Jewish Historian Praises Pius XII’s Wartime Conduct.
Michael Tagliacozzo Works at a Center for Holocaust Studies
Michael Tagliacozzo currently directs the Italian Section at Beth Lohamè Haghettaot [Bet Lochame HaGhettaot—Th e Ghetto Fighters’ House], one of the main museums and study centers existing near Carmel
in Israel.
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 25, 2000 (ZENIT.org). Th e closed-door meeting of the Judeo-Christian Historical
Commission, which has been meeting in Rome since Monday 23, ends today.
Th e commission was established last October by Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, president of the Committee for
Religious Relations with Jews, to examine the 11 volumes of archives documents relating to the Holy See’s
activities during the Second World War.
In recent years Pius XII and the Holy See have been accused of not doing enough to save Jews persecuted
by the Nazis.
To shed light on the Pope’s role in this part of the war, ZENIT interviewed Jewish historian Michael
Tagliacozzo, responsible for the Beth Lohame Haghettaot (Center of Studies on the Shoah and Resistance) in
Italy. Beth Lohame Haghettaot in western Galilee in Israel is one of the world’s largest museums and centers
of documentation on the Holocaust.
Tagliacozzo: I know that many criticize Pope Pacelli. I have a folder on my table in Israel
entitled “Calumnies Against Pius XII,” but my judgment cannot but be positive. Pope Pacelli
was the only one who intervened to impede the deportation of Jews on Oct. 16, 1943, and he
did very much to hide and save thousands of us. It was no small matter that he ordered the
opening of cloistered convents. Without him, many of our own would not be alive.
ZENIT: Some maintain that the Holy See looked on in silence while Roman Jews were
deported on Oct. 16, 1943.
Tagliacozzo: It’s not true. Th e documents clearly prove that, in the early hours of the morning,
Pius XII was informed of what was happening and he immediately had German Ambassador
von Weizsäcker called and ordered State Secretary Luigi Maglione to energetically protest the
Jews’ arrest, asking that similar actions be stopped. If this had not happened, the Pope would
have denounced it publicly.
In addition, by his initiative he had a letter of protest sent through Bishop Aloise Hudal to
the military commander in Rome, General Rainer Stahel, requesting that the persecution of
Jews cease immediately. As a result of these protests, the operation providing for two days of
arrests and deportations was interrupted at 2 p.m. the same day.
Instead of the 8,000 Jews Hitler requested, 1,259 were arrested. After meticulous examination
of identity documents and other papers of identifi cation, the following day an additional 259
people were released.
Moreover, after the manhunt in Rome on Oct. 16, the Germans did not capture a single Jew.
Th ose who were arrested were handed over by collaborators. During the trial, Herbert Kappler
said: “Th e Jews were not handed over.”
ZENIT: You maintain that there were people who opposed persecution in the German army
and diplomacy.
Tagliacozzo: From the material in the archive it can be deduced that General Stahel and
German Consul Eitel Frederick Moellhausen—no sooner had they learned about the
extremely secret dispatch in which Himmler ordered the arrest of all Jews in Rome and their
transportation to Germany for liquidation-were vehemently opposed.
Stahel said he would never take part in such nastiness. Moellhausen exerted pressure on
Kappler to raise the matter with commander in chief Albert Kesserling. Moellhausen was a
practicing Catholic; he regarded the deportation of Jews as useless and inhuman and, in order
to convince Kesserling, raised questions regarding the political and military in opportuneness
of the deportation.
Kesserling, who feared an imminent Allied disembarkation on the coasts of the Tyrrhenian
Sea, denied his soldiers’ availability to arrest Jews. Th us, on Oct. 16, 1943, Kappler had to
use 365 SS members to make the raid.
ZENIT: Why was the Roman community so ill prepared for the Nazi raid?
Tagliacozzo: Th e representatives of Judaism and with them, the leaders of the Roman Jewish
community, showed the same defects as the Italian ruling class, and they failed at the moment
of trial.
In the book Before the Dawn, Zolli recounts that in mid-September of 1943, in the course
of a community meeting, he [the then Chief Rabbi Israel Zoller] proposed to dissolve the
community, pay employees’ salaries six months in advance, and hide himself. However,
President Ugo Foa, a solid man, said that Zolli was an alarmist and that nothing would
happen. Th e minutes of that meeting cannot be found now.
Zolli wasn’t the only one worried. I have found the testimony of Amadio Fatucci, who had the
courage to stop the president of the community and said: “Mr. President, need we fear?” Foa
replied: “Th e authorities have no interest against the people, and the people must be tranquil.
When people are tranquil, the authorities do not intervene.”
Foa’s conduct was serious in the circumstance of the raid. On the morning of Oct. 18, while
the Nazis had the deported enter train wagons, the president took his children and escaped
to Livorno. He returned on Nov. 2, having done nothing to fi nd out what happened to those
deported.
On that occasion, the community demonstrated an unconscious superfi ciality and foolish
incomprehension of the dangers and surprises of the new situation.
ZENIT: Some scholars deny that there were instructions from the Pope to help the Jews.
Tagliacozzo: Th ere was much confusion in those days, but all knew that the Pope and the
Church would have helped us.
Source: Pope Pius XII and World War II: The Documented Truth