Spokes In The Wheel For Truth For Croatian Alojzije Stepinac

February 9, 2020 by inavukic 13 Comments

Poster for documantary film: Stepinac – Cardinal and his Conscience

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the death of Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, the Croatian Catholic University and Interfilm held at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb on Saturday, February 8, the premiere of the new documentary film “Stepinac: The Cardinal and His Conscience”, authored by Croatia’s acclaimed writer, journalist, screenplay writer and its director Visnja Staresina.

Reportedly, Staresina has been preparing for the film for ten years. Her aim is said to have been to avoid the way Cardinal Stepinac has so far been portrayed through the Croatian-Serbian disagreements, in which the Serbian propaganda machine had constantly insisted on painting Cardinal Stepinac as a Ustashe collaborator despite the fact that post-2000 historical research, when Yugoslav Archives were open to researchers in Croatia, prove beyond any doubt that Stepinac in fact rescued many persecuted Jews. Of particular note are most thorough historical research findings by USA historian dr. Esther Gitman.

“When I started working on the film, I was surprised at the way in which Alojzije Stepinac was perceived out there. For example, my reference was the American media out there, and I tried to make sure that the participants in the film are the people who are not part of this existing paradigm,” said Staresina last week.

In this new documentary, Stepinac’s involvement in rescuing Jews during WWII is enveloped in the story of Renata, a girl whose entire family disappeared in the Holocaust during WWWII in Croatia. She emigrated to Israel in 1952 and decided to forget everything. The film reconstructs and follows the rescue of Renata Bauer.

In this documentary film “I let him (Stepinac) speak through his sermons, through his letters, through his spiritual testament, where you see him condemning racism since 1937, not 1942 or ’43. New York Times, articles published by the Jewish News Agency in 1943, which mention sermons from the Archbishop of Zagreb. It wasn’t very simple to say these things at the time, and it wasn’t easy to become news in the New York Times,” Staresina comments on her film.

This documentary film has been translated into English so that it can reach more people throughout the world, and the aim of its author is to get as many people as possible to know the truth about Cardinal Stepinac.

Croatian National Theatre Zagreb
Premiere of film “Stepinac – Cardinal and his Conscience”
Photo: Pixsell

Among other things, the film “Stepinac: Cardinal and His Conscience” reveals how Stepinac, as a human being, a man and Archbishop of Zagreb, faced and dealt with the greatest challenges of the 20th century. For Alojzije Stepinac that challenge was, undoubtedly, how to execute good deeds and save as many persecuted people from sure death as possible. This indeed was no easy task in the madness of a vicious war where the fight for independence (of Croatia) and the fight against that independence (to retain Yugoslav federation of states) took the nation into often dark pursuits for victory (as all wars do), regardless of whose that victory may surface as the outcome of the war. The film delves into the challenge of talking about the global and universal significance of Stepinac’s work; it explores the reasons why his character and the works that accompany him are not globally accepted and grounded on the truth to this day.

Apart from emphasising the relevance of Stepinac’s exemplary actions and morality, which contain messages that are applicable universally to this day, this documentary film, filled with Stepinac’s courageous and righteous actions despite fatal adversities, fits so aptly into the story of Croatia within the 20^th century Europe.

Stepinac’s personal involvement in organising the rescue of Jews during WWII Croatia is presented in this documentary film through interviews with historians, researchers, as well as through personal testimonies of Holocaust survivors and their descendants; likewise, through testimonies of descendants of families who participated in these WWII rescue operations.

At the film’s premiere, its director and screenwriter Visnja Staresina stated that her guiding idea was to make a film that would show why Stepinac was globally relevant in his time, not just at Croatian local levels. “From the moment he was elected the youngest bishop in the world, through his anti-racist sermons reaching out from conquered Europe, from the Independent State of Croatia to the free world as a rarity, through the trials that made him globally known and the condemnation of the trials that provoked major protests from New York to Chicago and Dublin seeking his release. Finally, at the time of his death, leading commentators wondered what would happen between the Church and the communist regimes now,” said Staresina.

