Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., March 11, 2008 Adar2 5, 5768 | | Israel Time: 03:27 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Last update - 10:25 01/12/2006 New research reveals Vatican criticism of Holocaust-era Pope By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent New research reveals rare criticism from within the Vatican of Holocaust-era Pope Pius XII for his silence in the face of the destruction of European Jewry. Pius XII is controversial due to claims that he knew of the genocide as early as the early 1940s but did not act to stop it. In 1999, the Vatican appointed the International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission to investigate the charges against Pius XII, but the panel disbanded after it was refused access to archival material. Advertisement Professor Dina Porat, who headed the Project for the Study of Anti-Semitism at Tel Aviv University, centered her research on criticism of Pius XII from the Papal Nuncio Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, who fifteen years later became Pope John XXIII. According to Porat's research, in 1943, Roncalli, then the nuncio in Turkey, wrote to the Catholic president of Slovakia asking him to stop the deportation of Slovakian Jews to Auschwitz. He wrote the letter at the behest of Jewish Agency delegate Haim Barlas, with whom he had a close personal relationship. In 1944 Barlas received the "Auschwitz Protocols," detailed accounts by Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, who had escaped the concentration camp in April of that year. Barlas sent the diaries directly to Roncalli, later writing in his memoirs that Roncalli was shocked and read them in tears. According to Barlas, after reading the eyewitness accounts, Roncalli told him he was filled with resentment towards his superiors, "whose power and influence are great, but who refrain from action and resourcefulness in extending concrete help." Roncalli told Barlas he would send the protocols to the Vatican immediately. This does not correspond with the official Vatican version, according to which Pope Pius XII received the protocols only in October of that year. Several days after Roncalli's conversation with Barlas, the Pope sent a letter to Hungarian Regent Horthy asking him to stop the "human suffering" in his country, without explicitly mentioning the Jews. Deportations to Auschwitz did stop shortly after that, but only after 400,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered at the death camp. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Bring down the house Knesset speaker calls for wrecking of yeshiva killer's family home. Frum and fabulous Beauty salons offer Haredi women a unique brand of modest glamour.   1.   Pope during holocaust 02:22  |  Usher Buchwalter 01/12/06   2.   Some Jews never let up on Pius XII`s alleged "silence" 03:43  |  hollingsworth 01/12/06   3.   Fear And Power 04:35  |  Tony Anthony 01/12/06   4.   If the Vatican has nothing to hide, open up the Vatican archives! 04:54  |  AV 01/12/06   5.   # 2. it is not so easy or simple as that. while it hurts, thats 05:33  |  ralph 01/12/06   6.   The Pope 06:01  |  Edithann 01/12/06   7.   So sue the world already. Who is speaking out 06:23  |  George 01/12/06   8.   nothing to hide 07:50  |  hollingsworth 01/12/06   9.   To Hollingsworth 09:56  |  Jacob 01/12/06   10.   VATICAN ON BOSNIA AND KOSOVO 11:03  |  indrajaya 01/12/06   11.   Einstein # 2 11:41  |  charles 01/12/06   12.   The villain of tomorrows history targets villains of yesteryear 13:16  |  Natallie Durson 01/12/06   13.   WORDS: HIND SIGHT IS 20/20 13:17  |  Dr David I. Gross 01/12/06   14.   # 2 Edithann, Does Kastners failing absolve the powerful Church? 