Late Pope Charged with Failing to Intervene with Nazis for Rome Jews

The question whether the late Pope Pius XII did all he could to prevent the deportation of Italian Jews by the Nazis from Rome to annihilation camps has now been raised here publicly–16 years after the event–as a result of two books in which the Nazi brutalities against Jews in Rome are discussed.

The books have been published in France recently and are now distributed in Italy. One is “The Vatican Against Europe” by Edmond Paris, known as a liberal Protestant who has carried on a lengthy opposition to Catholicism in state education. The other is “The Vatican in World War II, by Paul Duclos, a French writer. Both authors discuss especially the mass deportation of October 16, 1943, when 2,000 Jews in Rome were taken out from their homes and sent to Nazi death camps. They quote official documents, which are considered here as being of great historical importance.

One of these documents is a letter written, on October 16, by the Austrian Bishop Luigi Hudal to General Stahel, German Military Commander of Rome. The letter stated: “In the interest of the peaceful relations between the Vatican and the German Military Command, I ask you to issue orders to stop immediately the arrest of Jews both in Rome and in the surroundings. The good reputation of Germany abroad requires it. Moreover, it is to be feared that the Pope might take an official stand against these arrests.”

On the following day according to the texts published in the books, Gen. Stahel informed Msgr. Hudal that “I have informed the Gestapo and Himmler himself of your letter. He ordered that, in view of the special character of Rome, the arrests (of Jews) be suspended.”

Eleven days later, however, the Nazi ambassador to the Vatican, von Weiszaecker, wrote to his superiors in Berlin–according to the published documents–that “the Pope, although pressed by all sides, did not allow himself to be dragged into any demonstration of disapproval of the deportation. He has done his utmost in this delicate issue in order not to compromise his relations with the German Government.”

JEWISH COMMUNITY ORGAN SAYS PRECIOUS LIVES COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED

The periodical Israel, official weekly publication of the Union of Hebrew Jewish Communities, commenting on the documents, said that as far as the Jews of Rome were concerned, “and remaining strictly within the limits of the tragic episode which struck the Jews of Rome, we must confess that the documentation” in the Duclos book “confirms what we already knew.”

The periodical added that the documentation also confirmed “our conviction that the Vatican and Pius XII could have done much more for the salvation of the Jews and would certainly have obtained more if they had maintained the firm attitude which appears in the letter of Msgr. Hudal to Gen. Stahel.”

Lauding Msgr. Hudal for his “generous intervention which succeeded in bringing to a stop the arrests for a short time,” the periodical added that the Bishop’s intervention demonstrated that “a firm attitude succeeded even in stopping Himmler,” the head of the Gestapo. “If this firm attitude had been maintained, much more could have been obtained and precious lives could have been saved,” the periodical stressed.

“We remain convinced that Pius XII did not do all that he could have done and we might humbly add all he should have done,” the Jewish community organ continued. “From his High See, he should not have left without condemnation the horrors which were being committed under the walls of the Vatican.” The periodical contended that the late Pope “had the duty to speak and condemn, to the advantage of his prestige and for the good of the Jews, the more so because it had been demonstrated that the Nazis were not indifferent to the authority and to the prestige of the Church.”

Declaring that the Pope did not make use, “as he could have done, of his authority,” the publication asserted that the late Pontiff had “placed political consideration above the immediate defense of Jews ferociously deported to the extermination camps and he believed that this position was compatible with his duties and with his universal mission.”

The article added that “it must be made clear, however, that it is our desire to praise and express once more our warmest gratitude for what the Pope and members of the different religious orders at all levels did for the Jews. But for the sake of truth, we cannot refrain from saying that we are convinced that, even if much was done, not all that could and in our opinion should have been done, was in fact done.”

Taking a directly opposite view, Osservatore Romano, organ of the Vatican, in a review of Mr. Paris’ book declared that “on the issue of the Catholic Church and Jews, the book ignores or chooses to ignore the American documentation which contradicts the author” in saying that the Vatican did not intervene sufficiently in defense of the Jews.

The Vatican daily organ added that Mr. Paris also had ignored the proceedings at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials “where the action of the Pope in defense of Jews was quoted as an accusation against the defendants. We are not surprised that the ignorant and sectarian author deliberately did not ask himself why the Jews themselves have repeatedly expressed their gratitude for the attitude of the Holy See against racism.”