(JTA) -- The Simon Wiesenthal Center has condemned a mass service held in two Catholic churches in Croatia for the fascist leader of the country under the Nazi regime.

The mass for Ante Pavelic "is a disgrace for the Croatian people," said Efraim Zuroff, the Center's director, in a statement.

Under Pavelić's Ustasha regime during World War II, hundreds of thousands of Serb, as well as Jewish and Roma civilians were imprisoned and murdered in Croatian death camps.

The mass on Dec. 28, 2011, in churches in Zagreb and Split, was held to mark the anniversary of Pavelic's death in 1959.

Zuroff called the mass" a total ridicule of Christian values," and an insult to Pavelic's victims. He called on Croatian authorities to ban commemorations of Pavelic's death.

jta.org