New book Esther Gitman about rescue and survival of Jews in WW2

Esther Gitman’s “When Courage Prevailed …” – Second Edition Announced

The book that evidences the extraordinary courage needed for good deeds during World War Two in extraordinarily perilous times including those of Croatia’s Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac.

In the face of ugly falsification of history that we have all encountered to various degrees, there stand behind us many decades of long battles for the truth, which although the highest of values that can occupy a human mind and body, is the most difficult one to promote, or even find. This has been so because there will regretfully always be those who will for political or other reasons invent stories to nullify the truth. And that is why the world owes much gratitude to all those who work hard on historical research to reach the actual truth and display it to the world. And when more than twenty years ago Esther Gitman’s arduous historical research focusing on the rescue of Jews in the World War Two Independent State of Croatia (NDH), and the role in that played by Croatia’s Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac surfaced with exciting results, it was like a living testament to the words found in the Gospel of Mark:

“For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light.” (Mark 4:22).

Personally, I am deeply proud to have been a part of the joint project undertaken by the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Diaspora and Homeland/HAZUDD and

Croatian World Congress

in preparing and publishing the Second Edition of Esther Gitman’s book originally published in First Edition in 2011. The book itself will soon be available in printed copies as well as in online free access pdf version (free of cost), details of which I will post as they arrive!

I am also very proud to have been asked to write a FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION and the following text represents that Foreword:

This book by Dr. Esther Gitman, When Courage Prevailed: The Rescue and Survival of Jews in the Independent State of Croatia 1941-1945, was originally published in 2011 by US New York based publisher Paragon House and made widely accessible to readers across the world. Focusing on the paramount importance for historiography of Esther Gitman’s historical research findings, the book was subsequently translated into the Croatian language and published by Kršćanska sadašnjost (Christian Contemporaneity), based in Zagreb, Croatia, in 2019, viz. Kad hrabrost prevlada: Spašavanje i preživljavanje Židova u Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj 1941 – 1945.

Since the original publishing of the book in 2011, among several lectures, essays, academic and scientific papers, Dr Esther Gitman has also written and published another major book, Alojzije Stepinac: The Pillar of Human Rights, 2019, on the role of Croatia’s World War II Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac, also known as Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, in saving Jews and others from certain death during World War Two. These were times when racial laws were passed that led to horrific atrocities being committed against Jews across Europe, including Croatia.

In that environment of war and horror it is important to single out the courageous people who, despite deadly odds, embarked upon saving and rescuing thousands of Jews in a country (Croatia) in which the Ustaše (Ustashe), aiming for independence of Croatia from oppressive Yugoslavia, accepted the occupying Nazi ideology which held that no Jew deserved rescuing. Esther Gitman’s book can also be viewed as a compilation of genuine materials and documents that guide the reader and historical researchers to rescuers of Jews, in particular. Many of these rescuers were ordinary people, ecclesiastics, members of Partisan forces, members of the Ustashe forces and NDH regime, entire Croatian villages, but Blessed Alojzije Stepinac rises to the top of rescue efforts and associated sacrifices.

Individuals and groups who engaged in rescue activities did so at great risk to their own lives, endangered their families and friends, but also, serve as a reassuring fact that even in times of terrifying turmoil, there are people who manage to rise above circumstances that surround them to preserve the dignity of the entire humanity. This is such an important message that Dr. Gitman’s book also brings.

The need to make Dr Esther Gitman’s book When Courage Prevailed: The Rescue and Survival of Jews in the Independent State of Croatia 1941-1945 even more accessible to readers and history researchers everywhere has grown increasingly in the past decade and, hence, the need to “comb” through the First Edition text with view to ascertaining any needed changes or additions for a Second Edition. This took some time and the Second Edition of this book, now before you, contains corrections of several grammatical, spelling, or other content errors. Corrections and additions include, for example, year of King Alexander Karadjordjevic’s assassination on page XVI of First Edition as well as the insertion on this same page historian Vladimir Geiger’s 2020 debunking of historian Slavko Goldstein’s claims regarding alleged plans in NDH (World War Two Independent State of Croatia) in relation to “thirds” in its Serb population contained in the First Edition. These corrections and additions are deemed important enough to justify the publishing of a Second Edition rather than a reprint or revised edition of the First Edition.

It is important to remind the reading public that Dr. Gitman’s book When Courage Prevailed is based on her extensive research in the State Archives of the Republic of Croatia where, from 2002, she studied some 30,000 original documents from World War Two. Utmost credibility ascribed to her historical research on the saving and rescue of Jews in Croatia is also demonstrated by the fact that she was a recipient of the prestigious Albright Scholarship in support of her pursuits of historical truth and facts. Indeed, the content of Dr. Gitman’s book When Courage Prevailed, based on factual findings in the historical archives is an eye-opening reversal of the distorted narrative about Stepinac’s conduct during World War II that the world had been served with since the War.

Dr. Gitman discovered more than four hundred letters written by common Croatian people sent to NDH officials appealing for the release of the Jews with whom they lived and worked. Thousands of people signed these pleas even though such interventions were forbidden under the law and could result in dire consequences. She also found documentary evidence that some Ustashe NDH officials who rescued 147 Jewish physicians and their family members by sending them to the mountain region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, she found that the Ustashe NDH government had created rescue categories of Honorary Aryans and a group of about 100 Jewish individuals who were granted Aryan Rights for themselves and their family members. Also, the NDH authorities were flexible with respect to Jews leaving for the part of Dalmatia under Italian occupation where the Jews were safer than in the NDH because Italians did not transport them to concentration camps in Germany. In 1942 the Governor of the Dalmatian zone, Bastianini, had noticed that a large number of Jews was aimlessly wandering around and he then suggested to transfer all of them to the NDH. When Archbishop heard it he immediately took action. He called upon Abbot Marcone, the Vatican representative in the NDH and jointly they appealed to the Vatican to prevent it. Stepinac proclaimed that they had all been baptized in the Catholic faith (as a measure to save their lives) and about 5,000 of them were saved by allowing them to stay in the same parts of Dalmatia. Dr. Gitman and her mother were among these refugees, a thousand of which were transferred to the Island of Korcula under the protection of the Second Italian Armata, and in 1943, after the capitulation of Italy to Allied forces, with the help of the locals, they were transferred to the refugee camp in Bari, Italy, where they remained until the end of 1945. The second group of approximately 3,600 was transferred to the island of Rab, they were protected by the Italian army and fed by humanitarian agencies. After capitulation of Italy the Partisans came to their aid and enabled the young and the able to join the Partisans while the women the children and elderly were sent to the already liberated territories.

All that considered, Dr. Gitman justifiably assessed that the rate of antisemitism in Croatia was low and the survival rate of Jews in the Croatian territories of that time was among the highest in Europe.

The past two decades, or since the First Edition of Dr. Gitman’s book When Courage Prevailed, have witnessed tremendous progress in the study of archival records from World War II by several prominent historians in Croatia and it is certain the Second Edition of her book will also assist further research into historical facts immensely.

The result of careful and thorough research, this book has considerable appeal beyond the academic and historiography circuits. Dr. Gitman frequently uses actual historical documents discovered in the archives to illuminate rescue actions and motivations, all of which appear downright heroic. She has often stated that Alojzije Stepinac is already a Saint for her and deserves much wider recognition for his extraordinary rescue work during World War Two than he has received up to now. It is towards the latter end that this Second Edition of her book should greatly serve.

Ina Vukic, Prof. psych. (ZGB); B.A., M.A. Ps. (SYD), Vice President, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Diaspora and Homeland