The Role of the Catholic Church and the Vatican During the Nazi Holocaust - Literature review Example

Analyze the role of the Catholic Church and the Vatican during the Nazi Holocaust The history of human civilization has witnessed numerous such incidents that exhibit brutality of human beings against their counterparts. However, during the Second World War, policy of the Nazi force regarding planned annihilation of Jewish mass across the world, of which Poland became the worst victim truly emerge as the worst incident reflecting the magnitude of crime against humanity. According to available historical documents, during six years of Nazi tyranny, across the world, the number of Jews killed was 5,933,900, which comprises 67% of the entire Jewish population. Among the entirety, Poland was the worst hit and 90% of its entire population was annihilated mercilessly.1 Defeat of the Nazi force in the hands of Allies ensured return of peace and also put an end to the hellish existence. At the same time, attempts were made to a large dimension in order to assess the reasons behind such massacre and individual responsibility so that recurrence of such an incident can be stopped in future. During this process, a starling range of information received special attention, which not only revealed lack of proper initiative to protest against such brutal onslaught but passivity of both Catholic Church and the Vatican against showing explicit objection against ongoing trend of mass murder and indiscriminate abuse against humanity. The famous political theorist and philosopher Edmund Burke once prophetically commented regarding prevailing power of evil over humanitarian forces that “The one condition necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”2 Execution of innocent Jews in the hands of Nazi forces might not be stopped entirely but with undertaking of adequate initiatives the magnitude of such torment could have been lessened to a considerable extent. At the same time, passivity of the Catholic Church and the Vatican was quite surprising to witness. The faiths and morals of Christian discipline clearly pronounce servitude towards sufferers irrespective of religious and racial differences. However, when it comes to practical application of such religious and philosophical principles, there is no doubt about the fact that Christianity has shirked to a great extent from its actual goal. Silence of the Vatican during the Nazi holocaust is a clear proof in support of the observation. Pondering over the role of contemporary Pope Pius XII historians have raised certain very relevant questions regarding his passivity. It is quite astonishing to see that despite repeated appeals were made to the Pope against systematic annihilation of Jews but he always restrained himself from raising his voice against the annihilation and so deep was his reluctance that when more than 8000 Jews from Rome were deported for killing, even then also he did not yield from his passivity. Historians like Ronnie S. Landau have gone to the extent of questioning the relevance of his supreme authority if it cannot be applied for the purpose of human welfare, “Why did he not threaten with excommunication the many Catholics who participated in this mass murder? Had he done so … it would certainly have had no effect on nominal Catholics like Hitler and Goebbels, but it might have deterred Polish complicity and reduced the number of catholic recruits to the SS in Lithuania, Austria and Germany itself.”3 In the context of Europe, specifically, there are several instances that show active collaboration of Catholic bishops with the leaders of Nazi forces and assisted them accordingly in murdering the Jews successfully. An active step from the Pope would surely have been restrained them from being a part of the brutality and that could have saved lives of several people. May be there has not been explicit support from Christianity for execution of the inhuman process but there is no scope for denial that passivity of the Vatican surely provided both followers and preachers of Catholicism to be an active part of the mass assassination and from the humanitarian perspective, Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican cannot deny their respective onus. In this context, it would not be an exaggeration if it is said that anti-Semitism and conflict of Christianity with Judaism have played an important role behind development of such passivity. In this context it also becomes important to receive an historical overview regarding ideological conflict between Jews and Christians as well as politics of religion during post 1930s. History: The history of conflict between Jews and Christians can be cited since eleventh and twelfth centuries. One of the major reasons behind occurrence of Crusades was also the anti-Semitic mentality. During the early 11th century one “Prince of Babylon” was accused of demolishing the Holy Sepulture of Jerusalem and also was alleged of inciting Jews to attack Christians. The contemporary Pope, with the purpose of protecting Christianity, waged the Crusade and upon receiving such order from the Pope many Christian people started killing their Jewish counterparts. “The