Foundation says documents will show Pius helped Jews

June 16, 2009

ROME (JTA) -- A New York-based foundation says it will release original documents showing that controversial wartime Pope Pius XII worked to aid Jews during the Holocaust.

In a statement Tuesday, Pave the Way Foundation President Gary Krupp said the 2,300 pages of documents, dating from 1940-45, were discovered through the foundation's private research and provide "strong support to the argument that Pope Pius XII -- Eugenio Pacelli -- worked diligently to save Jews from Nazi tyranny."

Krupp said many of the documents were discovered in a monastery in Avellino, Italy.

Krupp, who is Jewish, has close ties with the Vatican and twice has been named a Papal knight. He announced last year that Pave the Way, a nonsectarian foundation that promotes interfaith cooperation, would investigate the papacy of Pius XII by interviewing eyewitnesses and gathering publicly available documentation and newspaper accounts.

The aim of the investigation is to disprove critics who accuse Pius of having turned a blind eye to Jewish suffering during the Holocaust.

In his statement, Krupp criticized historians with "private agendas" for having "let down" the public by failing to research properly.

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Foundation says documents will show Pius helped Jews

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