Cardinal Josip Bozanic (C) dr Zeljko Tanjic (R)
Photo: Pixsell

The Catholic University of Croatia in Zagreb joined this documentary film project primarily because Blessed Cardinal Stepinac, in addition to being an important church and historical figure, is also the patron saint of that University. Since its founding in 2006 the University has been involved in various ways with view to making the truth about blessed Stepinac known worldwide. Many public lectures have been given about him, students had opportunities to study the character and work of Blessed Stepinac through elective subjects, and professors participated in various conferences and scientific conferences. The Croatian Catholic University, together with the Archdiocese of Zagreb in 2016, organised a scientific conference attended by historians from Croatia and Serbia, and a large collection of papers on the Blessed Archbishop Stepinac and the Serbs in Croatia in the Context of World War II and Post-War was published. Together with the publishing house Christian Contemporaneity (Kršćanska sadašnjost), the University also published a book by Dr. Esther Gitman, “Alojzije Stepinac – Pillar of human rights” (2019).

“We are convinced that with the image, the word and the new testimonies presented in this film about blessed Alojzije will once again show the greatness of a man who, in the difficult years of Croatian and European history, was faithful to his call, resolutely and courageously, advocating especially for the endangered, led the Zagreb Church. To those who had not met him the film will give the opportunity to do so and encourage them to reflect upon his person. And also, for those who disagree with us the film gives the opportunity to evaluate his work and gives another documented insight into his life and work,” said at the premiere the Croatian Catholic University Rector Dr. Zeljko Tanjic.

Visnja Staresina (C) Esther Gitman (CR)
at the premiere of film: Stepinac – Cardinal and his Conscience
Photo: ika.hkm.hr

The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine. Have you ever heard that quote? It’s actually a paraphrase of an ancient Greek proverb. The Greek biographer Plutarch referred to this proverb in the first century A.D. when he made the following complaint. He said: “Thus, I do not see what use there is in those mills of the gods said to grind so late as to render punishment hard to be recognised, and to make wickedness fearless.”

One of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow‘s translations was a 17th century poem, ‘Retribution,’ by Friedrich Von Logau: “Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all.”

The analogy I venture to bring here is related to the fact that even though ample evidence of Alojzije Stepinac’s good deeds in rescuing Jews and other persecuted people during WWII those to whose advantage it is to continue suppressing this truth and continue promoting the Serb-led (or communist Yugoslavia-led) fabrications about his collaboration with the Nazi’s are not likely to abandon their wicked ways any time soon. Why? Well, to bring out the obvious, it is of political advantage to them to continue walking in dark corridors where truth has no chance of being illuminated. And so, regretfully, instead of turning in the right direction, the wheels of justice for blessed Alojzije Stepinac on the international level have mainly been turning in the other direction, grinding out stones that become even coarser. That has sadly been the power of politics and political interests.

The problem is that political interference which has had a devastating effect on the truth ever since the trumped-up charges against Stepinac by Yugoslavia’s communist regime in 1945 continues in many ways. The communist Yugoslavia totalitarian regime ensured that the willingness and ability to investigate injustice and corruption that would show the communists up as liars and falsifiers of history was suffocated and incapacitated. This went on until 1990’s when Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia and only since then were all researchers able to access the archives and the truth. But even when a significant mass of that truth was found to not resemble the truth communists were peddling for decades, that illuminated real truth continued to be treated with some scepticism and avoidance by even the politicians in power in Croatia, majority of whom belonged to the communist echelons of former Yugoslavia! Such cold and apparently dismissive reception of the truth, which in fact redeems Alojzije Stepinac from all the communist trumped-up charges, from all the false accusations regarding his deeds or “omissions” during WWII, is in fact part and parcel of what still goes on in Croatia: corruption and fraud perpetrated by well-connected politicians and by their allies and like-minded persons in the country and outside it. If it weren’t like that, then even common sense tells us that the Croatian government would have long ago stood behind the clearing of Stepinac’s name through research and presentation of findings and opened up its “wallet” to support such projects. It has not done that and the presentation of truth that is of national importance (because the brush that tarnished Stepinac also tarnished the freedom-loving Croatian people) still remains within the realms of good will of people and institutions willing to back such projects financially.

Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac (inset photo of Zeljko Tanjic)
Photo: Screenshot Croatian TV

This is why this documentary film by Visnja Staresina (2020), why books by Esther Gitman (“When Courage Prevailed The Rescue and Survival of Jews in the Independent State of Croatia 1941-1945”; “Alojzije Stepinac – Pillar of Human Rights”) and dr. Robin Harris (“Stepinac: His Life and Times”), the documentary film “When Truth Prevails” authored by Jadranka Juresko-Kero (2011) and other many works on this subject are crucial spokes on the wheel of justice and truth not only regarding Alojzije Stepinac but also regarding Croatia during WWII and after. The wheel of justice turns in the right direction by the force of these spokes despite the political sabotage of the truth. Ina Vukic

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Alojzije Stepinac, Aloysius Stepinac, Cardinal Josip Bozanic, Communist Yugoslavia, Esther Gitman, Independent State of Croatia, Jadranka Juresko-Kero, Rescue of Jews in Worl War Two Croatia, Robin Harris, Steipnac - Cardinal and his Conscience, Visnja Staresina, Zeljko Tanjic

Croatia: Bleiburg Massacres Victims Still Hostages Of Communist Ideology

May 17, 2015 by inavukic 43 Comments

President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic
At Bleiburg Massacres monument 13 May 2015
Photo: Office of the President, Croatia

Croatian media sources say some 30,000 and Austrian sources say some 50,000 people gathered at the Bleiburg field in Austria on Saturday 16 May 2015 to bow and pay respects to the post-WWII victims of heinous communist crimes.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the terrible deaths suffered at the hands of the communists who still hide their crimes by rubbing shoulders with the allies and the allied efforts to bring freedom and democracy to nations of Europe.

After WWII ended, in May 1945, several hundreds of thousands of Croats – unarmed soldiers of the WWII Independent State of Croatia and civilians – made their way out of Croatia wanting to surrender to the allies but were murdered after the British army refused to accept the surrender and turned them over to Josip Broz Tito’s Yugoslav army. A large number were slaughtered in the Bleiburg field itself and many died in the following months on marches across Croatia and Yugoslavia – known as the Way of the Cross.

While none of Croatia’s government top-ranking figures were present in Bleiburg on Saturday, as for instance they were at Jasenovac in April, the leader of the parliamentary opposition – Croatian Democratic Union/HDZ, Tomislav Karamarko, was and so were many political and church leaders, including Cardinal Josip Bozanic, the Archbishop of Zagreb.

Centre: Cardinal Josip Bozanic
at Bleiburg 16 May 2015
Photo: Zarko Basic/Pixsell

“Seventy years ago, a large part of Europe and the world celebrated liberation from totalitarian ideologies of evil, and what Croatia remembers about May 1945 are horrible massacres, crimes against humanity committed under the symbol of the five-pointed star,” said Bozanic at Bleiburg.

The cardinal recalled that in 1945, unlike Western Europe, in Croatia and some other central and east European countries one totalitarian regime was replaced by another totalitarian regime and that Nazi-fascism was replaced by communism.

“For us, the establishment of the communist totalitarian system meant the beginning of new persecutions, imprisonment and killing of innocent people; pits and foibas (sinkholes) and mass graves that have not been located and investigated yet testify to that,” said Bozanic.

“It’s finally the time that those responsible for these terrible victims are named…Croatian social-democracy will never be a true social-democracy until it distances itself from the crimes of Josip Broz Tito, only when they do that will the Croatian Left be born,” said Tomislav Karamarko at Bleiburg.

Front: Tomislav Karamarko,
Leader of the Opposition/HDZ
At Bleiburg 16 May 2015
Photo: hrt.hr

President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović travelled alone to Bleiburg, to Macelj and to Tezno (all a handful from hundreds of mass graves or communist mass murder sites) on Wednesday 13 May, to pay her respects away from the media attention. She laid wreaths and bouquets of flowers, with the following words on her mind and her lips:
“The end of the Second world war and the victory over Nazism, to which the Croatian people significantly contributed, also marked the beginning of one of the most tragic chapters in Croatian history. In just a few post-war months multitudes of captured soldiers and civilians were either murdered or perished from torture and exhaustion…While showing respect to the victims of the Way of the Cross at Bleiburg, in Tezno and Macelj, I have a moral duty to condemn the regime that persecuted and murdered people. A crime is a crime and it cannot be justified by any ideology.”

President Grabar-KItarovic
at Macelj massacre site 13 May 2015
Photo: Office of the President, Croatia

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said and Defence Minister Ante Kotromanovic paid their respects to the victims of the Way of the Cross marches on Friday 15 May in Tezno. Crimes committed by Communists at the end of World War II have stained “a just fight” and Croatia today condemns all crimes committed in the name of any ideology, Milanovic and Leko said.

The past cannot be changed, but for the sake of new generations, crimes committed in the name of any ideology must be condemned, Parliament Speaker Leko said.

