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| '''Magnum Crimen''' is a book first published in ] in 1948, describing ] in ] from 1900 until the end of the ]. The book was commissioned to aid in ]'s post war show trials. <ref name=Culture>{{cite book |last=Neubauer |first=John |title=History of the literary cultures of East-Central Europe |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=pV6sFB-KuU8C&pg=PA164&dq=%22magnum+crimen%22&lr=&sig=ACfU3U10TR3aU5wnwqd9cPPSlacNQ4G3kQ |accessdate=2008-06-30 |year=2004 |publisher=John Benjamin Publishing Company |isbn=9027234523 }}</ref> | |||
| '''Magnum Crimen''' is a study of ] in ] from the end of 19th century until the end of the ]. Its full title is ''Magnum crimen - pola vijeka klerikalizma u Hrvatskoj''<ref>Magnum crimen - pola vijeka klerikalizma u Hrvatskoj by Viktor Novak, Nakladni zavod Hrvatske, Zagreb 1948</ref> (The Great Crime - a half-century of clericalism in Croatia). Its author, Dr Viktor Novak, was a ] {{Fact|date=September 2008}} and professor and historian at ]{{Fact|date=September 2008}}. | |||
| The book, whose full title is ''Magnum crimen - pola vijeka klerikalizma u Hrvatskoj'' (The Great Crime - a half-century of clericalism in Croatia), was written by a ] and professor at ], Dr. Viktor Novak. Novak started work on the book long before ], but his central focus in it is the role and activities of the Church during the period of the ]. The book has been criticized for exaggerating the atrocities that occurred at ] in an attempt to slander the ].<ref>{{cite web |last= Harris |first= Robin |authorlink= Robin Harris |title= On Trial Again |work= Catholic Culture |publisher= Trinity Communications |url= http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=513 |accessdate= 2008-07-16}}</ref> | |||
| In his introduction to the book {{Fact|date=September 2008}} Novak says he collected documents and books relevant to the project over a period of more than 40 years which started when he had completed his secondary education. He continued this work as a student and as a seminarian in Rome and through his subsequent career as an academic{{Fact|date=September 2008}}. His original concept was a trilogy, of which the last part is ''Magnum crimen''. (The first two parts of the trilogy are ''Magnum tempus'' and ''Magnum sacerdos''.) | |||
| The book was first published in 1948, with a second edition published in 1986. | |||
| Novak states that he had to destroy all his collected material when ] forces destroyed Belgrade and occupied Yugoslavia in April 1941{{Fact|date=September 2008}}. He claims to have been among the first ten people arrested in Belgrade by the Germans{{Fact|date=September 2008}}. He resumed work on the book after liberation of Belgrade in October 1944. | |||
| ==References== | |||
| Having observed the activities of the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia for more than 50 years, he concluded that it had replaced idea of service to God with service to the Roman Curia - in other words to the Holy See in its temporal role in world affairs{{Fact|date=September 2008}}. This resulted in the Yugoslav hierarchy identifying itself with Croatian nationhood and led many religious and clergy into ardent support for the Ustashe.<ref>ibid., pages I-XV</ref> | |||
| ==Content== | |||
| Magnum crimen has two distinct parts. The first part has 15 chapters covering Catholic clericalism from the end of 19th century onwards, first in Austria-Hungary and subsequently in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The second part - the last four chapters - deals with the rise and fall of the ], established in 1941 as a client state of the Axis Powers and governed by the Ustaša. In particular this part of the book examines the extent to which the Catholic hierarchy and the Franciscan order supported the Ustaša regime and collaborated in its atrocities against its Serb, Jewish and the Roma minorities.{{Fact|date=September 2008}}. The book carries extensive references to documentary evidence and published sources (newspaper articles, books, speeches, court testimonies). | |||
| According to Magnum crimen, the main policies of the Roman Catholic Church in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were: | |||
| a) the clergy shall be paid by the state as state officials<br> | |||
| b) the state cannot have any control over the Church<br> | |||
| c) the Church is entitled to be fully involved in the political life of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia<br> | |||
| d) Catholic doctrine/religious education shall be a part of the primary and secondary school curricula<br> | |||
| e) the Catholic Church curricula in the schools shall be obligatory for pupils having at least one Catholic parent <ref>ibid., pages 158-159 </ref> | |||
| In order to achieve these goals, the hierarchy had been actively involved in preventing a separation of state and church in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia{{Fact|date=September 2008}}, through support for sympathetic political parties, through confrontation with other confessions - particularly the Serbian Orthodox Church - through preaching hatred against the Orthodox population, and by advocating Croatian and Slovene secession. | |||
| It is Novak's thesis that the ideas of Strossmayer - that service to God equated to serving the people<ref>ibid., page XIV</ref> and that introduction of the Old Slavonic language as the language of the Yugoslav hierarchy would help develop close relations between Croats and Serbs<ref>ibid., page 257: ''Uvođenje starog slavenskog jezika u bogosluženje katoličkih Hrvata Strossmayer je punih pet decenija smatrao kao jedno od sredstava za zbližavanje zapadne s istočnom crkvom. Napori Strossmayera, koje je on učinio za te ideale u Rimu, Petrogradu, Beogradu i na Cetinju, ogromnih su razmjera''</ref> - were aggressively suppressed by the Catholic hierarchies in Croatia and Slovenia{{Fact|date=September 2008}} which placed the Roman Curia between God and the laity, demanding ultimate obedience from the latter to the former{{Fact|date=September 2008}}. | |||
