Pius XII and The Jews: The War Years, as reported by the New York Times

Abstract

In 1998, the Vatican issued a document entitled, “We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah.” The result was a flurry of interest in the Church during the Holocaust. I decided to do a brief research project, employing readily available historical sources that would reveal the contemporary scene during the War. What did the Roman Catholic Church do during World War II concerning the Nazi’s and their racial policies? One of the most accessible sources of information concerning the War years is the New York Times. Most major American libraries, university, public, or private have the New York Times on microfilm with a thorough index. While not being a source offering complete information, the New York Times does provide a view of what was publicly known and what was publicly done by the Church concerning European Jewry and the Nazis. The present brief study is based primarily upon entries in the New York Times during the War years. It provides a marvelous source of contemporary information that has rarely been used by historians in their treatment of the War.1 The commonly held view, propagated first by the communist party near the end of the war, and popularized since the 1963 production of Rolf Hochuth’s play, “The Deputy”, is that Pius XII dropped the ball, and that the Church, while not actively supporting the genocide of the Fuhrer or the Duce, did little to stop it. The New York Times provides a very different view. It reported that both Pius XI and Pius XII spoke out repeatedly against the racist policies of the totalitarian governments, and worked to save hundreds of thousands of Jews from extermination. Among the many Jewish voices raised during the war to extol Pius XII and the Church was Albert Einstein’s: “Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing the truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has