At the end of World War Two, thousands of Nazi war criminals escaped justice through underground channels known as “ratlines”, through which false passports, money and tickets to travel were proivided by the Vatican. During World War Two, the government of Ante Pavelic infused local Catholicism with the same sort of intolerance that is so visible in Islam today. Thousands of Serbs were forcibly converted to Catholicism. Those who refused toconvert were stripped of their property and thrown into concentration camps.
Globe Tribune. Info presents the folowing documentaries on the role of the Catholic Church during and after World War TWo. The first documentary “Ratlines” is dubbed from English into Serbian and subtitled in English. The second documentary, God Of Croats (Bog I Hrvati),is a Serbian documentary with English subtitles about the Croatian Fascists, known as the Ustasha. It can be expected that a Serbian documentary will have its own biases. Despite this, one must remember that tens of thousands of people in the former Yugoslavia have bitter memories of loved ones who were brutally murdered by perpetrators who were never brought to justice. Although the Catholic Church plays a positive role in the United States, it has all too often played a chameleonic role in local conflicts, of which Croatia during World War Two is the most glaring example. Sadly enough, those who resisted Nazi tyranny did so all too often as individuals rather than with the support of a church.
Most faiths have a principle that one must first admit to oneself one’s sins, then confess to G-d and then to set things straight with one’s neighbour. This obligation is no less incumbent upon corporate, government and religious entities. The sins of the Catholic Church have been written in the sand, and are here to see in these two gripping documentaries.