“I came here for the people who were killed at the end of a war. This is a tragic, horrible event, which puts a stain on a just fight and one should not run from it, nor do I run from it. I am here as Croatia’s prime minister and statesman,” Croatia’s Prime Minister said before laying a wreath at the site.

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic
at mass grave Tezno
15 May 2015
Photo: Cropix

What a shame Milanovic did not bother to make as lengthgy a speech at Tezno as he did less than a month ago at Jasenovac! But then again, if he were ready to make a speech at Tezno or any other communist crimes mass grave site he would have to condemn his beloved communist regime as loudly as he condemned the pro-Nazi regime at Jasenovac. That of course, is not yet to be – sadly – but perhaps these words spoken at Tezno suggest former communists and today’s followers of the communist Yugoslavia leading criminal Josip Broz Tito, such as Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, are making small steps towards full condemnation of horrific crimes committed in the name of communism? It’s difficult to say because all of that red gang stays away from Bleiburg – most likely because it has become a worldwide, reciognisable, symbol of communist Yugoslavia and Tito terror and murderous rampage against humanity and human rights.

The topic of Bleiburg massacres and those along “the Way of the Cross”, where communist death camps grew like mushrooms after rain, was a taboo in communist Yugoslavia. Exact records of numbers that perished have not surfaced as yet, not even the number of civilians, and one is well justified in saying Tito’s communists buried them. However, if one considers the fact that towards the end of WWII the government of Ante Pavelic’s Independent Croatia united or blended into one army the Ustashi (Nazi-collaborating forces) and the Home Guard forces (defenders of Croatian territory from internal and external enemies), thus reaching the number of over 100,000 soldiers, that sources say at least 80% of them had followed the order to retreat, it’s likely that those retreating unarmed soldiers took at least 60,000 civilians with them as they reached Bleiburg. It’s important to note that, towards the end of WWII, while many Home Guards were united into the state army with the Ustashi, quite a number of them defected into the communist Partisan forces and there were also many who wanted nothing to do with either Ustashi or the Partisans, and if captured by either were executed. Further hundreds of thousands more were murdered along the years of Tito’s communist purges and Bleiburg symbolises these deaths as well.

These heinous crimes committed at Bleiburg and along “the Way of the Cross” at the end of WWII and after it, had taken away every right from Tito’s communists to call themselves antifascists. Unlike with other antifascist movements in Europe, these crimes committed by the “antifascist” communists removed any chance of democracy Croatia might have had after WWII. Using the legitimacy of antifascist fight (“the good fight”) Yugoslav communists had established a murderous totalitarian regime and a dictatorship.

The Bleiburg tragedy especially serves as a political jumping-board because it has not been closed, it has left many questions unanswered, especially those to do with murder and extermination of innocent people and why Tito’s communists decided to treat the Home Guards the same as they treated the Ustashi, those responsible for the running of the Holocaust concentration camps. Most Ustashi leaders had fled to South America after WWII, were not among the masses of civilians and soldiers murdered at Bleiburg – who, in this terrible way, were made to carry the full burden and pay for all the crimes committed by the Ustashi regime. The victims of Bleiburg paid with their lives without knowing what it was that they had done!

This injustice continues to this day and it’s a problem of ideological dispute in the daily politics of Croatia; this problem is a much bigger problem than the actual murderous event of Bleiburg 1945. The innocent victims of communist crimes have still not received the full recognition and afforded the full piety they deserve because today’s government and left-winged political elites have monumental difficulties in separating innocent victims from the political ideology others pin them to or the murders from the political ideology that sees communism as force for freedom.

Bleiburg massacres were not revenge killings by communist or antifascists against “fascist” regime of WWII – they were murder of innocent Croatian people.

