The Nazis, the Vatican, and the Jews of Rome

Patrick Gallo

Description

On October 16, 1943, the Jews of Rome were targeted for arrest and deportation. The Nazis, the Vatican, and the Jews of Rome examines why—and more importantly how—it could have been avoided, featuring new evidence and insight into the Vatican’s involvement. At the time, Rome was within reach of the Allies, but the overwhelming force of the Wehrmacht, Gestapo, and SS in Rome precluded direct confrontation. Moral condemnations would not have worked, nor would direct confrontation by the Italians, Jewish leadership, or even the Vatican.

Gallo underscores the necessity of determining what courses of actions most likely would have spared Italian Jews from the gas chambers. Examining the historical context and avoiding normative or counterfactual assertions, this book draws upon archival sources ranging from diaries to intelligence intercepts in English, Italian, and German.

With antisemitism on the rise today and the last remaining witnesses passing away, it is essential to understand what happened in 1943. The Nazis, the Vatican, and the Jews of Rome grapples with this particular, awful episode within the larger, horrifying story of the Holocaust. Despite the inadequacy of memory, we must continue to attempt to make sense of the inexplicable.

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Chief

2. Germany’s Fanatic Determination to Fight

3. I’ll Go Right into the Vatican

4. I Wanted to Make an Air Drop in Rome

5. The Worst Horrors of the Nazi Regime

6. Do Not Worry

7. Like a City of the Dead

8. The Reincarnation of the Dying Corpse

9. I Have a Special Mission for You

10. A Final Solution to the Jewish Question

11. We Must Disperse the People

12. The Byzantine Christ

13. If You Pay, No Harm Will Come to You

14. We Had the Moral Right

15. Keep Out of All Questions Concerning Jews

16. Like Autumn Leaves Lay Waiting

17. Los! Raus! Schnel!

18. It Is Simply Impossible to Refuse

19. Let’s Go Make a Few Phone Calls

20. Train X70469

21. Numbers 1581–158639

22. These Jews Will Never Return to Their Homes

23. He Is No Longer Our Rabbi

24. A Connection to the Pope

25. We Have Contended with Diabolical Forces

26. I Was Only an Executor of Orders

Epilogue: I Must Go Back and Tell

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Holocaust
• Histoire
• Josef Muller
• Roma (serie de televisión)
• Segunda Guerra Mundial
• Ciudad del Vaticano
• Jews
• Kappler
• Black Saturday
• The Holocaust
• Catholicism
• Italian Jews
• Catholic Church
• Allies
• World War II
• Pope Pius XII
• Italy
• Final Solution
• Auschwitz concentration camp
• My Last Duchess
• Rome
• Adolf Hitler
• Poland
• History
• Dannecker
• Pietro Badoglio
• Wolff
• Heinrich Himmler
• Auschwitz
• Benito Mussolini
• Holocauste
• Vatican
• Seconde Guerre mondiale

Informations

• Publié par: Purdue University Press
• Date de parution: 15 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781612497891
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

