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Pius XII and the Jews during World War II
False
accusations
During and after World War II, and again upon his death in 1958, Pope
Pius XII was praised by secular and Jewish leaders for his efforts to
save Jews from the Nazi-induced Holocaust. During the last forty years,
however, many people, including some Catholics, have accused the Pope of
“silence” and even of criminal negligence, saying he could have said
and done much more to lessen the genocide that claimed millions of Jews.
These attacks against Pius XII require a false rewriting of history that
does not survive honest scrutiny. Because of a defamatory work of
fiction, “The Deputy”,
written in 1963 by a little-known German Protestant playwright,
Rolf Hochhuth, Pius XII's wartime record has been unjustly tarnished. In
this play, the main protagonist, the young Jesuit Riccardo Fontana, says:
“A Vicar of Christ who sees these things before his eyes and still
remains silent because of state policies, who delays even one day...
such a pope is a criminal.” (Ironically, as a boy, Hochhuth was a
member of the Hitler Youth, and his father, an officer in the German
Army.) Pre-eminent Jews defend Pius XII Ever since the play by Hochhuth was staged, it has become part of
conventional folklore to blame Pope Pius XII for being "silent"
during the Holocaust. But that is certainly not what many were saying at
the time, including the World Jewish Congress, the American Jewish
Committee, Golda Meir, Albert Einstein, and many others — all of whom
applauded the efforts of Pius XII to do what he could to save Jews.
Mainly by providing false birth certificates, religious disguises, and
safe keeping in cloistered monasteries and convents, the Pope oversaw
efforts that helped save hundreds of thousands of Jews from deportation
to Nazi death camps. The Israeli diplomat and scholar Pinchas Lapide concluded his careful
review of Pius XII's wartime activities with the following words: “The
Catholic Church, under the pontificate of Pius XII, was instrumental in
saving the lives of as many as 860,000 Jews from certain death at Nazi
hands.” He went on to add that this “figure
far exceeds those saved by all other Churches and rescue organizations
combined.” After recounting statements of appreciation from
a variety of preeminent Jewish spokespersons, he noted. “No
Pope in history has been thanked more heartily by Jews.” At the Eichmann Nazi War Crimes Trial in 1961, Jewish scholar Jeno Levai
testified that the Bishops of the Catholic Church “intervened again
and again on the instructions of the Pope.” In 1968, he wrote that “the one person (Pius
XII) who did more than anyone else to halt the dreadful crime and
alleviate its consequences, is today made the scapegoat for the failures
of others.” In “The Secret War Against the Jews” in
1994, Jewish writers John Loftus and Mark Aarons write that “Pope
Pius XII probably rescued more Jews than all the Allies combined.” The Pope's efforts did not go unrecognized by Jewish authorities, even
during the War. The Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Isaac Herzog, sent the
Pope a personal message of thanks on February 28, 1944, in which he said:
“The
people of Israel will never forget what His Holiness and his illustrious
delegates, inspired by the eternal principles of religion which form the
very foundations of true civilization, are doing for us unfortunate
brothers
and sisters in the most tragic hour of our history, which is living
proof of Divine Providence in this world.” In September 1945, Dr. Joseph Nathan —who represented the Hebrew
Commission —stated: “Above
all, we acknowledge the Supreme Pontiff and the religious men and women
who, executing the directives of the Holy Father, recognized the
persecuted as their brothers and, with great abnegation, hastened to
help them, disregarding the terrible dangers to which they were exposed.” Dr. A. Leo Kubowitzki, secretary general of the World Jewish Congress,
came to present “to
the Holy Father, in the name of the Union of Israelitic Communities,
warmest thanks for the efforts of the Catholic Church on behalf of Jews
throughout Europe during the war.” In 1958, at the death of Pope Pius XII, Golda Meir, then Israel's
Minister of Foreign Affairs, delivered a eulogy on behalf of the nation
of Israel to the United Nations, stating: “We
share the grief of the world over the death of His Holiness Pius XII.
