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Holocaust and Genocide Studies 1998 12(2):233-256; doi:10.1093/hgs/12.2.233
© 1998 by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
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Articles

Pope Pius XII, the Holocaust, and the Cold War

Michael Phayer

In March of this year the Vatican released a long awaited statement on the Holocaust and the Catholic Church, "We Remember: A Reflection of the Shoah." The document is not without merit, but it very much overstates the Vatican's effort to rescue Jews, a matter that goes to the heart of the Holocaust. A number of practical questions related to the Holocaust arose during the Cold War. Reviewing how Pope Pius XII dealt with these issues will enable us to grasp more fully why he failed to help Jews more energetically during the Second World War. One Cold War issue specifically concerned the escape by notorious atrocity perpetrators from Europe. Two previously unstudied documents suggest that the Vatican abetted the escape of prominent war criminals such as the Croat Ante Pavelic and the German Adolf Eichmann, and used money taken from Jews for this purpose. This study weighs these and other charges, and concludes that during the Second World War and the early Cold War fear of the world-wide spread of communism dominated the policies of Pope Pius XII.


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