These murdered victims are held hostage before our very own 21st century eyes by the former communists or the so-called antifascists who keep saying murder of innocent people was justified because “fascism was bad and antifascism was the good fight”. Today’s “antifascists” of Croatia derive their reasoning from the former totalitarian communist regime and are in some ways marked or branded by the same totalitarian regime (that is the case with all who subscribe to or are affected by any totalitarian regime). Their daily political discourse is essentially an ideological conflict that makes them enemies of Croatian national interests, not merely members of political parties that make up what is supposed to be a healthy political discourse that will move the nation closer to fairness and full democracy. The innocent victims of the Holocaust, of camp Jasenovac… have never been treated in such horrid ways as victims of communist crimes have been and the only way to justice is that the political elites subscribing to the glorification of Tito’s antifascists make a radical shift in their thinking and turn towards actual human justice – not appalling and meritless political justification. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Ante Pavelic, antifascists, Bleiburg massacres, Cardinal Josip Bozanic, communist crimes, Communist Yugoslavia, Croatia, Domobrani, Home Guard, Josip Broz Tito, Macelj, Partisans, Tezno, Tomislav Karamarko, Ustashi, victims of communist crimes, Zoran Milanovic

Croatia: Sex Education Causes Calamitous Rift In Society

January 14, 2013 by inavukic 28 Comments

Education Minister Zeljko Jovanovic and Archbishop Josip Bozanic Photo: Cropix

Education Minister Zeljko Jovanovic and Cardinal Josip Bozanic
Photo: Cropix

Croatian government and the Croatian Catholic Church have been at serious loggerheads, to say the least, since the government announced late last year its new school health education plan, which includes sex education in all its “modern-day” imagery, facets, spectrum. Suffice to say, the government would not budge from its plan to implement the program to school children that has caused enormous discomforts, distress, fury, and downright (futile) rejection from much of the community. To put fuel on this sorry “state of the nation”, a TV program (Picture of Croatia/Slika Hrvatske), produced by TV journalist Karolina Vidovic-Kristo, went under “the knife” as soon as it broadcasted the episode that examined possible correlation between the results of studies with pedophiles and school sex education (issues raised in association with the Kinsey Syndrome documentary). One would have thought that the media has the duty to offer the public information on all facets in and around a socially important issue such as sex education in schools – but, the powers that be think differently; they’ve made up their minds and nothing will stop them – or will it?

A two-way street of barrages of insults, cynicism, sarcasm … between the Church and the Government opened, just before Christmas Day, with saddening tides for celebrations of the birth of Jesus Christ. I say saddening because the 2011 census showed that there are 86.28% (of total population) Catholics in Croatia. I would have expected the Government to announce its seemingly controversial school sex education curriculum at some other time in the year, not so close to one of the most celebrated religious days in the year for so many of its constituents. As in any country, sex education in schools is a sensitive issue and usually carefully vetted, discussed or tested through parents’ associations etc. Whether a parent has the right to decide how sex education will be delivered in the school their child attends is a moot question that touches upon morality and social responsibility. The governments, on the other hand, have the responsibility to deliver education and, hence, dialogues are essential between all concerning parties, including the Church.

Productive dialogue has not been achieved between the Church and the Government on this issue of sex education. It’s almost like the two are asserting their points of view forcefully and the umpire (the parent/the people) is confused, but at times using distasteful means to bring their own issues to the front. E.g., hundreds of people turned up January 12 in front of Zagreb’s Cathedral to witness, to protest or to participate in the so-called “kiss your neighbour” rally: LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) rights groups kissing in public, thus demonstrating their disapproval of the Church’s views on homosexuality and its place in school sex education, and the “war of words” that had been raging between the Church and the Government. The LGBT groups have announced a new rally under the banner: “Rally for secularism”! Well – one doesn’t need to look far to see where from those winds might be blowing (given that ex-Communists are in Government)! But, the critical thing here is that they don’t seem to be behaving any differently (more tolerantly) from that which they’re saying needs change, and are rallying against! The truth is that schools in Croatia are secularised, they’re public, the government is secular/separated from church, etc. so what does “Rally for secularism” mean? To deny people’s personal right to choose to believe, to belong to a church…?

The schools reopen after the winter recess on Monday 14 January and if one is to go by several media reports many parents are boycotting (not sending their children to school) sex education lessons and the Minister for Education, Zeljko Jovanovic, has threatened that their children will be marked as “AWOL” (absent without leave)! You accumulate several of those in a year and you’re in big trouble with your school grades!

In light of all of the above, and more, on the issue of belief, good and bad, I thought it most soothing to translate dr. Slobodan Lang’s article and post it here. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Christmas Education in Croatia

By dr. Slobodan Lang

(Translated into English by: Ina Vukic)

Christmas day is a day of joy and hope, goodness is in achieving Jesus, Croatia is entering into the European Union, faith, family, human rights, education, health … During recent days Croatia was filled with debates on all subjects. We would, therefore, rightfully expect that we had welcomed the birth of baby Jesus with joy and that we had shown him that we welcome him among the people and in the country that has accepted the responsibility of goodness.

