The Holocaust and Catholic Conscience

Suzanne Brown-Fleming

Description

American-born Cardinal Aloisius Muench (1889-1962) was a key figure in German and German-American Catholic responses to the Holocaust, Jews, and Judaism between 1946 and 1959. He was arguably the most powerful American Catholic figure and an influential Vatican representative in occupied Germany and in West Germany after the war. In this carefully researched book, which draws on Muench’s collected papers, Suzanne Brown-Fleming offers the first assessment of Muench’s legacy and provides a rare glimpse into his commentary on Nazism, the Holocaust, and surviving Jews. She argues that Muench legitimized the Catholic Church’s failure during this period to confront the nature of its own complicity in Nazism’s anti-Jewish ideology.

The archival evidence demonstrates that Muench viewed Jews as harmful in a number of very specific ways. He regarded German Jews who had immigrated to the United States as "aliens," he believed Jews to be "in control" of American policy-making in Germany, he feared Jews as "avengers" who wished to harm "victimized" Germans, and he believed Jews to be excessively involved in leftist activities. Muench’s standing and influence in the United States, Germany, and the Vatican hierarchies gave sanction to the idea that German Catholics needed no examination of conscience in regard to the Church's actions (or inactions) during the 1940s and 1950s.

This fascinating story of Muench’s role in German Catholic consideration—and ultimate rejection—of guilt and responsibility for Nazism in general and the persecution of European Jews in particular will be an important addition to scholarship on the Holocaust and to church history.

Sujets

• 20th Century
• Jewish Studies
• Modern
• Holocaust
• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Jews
• Nazism
• The Holocaust
• Modern history
• West Germany
• Judaism
• Catholic
• Christianity
• Germany
• Obermodern-Zutzendorf
• Holocauste
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 16 février 1994
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268076214
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

the Holocaust and Catholic Conscience
the
Holocaust
and
Catholic Conscience
Cardinal Aloisius Muench and the Guilt Question in Germany
Suzanne Brown-Fleming
Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
All Rights Reserved
Copyright 2005 by University of Notre Dame
Published in the United States of America
Reprinted in 2016
Published in Association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The views as expressed are the author s alone and do not necessarily represent those of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum or any other organization .
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brown-Fleming, Suzanne.
The Holocaust and Catholic conscience: Cardinal Aloisius Muench and the guilt question in Germany / Suzanne Brown-Fleming.
p. cm.
Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-268-02186-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 0-268-02187-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Muench, Aloisius J. (Aloisius Joseph), 1889-1962. 2. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)-Moral and ethical aspects. 3. World War, 1939-1945-Religious aspects-Catholic Church. 4. Catholic church-Foreign relations-Germany. 5. Germany-Foreign relations-Catholic Church. 6. Christianity and antisemitism-History-20th century. 7. Germany-History-1945-1955.
I. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. II. Title.
BX4705.M755B76 2005
261.2 6 094309044-dc22
2005025264
ISBN 9780268076214
This book is printed on acid-free paper .
This e-Book was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at [e-mail] .
for Klara Lenz, Annemarie Stadler, and Margaret Stadler
Contents

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction: Aloisius Muench and the Question of Guilt and Responsibility
1
The Life and Career of Aloisius Muench
2
Excusing the Holocaust: The Sensation of One World in Charity
3
Comfort and Consensus: Muench and the German Catholic Hierarchy, Clergy, and Laity
4
Granting Absolution: Muench and the Catholic Clemency Campaign
5
The Longest Hatred
Conclusion: The Holocaust and Catholic Conscience
Appendix A Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust: A Historiographical Essay
Appendix B Muench s Function as Liaison Representative to OMGUS, 1946-1949
Appendix C One World in Charity , Full English Text (Fargo, 1946)
Appendix D One World in Charity , Illegal German Text (French Zone, 1947)
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments

