U okviru svoga trajnoga zanimanja za noviju povijest Zagrebačke crkve  oso­bito za njezina stradanja u Drugom svjetskom ratu, pisac predstavlja javnosti izvor­na pisana svjedočanstva koja se čuvaju u pismohrani Nadbiskupskoga duhovnoga stola, nastala na temelju okružnice istoga Duhovnoga stola, iz 1943. godine. U okružnici se traži od župnika i župnih upravitelja da opišu sva razaranja i oštećenja crkvenih zgrada, da sastave brojidbene podatke rođenih, vjenčanih i umrlih, te vjer­skih prelaznika u Katoličku crkvu, iz prethodnoga trogodišta (1940.-1942.), te da popišu imena i okolnosti svih poginulih župljana, kako bi sve to u jednom izvješću poslali Nadbiskupskom duhovnom stolu. Od tadašnjih 388 župnih ureda, odgovore je poslalo samo 157 ureda. Međutim, uz ove izravne odgovore nalazimo i druga izvješća o istom predmetu, koja su poslali razni župni uredi u različitim godinama tijekom cijeloga ratnoga razdoblja, sve do 1945. godine. Uzevši u obzir sva izvješća, pisac nam predstavlja ratna stradanja u 206 župa tadašnje Zagrebačke nadbisku­pije . U ovim izvješćima osvjetljuje se sudbina smrtno stradalih svećenika, kojih je sudbina do sada bila samo djelomično poznata. Važnost ovoga rada očituje se oso­bito u činjenici što nam pisac prenosi imenom i prezimenom smrtno stradale vjer­nike u pojedinim župama. Kod budućega sastavljanja popisa svih stradalnika u Drugom svjetskom ratu, ovaj će rad biti zasigurno jedan od temeljnih radova. Što se tiče vjerskih prelaza, na temelju pristiglih izvješća iz 157 ureda, u Katoličku crkvu   prešlo je 690 židovskih vjernika  u 52 župe, nadalje, 35.602 grkoistočnih   ili pra­voslavnih vjernika   u 101 župi, te 386 osoba drugih vjeroispovijesti, najviše staro­katolika, u 25 župa. Od velikog broja primljenih grkoistočnih   vjernika, samo mali broj je ostao u okrilju Katoličke crkve, jer već 1943. godine većina od njih nije s njome održavala nikakve veze. Usprkos nastojanju crkvenih vlasti da se prijelazi dogode na temelju osobnoga uvjerenja i s predhodnom vjerskom poukom, primanje u Katoličku crkvu    u onim teškim ratnim vremenima bilo je u velikom broju učinjeno samo radi spašavanja ugroženih grkoistočnih   vjernika. O razaranjima i uništa­vanjima crkvenih zgrada, pisac je pisao u svom predhodnom radu,  u 4. broju godi­šnjaka “Tkalčić”, na temelju kasnije okružnice, one iz 1951. godine. Dakle, podaci o uništavanju, izneseni u ovom radu, predhode onom iz prošlogodišnjega godi­šnjaka, te se međusobno nadopunjuju. Uz sva navedena dostignuća ovoga rada, treba još naglasiti njegovu izvornost, to jest, utemeljenost na izvornom arhivskom gradivu, koje je svugdje vjerno i točno navedeno, te stoga i lako provjerljivo.

Summary: Calamities in the Zagreb archdiocese during world war II. The state of the soul, transfers in confession, deceased persons and war damages to sacral buildings based on the circular issued in 1943., pp. 197-198.

Within the context of his continual interest for the recent history of the Zagreb  Church and particularly its fate during World War II the author presents the public with original written testimonies that are kept in the archives of the Archdiocesan Spiritual Court which emerged as a consequence of a circular issued by the Spiritual Court in 1943. The circular requests parish priests and parish administrators to describe the extent of the destruction and damages to sacral buildings, to compile numerical data of those born, married and deceased, religious transfers to the Catholic Church in the preceding three-year period (1940-1942), and a list of names and circumstances of parishioners that died; and that this data should be sent in a combined report to the Archdiocesan Spiritual Court. Of the existing 388 parish presbyteries, only 157 sent their responses. Nevertheless, these direct responses were added to other reports from that period that were sent by various parish presbyteries at various times during the war period up until 1945. Taking into concern all the reports available, the writer presents details of war calamities for 206 of the existing parishes of the Zagreb Archdiocese. The reports shed light on the fate of priests who were killed and whose fate was only partially known or suspected until then. The significance of this research is particularly evident in the fact that the writer presents a list of names of those parishioners that were killed in individual parishes. For any future study into the list of victims of World War II, this research will certainly serve as one of the founding starting points. As far as religious transfers are concerned, based on the information collected from the 157 parishes, 690 Jews transferred to the Catholic Church in 52 parishes. Furthermore 35.602 Eastern Greek or Orthodox believers in 101 parishes and 386 people of other confessions (mostly ancient Catholicism), in 25 parishes changed their religion. Of the large number of transfers from the Eastern Greek faith only a small number remained under the wings of the Catholic Church as in 1943 already the majority of them maintained very little contact. Despite the efforts of Church authorities that these transfers be conducted only on the basis of personal belief with the prerequisite of religious education preceding, often enough acceptance to the Catholic Church in these difficult war times was largely conducted to save the lives of those Eastern Greek faithful who felt threatened. The writer describes the destruction and damages to sacral buildings in a previous study published in the Tkalčić annual no. 4 based on a later circular in 1951. Therefore, data concerned with destruction presented in that issue precedes those studies contained in last years annual and they mutually compliment each other. With all the achievements noted in this study it is necessary to stress its originality, ie. that it is founded on original archival material which has been noted truly and correctly and thereby easily confirmed. Translated by s. Anđelita Šokić.

 
(Objavljeno u godišnjaku „Tkalčić“, 5./2001., br. 5)