Review article
Written statements of sworn witnesses in the Archive of the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna (1941-1991) about suffering of catholics of the Archdiocese during the Second World War and its aftermath
Pero Brajko
Abstract
A record of dead and missing Catholics during the Second World War and its aftermath, according to the arch(diocese) parish of baptism, has become a project ofthe Croatian Bishops’ Conference and the Bosnia and Herzegovina Bishops’ Conference. During their session in Lovran in October 2010, the Croatian bishops established the Commission for Croatian Martyrology, and at their session in Zagreb in March 2011, they approved the members of this commission. With the assistance of written statements of sworn witnesses in the archive of the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna, and as a member of the commission, the author presents a record of the suffering of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna during the Second World War and its aftermath. Archbishop Dr. Ivan Šarić had already in a circular letter of 12 May 1943 asked parish priests to provide information about the Catholic population and had invited them to provide information about victims and material damage in the Archdiocese. The Croatian Society for Culture, Napredak, actively participated in the project and established a Department for Destroyed Areas. The office of the Archbishop of Vrhbosna published a circular letter on 20 February 1949, “The Procedure of the Parish Priest Before Marriage”, and on 9 December 1950 issued further clarifications to parish priests regarding this procedure. In the archive of the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna there are 1,938 legal documents requiring a declaration that a person is dead or missing, under moral security and before the church assembly. In this way, the archive preserved over
5,000 original documents, which in the period between 1941 and 1991 arrived at the office of the Archbishop of Vrhbosna requiring legal resolution. These documents and statements about suffering are valuable, and despite the strength of the police and intelligence apparatus during the communist regime, have been maintained in the archive until today. This article presents summaries of the sworn statements of witnesses. The article mainly presents the names and surnames of the dead and missing victims regarding whom certification of death had been requested under moral security, and
column numbers under which their legal status is recorded in the official record of the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna.
Keywords
Second World War and its aftermath; Archdiocese of Vrhbosna; Archive of Archdiocese of Vrhbosna; written statements; suffering (death) of Catholics
Hrčak ID:
260586
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2016.
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