Meanwhile, other German diplomats—and, the Vatican would say, the pope’s nephew—urged an eminent priest, whom Berlin trusted, to write an urgent note to a cooperative German commander in Italy that was to be wired to Berlin echoing Cardinal Maglione’s warning. Still, he felt, his mission might be useful—if he could sabotage it and obtain a blessing from Pius for saving his life and the Church itself. And on October 16, the Gestapo in Rome began rounding up the Jews. Pope Pius XII's actions to help persecuted Jews speak far louder than his alleged "silence," experts say. Get insight into the German public opinion on Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939 with these primary source excerpts.Â, Learn about role the Soviet Union played in the Nazis’ plans for “space and race.”. The Vatican had reason to be satisfied: Catholic rights had been put on a new basis and at the same time a regime had been strengthened that seemed to correspond to the Vatican’s sense that Mussolini and Hitler were indispensable bulwarks against Bolshevism. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, Spanish Translations from Holocaust and Human Behavior, The Weimar Republic: The Fragility of Democracy, Conformity and Consent in the National Community, Storm Troopers, Elite Guards, and Secret Police, Letter of Saint Edith Stein to Pope Pius XI in 1933, Facing History Scholar Reflections: Bystanders and Resisters. The Vatican quarreled with both Hitler and Mussolini on race, but hardly out of concern for the welfare of Jews. In 1933, almost 40% of Germany’s population was Roman Catholic. But in the end the plot fell through. Francis is too polite to … It was decided to postpone dealing with Galen until the final victory. The grand mufti was the Nazi collaborator par excellence. However, the breakdown started in 1936 and ended with many Catholic priests being imprisoned. Was Pope Pius XII secretly in league with Adolf Hitler? Clearly, the word “kidnap” was on both their minds. From columns in newspapers to a new book titled Hitlers Pope, the line is that Pius did not do enough to save Jews from the Holocaust and, therefore, that his imminent canonization would be provocative and unjust.. It had seemingly started well after Hitler was appointed Chancellor in January 1933. Later, more critical accounts were written. The following day Hitler called for an urgent meeting of his military leaders. This number is freely available, Cornwell must have known it well: about 5,000. Hitler had even more reason to be satisfied. Three days earlier, on September 10, German troops had marched into Rome, and German intelligence soon snatched Mussolini from captivity. Is not all this diametrically opposed to the conduct of our Lord and Savior, who, even on the cross, still prayed for his persecutors?2. A great moral authority had trusted his word. Now Vatican records may reveal whether he collaborated with the Nazis. However, the Vatican had plans for murdering 'Der Führer'. As for the Nazis, they considered her a Jew despite her conversion to Christianity; she was eventually murdered in a death camp as part of the Holocaust. The Catholic Church kept its side of the bargain. John Jay Study Undermined by Its Own Data. In July 1933, just six months after Hitler was appointed Chancellor, the … The concordat was his first international agreement, and it vastly enhanced his respectability in Germany and abroad. And friends of the pope prepared a plan for him to flee to Spain if necessary, though he vowed to remain in the Vatican unless he was carried out. “Hitler’s mufti” is truth. The pope loathed Hitler. Stein, born a Jew, had converted to Catholicism in 1922 and had become a nun and a respected Catholic educator. Among the witnesses to this event were Msgr. At the same time, in Germany, General Wolff managed to convince Hitler that he would have a hard time suppressing an uprising in Italy if the pope felt forced to speak out and had to be dethroned. The kidnap plot had failed, but it had helped to shape the policies and attitudes of the pope, Hitler, and their subordinates during a most important segment of World War II history. Consider the different ways that the German Christian movement and the Confessing Church movement navigated their relationships with the Nazi government. Archives of this nature are typically not released until 70 years after a pope’s death, but Francis has decided to release them about a decade early. Copyright © 1997-2011 by Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. The general rose, clicked his heels together—and raised his arm in the Nazi salute! Everything you need to get started teaching your students about racism, antisemitism and prejudice. Known as “Hitler’s Pope” Pope Pius XII did not do enough to try to save the doomed Jews of Europe. What were the long-term consequences. The Pope, until then, had felt that if he spoke out strongly against the Jewish genocide, Hitler would not only attack the Vatican but would drag out the hundreds of thousands of Jews from the Vatican institutions in which they were hiding throughout occupied Europe, as well as their Christian protectors. As the princess departed, the pope promised, “I’ll do all I can.”, When Weizsaecker arrived for a meeting with Maglione, he said he would “try to do something for these poor Jews.” But, he asked, “what would the Holy See do if these things were to continue?”