www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Pius XII & the Jews according to the NYTimes during the War years

Dear Axios,

What we also don't hear about is the fact that over 25% of those brave boys who fought the Nazis in fact felt that the Germans had some reason to hate the Jews . . . There are other matters, of course.

The negative focus on Pius XII is what we hear about and I agree it is wrong and even unjust.

I guess I'm not the person to talk to about this topic and so I'll be quiet.

Alex

Dear Alex,

I am sure you are better informed about that 25% of your boys than I. I would just note that the matter was complicated (not justified) due to resentment by the Francophone community that German Jewish refugees in Montreal refused to learn French and joined the Anglophone community. These were refugees escaping Nazism and should have been treated with respect, but some think it has more to do with Francophone politics and the balance between the communities in Quebec rather than anti-semitism. (if that 25% is not predominately Francophone, then my theory is mistaken).

Here in the United States, only one public survey was conducted on this matter, so whatever its flaws, it is the only information we have to go on.

It was a Gallup survey in 1938 asked the question "Do you approve or disapprove of the Nazi treatment on Jews in Germany?" 6% approved; 94% disapproved.

Gallup then asked "If there were a war between Germany and Russia, which side would you ratehr see win?". 83% of Americans said Russia, 17% Germany.

Axios

Dear Axios,

I was referrring to a poll conducted among the brave boys, Allied soldiers in Europe about their attitudes, not to national polls.

Alex

Alex,
Aren't national polls people from Poland that are active within their country? :p

As for this topic, I ask again, what does this have to do with Byzantine News?

David

Dear David,

Good point - let's just end this thread with:

Holy Pope Pius XII - pray unto God for us!

Alex

Shlomo Lkhoolkhoon,
Here is a letter to the editor from the Jerusalem Post. One point that the gentleman makes is one that I too have made. That is were the newspapers'"previous correspondents and editors blissfully ignorant or extremely disingenuous, or both? "

Poosh BaShlomo Lkhoolkhoon,
Yuhannon

Shlomo Lkhoolkhoon,

More of the truth comes out.

Poosh BaShlomo Lkhoolkhoon,
Yuhannon

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1923 Letter Shows the Future Pius XII Opposed Hitler

Magazine Cites Document from Vatican Archives

ROME, MARCH 5, 2003 (Zenit.org).- A letter written in 1923 by the future Pope Pius XII shows his early opposition to Nazi anti-Semitism.

The magazine Inside the Vatican obtained a copy of the letter written by Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pius XII. It was discovered in the last few days in the Vatican archives by a historian. The archives for the period 1922-1939 were opened in mid-February.

The letter dated Nov. 14, 1923, was written by then Archbishop Pacelli, the Holy See's ambassador in Bavaria, in southern Germany, to Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, Vatican secretary of state under Pope Pius XI.

The letter refers to Adolf Hitler's failed attempt to take over the local government in Munich in the National Socialist Party's putsch of Nov. 9, 1923 -- just five days before the day this letter was written.

In his letter, Archbishop Pacelli -- contrary to the allegations of a number of recent authors such as John Cornwell (author of "Hitler's Pope") on the relations between Pius XII and the Nazis -- denounces the National Socialist movement as an anti-Catholic threat and at the same time notes that the cardinal of Munich had already condemned acts of persecution against Bavaria's Jews.

For the complete text of the letter, translated into English, see http://www.insidethevatican.com.
ZE03030501

I read with great interest the many thoughtful comments on Pius XII. Some historical topics fascinate us, and my own fascination with this one began when, while browsing the shelves at Barnes and Noble, I happened to find Ronald Rychlak�s book �Hitler, the War, and the Pope.� After reading this well-researched, thoroughly documented book, I became a passionate defender of Pius XII.

On the face of it, it seems surprising there is a controversy at all. His contemporaries, with the exception of Nazis, Fascists, and Communists, had the highest respect for him, and his passing in 1958 caused great mourning throughout the world. Many of the most eloquent accolades came from Jews who remembered his words and deeds during the Second World War.

While the Allies admired Pius XII, the Nazis and Fascists expressed nothing but contempt for him and his predecessor Pius XI. One headline read �The Jew God and his Deputy in Rome� and comments included �Pius XI is a half-Jew�Cardinal Pacelli (who later become Pius XII) is a full Jew� and �mouthpiece of the Jewish war criminals.� After the war, the Soviet Union accused him of not doing enough to oppose the Nazis and Fascists, but no one in the West took the charge seriously, and it was dismissed as propaganda.

The controversy began in the 1960�s with the theater play �The Deputy� by Rolf Hochhuth and has raged ever since. Each work criticizing Pius XII has led to a strong defense of him. I find it noteworthy that his defenders invariably cite numerous facts in their rebuttals. One reviewer of Rychlak�s book even wrote of �an avalanche of facts� that refuted the accusations.

The prosecution, on the other hand, either gets a lot of facts wrong, as Cornwell, Zuccotti, and most recently Goldhagen have, or mentions only a few aspects of the events and presents Pius XII in the worst possible light. Hans K�ng, in his short history of the Church, cited a few facts and then presented the harshest interpretation possible. Facts that showed Pius XII in a more favorable light were ignored. All the while K�ng claimed to be writing an authoritative history of the Church. It was as if a prosecutor thought that by stating the charges he could prove his case.