first massacre took place in Speyer in 1096, another occurred in Worms and a third at Mainz. So terrifying was the slaughter, that adult Jews killed their own children rather than let them fall into the hands of their Christian neighbors.”4 The Third Crusade during 1146 is another example of anti-Semitism and Christian orthodoxy. Under the leadership of Pope Eugenius III and St. Bernard of Clairvaux it was initiated and the mankind witnessed another example regarding magnitude of religious orthodoxy.5 The progress of time and advancement of human civilization slowly covered the wounds resulted from consecutive Crusades but undercurrent of discrimination and sense of religious supremacy was so strong that it was not entirely annihilated. Perhaps, it is since that time onwards followers of the respective religious discipline were more concerned about providing more importance to their religious preferences; rather than their entities as human beings. It is due to the same reason, it can be argued, that Catholics and the Vatican remained passive during the infamous Nazi holocaust because finally successful execution of the entire procedure would have helped them to receive a stronger control over world religion. Consequently, preachers of Catholicism also did not hesitate to collaborate with Nazi leaders in successful execution of the mass slaughter. The hostility of Catholics against Jews, immediate before the Holocaust also provide us with the indication that the stage was perfectly ready and the moment the Holocaust commenced, Catholics participated in that process in order to show their supremacy both in terms of religion and mass power. In this context observation of Michael Phayer becomes highly relevant as he has observed, “Beliefs and feelings of European Catholics towards Jews varied considerably on the eve of Holocaust. Antisemitism … was prevalent everywhere. But the kinds and degrees of antisemitism differed widely from east to west and from north to south ….traditional Christian antisemitism did not cause the Holocaust. …along with more modern varieties of antisemitism, it conditioned some European Catholics to become part of Hitler’s murderous machinery. The Vatican … was a principal reason why Catholic attitude toward Jews lacked uniformly.”6 According to numerous scholarly references and literatures, produced in the context of analyzing the role of Pope Pius XII and the Vatican during Holocaust, the antisemitism sentiment among Catholics has attracted highest attention. Evidences have also been found that the undercurrent of antisemitism gradually became explicit since the late 19th century. Christian leaders, such as, Eugenio Pacelli and Msgr. Umberto Benigni took the highest initiatives towards spreading antisemitism and in this context they went to the extent of suggesting that by killing Christians, the Jews were actually looking forward to rule the world. Despite the Vatican, later on, removed Benigni from his seat but it was not able to change antisemitist feeling that was stored deeply among orthodox Christians.7 In this context it can also be argued whether it was actually a failure on the Vatican’s part or there was lack of sincere effort to abolish the anti Jewish sentiment from followers of Catholicism. Aftermath, leaders of Christianity may be did not instigate people publicly with antisemitism like that of Benigni but there were ongoing efforts from leading Catholic priests regarding maintaining a safe distance from Jews in every aspect of life; consequently, there was repeated stress on the fact that Jews were attempting to dominate Christians and they should not be provided with a chance to succeed in their purpose.8 The Silence and politics behind: It becomes clear from the close observation over attitude of Catholics towards their Jewish counterpart both in ancient and prior to the Holocaust that there the feeling of hostility has always prevailed. Aftermath the Crusade the undercurrent of Catholic antagonism towards Jews took a massive shape during the late 19th century and finally outburst on the process of Holocaust. Though the Holocaust commenced but immediate initiative was not taken on behalf of the nations as there were, first, lack of proper information regarding commencement of the act and second, the issue of believing whether such an act was already taken place or not. At the diplomatic level initiatives were not taken because the magnitude of crime committed by the Nazi force was beyond human apprehension and undertaking of any desperate step, as it was feared, could have worsened the entire situation. However, in this context the Vatican and Pope Pius XII could not deny their respective responsibility as genuine information regarding “mobile killing squads and the death camps was accumulated piecemeal and gradually, both within and outside the Vatican. Only a compilation of information would lead to the conclusion of Genocide.”9 It was not that the Vatican was incapable of performing the task of such compilation. If the Vatican would have wished, it could have gathered information from different part of Europe through its diplomats and spread knowledge of the ongoing human act; rather it took a defensive