The Nazis, the Vatican,
and the
Jews of RomeThe Nazis, the Vatican,
and the
Jews of Rome
Patrick J. Gallo
Purdue University Press • West Lafayette, IndianaCopyright 2023 by Purdue University. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress.
978-1-61249-787-7 (paperback)
978-1-61249-786-0 (hardback)
978-1-61249-788-4 (epub)
978-1-61249-789-1 (epdf )
cover images
The Infallible (Pope Pius XII, September 1945) by unknown photographer. Associated Press
via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Infallible
_(Pope_Pius_XII)_%E2%80%93_Sept._1945.jpg.
Heinrich Himmler (1938) by unknown photographer. German Federal Archiv-es via Wikime
dia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183
-R99621,_Heinrich_Himmler.jpg Tose who believe absurdities commit atrocities.
V OLTA IR E
When they burn books, they will ultimately burn people.
HEINRICH HEINEContents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
1.Chief1
2.Germany’s Fanatic Determination t o Fight 15
3.I’ll Go Right into the Va tican 20
4. I Wanted to Make an Air Drop in Ro me 25
5. Te Worst Horrors of the Nazi Re gime 32
6. Do Not Worr y 37
7. Like a City of the D ead 45
8. Te Reincarnation of the Dying Co rpse 56
9. I Have a Special Mission fo r You 60
10. A Final Solution to the Jewish Ques tion 69
11. We Must Disperse the Peo ple 74
12. Te Byzantine Chris t 78
13. If You Pay, No Harm Will Come to Y ou 85
14. We Had the Moral Rig ht 98
15. Keep Out of All Questions Concernin g Jews 102
16. Like Autumn Leaves Lay Wait ing 108
17. Los! Raus! Schnel ! 112
18. It Is Simply Impossible to Ref use 125
19. Let’s Go Make a Few Phone Ca lls 130
20. Train X70469 139
21. Numbers 1581–1586 39 148viii CONTENTS
22. Tese Jews Will Never Return to Teir Ho mes 156
23. He Is No Longer Our Rab bi 167
24. A Connection to the P ope 171
25. We Have Contended with Diabolical F orces 179
26. I Was Only an Executor of O rders 183
Epilogue: I Must Go Back and T ell 191
Notes 197
Bibliography243
Index255
About the Autho r 265Preface
The vision of a master race was the worldview of Adolf Hitler’s Ge- r
many that called for the racial reordering of Europe. Te Nazis clung to the delusion
of ethnic and racial purity with absolute rectitude. Walter Reich contends that “if the
racial reordering of Europe was the heart of the Nazi animating vision, the Holocaust
1was that heart’s lef ven Whetricle.n t”he Nazis assumed power in Germany, the Jewish
population in Europe was over nine million. Ninety percent of the Je-ws lived in coun
tries that Germany would occupy. Once they were occupied they w-ould face the im
plementation of the annihilationist polices of the Nazis. Soon afer Hitler was made
chancellor of Germany he embarked on the persecution of his racial enemies, gaining
momentum throughout the decade.
Te fnal solution didn’t rest on a single decision at one particular moment in time.
Nazi policy did not proceed in a linear fashion but instead unfolded incrementally
along a twisted road, developing in stages. Te Holocaust took place in the midst of
a global war that killed upwards of ffy million to sixty million people. During the
war, reports of the atrocities were viewed in a larger context and not l- inked to the spe
cial fate of the Jews. Teir persecution was placed within the context of other victims.
Hitler declared his goal in a speech to the Nazi faithful on Janu- ary 30, 1939, circu
lated worldwide. “If international fnance Jewry, in Europe and abr-oad once again suc
ceeds in plunging various peoples into a world war, the result will not b- e the Bolsheviza
tion of the earth and triumph of world Jewry, but the destruction of the Jewish race
2in Europe. ” On September 1, 1939, Wehrmacht troops blitzed their way into Poland.
In April 1940 Auschwitz I was created, followed by Auschwitz II–Birkenau, on July 31,
1941. Hermann Göring, commissioner for the fnal solution of the European Jewish
Question, in a directive drafed by Adolf Eichmann, ordered Reinhard Heydrich “to
bring about a total solution to the Jewish problem in the German sphere of infuence.”
Te farther Hitler’s army ranged, the SS followed them. Te Einsatzgruppens, mobile
killing squads, were present in all the eastern campaigns. In June 1941, a decisive point
was reached with the invasion of the Soviet Union and the mass murder of the nation’s
Jews. One and a half million Jews were targeted and murdered. Te Nazis followed
their military victories and even their defeats by intensifying th- eir attempt to elimi
3nate the Jewish “race” from the face of the earth, to be accomplishe d by mass murder.
On January 20, 1942, Heydrich chaired a conference at Berlin-Wa-nnsee to coor
dinate the various ofces involved in the Jewish question and to implement the fnal x P REFACE
solution. Originally the conference was to be held in December 1941, but it was delayed
because of US entrance into the war. Among the attendees were Adolf Eichmann and
