The Vatican will publish its fifth volume next month in a series of documents concerning its peace efforts in World War II and its resistance to Nazi-Fascist attempts to use the Holy See for their own purposes. The new volume, due to appear at Easter, is also aimed in part at refuting the charges of West German playwright Rolf Hochhuth that the late Pope Pius XII appeased the Nazis and made no attempts to prevent the massacre of Jews. The charges were made in Mr. Hochhuth’s controversial play, “The Deputy.” According to Vatican sources, the documents will show that the Pope refused to back an “anti-Bolshevist crusade” by the Axis powers and refused to allow them to “turn the Vatican into an auxiliary.” The new volume covers the period from July, 1941, to November, 1942.
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