The Pope and the Jews in 1942

Abstract

This paper runs from the Wannsee Conference of 20 January 1942 to the Pope’s Christmas message of 1942. The final solution of the Jewish problem was planned at the Wannsee Conference under the chairmanship of Heydrich. On 24 December 1942 the Pope believed that he protested publicly against it. On 20 January no one outside the secret inner Nazi ring knew that such a plan was even contemplated. By Christmas 1942 all the world new in outline what was going on. So this paper is partly a study in information: how much did they know in the Vatican, how soon, and by what means did they know it? And partly it is a study in pressure. As the knowledge grew, so grew the pressure on Pope Pius XII to do something, say something, tell the world, condemn. Naturally the effectiveness of all such pressure depended on the extent of the knowledge, and the belief that the knowledge was reliable.