The Fate of Father Franjo Rihar
This letter is a response by Interior Minister Andrija Artukovic to an inquiry from Archibishop of Zagreb Alojzije Stepinac. Earlier, a Catholic parish priest named Franjo Rihar had been sent to Jasenovac for refusing to sing a Te Deum on Ante Pavelic's birthday, or to hold mass on the anniversary of the Independent State of Croatia. Seven Slovene priests also arrested and murdered in Jasenovac were referenced earlier in the letter.

 

Zagreb, 17 November 1942.

In connection with your esteemed request of 2nd November 1942, notice is hearby given that Franjo Rihar, by the decree of this office of 20th April 1942, no 26417/1942 was sentenced to forced detention in the concentration camp at Jasenovac for the period of three years... because as pastor of Gornja Stubica he did not celebrate a solemn high mass on the anniversary of the founding of the Independent State of Croatia... nor did he consent to sing the psalm Te Deum Laudamus, saying that it was nowhere prescribed in ecclesiastical usage...

 

:: filing information ::
Title: The Fate of Father Franjo Rihar
Source: Butler, Hubert. The Sub-prefect Should Have Held His Tongue (London, 1990), p 288.
Date: November 17, 1942 Added: October, 2002