Heinrich Muller of the Reich Security Main Ofce (RSHA). Eichmann recorded the
ofcial minutes of the meeting. Te Wannsee Conference was to give an ofcial stamp
of approval to a prior policy. Jews were already being killed on a grand scale at Chemo
and in the conquered territories. Heydrich displayed a chart that showed the numbers
and locations of the Jewish communities that were to be evacuated and liquidated. He
asserted that the fgures cited were low estimates, since they were based on religion,
not on the racial defnitions of Jews. Te number for Italian Jews, ffy-eight thousand,
was infated. Te largest concentrations of Jews were in Rome, Milan, and Turin. Te
conference lasted for one hour, and none present raised any objections. Te normality
of insanity had been on full display. Copies of the minutes were cir-culated to the min
istries and the SS ofces. Te implementation of the fnal solution varied in diferent
countries depending on local circumstances. Such was the case in Italy. Te Holocaust
4in Italy did not happen by accident or chance but instead happ ened by design.
On March 2, 1939, Pius XII ascended to the throne of St. Peter. He was a trained
diplomat with expertise on Germany’s history and politics. Five months later Germany
and the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact with an agreement to divide Poland
between them. On September 1, 1939, Wehrmacht troops invaded Poland. Two days
later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Two weeks later- , Soviet forces in
vaded Poland from the east. Polish resistance collapsed, and Germa-n forces took con
trol of western Poland.
Elements in the German military and members of the Abwehr, the Reich military
secret and counterintelligence service, planned a coup to remove Hitler, end the war,
restore democracy, and withdraw German forces from Poland. Tey had to determine
what the British and French wanted and would do. A secret exchange of proposals was
necessary, but they needed a credible and respected intermediary. P -ius XII was inter
nationally respected, discreet, and skilled among diplomats. Te overture to the pope’s
representatives took place in the frst week of October 1939. Te pope was briefed of
the plot and the parties involved. In less than twenty-four hours he a- greed to act as in
termediary. He did not meet personally with the plotters, thereby -protecting plausi
ble deniability. Some of his advisers believed that he might have gone too far out on a
limb. Te risks if the Nazis found that he was involved in the plot to remove him were
immeasurable. Te pope had compromised the Vatican’s traditional neutrality and his
personal position and the papacy as well. A realist, he assessed the meaning of power.
He did not have time for any plan that lacked the assurance of po-wer to alter or pre
vent an outcome. He also calculated the limitation of moral appeals to confront the
dark forces of Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Te pope’s decision to work with the German
resistance is a measure of his strategic thinking. On the same day that he consented to P REFACE xi
partner with the plotters he signed his frst encyclical, “Summi Pon -tifcatus,” a power
ful condemnation of anti-Semitic violence. Te Nazis declared that t - he pope had aban
doned any pretense of neutrality.
In 1940 a series of meetings and exchanges between papal emissaries and those of
the resistance and the British took place. For their part, the British made it clear that
negotiations could take place afer Hitler was removed and not beforehand. By the end
of March, Hitler was still in power. Several of the plotters lost their nerve and their will
for a coup. For his part, the pope had gone far to help the conspirators. He went to the
outer limits of what was possible. Pius had gambled and lost.
Afer the collapse of these eforts the conspirators wanted to forestall an ofensive
against France, the Low Countries, and Scandinavia. Tey leaked information to the
pope hopping that he would warn them. Te pope secretly warned France, Belgium,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and neutral Switzerland. His warnin- g was largely ig
nored and considered unreliable. When the invasion materialized, Pius sent messages
of sympathy to the three Lowland sovereigns.
Te pope followed a pattern of operating in secret by directing specifc prelates with
their assignments. In 1940 he directed Monsignor Giovanni Ferrofno to go to Madrid
and Lisbon to transfer Jews from Spain and Portugal to central America. Ferrofno met
with Portuguese ofcials and conveyed the Vatican’s request for 1,600 visas per year for
the Jews who had fed to Portugal. Between 1940 and 1941, there wer-e two transatlan
tic crossings a year bound for Central America. Ferrofno accompa-nied the frst boat
load of eight hundred Jews to the Dominican Republic.
Afer Hitler ordered the Wehrmacht into the Soviet Union, the Sta -linist regime be
came an ally of