Gregorij Rožman
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His Excellency Gregorij Rožman |
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| Diocese | Diocese of Ljubljana |
| See | Ljubljana |
| Installed | 17 May 1930 |
| Term ended | 16 November 1959 |
| Predecessor | Anton Bonaventura Jeglič |
| Successor | Anton Vovk |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
9 March 1883 Dolintschitschach, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 16 November 1959 (aged 76) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
Gregorij Rožman (9 March 1883 – 16 November 1959) was a Slovenian Roman Catholic prelate. Between 1930 and 1959, he served as bishop of the Diocese of Ljubljana. He may be best-remembered for his controversial role during World War II. Rožman was an ardent anti-communist and opposed the Liberation Front of the Slovene People and the partisan forces because they were led by the Communist party. He established relations with both the fascist and Nazi occupying powers, issued proclamations of support for the occupying authorities, and supported armed collaborationist forces organized by the fascist and Nazi occupiers. The Yugoslav Communist government convicted him in absentia in August 1946 of treason for collaborating with the Nazis against the Yugoslav resistance. In 2009, his conviction was annulled on procedural grounds.
During the Communist period, official historiography portrayed Rožman as a Nazi collaborator. Western historians, including Jozo Tomasevich and Gregor Kranjc have also, more recently, described Rožman as a collaborator, based on his proclamations and actions during the war. The Roman Catholic Church in Slovenia has been actively campaigning for his rehabilitation, claiming his actions were motivated solely to minimize the number of Slovenian casualties during the war.
Rožman was born on 9 March 1883 into a Carinthian Slovene family in Dolintschitschach (Slovene: Dolinčiče) near Feistritz ob Bleiburg (Slovene: Bistrica pri Pliberku) in Austria-Hungary to Franc Rožman and Terezija (née Glinik) Rožman. The family lived on a medium-sized farm, had seven children (Gregorij was the youngest) and was severely indebted. In 1889 he started attending public school in Šmihel and then enrolled in a gymnasium in Klagenfurt.
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