step and restrained the information from spreading. The passivity on part of the Vatican and the Pope enhanced to such an extent that in 1942 a mere explanation was provided on behalf of the Pop that “rumors about mass murder cannot be verified. Later, when the Holocaust could no longer be denied, Vatican personnel said that the crimes of one World War II combatant could not be condemned without condemning the crimes of another.”10 Such approach of the Vatican is highly significant as implicitly it made clear that the crime of World War II was a total process and opposing parities of Nazi force also share the equal onus. By clearly declining the proposal to condemn the Holocaust, Vatican has not only showed its implicit inclination towards Nazi activism but also ignited the possibility of individual Catholic inclination towards participation in the prevailing brutality. At the same time, in order to show the higher purpose of welfare as well as Pope’s willingness to reduce magnitude of individual suffering, the Vatican put forth the excuse that Pope Pius XII is scared if he publicly condemns the Holocaust, the “Rome and Vatican City would suffer extensive destruction from aerial bombing either by the Germans or by the Allies.”11 Historians, however, have attempted to explore manifold reasons behind silence of the Pope during the extensive Holocaust. First: for centuries, in the Western socio-religious context, Catholicism has remained as one of the most predominant forces but the era of 1930s, marked by socio-cultural transformation and radical intellectual movement, threatened the supremacy of Christianity in Western socio-religious context. Catholic political movement, questions regarding relevance of Catholic observation towards life, the Great Depression and individual quest for liberating oneself from the scope of religious domination were some of the issues that surely weakened the foundation of Christianity in European context.12 The entire system of Christianity was desperately trying to evolve from the situation and it is argued that it capitalized over the issue of antisemitism in order to avoid the unpleasant condition. Except than supporting Hitler’s policy for Jewish annihilation, the Vatican and Pope did not find any other way to rise into popularity once more. Second: “During the war the Nazis and the Communists launched a merciless propaganda attack on the Pope.”13 Comparing the existing situation during 30s in the Western socio-religious context the entire situation became even worse both for Christianity and Pope. It seems that Pope tried to revive his bright stature once more before common people and he found supporting the Nazi governance as the sole way to serve the purpose. Christianity, The Holocaust and reactions: No matter how desperately the Pope has tried to shirk his responsibility from condemning the Holocaust, however, it did not provide him the kind of aspirations that he actually aimed for. Great scholars of Christianity and Catholicism, such as Maritain, on one hand, has accepted the Pope’s refusal to react against the Holocaust during the War but he also has questioned the actual reason behind his silence even after the War was over, “But now that Nazism has been defeated, and that the circumstances have changed, could it not be permitted, … to transmit to His Holiness the appeal of so many anguished souls, and to beg him to make his voice heard?”14 What actually is Christian vision towards life and humanity has actually been reflected through figures like Oskar Schindler and Anna Frank and several other common people who attempted to save as many Jews while the evil of Holocaust prevailed.15 Compared to the power and status of Pope these people were simpletons; yet with their spontaneous impetus to serve the humanity they always have attempted to give their best effort but even a part of such an effort could be viewed on behalf of the Vatican or Pope. Finally, it seems that lack of desire to serve humanity, religious orthodoxy and submission before social and institutional pressure are main reasons that the Vatican and Pope were restrained from undertaking proper initiative against the Holocaust. Consequently, the actual role of Pope, being the leader of a major humanist religion will also be criticized in different periods of time. References Cohn-Sherbok, Lavinia and D. 1994. A Short History of Judaism. Massachusetts: Oneworld Publications Conway, M. 1997. Catholic politics in Europe, 1918-1945. London: Routledge Dawidowicz, L.S. 1976. A Holocaust reader. New Jersey: Behrman House, Inc Gallo, P.J. 2006. Pius XII, the Holocaust, and the revisionists: essays. North Carolina: McFarland Landau, R.S. 2006. The Nazi Holocaust. London: I.B.Tauris Lawson, T. 2006. The Church of England and the Holocaust: Christianity, memory and Nazis. Woodbridge: Boydell Press Lederhendler, E. 2005. Jews, Catholics, and the burden of history. New York: Oxford University Press US. Phayer, M. 2001. The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965. Bloomington: Indiana University Press Rittner, C. and Roth, J.K. 2004. Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust. London: Continuum International Publishing Group Read More