On October 16, 1943, the Jews of Rome were targeted for arrest and deportation. The Nazis, the Vatican, and the Jews of Rome examines why-and more importantly how-it could have been avoided, featuring new evidence and insight into the Vatican's involvement. At the time, Rome was within reach of the Allies, but the overwhelming force of the Wehrmacht, Gestapo, and SS in Rome precluded direct confrontation. Moral condemnations would not have worked, nor would direct confrontation by the Italians, Jewish leadership, or even the Vatican. Gallo underscores the necessity of determining what courses of actions most likely would have spared Italian Jews from the gas chambers. Examining the historical context and avoiding normative or counterfactual assertions, this book draws upon archival sources ranging from diaries to intelligence intercepts in English, Italian, and German. With antisemitism on the rise today and the last remaining witnesses passing away, it is essential to understand what happened in 1943. The Nazis, the Vatican, and the Jews of Rome grapples with this particular, awful episode within the larger, horrifying story of the Holocaust. Despite the inadequacy of memory, we must continue to attempt to make sense of the inexplicable.

On October 16, 1943, the Jews of Rome were targeted for arrest and deportation. The Nazis, the Vatican, and the Jews of Rome examines why-and more importantly how-it could have been avoided, featuring new evidence and insight into the Vatican's involvement. At the time, Rome was within reach of the Allies, but the overwhelming force of the Wehrmacht, Gestapo, and SS in Rome precluded direct confrontation. Moral condemnations would not have worked, nor would direct confrontation by the Italians, Jewish leadership, or even the Vatican. Gallo underscores the necessity of determining what courses of actions most likely would have spared Italian Jews from the gas chambers. Examining the historical context and avoiding normative or counterfactual assertions, this book draws upon archival sources ranging from diaries to intelligence intercepts in English, Italian, and German. With antisemitism on the rise today and the last remaining witnesses passing away, it is essential to understand what happened in 1943. The Nazis, the Vatican, and the Jews of Rome grapples with this particular, awful episode within the larger, horrifying story of the Holocaust. Despite the inadequacy of memory, we must continue to attempt to make sense of the inexplicable.

When Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli became Pope Pius XII in 1939, the Nazis had invaded Austria and Czechoslovakia and were poised to strike Poland. Jews and other minorities were already being sent to concentration camps, and the world was on the verge of another horrific war. The prevailing historical interpretation of the era was that Pius XII had a stated anti - Nazi and anti - Fascist policy; he tried to bring an end to the persecution and gave aid and comfort to those who were persecuted. Revisionist views, however, portray Pius XII as a silent, passive individual who ignored the treatment of Jews, Christians and other minorities - a man who could have stopped the holocaust and didn't. Through a series of articles and essays, the editor and eight contributors critique the works of revisionists who allege that Pius XII was sympathetic to the Nazis or unresistant to their atrocities. The essays discuss the roots of these views in the relentless Nazi and communist propaganda of the era, and the debate's revival after a 1960s stage play portrayed the pope as a leader afraid to speak out. By bringing intellectual rigor and responsibility to the issue, this work makes a solid contribution to the history of the papacy and to the biography of Pius XII.