It wasn’t like that, regardless of whom we’re talking about, about priests, politicians, media, organisations. Most had placed an accent on him/herself and increased the polarisation and division among people. It’s not important at all what badness was uttered or written by whom about somebody else. What’s important is that almost nobody talked about the good.

This Christmas we all saw and were warned that Croatia lives more in the civilisation of bad than good. Most Croatian people are good people, and they know how to be good in their families, in organisations, in church, in Unions … but we do not know how to be good people in togetherness for creating Croatia.

The most valuable messages were sent, on 9th January, by President Ivo Josipovic and Archbishop Zelimir Puljic: « that, in relation to health education, good will, patience, responsibility and a sincere readiness for talks – the foundation for communication in areas of political and civil life».

Incongruous debates about health education for school children suggest that education about the good is needed for all adults in Croatia.

Croatia will either create a society of good or it will cease to exist. This goes for the whole of the Western civilisation, Europe, and perhaps (I’m relatively uninformed) for the whole world.

Pope John Paul II called upon us to create the theology of work, we want to be more, than to have more. He especially warned the Communist societies not to fall for false and dangerous dreams of the society based on consumerism, which devastates the future.

Is Christmas in today’s West and Croatia a celebration of Jesus’ birth or a celebration of a consumer society?

My family, Catholic and Jewish, filled with joy, has celebrated the Orthodox Christmas. On that day a new member of our family was born. Due to the risky pregnancy his mother spent four moths in bed. The hospital doctors and nurses provided help and cared for her all that time, her priest visited her regularly and prayed with her and an another mother in the hospital room, grandmother came regularly and helped, the whole family was enmeshed in good, even I myself was useful for some things (I brought Rosary Beads from Medjugorje). The mother is the first employer in our lives and she carries the responsibility of the love needed for us to be born and to start our lives in the community. Breastfeeding is the first work. From the very beginning children should, with their work in their family, do good for everyone, and in school the pupils need to do the cleaning by themselves, how many days has there been without aggression – needs to be written on the blackboard – have lessons started on time … Work begins much before employment, and we work for love, friendship, help, much before and much more than we do for money. Does this testimony belong to health and sex education?

Let’s conduct a research, do belief, attending Mass and prayer encourage blood donations, helping the neighbour, humanitarian work, help with employment, care for the elderly, comforting the depressed, material support, empathy. Would we not, in this way, get a better picture about goodness than by the level of education, by nationality, age or gender.

People are social and moral beings. When we face danger we also react as members of groups, first – immediately, instinctively and emotionally, and then – with deliberation and rationality. Belief helps us to realise our deliberation and prudence as quickly as possible. Fast reaction can sometimes be useful, but it leads to conflicts and disintegration. A slower reaction leads to deliberation, connects the community, strengthens Altruism and conquers negative emotions. God does not exist in order to give us our safety or to support us in our conflict with anyone. As believers, we are obligated to send messages and do deeds of goodness. Religion must not serve for the justification of conflicts and hatred – when that happens it is no longer the belief in God.

People who are not believers must aspire to lead a life of goodness, and to be able to publicly express and show that they morally accept the common good. Today’s world needs a new Universal declaration on human duty. Regardless of whether we are believers or not, we all should accept the duty of generosity, magnanimity, goodness and positive ethics, and reject the inherited biases, rapaciousness, selfishness, aggression, quarrels …

The short public debate on sex education has demonstrated that today’s Croatia has no vision as to what it wants us to build in togetherness.

A certain Croatian “meeting at the top” was held in the Cathedral. Cardinal Bozanic has in his sermon expressed dissatisfaction with the new program for schools. The President and the Prime Minister of Croatia were listening to him. If they were believers they would know to go to the Sacristy after the Mass and organise a meeting to discuss the matter. As politicians they could have thought about these matters and formally invited church representatives to a meeting. Regretfully, human weakness and separation, instead of clarification and linking with one another, prevailed. After that, the lack in their communication turned into the plunging out of members of the now conflicting sides, including agitating followers into conflicts between one another. The climax was “the war of kisses” in front of the Cathedral on 12th January. In my youth we had a slogan “Make love, not war”. Reagan reacted: “It seems that this generation doesn’t know how to do either.” In the defence of and in creating Croatia we showed that we know how to do both.

