Contemporary Church History Quarterly

Volume 25, Number 4 (December 2019)

Research Note: Opening of the Vatican archives, 1939-1958 Period

By Suzanne Brown-Fleming, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum*

 On March 2, 2020, one of the most important Holocaust-related archives in the world will open. I refer to the multiple archives relating to the pontificate of Pius XII (1939 to 1958, hereafter referred to as Pius XII archives). Important but incomplete documentation has been available beginning in 1965 as part of the published series Acts and Documents of the Holy See Relative to the Second World War.[1] Also already available are archives from the pontificate of Pius XI (1922-1939, since 2006) and those of the Vatican Office of Information for Prisoners of War (1939-1947, since 2004).[2]

Announced by Pope Francis on March 4, 2019 and marking 80 years since the election of Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) to the office of pope, the Pius XII archives will be accessible in multiple locations across Vatican City, Each archive has its own regulations, registration system, indexes, and inventories. For scholars of World War II and the Holocaust, of especial interest are the following, described in more detail by H.E. Monsignor Sergio Pagano in L’Osservatore Romano:[3]

The Roman Curia:^[4] Select key archives opening in 2020

• Vatican Apostolic Archive (former l’Archivio segreto vaticano or ASV)
• Historical Archive of the Section of Relations with States, Secretariat of State (l’Archivio storico della Sezione dei Rapporti con gli Stati della Segreteria di Stato or AES orEE.SS.) Also called the Sacred Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs or 2^nd Section of the Secretariat of State.^[5]
• Archive of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (l’Archivio storico della Congregazione per la dottrina della fede or ACDF)[6]
• The Propaganda Fide Historical Archives of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (l’Archivio storico ‘de Propaganda Fide’ della Congregazione per l’evangelizzazione dei popoli)[7]
• Historical Archive of the Congregation with the Oriental Churches (l’Archivio storico della Congregazione per le Chiese orientali)
• Varied Historical Archives of Congregations, Dicasteries, Offices and Tribunals (archivi storici di congregazioni, dicasteri, uffici e tribunal)

When announcing the opening of these archives, His Holiness Pope Francis said, “the Church is not afraid of history; rather, she loves it, and would like to love it more and better, as God does! So, with the same trust of my predecessors, I open and entrust to researchers this documentary heritage.”[8] For historians of the churches during World War II, the Holocaust, and the postwar period, we are witnessing an exciting moment. Networks of scholars from Europe, Israel and the United States are already forming to be best prepared for these sizable archives and to share future findings.

[1] Actes et documents du Saint-Sìege relatifs à la seconde guerre mondiale, ed. Pierre Blet, Robert A. Graham, Angelo Martini, Burkhardt Schneider. Vatican City: Libreria Vaticana, 1965-1981, 12 vols.

[2] Inter arma caritas: l’Ufficio informazioni vaticano per i prigionieri di guerra istituito da Pio XII, 1939-1947. 2 vols.

[3] H.E. Monsignor Sergio Pagano, “Dopo un lungo e paziente lavoro di preparazione,” L’Osservatore Romano, 4 March 2019.

[4] The entire group of organized bodies and their personnel assisting the Pope in the government and ministration of the Church, i.e. the congregations, tribunals and offices.

[5] The Secretariat of State is a dicastery of the Roman Curia. From 1908-1967 it was divided into three sections: 1^st Section – Ordinary Affairs, 2^nd Section – Extraordinary Affairs, and 3^rd Section, the Chancery of Apostolic Briefs. This set-up was reformulated in 1967 as part of Vatican II. See http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/sezione-rapporti-stati/archivio-storico/consultazione/consultazione_it.html, accessed 10/8/2019.

[6] For application process and holdings see http://www.acdf.va/content/dottrinadellafede/it/servizi/richiesta-di-accesso.html, accessed 10/8/2019. Currently, the website does not indicate a registration date for the 1939-1958 materials.

[7] For application process and holdings see http://www.archiviostoricopropaganda.va/content/archiviostoricopropagandafide/en/archivio-storico/fondi-archivistici.html, accessed 10/8/2019.

[8] Holy See Press Office, N. 190304d, Monday 04.03.2019. See https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/03/04/190304d.html, accessed 12/28/2019.

*The views expressed are the author’s alone and do not necessarily represent those of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum or any other organization.