During a generation of wars and dissensions, he affirmed the high ideals
of peace and compassion. During the 10 years of Nazi terror, when our
people went through the horrors of martyrdom, the Pope raised his voice
to condemn the persecutors and to commiserate with their victims. The
life of our time has been enriched by a voice which expressed the great
moral truths above the tumults of daily conflicts. We grieve over the
loss of a great defender of peace.” Never were the Jews and the Vatican so close as during World War II. The
Vatican was the only place on the continent where they had any friends.
The great Jewish physicist, Albert Einstein, who himself barely escaped
annihilation at Nazi hands,
stated in Time
Magazine (December 23, 1940): “Being
a lover of freedom, when the Nazi Revolution came in Germany, I looked
to the universities to defend it, but the universities were immediately
silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, but they,
like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks. Then I looked
to individual writers... they too were mute. Only the Church,” Einstein
concluded, “stood squarely across
the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing the truth... I never had
any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel great
affection and admiration... and am forced thus to confess that what I
once despised, I now praise unreservedly.”
Israele Anton Zolli, the Chief Rabbi of Rome during the German
occupation, wrote: “Volumes
could be written on the multiform works of Pius XII, and the countless
priests, religious and laity who stood with him throughout the world
during the war.” “No
hero,”
he said, “in
all of history was more militant, more fought against, none more heroic,
than Pius XII in pursuing the works of true charity... and thus on
behalf of all the suffering children of God. What the Vatican did will
be indelibly and eternally engraved in our hearts... Priests and even
high prelates did things that will forever be an honor to Catholicism.”
Zolli
was
so moved by the Pope's efforts that he became a devoted
friend of Pius XII. He eventually converted to the Catholic Faith, and
took for his baptismal name, in 1945, Eugenio, in honor of Eugenio
Pacelli (Pius XII). Rabbi Zolli's daughter, the psychiatrist Myriam
Zolli, has issued a strong defense of Pius XII. She said the Pope was in
steady contact with her father, and he worked diligently to save Jews
from persecution. In an interview in the Italian daily
Il
Giornale, she recalled her father's prediction that Pope Pius
XII would become a scapegoat for the West's silence in the face of the
Holocaust. She concluded that “the
world's Jewish community owes him a great debt.” Pius XII did speak out As a papal envoy to Germany from 1917 to 1929, Vatican Secretary of State
in the 1930's, and Pope during World War II, Pius XII established a
clear record of supporting the Jewish people against the Nazis. Lapide
wrote: “Of
the 44 speeches which the Nuncio Pacelli had made on German soil between
1917 and 1929, at least 40 contained attacks on Nazism or condemnations
of Hitler's doctrines.” By their own testimony, the Nazis
knew they had an enemy, and Jewish leaders, a faithful ally in Pius XII.
To maximize church efforts and minimize Nazi backlash, Pius XII modified
his tactics during the war, but his pro-Jewish efforts continued
unabated. As Cardinal Pacelli, he drafted the famous papal encyclical, Mit
Brennender Sorge (which means “with burning anxiety” i.e.
about the Nazi threat to racial minorities and specifically the Jews),
which denounced Nazi paganism, racism and anti-semitism. The document
was smuggled into Germany in March, 1937, and read from all Catholic
pulpits. The day after Pacelli's election as Pope (March 3, 1939), the
Nazi newspaper, Berliner Morganpost,
stated its position clearly: “The
election of Cardinal Pacelli is not accepted with favor in Germany
because he was always opposed to Nazism.” In his 1942 Christmas message, Pius XII denounced the growing Holocaust.