The Prime Minister, Mr Milanovic, requested a ceasefire. The debate on health education in schools clearly demonstrated to him that the whole of Croatia urgently and essentially needs a joint vision of goodness.

God’s announcement of Jesus Christ as one of the people represents the ultimate trust of God in people and the people’s responsibility towards God. There is no Universal man after the fort of Babylon; all live their short lives within defined nations and time. Jesus Christ was born 2000 years ago, among Jews in Israel, which already had its faith and Shrine, but it was under the Roman authorities. Jews were preparing an aggressive revolt against Rome. Jesus was aware that this would not give Jews their freedom but, rather, a military defeat, unjust judgment and peril. That’s why, with actions from man to man, he showed that it is possible to do good, he gathered them and educated them, and finally at the mount he called upon people to jointly build the world of good, through non-aggression and humanity. As not enough Jews accepted him, but continued to prepare for an aggressive revolt against Rome, he decided to warn them of what is to come for them, using himself as example. He exposed himself to an unjust judgment, torture and death. Soon, he appeared again before his followers and awakened in them the power of faith. The remaining Jews raised, in 66 C.E., the revolt that brought the greatest catastrophe in Jewish life, before the Holocaust. Today, the Jews consider this revolt as a terrible mistake. Regretfully, since Jews do not believe in Christ, they have not to this day understood that he called for abandonment of the world of wars and aggression, and showed that every man can do good, and that a nation can only realise its freedom in the company of good. On the other hand, Christians had not for a long time given meaning to the fact that Jesus dedicated his human life to helping and teaching every man and the whole community. In this way they separated Calvary from time before and after.

John Paul II apologised for the historical mistakes of the church and Benedict XVI dedicated special attention to ties with the Rabbi. I personally believe that Jesus’ lesson is good, an invitation, equally to believers and non-believers, to join with each other and build a civilization of good, and the Croatia of good. Jesus himself lived by doing good and not by persecuting evil, which he either rejected (the Devil) or banished from the place of responsibility.

Turning back to health, human rights, school, church and politics. People live significantly longer in the European Union (which we are joining) than in Croatia. The most terrible thing is that people here could live longer if a national health program was developed. This is possible only through a national goal. Croatia is aging and the population is getting smaller. It’s possible to change both, but only through a national goal.

The whole of Europe has lived very long in following the civilization of evil, dividing people into valuable and invaluable people, till the final Nazi introduction of even non-people. After WWII Nazis were defeated and there were proclamation of human rights, humanitarian principles, righteous among nations. A further 20 years was needed for the West to free itself from racism and colonialism, and then a further 20 years for the communist totalitarianism to fall.

Advocating for the equality of all is, in today’s world, a precondition and the duty of all people who want to build Europe and who believe in Jesus Christ. The majority, the minorities and the individuals are equal. That has been implemented with the Jews, racially, gender-wise, religiously, and nationally. Equality for the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) group is being implemented in 21st Century Europe and U.S.A. Among them, throughout history, were the greats like Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo. How large is their contribution to all of us, in philosophy, in the arts, in politics … LGBT will realise their rights in Europe and in Croatia.

Let’s conclude with Jesus. He began to exist – he was conceived and killed – crucified, on the same day, 25th March. Christmas, 25th December, the day of his birth was chosen because it is nine months after conception. Both, faith and humanity obligate to full truth and do not permit the behaviour and the approach based on divisions between knowledge and ignorance. Let’s embrace responsibility, work and good – we need Easter.

____________________________

Dr Slobodan Lang Photo: Pixsell

About dr. Slobodan Lang. Born to Jewish family 8 October 1945 in Zagreb, Croatia. Physician, author, writer, politician and former personal adviser to the first Croatian President dr. Franjo Tudjman. His paternal grandfather Ignjat was the president of the Jewish community in Vinkovci (Croatia) and his grandmother Terezija was a housewife. In 1941 Catholic priest Hijacint Bošković, distinguished Dubrovnik and Croatian Dominican, was engaged in an extraordinary attempt to rescue the Langs from Nazi persecution. Bošković traveled from Dubrovnik to Vinkovci with a special permit that allowed him to relocate the Langs to Dubrovnik. Langs grandfather refused to leave, saying that he “was the president of Jews in peace and he will stay one in the war”. Both of his grandparents were killed in the concentration camp during the Holocaust. He graduated at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine and is a specialist in social medicine. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slobodan_Lang)