THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Documents Show Vatican Failure to Rescue Jews

ROME (JTA) — Efforts
by Pope Pius XII to rescue
baptized Jews from the Nazis
and send them to safety in
Brazil during the early stages
of World War II largely fail-
ed because of bureaucratic
delays by Brazilian authori-
ties and opposition from the
Gestapo. That disclosure was
contained in one of two
volumes of secret wartime
documents released by the
Vatican April 4 dealing with
war victims during the
period March 1939-December
1940.
The documents indicated
that the Holy See concentrat-
ed on saving baptized Jews
on the ground that they were
without assistance from the
;wish community and their
ty hope was the church
they had joined.
But of 3,000 visas promis-
ed, only 1,000 were ever dis-
tributed.

-

The documents raised
anew the question of how
much information the Pope
had on the mass slaughter
of Jews by the Nazis — a
question pertinent to the
long - standing controversy
over why the Pontiff failed
to speak out publicly against
the murder of millions of
Jews.

According to the docu-
ments, Papal efforts on be-
half of refugees from the
Nazi domain began soon
after the "Kristallnacht"
(Crystal Night) Nov. 9-10,
1938, during which hundreds
of synagogues and Jewish
shops and business establish-
ments were destroyed in Ger-
many. Pope Pius XI, who
died in February 1939, ask-
ed his diplomats overseas to
try to convince governments
to increase their quotas for
immigrants but met with
little success, the documents
stated.
In March, 1939, the Catho-
lic bishops of Germany ask-
ed Pope Pius XII to help
speed up the emigration of
Christian Jews because of
growing Nazi pressure
against them. After prolong-
ed negotiations, President
Getulio Vargas of Brazil
granted as "a special favor
to the Pope" 3,000 visas for

Israel Quiz

1. Do you know the Hebrew
equivalent for the following
well known words? Pioneer,
immigration, parliament, the
state of Israel, Independence
ay, the Hope.
2. What are the Hebrew
names for the following holy
days? Festival of Lights,
Festival of Freedom, Arbor
Day, Ninth of Av.
3. What is Shabat Nahamu?
4. What was the historic
meeting which took place in
Rome in January 1973?
5. What is the name of the
organization similar to the
UJA which raises money for
Israel, in countries other
than the U. S.?
6. What is Shin Bet?
7. What is NILI?
8. Name the two mosques
which stand above the West-
ern Wall.
9. What is Hamovil Haartsi?
10. In Israel's Declaration
of Independence, what ex-
pression is used for the Al-
mighty?

Answers on page 6.

,

converted Jews who were
willing to work on the land.
One thousand of the visas
were assigned to the Brazil-
ian ambassador to the Vati-
can and were distributed to
Jewish converts who had al-
ready succeeded in leaving
Germany and were waiting
in Holland, Belgium and
other countries for some
country to take them in.

play "The Deputy" by a
young German Protestant
playwright, Hans Hochhuth.
The play denounced the Pope
for failing to issue a public
condemnation of the Nazis'
mass murder of Jews.

(The London Times pub-
lished a letter from Gerard
Noel, editor of the Catholic
Herald, the official organ of
the Roman Catholic Church
But the other 2,000 visas in Great Britain, who de-
were never used and conse- clared that he could not ex-
quently lapsed because of onerate Pope Pius XII for
the opposition of the Gestapo his silence on the Jews al-
and of Brazilian agents in though he could not wholly
Germany, the Vatican docu- condemn him. Noel, who
ments indicated. Even the said he was a translater of
release of the first 1,000 official documents relating
visas was a race between bu- to "the Holy See and the war
reaucratic sluggishness and in Europe" wrote that "I
the onrushing Nazi war ma- find attempts to do either
unrealistic and depressing.")
chine.

In Holland, 150 baptized
Jews were caught in the Nazi
invasion and sent to exter-
mination camps while wait-
ing for their Brazilian visas
to arrive, the documents re-
ported. Bureaucracy, not of
the Vatican's making, was
the chief culprit.
According to the released
records, the Vatican had to
wrangle with the Brazilian
government to lessen restric-
tions surrounding the visas,
for example the demand for
and entrance tax of 2,800
gold marks per family.