He cried out for the “hundreds
of thousands who without any fault of their own, sometimes only by
reason
of their nationality or race, are marked down for death or progressive
extinction." The New
York Times editorial (Dec. 25, 1942) was specific: “The
voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness
enveloping Europe this Christmas... He is about the only ruler left on
the Continent of Europe who dares to raise his voice at all.” The
Pope's Christmas message was also interpreted in the Gestapo report: “In
a manner never known before... the Pope has repudiated the National
Socialist New European Order [Nazism]. It is true, the Pope does not
refer to the National Socialists in Germany by name, but his speech is
one long attack on everything we stand for. Here he is clearly speaking
on behalf of the Jews.” Pius XII followed the Dutch Roman Catholic hierarchy's plan to name the
Jews explicitly in their condemnation of Nazi deportations, and he
intended to issue a similar statement himself. The Nazis threatened to
arrest more Jews. The Dutch Reformed Church agreed not to protest openly,
but the Roman Catholic hierarchy issued, in May 1943, their famous
protest against the deportations. The Nazis then launched an all-out
offensive against Jews (except those who had converted to the Dutch
Protestant Reformed Church). Ironically, it was the Dutch hierarchy's
letter of open condemnation which led to the arrest and execution of
Saint Edith Stein, the Jewish Roman Catholic nun and philosopher. The news of the increased persecution reached Pius XII. His own protest
was due to go into L'Osservatore
Romano (the Vatican newspaper) that very evening, but he had
the draft burnt saying, “If
the protest of the Dutch Bishops has cost the lives of 40,000 people, my
intervention would take at least 200,000 people to their deaths.”
Such was the result of openly naming the Jews; more death from vain
gestures. There is no doubt that if Pius XII had made such a vain
gesture, instead of saving more Jewish lives, he would then have been
open to the criticism of having made the situation of Jews worse by vain
and inopportune public statements. Those who now criticise him for not
saying enough would then have attacked him for saying too much. The Jewish historian Pinchas Lapide sums it up: “The saddest and most
thought-provoking conclusion is that whilst the Catholic clergy of
Holland protested more loudly, expressly and frequently against Jewish
persecutions than the religious hierarchy of any other Nazi-occupied
country, more Jews – some 11,000 or 79% of the total – were deported
from Holland; more than anywhere else in the West.” Thereafter, Pius XII adopted his policy of not naming the Jews explicitly.
This was partly because of his experience of the diplomatic
“deafness” of the allied governments, and partly because of his
knowledge and experience of the increased persecution of Jews which
followed the condemnatory statements made by the religious authorities.
He devoted himself instead to the covert rescue operation to save Jewish
lives. Pius XII did act The real question is, therefore, not what did the Pope say, but what did
the Pope do? Actions speak louder than words. Papal policy in Nazi
Europe was directed with an eye to local conditions. Hitler described
himself as “a complete pagan”, and he regarded the Catholic Church
as his greatest enemy, which he would destroy when he had the
opportunity. Prince Sapicha, the Cardinal of Cracow in Poland, told the
Pope, perfectly accurately, that if there were open public denunciations,
Catholics and Jews would be massacred in Poland. It was better to try
and rescue as many as possible through the religious houses, and allow
the opposition army to build up. Thousands of Jews — the figures run from 4,000 to 7,000 — were hidden,
fed, clothed, and bedded in the 180 known places of refuge in Vatican
City, churches and basilicas, Church administrative buildings, and
parish houses. Unknown numbers of Jews were sheltered in Castel Gandolfo,
the site of the Pope's summer residence, private homes, hospitals, and
nursing institutions, and the Pope took personal responsibility for the
care of the children of Jews deported from Italy. Later, after the war was over, Pius XII received a large delegation of
Roman Jews in the Vatican, and ordered that the Imperial Steps be opened
for them to enter by. These steps were usually reserved for crowned
Heads of State. The Pope received them in the Sistine Chapel and, seeing
that his Jewish visitors felt uncomfortable in that place, he came down
from his throne and warmly welcomed them, telling them to feel
completely at home, saying, “I
am only the Vicar of Christ, but you are His very kith and kin.” Such
was his great love for the Jewish people, augmented by his knowledge of
their terrible sufferings. As Italian historian Monica Biffi wrote: “It is a real ‘cold war’ that Pius XII waged against Hitler.” One understands that
in May, 1952, Pius XII was able to say: “What
could we have done that we did not do?” Angelic pastor,
master of truth, Pius XII has been a great Pope, filled with courage and
wisdom; a Pope who is the glory of the Church, to whom we owe our
admiration, our gratitude, and our prayer. This article was published in the May-June-July, 2002 issue of “Michael”. |