The critics of Pius XII seem however, to prove one point, namely that made by Theodore Roosevelt about critics� unimportance. Pius XII did everything he possibly could to oppose dictatorships and earned worldwide respect. His critics have little to offer but harsh judgments generations after the fact. The expressions �Monday morning quarterback� and �armchair general� come to mind.

Shlomo Lkhoolkhoon,
This was in today's New York Times.

Poosh BaShlomo Lkhoolkhoon,
Yuhannon

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New Look at Pius XII's Views of Nazis
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Pope Pius XII has been branded by some authors and Jewish leaders as "Hitler's Pope" for his silence during the Holocaust.

Now, diplomatic documents recently brought to light by a Jesuit historian indicate that while serving as a Vatican diplomat, the future pope expressed strong antipathy to the Nazi regime in private communication with American officials.

One document is a confidential memorandum written in April 1938 from Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, who the next year became Pope Pius XII, in which he says that compromise with the Nazis should be "out of question."

The other is a report by an American consul general relating that in a long conversation in 1937, Cardinal Pacelli called Hitler "a fundamentally wicked person" and "an untrustworthy scoundrel."

Historians who have seen the documents say they bolster the view that the man who became Pope Pius XII was not a Nazi sympathizer, and was in fact convinced that the Nazis were a threat to the church and the stability of Europe.

But the historians also agreed that the documents in no way explained or exonerated Pius XII's inaction in the face of the Holocaust. Indeed, in neither document does the cardinal even mention the persecution of the Jews that was well under way when they were written.

The documents were described by Charles R. Gallagher, a Jesuit historian at St. Louis University, in an article in the Sept. 1 issue of America, the Jesuit weekly. Mr. Gallagher, 38, a former police officer who is a nonordained Jesuit studying to be a priest, said he came across them while researching a biography about another more obscure papal diplomat.

Pope Pius XII's record has been under scrutiny in recent years while the Vatican considers whether he should be beatified, the final step before sainthood.

Church officials in Rome and in the United States have expressed concern that the case for Pius XII's canonization suffered a setback with the popularity of books like "Hitler's Pope," by John Cornwell, and "Constantine's Sword," by James Carroll, that argue that Pius XII was complicit in the genocide of the Jews. Some historians cautioned that Catholic officials were now eager to employ any evidence to rehabilitate Pius XII's image.

Mr. Gallagher said in an interview that he merely hoped the documents would illustrate that as a diplomat, Cardinal Pacelli made his case against the Nazis in private, to other diplomats.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that these documents exonerate him," Mr. Gallagher said. "What I think these findings might help to dispel is the impression that this pope was, as others have called him, `Hitler's Pope.' "

Mr. Gallagher found the Pacelli memorandum among the diplomatic papers of Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, which are housed at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. Joseph Kennedy, whose son later became president, served as ambassador to England from 1938 to 1940. Ambassador Kennedy received the memorandum in April 1938 when he met in Rome with Cardinal Pacelli, who was then the Vatican's secretary of state.

Cardinal Pacelli wrote that the memorandum reflected his "personal views" and that the ambassador had permission to share them with "your friend at home," which Mr. Gallagher said he believed was a reference to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Most of the memorandum is devoted to denouncing the stand taken by the Austrian bishops, who had recently made a statement in support of the occupying Nazi forces. Cardinal Pacelli suggests in the memorandum that the Austrian bishops had been coerced.

The cardinal also wrote that the church "at times felt powerless and isolated in its daily struggle against all sorts of political excesses from the Bolsheviks to the new pagans arising among the young Aryan generations."

He wrote that "evidence of good faith" by the Nazi regime was "completely lacking" and that "the possibility of an agreement" with the Nazis was "out of question for the time being."

Mr. Gallagher found the second document among diplomatic papers at Harvard University. It was filed in 1939 by Alfred W. Klieforth, a former United States consul general, soon after Cardinal Pacelli was made pope.

"His views, while they are well known, surprised me by their extremeness," Mr. Klieforth wrote, relating a conversation two years earlier with Cardinal Pacelli. "He said that he opposed unalterably every compromise with National Socialism. He regarded Hitler not only as an untrustworthy scoundrel, but as a fundamentally wicked person. He did not believe Hitler capable of moderation."

The Rev. Gerald P. Fogarty, a professor of religious studies and history at the University of Virginia and an expert in Vatican diplomacy, said, "The documents make clear that from the 30's, Pacelli was opposed to National Socialism," primarily because the Nazis violated the rights of the church.

Father Fogarty said that the memorandum to Mr. Kennedy had been in the public domain for nearly 50 years, but that Mr. Gallagher was the first to find a copy that proved it had been sent to the White House.

Michael R. Marrus, dean of the graduate school at the University of Toronto, who holds a chair in Holocaust studies, said of the documents, "If there are people out there who still believe, and doubtless there are, that the Vatican was in cahoots with Nazi Germany, then this is a useful finding.

"On the other hand," he said, "do I think this addresses the issue of the Vatican and the Holocaust? Absolutely not. And these are not trivial matters."

I think the question we really need to ask is, "what did Pius XII do to prevent the mass murder of Orthodox Serbians by the Ustase" many of whom (unlike the SS) were practicing Catholics.