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Remembering the Holocaust: The Documented Efforts of the Holy See and the Catholic Church to Save Lives.

by | Jan 8, 2020

Major Event By the Pave the Way Foundation with the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations

November 29, 1945 Pope Pius XII met with a delegation of 80 Jewish survivors, who came to personally thank him for the Vatican’s generosity and its efforts to save their lives during the war. The pope told the assembled group in 1945 “soon you will have a Jewish homeland.”

January 27, 2020 • 3:00pm – 6:00pm

Summary

In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 60/7, which established January 27 the day in 1945 the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated as the annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of victims of the Holocaust. It urged Member States to develop educational programs to teach future generations about the Holocaust and learn from it, so as to prevent future acts of genocide.

Because January 27, 2020 will mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the liberation of the survivors of Auschwitz, it will be a day of special significance in remembering the victims, studying the historical record, and drawing the necessary lessons from it.

The Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See, together with the Pave the Way Foundation, are sponsoring an Event entitled “Remembering the Holocaust: The Documented Efforts of the Catholic Church to Save Lives.” The event will take place on Monday, January 27, 2020, from 3:00 to 6:00 pm, in the Trusteeship Council Chamber at the United Nations Headquarters. The aim of this event is to bring experts on the Holocaust, World War II, Pope Pius XII, and the work of the Catholic Church during war together to remember the victims and to discuss the efforts undertaken to save those, especially Jews, whose lives were endangered by the Nazi genocide. It will also provide an occasion to examine in particular, with the help of archival documentation, the actions of Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church in response to the Holocaust.

Invited Speakers

Mr. Gary Krupp, President, Pave the Way Foundation, Editor Pope Pius XII and World War II: The Documented Truth. He will give an overview of the day’s events, a summary of the historical record, and will pose 10 major questions, which the conference presentations will address and answer.

Professor Eduoard Husson, Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Cergy-Pontoise, France, Author of The German Crisis; Ernst Nolte et la Shoah: Mise En Perspective des Totalitarismes ou Révisionnisme Historique?; L’Europe de l’Quest dans le Processus de Décision Qui Mène à la Shoah; and Die Entscheidung zur Vernichtung aller europäischer Juden. Versuch einer Neuinterpretation. He will speak on the Nazi  ideology and actions taken to bring about the Holocaust and the slaughter of so many victims.

Doctor Michael Hesemann, Professor of History at the Gustav-Siewerth Akademie in Bierbronnen, Germany, Author of The Pope and the Holocaust; Hitlers Lügen; Der Papst, der Hitler trotzte; as well as Völkermord an den Armeniern. He will address historical evidence of who knew what, when, and how with regard to what was occurring and what actions were being taken, or not being taken, to respond to that information.

Professor Ronald Rychlak, University of Mississippi School of Law, Author of Hitler, the War and the Pope. He will address the history of disinformation with regard to the Holocaust, both during and after.

Mark Riebling, Author of Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War Against Hitler. He will discuss the OSS, CIA and British archival evidence documenting the actions of Pius XII to obtain Allied cooperation to replace Hitler and the Nazis and form a new German government.

Professor Limore Yagil, Associate Professor of History, University of Sorbonne, Paris IV, Author of Catholiques religieux au secours des Juifs en France; Le sauvetage des Juifs dans la région d’Angers – Indre-et-Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, Loire Inférieure – 1940-1944; Chrétiens et Juifs sous Vichy 1940-1944: Désobéissance civile et sauvetage; and Holocaust Denial in France since 1945 to 1994: An Analysis of a Unique Phenomenon. Special advisor to Yad Vashem Jerusalem, Israel and the Holocaust Memorial Washington, DC. She will document Church efforts to save Jewish lives in France and elsewhere in Europe.

Professor Matteo Luigi Napolitano, Professor of History of International Relations, Università del Molise, Italy, Consultant to the Historical Service of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Author of Pio XII e la Shoah. In attesa degli archivi, storici a convegno; Fede in Dio e diplomazia contro la Shoah: il caso della Nunziatura di Budapest; Pio XII e gli Ebrei di Roma nel 1943; The Vatican Files; Pio XII e i piani per salvare gli ebrei; La Santa Sede e la Germania nazista and scores of other books and articles. He will address the evidence of Holy See efforts to save European Jews, the “rat line,” and the relevance of Church-States concordats.

Professor Johan Ickx, Director, Historical Archives in the Vatican Section for Relations with States, former Professor and Chair of Archival Sciences Università Europea di Roma, Author of Eugenio Pacelli e la resistenza alleata a Roma; La guerre et le Vatican. Les secrets de la diplomatie du Saint-Siège (1914-1915); and De Geheime Archieven van het Vaticaan. He will discuss documents and evidence of Vatican actions to end the arrests that began October 16, its direct involvement to protect Jews, and the preparation for the German invasion of the Vatican. He will also speak to the significance in general of the opening of more Vatican archives on March 2, 2020.

This 3 hour event can be viewed live using this link

Noted news reports on this event:

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