Contemporary Church History Quarterly

Volume 25, Number 4 (December 2019)

Conference Report: Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte Conference, Lund, Sweden, September 25-26, 2019

By Robert P. Ericksen, Pacific Lutheran University (retired)

Professor Anders Jarlert of Lund University in Sweden hosted an international conference on September 25-26, 2019, under the title, “Life-Line or Collaboration? Active contacts with churches in totalitarian societies.” This conference also served as the annual meeting of the journal, Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte, and papers will be printed in a subsequent volume of that journal. Finally, this conference occurred as Jarlert began his final year before retirement as a professor in the Lund Theological Faculty, thus marking possibly the last opportunity for Professor Jarlert, one of the longest-serving and most active members of the Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte Editorial Board, to host an annual conference of this group. The dozen presentations and subsequent conversations presented a wealth of information spread across much of the twentieth century and a broad group of nations, all on this important topic, the role and behavior of Christian churches in relationship to totalitarian societies.

All papers dealt in some fashion with an overarching question: Did various organizations and national churches outside Germany during the Nazi era and outside the Soviet Bloc during the Cold War extend important assistance, a “life-line,” to churches within those systems, or did they act as collaborators in the subversion of Christian ideals and Christian behaviors under totalitarian rule? In several instances, papers assessed the same question in terms of churches within those systems. As readers might suspect, the papers and discussion produced no clear, simple and conclusive answer to this question about assistance vs. collaboration. However, the papers at the conference shed light on a multitude of lesser known circumstances and participating nations in the mid-twentieth century, as will their future appearance in Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte.

Gerhard Besier, founding editor of Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte, opened the conference with a consideration of ongoing difficulties among Germans trying to come to a comfortable stance on Christian behavior under the Nazi state. Under the theme of “holding the line,” he noted that “people tell each other stories conducive to their purposes.” That has relevance for institutions, of course, and not just people. Besier then added that this can be difficult, especially in our modern world with its unfiltered social media adding to the mix. I will cite two examples from his presentation, the first involving the 75^th anniversary of von Stauffenberg’s heroic attempt on Hitler’s life and his subsequent execution. Critics noted that von Stauffenberg had approved of National Socialism, showed no concern until his actual participation in the assassination plot, and expressed no moral reasons for his actions. Defenders of the heroic side of the story quickly responded with a claim like this, that “Klaus Schenk von Stauffenberg remains a hero and a role model,” etc. Martin Niemöller is a second example. Noting the recent biographies by Matthew Hockenos and by Benjamin Ziemann, there is a wealth of evidence both before and after 1945 that Niemöller did not always “get it right.” This includes a strongly patriotic (and militaristic) stance from his childhood, through his navy career, and in his politics up to 1933. It also includes various complicated political stances taken after 1945. Besier explored many additional complexities, including the role of Protestant pastors in the GDR. His conclusion? We are often given a narrow corridor in our lives. There is also a strong tendency to maintain the narrowness of that corridor, partially as we research and write about the past, and also as institutions try to protect the story they want told. Besier appeals for a broader opening of that conversation and a recognition of complex realities.

Many subsequent papers then illustrated the complexity to which he had alluded. For example, Valentin Jeutner of Lund described a German Protestant Church in Malmö, Sweden, serving the German population in Malmö while being administered by the German Protestant Church. Herbert Kühn, the pastor from Germany assigned in 1930, joined the NSDAP in 1935. He became an Ortsgruppenleiter among Nazis in Malmö. In 1942 he tried to volunteer for German military duty but was told his work in Malmö (on Germany’s behalf) was more important. After the war, the British produced a “list of obnoxious Germans” and urged Sweden to send them back to Germany. Kühn was sent to Lübeck. During his denazification proceedings in Germany, he lied about and hid his pro-Nazi activities, and both Martin Niemöller and Bishop Bell came to his defense. Many of the “obnoxious Germans” repatriated to Germany under British pressure simply went to Austria and then slipped back into Sweden. Kühn, however, possibly for family reasons, stayed in Germany.

Johan Sundeen of Lund then described a somewhat reverse image to Kühn, in this case, a Swedish pastor serving Swedes in Berlin, Birger Forell, As a legation pastor he had diplomatic protection, which he used in two important ways. One was to create hiding places and provide assistance to Jews in Berlin. Another was to write anonymous quarterly reports to a Swedish journal, thus telling Swedes and the outside world about horrors unfolding for Jews and other victims of the Nazi regime.

