When Pope Pius XII died in 1958, his role in saving Jews during the Nazi horror was praised unstintingly. Among those who lauded him were Israel's Prime Minister Golda Meir, B'nai B'rith ( which made Pius XII its Man of the Year), the World Jewish Congress, the Jewish Commission and leaders of the Jewish communities in Hungary, Turkey, Italy, Romania and the United States. The chief rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, an eyewitness to what went on in Rome, converted to Roman Catholicism because he was so impressed with the pope's humanitarian role in saving Jews.
A good deal of this attitude toward Pius XII began to change with the vicious attack on him by the German playwright Rolf Hochhuth in his 1963 play, "The Deputy." In gross distortion of the available evidence, Hochhuth's animus was breathtaking.
Now, thankfully, Pius XII -- Eugenio Pacelli -- is being stoutly defended again, and the heavy lifting is being conducted by heroic members of the Jewish community. Sir Martin Gilbert, one of the world's leading historians, has called Pacelli righteous. Rabbi David Dalin, in "The Myth of Hitler's Pope," has scornfully rejected accusations against the pontiff. Gary Krupp, Jewish president of the nonsectarian Pave the Way Foundation, says the foundation will publish more than 2,300 pages of original documents showing Pope Pius XII's efforts to help Jews.
Krupp concluded: "Quite possibly, Pacelli saved more Jews than all of the world's religious and political leaders combined. Moreover, in the true spirit of heroism, the Pope did all this with the direct threat of German rifles leveled 200 yards beneath his very windows."
John A. Schuler. Source: https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/LETTER-Jews-doing-heavy-lifting-in-defense-of-11601221.php