. Historian Fritz Stern explains: On the face of it, the Vatican had scored a great triumph. But did the Vatican . . . really believe that National Socialism would abide by the concordat, was there really much likelihood that the regime would leave untouched a rival organization with its own dogmas and with such sweeping power over education?3, In the months and years after the concordat was signed, the Nazis regularly violated the agreement by shutting down some Catholic organizations, confiscating church property, interfering with Catholic newspapers, and imprisoning or murdering clergy and other Church leaders. Is not this idolization of race and governmental power which is being pounded into the public consciousness by the radio open heresy? . . . Shaken, the ambassador responded, “I think of the consequences that a protest by the Holy See might precipitate.”. Historian Fritz Stern explains: On the face of it, the Vatican had scored a great triumph. It was headed Massacre of Pius XII with the Entire Vatican. But Hitler trusted his secretary most, and it appeared that his advice would be taken. Rahn then joined in a conspiracy with Wolff and several other like-minded German officials against the plot and went to see Hitler. With Andreas Berg, Arnas Danusas, Michael Deffert, Dan Nachtrab. His visitor had simply confused his gods. This documentary tells the story about one of the biggest controversies of the twentieth century: the Vatican versus Nazi cruelties. Thus, no witnesses. Following the war Bishop Hudal, a German, helped Nazi war criminals escape to South America. In Hitler's Pope, award-winning journalist John Cornwell shows that Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII, was instrumental in negotiating an accord that helped the Nazis' rise to unhindered power – and sealed the fate of the Jews in Europe.. And “we must occupy Rome” and “destroy the Vatican’s power, capture the pope, and say that we are protecting him.” The pope might even have to be killed. In her letter, she argued: Everything that happened [in Germany] and continues to happen on a daily basis originates with a government that calls itself “Christian.” For weeks not only Jews but also thousands of fearful Catholics in Germany, and, I believe, all over the world have been waiting and hoping for the Church of Christ [the Roman Catholic Church] to raise its voice to put a stop to this abuse of Christ’s name. Besides, he worshipped power, and the pope, like Hitler, was one of the world’s most powerful leaders. “Hitler’s pope… No government under Weimar had been willing to sign such a concordat, which would recognize the principal rights of the church—rights that presumably would render it immune from the kind of persecution it had suffered [in the past]. The relationship between the Catholic Church and the hierarchy in Nazi Germany was fraught with difficulties. In 1939, realizing what was at stake, Pius had actually joined in a conspiracy by some German generals to overthrow Hitler and, if necessary, a high Vatican official told me, to kill him. Clearly, the Fuehrer thought, the “Jew-loving” pope had encouraged King Victor Emanuel II and some rival fascist leaders to overthrow his Italian puppet. The world, like the panzer soldiers, would be led to believe that the “Italians” were guilty. Some Catholic leaders welcomed Hitler’s call to “overcome the un-Germanic spirit” and feared that “atheistic communism” was more of a threat to the Catholic Church than the Nazis were. About six weeks later, on September 13, SS General Karl Wolff, the SS commander in Italy, received a phone call from his boss, SS Chief Heinrich Himmler, orchestrator of the Holocaust. Ernst von Weizsaecker, the German ambassador to the Vatican, another anti-Hitler conspirator, tried to convince Pius that he should remain silent when the Nazis rounded up the Jews of Rome. And Wolff assured the pope that he would try to frustrate any new plot against him. But he would eventually betray one of them—surrendering the entire German army in Italy, on his own, to the Americans. The question of Joseph Ratzinger’s involvement with Nazi Germany and the Hitler Youth is important in consideration of the life of the man who became Pope Benedict XVI. British journalist John Cornwell, for example, referred to Pope Pius XII (r. 1939–1958) as “Hitler’s Pope.” Far from collaborating with the Nazis, however, the Church of the time directly opposed them and repeatedly warned the faithful of the grave danger they posed. While it led some to question his character, he nevertheless passed an investigation by the Wiesenthal Center, clearing him of any accusation of antisemitism. How could parish priests criticize a chancellor who had been recognized by their pope?"4. In July 1933, Hitler and Pope Pius XI signed a concordat, or treaty. 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