Anders Jarlert described another Swedish figure of the time, Erling Eidem, Bishop of Uppsala. He is less known than Bishop Bell of England. He is also less known than his predecessor as Bishop of Uppsala, Nathan Soderblöm, a vital figure in creating the ecumenical movement of the twentieth century and recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize. Jarlert, however, described subtle efforts by Eidem to speak to the politics of the Nazi regime and to the plight of Jews, especially with his use of a sermon text, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16, KJV). This was the text of a sermon he gave in Berlin in 1942 at the Gustavus Adolphus celebration that year. Jarlert pointed out that in German this text becomes plural, “Jews” and “Greeks,” and argued that Eidem was well aware of how powerful it would sound in Germany in 1942. Jarlert also cited other speeches and sermons with subtle political content, an emphasis in Oslo in 1940 of the close bond between Norwegians and Swedes. In both 1940 and 1943, he spoke about “our beloved Danes” while wishing God’s blessing upon them. Eidem also spoke on various occasions in Germany. Jarlert’s discussion of Eidem illustrates some of the complications implicit in this conference, suggesting that Bishop Eidem employed just enough collaboration to allow him also to give a “life-line” to his audience, whether in Norway, Denmark, or Germany itself.

Rebecca Carter-Chand, a member of our CCHQ Editorial Board, spoke at this Lund meeting, describing her work on the International Salvation Army in connection to the German Heilsarmee in the Nazi era. During World War I, the Heilsarmee had broken its connection to the international Salvation Army based in Britain. This connection was then reestablished after the war, and the Heilsarmee played a useful role during the years of need in the Weimar era. The rise of Hitler in 1933 created some talk of another break of the British connection. However, that moment passed. By October 1934, General Evangeline Booth wrote to Hitler of her “deepest appreciation” of the social improvements in Germany under his leadership. The 50^th Anniversary of the Salvation Army then coincided with the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The Kriegsruf of the Heilsarmee in September 1936 reported the good news that slums no longer existed in Germany and referenced a “Prayer for the Führer, Volk, and Vaterland, and for world peace,” while including pictures of the Nazi flag and of men in uniform. In the summer of 1939 General Evangeline Booth spoke of “bonds between us that could not be broken,” as reported in an issue of Kriegsruf that appeared in September 1939 (!). Carter-Chand noted that Heilsarmee literature at the time made no reference to the November Pogrom of 1938 or the disappearance of Jews from 1941. Furthermore, these important issues received little or no reference in early memoirs, and they remain without critical reflection today.

I encourage CCHQ readers to pay attention to the future KZG issue which will print the presentations I have mentioned, plus the balance of other conference papers as well. This will include presentations by Andrea Strübind on the relationship of Baptists to various World Federations in the Nazi era; Mikael Hermansson on “the Soviet Union in British and Swedish religious propaganda” during World War II; Erik Andersson on Axel Svensson’s “meeting with Lutheran groups in Ethiopia and Eritrea under Italian occupation;” Gerhard Ringshausen on “George Bell’s Relation to the Confessing Church and the Problem of Information;” Anna-Maija Viljanen-Pihkala on “The Finnish-Hungarian Lutheran Relationship” during the fraught years of 1956-1958; Ville Jalovaara on a “Test of religious freedom—Richard Wurmbrand’s visits to Finland in the 1970s;” and Erik Sidenvall on a 1975-1989 connection between the Växjö diocese in Sweden and the Pomeranian Church in the GDR, a well-meaning effort at peace and détente on the Swedish side that gradually lost momentum in the mid-1980s and then suffered after November 1989 with word of the Stasi connections of the Bishop of Pomerania.

As readers will note, my already rather long report will be replaced by a much more extensive version of considerable interest when the papers appear in print in 2020.

Contemporary Church History Quarterly

Volume 25, Number 4 (December 2019)

Article Note: Rainer Decker, “Bischof Alois Hudal und die Judenrazzia in Rom am 16. Oktober 1943,” Römische Quartalschrift für Christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte 113:3-4 (2018), 233-255.

By Suzanne Brown-Fleming, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum*

On Saturday, October 16, 1943, SS-Hauptsturmführer Theodor Dannecker ordered the roundup of Jews in Rome, arresting 363 men and 896 women and children. On October 18, Dannecker and his men deported 1,007 of those arrested to Auschwitz. Only 19 would survive. On the day the roundup started, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Luigi Maglione summoned German Ambassador to the Holy See Ernst von Weizsäcker to a meeting. Maglione’s partial notes from this meeting have been available to scholars since 1975. Maglione made the plea that has become a touchstone for the so-called “Pius Wars,” telling Weizsäcker “It is painful for the Holy Father, painful beyond words that here in Rome, under the eyes of the Common Father so many people are made to suffer simply because of their particular descent.”