The documents revealed
that close aides to Pope Pius
XII were aware of the mass
deportation of Jews to Nazi
extermination camps. One
of them was the then Arch-
bishop Angelo Guiseppe Ron-
cali, who later became Pope
John XXIII. The records
show - that Roncalli raised the
matter of the annihilation of
Polish Jews ,with the Nazi
Ambassador to Turkey,
Franz Von Pappen in An-
kara during Easter, 1943.
Roncalli reported his conver-
sation with Von Pappen to
M s g r. Giovanni Battista
Montini, now Pope Paul VI,
who was at the time acting
Secretary of State in the
Vatican and one of the clos-
est aides of Pope Pius XII.

Documents published by
various official sources since
the end of World War II indi-
cate that Pope Pius XII was
in receipt of reports through
diplomatic and other chan-
nels of the mass killings and
deportation of Jews. The con-
troversy over his silence was
heightened 10 years ago
with the production of the

The documents released by
the Vatican referred to a re-
quest from the Raphaelsve-
rein, a German association
aiding converted Jews, for
its support in schemes to
resettle Jews in Angola,
Australia and Alaska. But
the Vatican decided not to
lend its assistance to such

in consolidated net operat-
plans. The Raphaelsverein IDB Income Increased ing income for 1972.
TEL
AVIV
—
IDB
Bank-
was suppressed by the Ges-
holding Corporation, Ltd.,
tapo in 1941.
whose main subsidiary is Is-
Portugal Offered
rael Discount Bank Ltd., re-
Citizenship to Save
ported a 37 per cent increase
Dutch Jews From Nazis
AMSTERDAM (JTA) —
FOR BAR MITZVA, WEDDING & PARTY
The war-time Portuguese
Xperienced
government of the late Pres-
ident Antonio Salazar was
Xcellent
prepared to grant Portuguese
nationality to Dutch Sephar-
Xtremely
to
di Jews to save them from 'Elegant Deshiner
Fashions.
Reasonable
Nazi occupation, Amsterdam iSizes to Fit All 4 to 44.
Sephardi circles disclosed.
They said the Portuguese
Murry X. Koblin Adv.
offer was contingent on the 154 SOUTil WOODWARD
-548-5600
Jews ability to reach Portu- BIRMINGHAM MI 2-4150
guese territory. The Ger-
mans refused to let them
leave Holland for Portugal
and the proposal was thus
not carried out.
The Sephardi comment
May This Passover Bring Joy, Peace
came in response to a state-
ment made here recently
and Happiness to All Our Friends,
by Vienna-Jewish historian
Customers and the World
and Nazi-hunter Simon Wie-
senthal who, in the course
of a lecture said that such
Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Glassman
an offer had been made by
Spain. Wiesenthal did not
and Family
quote any sources to support
and
his claim.

Rated

Gow Ns

X

SHANDELS

the entire Staff of

Max M. Fisher One of Six Honorees
at WSU Builders Dinner April 25

Announcing the first an-
nual Builders of Detroit Din-
ner to be held Wednesday,
April 25 at Cobo Hall, Wayne
State University President
George E. Gullen Jr. said
he "wanted everyone in De-
troit to know that they were
invited to join with us in
honoring the builders who
have made such noteworthy
contributions to the quality
of life in this community."
To be honored that night
will be Walker L. Cisler,
chairman of the board, De-
troit Edison Company; Max
M. Fisher, chairman of the
board, Fisher-New Centet
Company; Henry Ford II,
chairman of the board, Ford
Motor Company; Stanley S.
Kresge, chairman of the
board, Kresge Foundation;
Alfredn Pelham, civicl ead-
er; and Leonard Woodcock,
international p r e s i d e n t,
United Automobile Workers.
`We hope that many people
will take advantage of this
opportunity to honor a per-
son who has made a signifi-
cant contribution to their
community, their school,
their organization, or their
block," said Gullen.

Friday, April 13, 1973-5

Honorary co-chairmen for
the dinner are Governor Wil-
liam G. 'Milliken, Mayor
'Roman Gribbs and Senators
Philip A. Hart, and Robert
Griffin.
A civic committee of more
than 600 support the univer-
sity in presenting the first
Builders of Detroit Dinner.
Reservations for the din-
ner are now being taken by
the University.

A man should so live that
at the close of every day he
can repeat: "I have not
wasted my day."—Zohar.

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