The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965

by Phayer, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780253214713
• ISBN10: 0253214718
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-05-01
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

Throwing the spotlight relentlessly on Pius XIIHitler's Popehas skewed the question surrounding Catholicism and the Holocaust, depriving us of a record of what the entire church did or did not do. Such a record is provided for the first time in the Michael Phayer's compelling book. Phayer shows that without effective church leadership under Pius XII, Catholics acted ambiguously during the Holocaust--some saving Jews, others helping Hitler murder them, the majority simply standing by. After the Holocaust, with Pope John XXIII at the helm, the church moved swiftly to rid itself of centuries-long anti-semitic tradition.The Catholic Church's official silence during the Holocaust, its anti-Semitism, and its apparent lack of action to save lives have all been part of a long historical discussion. Making extensive use of churchdocuments, Michael Phayer explores the actions of the Catholic Church and the actions of individual Catholics during the crucial period from the emergence of Hitler until the church's official rejection of anti-Semitism in 1965. Phayer's account permits us to follow the evolution of official Catholic thinking during the rebuilding of Germany, the Cold War, and the gradual theological reforms that led to Vatican II.Pope Pius XII did not cause the Holocaust nor was it within his power to stop it. Why then is he the centre of controversy, most recently asHitler's Pope? For Michael Phayer, casting the spotlight relentlessly on Pius XII has skewed the question surrounding Catholicism and the Holocaust, depriving us of a record of what the entire church did or did not do. Phayer provides such a record for the first time in the first half of this book. It reveals that European bishops displayed a shocking disparity in their attitudes toward Jews and in their conduct during the Holocaust. On the positive side, the record of those who tried to help Jews is filled with the names of ordinary people.The Holocaust ended in 1945 but the Catholic Church did not come to terms with the Shoah until 1965. How this occurred is a story worth telling. Those who perpetrated the Holocaust committed suicide at the end of the war, or were tried and executed after it, or vanished into obscurity. But the men and women who resisted the Holocaust lived on after it to help bring an end to the church's equivocal stand on anti-Semitism.

Author Biography

Michael Phayer is Professor of History at Marquette University. His two most recent books, Protestant Catholic Women in Nazi Germany and (with Eva Fleischner) Cries in the Night: Women Who Challenged the Holocaust, dealextensively with Catholic-Jewish relations before and during the Shoah.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xi
Catholic Attitudes toward Jews before the Holocaust	1	(19)
Genocide before the Holocaust: Poland, 1939	20	(11)
Genocide before the Holocaust: Croatia, 1941	31	(10)
The Holocaust and the Priorities of Pope Pius XII	41	(26)
In the Eye of the Storm: German Bishops and the Holocaust	67	(15)
European Bishops and the Holocaust	82	(29)
Catholic Rescue Efforts during the Holocaust	111	(22)
Answering for the Holocaust: The United States Confronts Germany	133	(26)
The Holocaust and the Priorities of Pius XII during the Cold War	159	(25)
Catholics and Jews after the Holocaust	184	(19)
The Holocaust Recalled, Antisemitism Renounced: The Second Vatican Council	203	(14)
Epilogue	217	(10)
Notes	227	(46)
References	273	(22)
Index	295