When pushed by Weizsäcker as to whether the Holy See would “express its disapproval” or “leave [Weizsäcker] free not to report this official conversation,” Maglione “replied that I had begged him to intervene appealing to his sentiments of humanity. I was leaving it to his judgement whether or not to mention our conversation, that had been so friendly.” Later that day, the controversial Bishop Alois Hudal,[1] Rector of the German National Church in Rome, Santa Maria dell’Anima, sent a letter to German City Commander of Rome Major General Reiner Stahel criticizing the raid. The letter reads in part, “I [Hudal] earnestly request you to order the immediate cessation of these arrests in Rome and its environs. I fear that if this is not done the pope will make a public stand against it […].”[2]

On October 17, Weizsäcker sent a telegram to the German Foreign Office “confirm[ing] the reaction of the Vatican to the removal of Jews from Rome as given by Bishop Hudal and altered Maglione’s phrase “under the eyes of the Common Father” to “under the very windows of the pope.” However, Weizsäcker did not report his meeting with Maglione. Ultimately, the Holy See did not make an official diplomatic protest.[3] Until recently, scholars have worked from various versions of and excerpts from the Hudal letter to Stahel. One version has been preserved in the Hudal papers and in the archives of the Vatican Secretariat of State. Parts of the letter were incorporated in a telegram from Stahel’s new aide, Gerhard Gumpert, to the German Foreign Office in Berlin. For decades, there has been speculation that the letter was drafted by either Weizsäcker, Gumpert, or Weizsäcker’s aide Albrecht von Kessel, and only lightly edited and signed by Hudal. The role of Eugenio Pacelli in the letter, if the pope had one at all, is contested.

Decker’s contribution to this historical question is to publish the first “exact, complete wording of the Hudal letter;” offer more clarity regarding its origin and authorship; and to problematize our conclusions about its ultimate effects (Decker, 237).[4] In this thoughtful article, Decker lays out hypotheses for the slight differences in phrasing in the various versions and the motivations Weizsäcker, Hudal, Gumpert and others might have had in choosing the excerpts, phrasing, and interpretations of the letter during and after the war. Decker also brings to the fore the potentially important role of the letter carrier, Father Pancrazio Pfeiffer, superior general of the Order of the Salvatorians and Pacelli’s personal liaison with Stahel.

Klaus Kühlwein’s recent edition Pius XII und die Deportation der Juden Roms (2019) states the claim that Eugenio Pacelli sent his nephew Carlo to Bishop Hudal to launch a protest is incorrect (Decker, 233-236). Decker is less sure, noting that some phrases in the letter were very unlikely to have been influenced by Weizsäcker, Gumpert, or Kessel. Decker finds it plausible that Pacelli asked his nephew Carlo to intervene via Hudal and Pfeiffer, both of whom had excellent relations with Stahel, and also plausible that the letter expressed Pacelli’s sentiments as Hudal understood them, even if Pacelli had not spoken with his nephew Carlo (Decker, 244). Decker also finds it plausible that the Hudal-Stahel exchange reached Heinrich Himmler, a position refuted by Zuccotti and others (Decker, 247-249). Decker acknowledges that at this time, the sources to settle this issue are not available (Decker, 249).

Ultimately, concludes Decker, Himmler’s possible receipt of the Hudal-Stahel exchange had no influence over the fate of the arrested Jews. However, the pattern of future raids for the remainder of the German occupation of Rome may have been impacted, he argues. Decker acknowledges that more work needs to be done before we can be sure (Decker, 252). Decker also provides a helpful diagram of the various available versions (253) and the full text of the letter (254-255).

Decker’s article does not change current scholarly understanding that Pope Pius XII refrained from open, public protests of the October 16^th round-up “under his very windows.” Decker’s work fits with arguments that Pacelli and his aides chose back channels and unofficial messaging buried in diplomatic pleasantries. The full text of the Hudal letter is a great example of this tactic. That said, as Decker points out multiple times in his carefully crafted article, there are still missing sources that might better fill out this picture. Scholars will soon have access to the full set of materials relating to the papacy of Pius XII(1939-1958). The words exchanged within the walls of the Vatican, and directives given or not given on October 16-18, 1943, will finally become available to us.

*The views expressed are the author’s alone and do not necessarily represent those of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum or any other organization.

Notes:

[1] See Uki Gõni, The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Perón’s Argentina (London/New York: Granta Books, 2002) and Gerald Steinacher, Nazis on the Run: How Hitler’s Henchmen Fled Justice (Oxford University Press, 2011), among others.

[2] Stahel’s new aide, Gerhard Gumpert, forwarded the letter to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, where a copy was preserved. See also ADSS, Vol. IX, doc. 373, p.510. Zuccotti, Under His Very Windows, 161-2 and Decker, 235.

