of the Federal Peoples' Republic of Yugoslavia in 1947 revealed the vital role played by the Roman Catholic Church in supporting the puppet Pavelic government and collaborated directly with the German occupiers.

The following is from that document:

"Many priests worked directly in the Ustashi propaganda services, and some even in the Gestapo itself; others were active in the Ustashi party and army units. Archbishop Stepinac himself had connections with an agent of the Gestapo, Wilhelm Haeger. Hans Helm, police attaché in the German Legation in Zagreb, declared at his hearing September 3, 1945, that Archbishop Stepinac had very close contact with the Gestapo agent Haeger. Haeger performed many favors for Stepinac; among other things, he brought three Catholic priests from Czestochova, Poland. With the help of Archbishop Stepinac, Wilhelm Haeger was able to make a trip to Rome. In 1944 Haeger was ordained a Catholic priest in Vienna."

The Catholic Church has refused to acknowledge their involvement in these crimes in Croatia or the guilt of Stepinac. In fact he was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1998 as an "adored person in Croatia."

Efraim Zurof, director of the Wiesenthal Centre denounced the position of the Vatican saying that, "Everyone who has been an associate of Ante Pavelic and supported the activities of the Independent Croatian State should be declared a war criminal and not a saint. As soon as we get all the information, we shall address a letter of protest to the Vatican."

In June 2011, Pope Benedict XVI went to Croatia and visited the grave of Cardinal Stepinac. At that time it was reported in Belgrade that the Serbian Orthodox Church was shocked that the Pope did not visit Jasenovac and pay homage to the victims of the WWII concentration camp where close to 700,000 Serbs and over 100,000 Jews and Roma were killed.

Jason Kenney's Eternal Shame

Recruiting poster for the Croatian Ustasha SS (as in Nazi SS) Black Legion. The poster was aimed in part at Bosnian Muslims; hence, one soldier is shown wearing a fez, representing fanatical Islam, and the town in the background includes a mosque with a minaret. The top line reads: "Croats of Herzeg-Bosnia!" Underneath is the Nazi SS insignia, plus the Ustasha checkerboard flag, while the soldiers trample the Communist flag. The text reads: "The Great leaders Adolf Hitler and poglavnik [fuehrer] Dr. Ante Pavelic are calling you."

It is to the eternal shame of Jason Kenney and other ministers of the Harper conservatives who are trying to falsify the history of one of the most crucial periods in human history. Their pitiful glorification of war criminals like Stepinac is a disgrace for all Canadians and all peace loving people who fought and died fighting to eliminate the scourge of German fascism.

For Mr. Kenney it is not the fighters against Nazi oppression who are the heroes of the 20'th century. Instead he is proposing that Stepinac deserves to be praised, a man who at a crucial period in history when mankind faced the dangers of Hitlerite aggression and world domination by the most racist and militarist ideology, committed horrendous crimes against his own people and actively collaborated with German fascism.

Like Stepinac, who was convicted for his crimes, Mr. Kenney will learn that historical facts cannot be erased and no one can reverse the verdicts of history arrived at through the struggle of people for peace and freedom.

Note

1. The Ustashi was founded as an ultra-nationalist organization that functioned as a terrorist organization before WWII but in April 1941 they were appointed to rule the Axis occupied part of Yugoslavia as the Independent State of Croatia as a puppet state of Nazi Germany.

The excerpt below, from The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Peron's Argentina by Uki Goni, published in 2002, is typical of the vicious activities that the Ustashi carried out in the service of Nazi Germany:

A Gestapo report to Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler, dated 17 February 1942, stated:

"Increased activity of the bands [of rebels] is chiefly due to atrocities carried out by Usta e units in Croatia against the Orthodox population. The Usta e committed their deeds in a bestial manner not only against males of conscript age, but especially against helpless old people, women and children. The number of the Orthodox that the Croats have massacred and sadistically tortured to death is about three hundred thousand."

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