13:33  |  Haham me Bat yam 01/12/06   15.   RE # 12 natallies Dursons smear of Rabbis! was it necessary???? 13:58  |  Haham me Bat yam 01/12/06   16.   Papal inactivity 14:47  |  Joe 01/12/06   17.   2 - Response 15:09  |  Bruriah Sarah 01/12/06   18.   He did not have much choice 15:11  |  Edith 01/12/06   19.   The Pope Made a Deal to save historic buildings, not jews 16:04  |  topanga 01/12/06   20.   But we can all see what motivates you, Natalie 16:19  |  Jacob Blues 01/12/06   21.   pope 16:26  |  taz 01/12/06   22.   18 Edith: I am a Catholic too 16:29  |  KUTW 01/12/06   23.   Nat Durson #12,,what motivates a bigot? 16:58  |  albert amato 01/12/06   24.   Good to learn from History but we need to act when it happens 17:04  |  omolll 01/12/06   25.   Hollingsworth 17:15  |  the Saint 01/12/06   26.   This Is Not New News 17:38  |  Yaakov Sullivan 01/12/06   27.   Church and believers 17:45  |  Luca 01/12/06   28.   to #10 - no excuses 17:50  |  Luca 01/12/06   29.   KUTW 18:41  |  the Saint 01/12/06   30.   Hollingsworth abusing Albert Einstein 18:46  |  Jonathan S 01/12/06   31.   To Indrajaya, 10 19:05  |  Jozef 01/12/06   32.   The Jews of South Africa #19 20:24  |  Yaakov Sullivan 01/12/06   33.   Edith And KUTW: I Am "Protestant" And Free Thought Is Wrong 20:26  |  Gerald 01/12/06   34.   Edith And KUTW: Words Mean Things 20:28  |  Philip 01/12/06   35.   the Saint #25 20:29  |  Hubal 01/12/06   36.   33. Gerald: And Free Thought Is Wrong 21:46  |  KUTW 01/12/06   37.   34. . Philip: Words Mean Things 21:53  |  KUTW 01/12/06   38.   29. the Saint: KUTW 22:05  |  KUTW 01/12/06   39.   why did Golda Meir praise Pius XII? 22:08  |  KUTW 01/12/06   40.   hollings worth#2" Some Jews never let up" 22:17  |  norman A. Blumberg 01/12/06   41.   The Rabbi Speaks! 22:20  |  W 01/12/06   42.   The Vatican/The Jews/Pope Pius XII 23:19  |  Ricardo Kolbe 01/12/06   43.   #34 Philip 23:21  |  Edith 01/12/06   44.   Daniel Jonah Goldhagen 23:25  |  Edith 01/12/06   45.   Hey "Saint" 23:33  |  hollingsworth 01/12/06   46.   "Want some names??" 23:35  |  hollingsworth 01/12/06   47.   To KUTW about the ill-fated Pope 23:35  |  Jonathan S 01/12/06   48.   Why does the vatican want to make him a saint then ?? 23:45  |  BIll. 01/12/06   49.   omoll 00:15  |  charles 02/12/06   50.   Kolbe 00:24  |  charles 02/12/06   51.   Catholics are good people 00:26  |  Tim 02/12/06   52.   What could he do? 00:37  |  David King 02/12/06   53.   KUTW: Man Is Evil 01:41  |  Gerald 02/12/06   54.   Edith #34 Philip 01:53  |  Philip 02/12/06   55.   PIUS XII 01:55  |  Mario Fiorito 02/12/06   56.   Care to offer a citation Natallie? 05:23  |  bbl 02/12/06   57.   Pius XII. 06:13  |  R 02/12/06   58.   47Jonathan S: About Pius XII 08:06  |  KUTW 02/12/06   59.   To bbl: 08:16  |  Natallie Durson 02/12/06   60.   53 Gerald 08:22  |  KUTW 02/12/06   61.   david gross and a statute of limitations 08:54  |  dubious 02/12/06   62.   catholism was gonna be #1 religion in europe 09:19  |  ahahha PHOENIX BIRD 02/12/06   63.   to all 11:18  |  Marcelo 02/12/06   64.   to Yaakov Sullivan #26 11:22  |  Colin Wright 02/12/06   65.   # 62, ahahha PHOENIX BIRD 12:48  |  indrajaya 02/12/06   66.   INDRAJAYA,AN UNFALTERING HYPOCRITE 15:48  |  gabriel 02/12/06   67.   To KUTW about the pope of silence 18:02  |  Jonathan S 02/12/06   68.   As an Mexican-American Catholic ....yeah flame the fires 19:34  |  N. 02/12/06   69.   Hitler and Catholicism 20:35  |  Joe 02/12/06   70.   David king 20:40  |  charles 02/12/06   71.   Vatican Knew 20:56  |  Jonathan Levy 02/12/06   72.   re #12 Natallie Durson 21:23  |  D Hirod 02/12/06   73.   Europ. Jewry/Vatican/Holocaust 21:44  |  Ricardo Kolbe 02/12/06   74.