The Vatican comes out in defense of Pius XII and publishes the files on his alleged silence during the Holocaust

The Vatican stood up in defense of who the Supreme Pontiff was during the Second World War, Pius XII, and decided, with the support of Pope Francis, to make public information about his actions during the Nazi threat in Europe.

The Holy See posted online this Thursday thousands of letters written by European Jews to Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) asking him for help in the face of the Nazi persecution during the Second World War.

Of 40,000 scanned files and distributed in 170 funds available on the website of the Holy See. Most of these have been published in the last few hours.

Already in March 2020, the Vatican had allowed researchers to access 120 collections and series of historical archives on Pius XII, whom some accuse of having kept silent during the extermination of six million Jews.

This new publication, which obeys the will of Pope Francis, will allow the descendants of senders to “find traces of their relatives from anywhere in the world”, explained Monsignor Paul Gallagher, in charge of relations with states, in an article published by L’Osservatore Romano, a Vatican newspaper.

The authors of the letters, coming from all over Europe, sought above all to obtain visas or passports, obtain asylum, help gather relatives or information on the deportees. Some have asked for help to be released from the concentration camps.

But the fate of most of those who ask for help is unknownthe Vatican specified.

In a letter written in 1942, a 23-year-old German student explains that he wants to escape from a concentration camp in Spain. “There is little hope for those who do not have outside help,” wrote the young man.

The files reveal no other information about him but, according to investigations by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, the man was released a year after sending his letter and ended up settling in California, the Vatican said.

This publication, which came in the aftermath of the pope’s meeting in audience with an international Jewish organization, is the result of decades of pressure from academics and historians, divided over the role of the Italian pope during the Holocaust.

The Vatican defends Pius XII, stating that he saved numerous Jews by hiding them in religious institutions and that, with his silence, the pontiff wanted only not to further aggravate their situation.

With information from AFP

DB