Gregorij Rožman

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Bishop Gregorij Rožman (1920s)

Gregor (also Gregorij) Rožman (born March 9, 1883 in Dolintschitschach , Slovenian: Dolinčice , Carinthia ; † November 16, 1959 in Cleveland , Ohio , USA ) was Bishop of Ljubljana ( Laibach ) in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia .

From the perspective of the Yugoslav resistance and the later communist Tito regime, he collaborated with the Italian and German occupying powers during World War II .

biography

Rožman studied Catholic theology in Klagenfurt . He was ordained a priest on July 21, 1907 and received his doctorate in Vienna in 1912 . From 1914 to 1919 he was prefect in Klagenfurt's small seminary and lecturer in canon law ; from 1919 to 1929 he taught this subject at the theological faculty in Laibach (Ljubljana) in the young SHS state . On May 17, 1929 he became coadjutor of Ljubljana Bishop Anton Bonaventura Jeglič and titular bishop of Semta . He received his episcopal ordination on July 14, 1929 by his diocesan bishop. The Prince-Bishop of Gurk-Klagenfurt, Adam Hefter , refused, for political reasons, to act as co-consecrator at the episcopal ordination. Afterwards Vicar General , Gregorij Rožman became Bishop of Ljubljana on May 17, 1930.

After the occupation of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers , the Italians left the Catholic clergy in their parish offices in their zone of occupation, the province of Laibach (Provincia di Lubiana) and promised the Slovenes cultural and linguistic autonomy. Through Rožman's mediation, the Italians allowed the Slovenian refugees from the German-occupied and partially destroyed part of Slovenia to settle in the province of Ljubljana. As a result, Rožman assured the Italian High Commissioner Emilio Grazioli of his loyalty on April 20, 1941 . In view of the increasing repression of the Italians, he conferred on September 12, 1942 with representatives of various parties. In a memorandum to Grazioli on September 26, 1942, he complained that the Italians did not grant the Slovenes the promised autonomy.

Rožman (center) in conversation with the Slovenian General Rupnik (left) and SS-General Rösener (1944/45)

Rožman was not actively involved in building up the anti-communist White Guards and Domobranzen , but made sure that the Slovenian soldiers serving there were supported by several Slovenian field chaplains . There is evidence of his presence at the swearing-in of Domobranzen on April 20, 1944, Adolf Hitler's birthday, in the Bežigrad stadium in Ljubljana. He repeatedly rejected contacts with the Osvobodilna Fronta , the liberation front with its partisan army led by communists.

Rožman left Laibach on May 5, 1945, fled to Klagenfurt and, after stays in Austria and Switzerland , emigrated to the USA in 1948 , where he looked after Slovenian emigrants, refugees and especially those Slovenes who belonged to the Pittsburgh “Zebot group” from Marburg an der Drau (Maribor) native professor Ciril Žebot (1914–1989). They advocated the idea of ​​an independent " Julisch Venetien ", which would have meant the de facto division of Slovenia into two states: "Julisch Venetien" and the Republic of Slovenia within Yugoslavia. In the post-war period this proposal was sometimes reinterpreted as a plan for an independent Slovenia. In addition, after the Second World War he visited Slovenian emigrant communities in England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Pope Pius XII did not accept his resignation from the office of bishop of the Diocese of Ljubljana, but did not grant him an audience where Rožman could explain his position during the Second World War.

Bishop Rožman died on November 16, 1959 in a hospital in Cleveland and was buried in the Slovenian Franciscan cemetery in Lemont near Chicago .

In 1946, the Yugoslav military court in Ljubljana sentenced Rožman in absentia to 18 years imprisonment with forced labor, 10 years deprivation of civil rights after serving the prison sentence and confiscation of all his property for cooperation with the occupiers in absentia. The Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia overturned the judgment of the Communist Military Court on October 1, 2007 because of numerous procedural errors and referred the Rožman case back to the Ljubljana District Court. The prosecution then withdrew the charges against the bishop and the former Yugoslav minister Miha Krek.

The role of Bishop Gregorij Rožman during the Second World War is still very controversial among Slovenian historians.

The mortal remains of Bishop Gregorij Rožmans were exhumed in Lemont, where he was bid farewell on April 7, 2013 in the church Maria Hilf. On Saturday, April 13th, 2013 he found his final resting place in Ljubljana Cathedral.

literature

  • Tamara Griesser-Pečar, France M. Dolinar: Rožmanov proces (The Rožman Trial). Družina, Ljubljana 1996, ISBN 961-222-088-3 .
  • Janko Pleterski (ed.): Škof Rožman v zgodovini (Bishop Rožman in History). Društvo piscev zgodovine NOB Slovenije (Association of History Authors of the National Liberation Struggle of Slovenia) [1941–1945], Ljubljana 2008.
  • Simon Triessnig: The Carinthian Slovenian Clergy and the National Question 1920-1932. Mohorjeva Hermagoras, Klagenfurt 2000, ISBN 3-85013-751-1 .
  • Marija Čipić Rehar, France M. Dolinar, Tamara Griesser-Pečar, Blaž Otrin: Med sodbo sodišča in sodbo vesti. Documentation sodnega procesa proti škofu Gregoriju Rožmanu. Družina, Ljubljana 2009, ISBN 978-961-222-774-6 .
  • Edo Škulj (ed.): Rožmanov simpozij v Rimu. Slovenska Teološka akademija v Rimu in Mohorjeva Služba v Celju, Celje 2001, ISBN 961-218-355-4 .
  • Tamara Griesser-Pečar: Cerkev na zatožni klopi . Družina, Ljubljana 2005, ISBN 961-222-563-X .
  • Tamara Griesser-Pečar, Stanislav Lenič: Življenjepis iz zapora. Mohorjeva založba, Celovec-Ljubljana-Dunaj 1997, ISBN 3-85013-512-8 .
  • Tamara Griesser-Pečar: The torn people. Slovenia 1941-1946. Occupation, collaboration, civil war, revolution. Studies on politics and administration, vol. 86, Böhlau Verlag, Vienna-Cologne-Graz 2003, ISBN 3-205-77062-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The former Bishop of the Ljubljana Diocese, Dr. Gregor Rozman, fled to Italy. He has been declared a traitor by the Jugoslav War Crimes Commission. Free Europe magazine 4 (1940) London 1940, p. 29
  2. ↑ Simon Triessnig: The Carinthian Slovenian Clergy and the National Question, 1920-1932. Mohorjeva Hermagoras, Klagenfurt 2000, p. 58
  3. ↑ Federal Union of European Nationalities (Ed.): Europa Ethnica. Braumüller, Vienna 1961, p. 29
  4. ↑ Rok Spruk: Concealed and Forgotten: Cyril A. Zebot (1914 - 1989). February 17, 2006
  5. ↑ J. Pleterski: Predlog za ohranitev rapalske meje in delitev Slovenije. In: Actae Histrae VI, 1998
  6. ^ Werner Markert, Walter Hildebrandt: Yugoslavia. Böhlau, Vienna 1954, p. 210
  7. ↑ Žurnal24.si - Sodba proti Rožmanu razveljavljena  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.zurnal24.si  
  8. ↑ Soočenje zgodovinarjev: Proces proti škofu Rožmanu , Dnevnik , November 24, 2007
predecessor Office successor
Antonio Bonaventura Jeglič Bishop of Ljubljana
1930–1959 		Anton Vovk
personal data
SURNAME Rožman, Gregorij
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rozman, Gregory; Roschmann, Gregor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Slovenian Catholic priest and bishop
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Dolintschitschach
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 1959
Place of death Cleveland , USA