| Priests who remained faithful to the Strossmayer ideal were marginalized, the most ardent being excommunicated by the Zagreb archbishop{{Fact|date=September 2008}}. The hierarchy continued to revere Strossmayer himself, but according to Novak his teachings were distorted or ignored. The same destiny faced Rački, Trumbić, and Radić - three Croatian politicians advocating active support for Yugoslavism and togetherness among the Slavic people within the kingdom{{Fact|date=September 2008}}. Rački was not even allowed to attend the Strossmayer's funeral ceremony - even though he was an ordained Catholic priest and a true friend and follower of Strossmayer. The struggle by Trumbić and Radić gainst centralism was interpreted as support for Croatian and Slovene separatism{{Fact|date=September 2008}}. | |||
| Novak showed that even the anti-Croatian activities of the Italian fascists in the Croatian and Slovene lands which Italy had gained in reward for supporting the Entente side in WW1 - were not challenged by the Croatian and Slovene Roman catholic clergy in Yugoslavia{{Fact|date=September 2008}}. | |||
| Ante Pavelić's political activities in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Ustaša terrorism and the embracing of fascism was supported by some senior members of the Catholic hierarchy.<ref>ibid., page 9 Dr. Ivan Šarić: ''Mi smo Hrvati i katolici i to hoćemo da budemo. Zato se sastadosmo da pred cijelim svijetom izjavimo, od kojega nam mnogi ne daju, da se zovemo Hrvati, a drugi nam hoće da krate da smo katolici.''</ref>. | |||
| The latter chapters of Magnum crimen contain testimonies and documents showing the active involvement of the Catholic clergy in supporting, organizing, and executing extermination of Serbs, Jews, and Roma people during the Ustaša's four-year regime. Among many other details, Novak notes that three of those responsible for appalling crimes in the Jasenovac concentration camp, Matijević, Brekalo and Filipović - each of them former Catholic priests - had a chapel within the camp where they prayed each day{{Fact|date=September 2008}}. | |||
| Novak also addresses the defence entered by many Catholic clergy at the end of the WWII, that in letters and instructions directed to the hierarchy they had opposed forceful conversion to Catholicism and the extermination of minorities. He cites documents and testimonies in support of his argument that these letters and directions were not public and were in any case neither respected or followed. | |||
| ==Perception of the book as an academic reference== | |||
| Among scholars-historians this book is accepted as a powerful academic reference and as such it has been cited and referenced widely. Magnum crimen is available in the reference libraries of the world's most prestigious universities. | |||
| William P. Bundy <ref>Foreign Affairs Bibliography by Council on Foreign Relations, by William P. Bundy, Archibald Cary Coolidge, Council on Foreign Relations, Hamilton Fish Armstrong - vol. 57, no. 3 - page 340</ref> gave a short survey of this book, which reads: ''A Jugoslav historian's lengthy indictment of clericalism in Croatia over the past half-century. The latter half of the book, covering the period of "independent" Croatian state of Ante Pavelić on the basis of a wealth of material from many sources, pays particular attention to the role of Achbishop Stepinac.'' | |||
| However, there is a number of ultimate rejections of this book. Kljakić <ref> A Conspiracy of Silence: Genocide in the Independent State of Croatia and Concentration Camp Jasenovac by Slobodan Kljakic Published 1991 Ministry of Information of the Republic of Serbia. page 35</ref> wrote about this book: ''A major piece, written by the academician Viktor Novak, "Magnum Crimen" had been placed by the Vatican on the Index librorum prohibitorum, and anathema had been pronounced against the author.'' Neubauer <ref name=Culture>{{cite book |last=Neubauer |first=John |title=History of the literary cultures of East-Central Europe |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=pV6sFB-KuU8C&pg=PA164&dq=%22magnum+crimen%22&lr=&sig=ACfU3U10TR3aU5wnwqd9cPPSlacNQ4G3kQ |accessdate=2008-06-30 |year=2004 |publisher=John Benjamin Publishing Company |ISBN=9027234523 }}</ref> claims that this book was commissioned to aid in ]'s post war show trials. Harris <ref>{{cite web |last= Harris |first= Robin |authorlink= Robin Harris |title= On Trial Again |work= Catholic Culture |publisher= Trinity Communications |url= http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=513 |accessdate= 2008-07-16}}</ref>wrote that the book has been criticized for exaggerating the atrocities that occurred at ] in an attempt to slander the ]. | |||
| The book exists in six editions and there is an abridged version.<ref>Velika optužba (Magnum crimen) by Viktor Novak, Svjetlost Sarajevo 1960 (abridged) </ref> | |||
| ==Footnotes== | |||
| {{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| *Magnum tempus: ilirizam i katoličko sveštenstvo : ideje i ličnosti, 1830-1849 by Viktor Novak, Nova knjiga, Belgrade 1987 | |||
| *] | *] | ||
| *] | *] | ||
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Revision as of 15:08, 8 September 2008
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Magnum Crimen is a book first published in Zagreb in 1948, describing clericalism in Croatia from 1900 until the end of the Second World War. The book was commissioned to aid in Tito's post war show trials.
The book, whose full title is Magnum crimen - pola vijeka klerikalizma u Hrvatskoj (The Great Crime - a half-century of clericalism in Croatia), was written by a Catholic priest and professor at Belgrade University, Dr. Viktor Novak. Novak started work on the book long before World War II, but his central focus in it is the role and activities of the Church during the period of the Independent State of Croatia. The book has been criticized for exaggerating the atrocities that occurred at Jasenovac concentration camp in an attempt to slander the Catholic Church.
The book was first published in 1948, with a second edition published in 1986.
References
- Neubauer, John (2004). History of the literary cultures of East-Central Europe. John Benjamin Publishing Company. ISBN 9027234523. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- Harris, Robin. "On Trial Again". Catholic Culture. Trinity Communications. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
See also
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