What has Catholics got to do with Germany during World War 2?

Answer 1

Pope Pius XII was the uncontested champion of the Jewish people during the war. He housed several hundred Jews in the Vatican itself, and ordered monasteries, convents and other Catholic institutions to grant asylum to Jews as well. He organized a program of thousands of counterfeit baptismal certificates so that Jews could pass as Christians if questioned. He personally arranged to smuggle thousands of Jews into Austria and other neighboring countries. After the war, he received numerous commendations and gifts from Jewish leaders in thanks for his heroic efforts on behalf of the Jewish people. The Pope is credited with personally saving the lives of over 800,000 Jews.

The New York Times, in an editorial on December 25, 1941, wrote:

"The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas... he is about the only ruler left on the Continent of Europe who dares to raise his voice at all... the Pope put himself squarely against Hitlerism... he left no doubt that the Nazi aims are also irreconcilable with his own conception of a Christian peace."

A New York Times editorial on December 25, 1942, states:

"This Christmas more than ever he is a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent... Pope Pius expresses as passionately as any leader on our side the war aims of the struggle for freedom when he says that those who aim at building a new world must fight for free choice of government and religious order. They must refuse that the state should make of individuals a herd of whom the state disposes as if they were lifeless things."

In the December 23, 1940 issue of Time Magazine on page 38, A famous Jew was interviewed. He stated ,,,

"Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks. Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly." - Albert Einstein

Sadly, a second-rate off-Broadway play entitled The Deputy which was produced a number of years after the Pope's death, slandered the Pope's good name and spread untruths about his heroic resistance to Naziism. The uneducated still voice these unfounded rumors today. But those who know the historical facts still praise Pope Pius XII for his tireless efforts on behalf of our Jewish brethren, and his total commitment to the Christian principle that I am indeed my brother's keeper.
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Answer 2

Many people were anti-semits back then, and they belived in Hitler and fought with him, in germany and other countries. Of course there were many people who were against the nazis, but remember that Hitler was democraticly elected, it was a majority of the people, and people did have a lot agaist jews. (but who could have guessed what Hitler had planned). I think that after the war people were shocked by what had happened, and an extermination of the jews wasn't what they wanted. The german people didn't really know what was going on.

Answer 3

Hitler and the Pope agreed to leave each other alone-Hitler told the pope he wouldn't invade the Vatican if the Pope supported him. The Pope who made the agreement was supposeldy going to tell Hitler he changed his mind and was going to recant but he died before he could and there was no autopsy and the body was buried before anyone saw it. I don't think any popes' bodies are autopsied but there was something irregular done afterwards. I was watching a show about it on the history channel.
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There are two books-'Hitler's Pope' and 'The Myth of Hitlers Pope'
The Popes' involved are Pius XI and Pius XII