“If the Holy See knew all these things in 1942, why did it not shout [them] out to the world?”The Vatican in the Face of the Holocaust: Information from Occupied Poland and its Reception by the Holy See, 1941−1943
Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały, No. 20 (2024), Pages: 29-84
Submission Date: 2024-05-15Acceptance Date: 2024-07-10
Publication Date: 2024-12-17

Abstract
This article examines the chronology of information received by the Vatican from Poland under Nazi occupation regarding the persecution and mass killing of Jews between June 1941 and the summer of 1943. It analyses the communication channels between Poland and the Holy See, assessing their reliability and trustworthiness. Furthermore, it considers the content of these sources and the Holy See’s response to this intelligence. By focusing on the archival practice, the article analyses Holocaust awareness in the Vatican. It demonstrates that Pius XII was extensively informed about the Final Solution from his trusted sources as it unfolded. The findings imply that this intelligence was concealed diplomatically by the Vatican, highlighting the previously opaque human element influencing backstage decision-making within the Secretariat of State, especially the previously unknown role of the future pope Paul VI as an inhibitor of the information flow about the Holocaust. The article proposes a departure from the interpretation that the Christmas speech of 1942 constituted the Vatican’s reaction to the Holocaust. The documents show that the decision on how to react to the genocide was taken already in the early fall of 1942. Additionally, the article reveals new insights into the attitudes of the Polish Church hierarchy towards the Holocaust. On the one hand, the article dismantles the myth surrounding Sapieha, while on the other, it illuminates the pivotal role played by Bishop Adamski in disseminating information about the unfolding Holocaust.
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