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Sept. 29, 2005 What role, if any, Pope Pius XII played in opposing the Nazis before and during WWII has become the subject of a great deal of controversy in the last few years, especially with the publication of books by John Cornwell and Daniel Jonah Goldhagen depicting Pius as indifferent to persecution of Jews or even as Hitler’s collaborator. I personally have no opinion on the subject, but I can’t help having noticed how contradictory the various versions of the papal stance at that time are. In fact, the disagreement is so wide as to make you question the value of history entirely. The view of holocaust revisionists is that Pope Pius XII did not have to oppose the holocaust, because there probably was no holocaust. If there was a holocaust, they contend, its magnitude has been exaggerated tremendously, and it did not merit any special attention in the scenario of war that was already the case at that time in any event. The Catholic view is that Pius did his utmost to alleviate the plight of the Jews, saving 800,000 lives. If he seemed to maintain neutrality or silence when he might have sided against the Nazis or spoken out eloquently, it was because he wisely saw that by doing so he would do more harm than good, preferring to work circumspectly and quietly behind the scenes, for optimal efficiency. My problem with the Catholic view of the matter is that it seems to be a position adopted in response to the negative attitude of Jews and others to Pius’ lackadaisical approach to the holocaust. If one is to believe the Gospels, one would think that as a Catholic you would continue to labor on behalf of Jesus regardless of what your detractors say, paying them no mind whatsoever, in the full knowledge that God, the only one who really matters, will see your piety and make sure that you are vindicated in the end. But no, Catholics are just like Protestants, Jews, Muslims and Hindus. When someone accuses them, they jump up with vociferous denials, excuses, rationalizations and defenses, instead of searching inwardly to see whether they have sinned and need accordingly to repent. Were God real, the excuses and denials would be superfluous, and the penance all-important. To me this fact gives the lie to their vocally affirmed faith in God’s ability to administrate justice. So when they start chiming in with tales of how Pius saved 800,000 Jews, I immediately grow skeptical, but, as I say, I personally have no way of getting at the truth. The view of many Jews is that Pius did much less than he might have. He remained stubbornly neutral rather than show more than token pity towards the Jews. He refused to speak out against the atrocities except in the most general way, hardly mentioning the word Jew. Let me quote Shira Schoenberg, of Jewish Virtual Library, “Pope Pius XII’s (1876-1958) actions during the Holocaust remain controversial. For much of the war, he maintained a public front of indifference and remained silent while German atrocities were committed. He refused pleas for help on the grounds of neutrality, while making statements condemning injustices in general. Privately, he sheltered a small number of Jews and spoke to a few select officials, encouraging them to help the Jews.” In her continuing remarks, Schoenberg does enumerate two or three instances when the Pope did intervene to help Jews to safety. He obtained Brazilian visas for 3000 Jews, assisted in having 6000 Jewish children relocated in Palestine and hid 5000 Jews in monasteries in Italy. If these figures are reliable, then Pope Pius saved perhaps 15,000 rather than 800,000 lives. On other occasions, Pius showed complete indifference, according to Schoenberg. He issued no condemnation of Kristallnacht. When told of the execution of 200,000 Ukrainian Jews, he counseled “patience”. Some historians claim that Pius began to act in a more positive way only after 1942 under pressure from the US and other Western powers, who told him that his moral prestige was waning. Apparently, at one point he issued a memorandum instructing bishops to go on record as speaking out against Naziism because it looked as if it would be politically advantageous in the future to have done so. If Pius had been the great protector and benefactor that Catholics claim he was, why would Jews deny it? Of course, holocaust revisionists would answer that the Jewish stance on this matter is just another gimmick of the profit-motivated holocaust industry. I’m sure I don’t know the answer, but I do know that somebody’s lying. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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