T his project has benefited enormously from the support of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I am grateful to have been a fellow at the Museum s Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies in 2000 and to have been a participant in the Center s June 2001 summer research workshop, The Churches and the Holocaust: The Response of Laity, Clergy, and Church Authorities. Both experiences significantly shaped this book. In August 2001, I was privileged to join the professional staff of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. My colleagues at the Center and at the Museum at large supplied the resources and positive environment necessary to write this book, and they continue to provide a dignified, upstanding, superior, and ever-challenging intellectual forum for my scholarship. I thank especially Robert M. Ehrenreich, director of the Center s University Programs Division, and Paul A. Shapiro, director of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. Their consistent support for my work has been a great gift. Others who especially gave of their time to ensure the completion of this book include Benton Arnovitz, Michael Gelb, and Laura Brahm in the Center s Academic Publications Division; Wendy Lower, director of the Center s Visiting Scholars Program; Margaret Obrecht, staff director of the Museum s Committee on Church Relations and the Holocaust; and Severin Hochberg in the Center s Division of the Senior Historian.
I feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment to have published this book with the University of Notre Dame Press, in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I am thankful for the encouragement and support I have received from Barbara Hanrahan, director of the University of Notre Dame Press. Thanks also to Jack Kirshbaum, who edited the manuscript; Michael Gelb, for his editorial comments; as well as Lowell Francis, Rebecca DeBoer, and all the staff of UND Press, who have made the publishing process a consistent pleasure. It seems highly appropriate to bring this story to the public record under the auspices of one of the finest presses at a Roman Catholic institution of higher education in the United States. Its publication by such a press is made doubly meaningful by the involvement of the Museum.
A number of other institutions provided crucial support for this project, and must be thanked. The Center for German and European Studies at the University of California-Berkeley and the German Academic Exchange Service supported this project in 1996. A five-month fellowship from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Bonn, Germany, supported exploratory research in Munich in 1997. A grant from the history department at the University of Maryland at College Park made travel to Munich possible. The German-American Center for Visiting Scholars in Washington, D.C., the German Historical Institute s Washington office, and the University of Maryland s Mary Savage Snouffer Fellowship provided financial support for research during 1998 and 1999. The Holocaust Education Foundation hosted the first presentation of my work at Northwestern University during the Lessons and Legacies conference in 2000. I especially wish to thank my friend and mentor Zev Weiss, president of the Holocaust Educational Foundation, Peter Hayes, chair of the Lessons and Legacies conference series and member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council s Academic Committee, and Geoffrey Giles, director of the Holocaust Educational Foundation s Eastern Europe Study Seminar and 2000-2001 J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Senior Scholar-in-Residence at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. The Holocaust Educational Foundation s 1999 Summer Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization as well as the 2001 and 2003 Eastern Europe Study Seminars were key formative experiences for me. The University of Maryland s Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies, chaired by Marsha Rozenblit, provided matching funds for my 2001 visit to the extermination camps in Poland. For me, this trip encapsulated the everlasting necessity of scholarly work on the Holocaust.
Several individuals lent expertise, time, and energy to this project. First and foremost, I thank my doctoral advisor and mentor, James F. Harris, for his integrity, patience, good advice, exacting standards, and unquenchable faith in me. Marsha Rozenblit at the University of Maryland and Richard Wetzell at the German Historical Institute provided sound, constructive critiques and a kind ear for many years. For their cheerful labors on my behalf during my final year in graduate school, I thank Peter Beicken in the University of Maryland-College Park s German department, Rebecca Boehling at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, and Jeffrey Herf, professor of history at the University of Maryland-College Park and 2004 Charles H. Revson Foundation Fellow at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. Dr. Timothy Maher, Heather Morgan, John Shepherd, and the friendly staff at the Catholic University of America were always eager to help throughout my work with the Muench collection. I thank them for making my research experience a pleasant one.
I thank also my professional colleagues who took much time and effort to read my work over the last several years, especially Doris Bergen, professor of history at the University of Notre Dame and a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council s Academic Committee; Michael Berkowitz, reader in modern Jewish history at University College London and 2002 Charles H. Revson Foundation Fellow at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies; and Frank Buscher, professor of history at Christian Brothers University. My thanks also go to Robert P. Ericksen, professor of history at Pacific Lutheran University and member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council s Committee on Church Relations and the Holocaust; Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College and member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council s Academic Committee; and Michael Marrus, Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Toronto and also a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council s Academic Committee. I owe much to John T. Pawlikowski, O.S.M., professor of ethics and director of Catholic-Jewish Studies at Catholic Theological Union and chair of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council s Committee on Church Relations and the Holocaust; Michael Phayer, professor emeritus of history at Marquette University and 2001 Fellow at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies; Elias Fuellenbach of the Dominican Courent in D sseldorf; and Kevin Spicer, C.S.C., professor of history at Stonehill College and member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council s Committee on Church Relations and the Holocaust. Finally, I thank James Waller, Edward B. Lindaman Chair and professor of psychology at Whitworth College, for his support of my work.
Most of all, I thank my husband, Mark Richard Fleming, who has enthusiastically supported my scholarly endeavors over the last fifteen years. Nothing I accomplish is possible-or of value-without him. I hope I have written a b