Katolička crkva u Istri i istarska ratna zbivanja 1943.–1945. godine
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ISTRIA AND ISTRIAN WARTIME EVENTS, 1943-1945

Summary/Abstract: This article attempts to respond to the following question: what is the relationship of the Catholic Church in Istria to wartime developments during the period from the capitulation of Italy on 8 September 1943 to the liberation of Istria from German occupation authorities in May 1945, and how did the new “people’s government” which arose during the National Liberation Movement relate to the Church, or more precisely, its clerical-administrative structures? The response of the faithful and the clerical-administrative structures to the new realities inaugurated by the September uprising was varied. National affiliation was the key to understanding this varied response. While the Croatian part of these structures was prepared to support the new reality and overlook the fact that the leading power in shaping this new reality was the ideologically inimical Communist Party of Yugoslavia on nationalist grounds, the Italian part of these structures had sufficient nationalist and ideological reasons to resist this reality. The cooperative attitude of the Croatian clerics failed to dislodge the ideological predisposition of the National Liberation Movement, which continued to look upon the Church and its officials as potential if not real enemies.

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