Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac of Zagreb and the Rescue of Jews, 1941–45

During World War II, Blessed Alojzije (Aloysius) Stepinac, archbishop and later cardinal of Zagreb (1898–1960), took action to rescue several hundred individuals associated with Croatia’s Jewish community, more than 1000 Jews in mixed marriages, and a number of others in danger from the Nazis. Using archival evidence, survivor testimonies, and other documentation, the author discusses how Stepinac reacted to the policies of the Nazi- and fascist-sponsored Ustaše regime and used his position in the Church to promote the rescue of Jews, supported by his moral convictions and Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone, Benedictine abbot and Pope Pius XII’s apostolic visitor to Croatia.