Pius XII, the Holocaust and the Revisionists

When Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli became Pope Pius XII in 1939, the Nazis had invaded Austria and Czechoslovakia and were poised to strike Poland. Jews and other minorities were already being sent to concentration camps, and the world was on the verge of another horrific war. The prevailing historical interpretation of the era was that Pius XII had a stated anti–Nazi and anti–Fascist policy; he tried to bring an end to the persecution and gave aid and comfort to those who were persecuted. Revisionist views, however, portray Pius XII as a silent, passive individual who ignored the treatment of Jews, Christians and other minorities—a man who could have stopped the holocaust and didn’t.
Through a series of articles and essays, the editor and eight contributors critique the works of revisionists who allege that Pius XII was sympathetic to the Nazis or unresistant to their atrocities. The essays discuss the roots of these views in the relentless Nazi and communist propaganda of the era, and the debate’s revival after a 1960s stage play portrayed the pope as a leader afraid to speak out. By bringing intellectual rigor and responsibility to the issue, this work makes a solid contribution to the history of the papacy and to the biography of Pius XII.

Patrick J. Gallo is adjunct professor of political science at New York University and has authored 10 other books. He has been a scholar-in-residence at the American Academy in Rome, a Fulbright Scholar and an NEH Fellow.

Edited by Patrick J. Gallo
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 226
Bibliographic Info: notes, index
Copyright Date: 2006
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2374-3
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8066-1
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1

1. Beyond The Deputy: Origins of the New Revisionism

Patrick J. Gallo      9

2. The Road to Dachau

Patrick J. Gallo      43

3. Pius XI, Pius XII, and the Führer: Peter Godman Against Two Men of God

Matteo Luigi Napolitano      59

4. Pius XI’s Hidden Encyclical: An Appraisal

George Sim Johnson      65

5. We Have Contended with Diabolical Forces

Patrick J. Gallo      67

6. The Pope and the Shoah

Justus George Lawler      79

7. The Pope Pius XII Controversy: A Review Article

Kenneth D. Whitehead      84

8. Interventions by the Pope and the Nuncio

Jenö Levai      104

9. To Halt the Dreadful Crime

Patrick J. Gallo      110

10. Zuccotti’s Lack of Evidence

Ronald Rychlak      136

11. Via Rasella and the Ardeatine Massacre

Patrick J. Gallo      150

12. Constantine’s Sword: A Review Article

Robert P. Lockwood      162

13. Goldhagen vs. Christianity

Ronald Rychlak      167

Epilogue: The End of the Pius Wars

Joseph Bottum      181

Chapter Notes      187

About the Contributors      213

Index      215

“critical—and devastating—reviews on the work of anti–Pius or anti–Church writers…astute…documentation…literally irrefutable…this single book alone virtually destroys the anti–Pius position”—Kenneth D. Whitehead, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.