[3] Susan Zuccotti, Under His Very Windows: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), pp. 159-160, citing Actes et documents du Saint-Sìege relatifs à la seconde guerre mondiale [hereafter ADSS] ed. Pierre Blet, Robert A. Graham, Angelo Martini, Burkhardt Schneider. Vatican City: Libreria Vaticana, 1965-1981, 12 vols. Volume IX: Le Saint Siège et les victimes de la guerre, Janvier-Décembre 1943 (Città del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1975); notes of Cardinal Maglione, October 16, 1943, pp. 505-506.

[4] Decker writes, “Im Folgenden wird erstmals der genaue, vollständige Wortlaut des Hudal-Briefes veröffentlicht.”

Contemporary Church History Quarterly

Volume 25, Number 4 (December 2019)

Conference Report: “Soldiers, Sex, Chaplains, and Horses: A Panel on the Wehrmacht in Honor of Gerhard L. Weinberg,” German Studies Association, Portland, OR, October 2019.

By Christina Matzen, University of Toronto

At the 2019 German Studies Association conference in Portland, OR, four scholars convened a panel in honor of esteemed military historian Gerhard Weinberg. Two of the three papers from former Weinberg students provided insights into the history of Christianity and the Second World War. Sandra Chaney’s paper, “Behind the Lines in the Ukraine and Caucasus, 1942-1943: The Wartime Diary and Photo Album of Senior Staff Veterinarian, Dr. Eugen Kohler,” offered a brief yet telling glimpse into the daily life and belief systems of Wehrmacht officials on the Eastern Front. Kohler was a devout Christian and attended worship services every Sunday while living in Donetsk. More Nazified Wehrmacht members tolerated Kohler’s religious practices and moderate political views because he was an occupation official in a specialized field. In “’For Members of the Wehrmacht Only’: Chaplains in German-Occupied Territories, 1942-1943,” Doris Bergen analyzed how military chaplains in occupied territories negotiated four key relationships: with the troops, with their superiors, with local populations, and with Germans at home. Each aspect of the chaplains’ work was enmeshed in the violent practices of occupation, including forced labor, theft, and killing. Bergen demonstrated that many of the chaplains’ duties served a dual role—providing spiritual support to individual soldiers while simultaneously performing institutional functions for the Wehrmacht. Taken together, Chaney and Bergen’s papers highlighted the fact that religion played an important role in the lives of many people across the various units of the Wehrmacht, and Christianity helped provide a sense of normalcy and relief—as well as opportunism—in the midst of war.

Contemporary Church History Quarterly

Volume 25, Number 4 (December 2019)

Call for Applications: Confronting Difficult Issues around Religion and the Holocaust

June 15–19, 2020
Application deadline: February 14, 2020

The Programs on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is pleased to announce its annual seminar for faculty and ABD doctoral candidates from all disciplines, including religious studies, history, literature, sociology, political science, gender studies, philosophy, and area studies.

This seminar will consider the complex roles of religion (specifically Judaism and Christianity) in the Holocaust by addressing five key themes: everyday religious life under persecution; religion and violence; rescue, conversion, and coercion; religious/ethnic/national identities; and religious freedom in authoritarian societies. We will examine each topic through primary sources and secondary literature related to the Holocaust as well as consider how similar issues play out in other cases of genocide or mass atrocity in order to explore how Genocide Studies might deepen our understanding of religion and the Holocaust. The seminar will emphasize practical approaches to integrating these topics in university and seminary courses, including syllabus development and discussing sensitive material in the classroom.

The seminar will be co-led by Drs. Doris Bergen and Rebecca Carter-Chand. Doris Bergen is Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Toronto. She is the author or editor of five books, including War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust (3rd edition 2016); Twisted Cross: The German Christian Movement in the Third Reich (1996); and The Sword of the Lord: Military Chaplains from the First to the Twenty-First Century (2004). Rebecca Carter-Chand is the Acting Director of the Programs on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust at the USHMM. She is currently working on a book manuscript, “The Limits of Christian Internationalism and the Salvation Army in Germany” and is co-editing a volume with Kevin Spicer, “Christianity, Antisemitism, and Ethnonationalism in the Era of the Two World Wars.”

Application Deadline: February 14, 2020.

For more information, please go to: https://www.ushmm.org/research/opportunities-for-academics/faculty-seminars/ethics-religion-holocaust/2020-annual-seminar-on-ethics-religion-and-the-holocaust.