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ROME \u2014 Newly discovered correspondence suggests that World War II-era Pope Pius XII had detailed information from a trusted German Jesuit that up to 6,000 Jews and Poles were being gassed each day in German-occupied Poland. The documentation undercuts the Holy See\u2019s argument that it couldn\u2019t verify diplomatic reports of Nazi atrocities to denounce them.<\/p>\n
The documentation from the Vatican archives, published this weekend in Italian daily Corriere della Sera, is likely to further fuel the debate about Pius\u2019 legacy and his now-stalled beatification campaign. Historians have long been divided about Pius\u2019 record, with supporters insisting he used quiet diplomacy to save Jewish lives while critics say he remained silent as the Holocaust raged.<\/p>\n
Corriere is reproducing a letter dated Dec. 14, 1942 from the German Jesuit priest to Pius\u2019 secretary which is contained in an upcoming book about the newly opened files of Pius\u2019 pontificate by Giovanni Coco, a researcher and archivist in the Vatican\u2019s Apostolic Archives.<\/p>\n
Coco told Corriere that the letter was significant because it represented detailed correspondence about the Nazi extermination of Jews, including in ovens, from an informed church source in Germany who was part of the Catholic anti-Hitler resistance that was able to get otherwise secret information to the Vatican.<\/p>\n
The letter from the priest, the Rev. Lothar Koenig, to Pius\u2019 secretary, a fellow German Jesuit named the Rev. Robert Leiber, is dated Dec. 14, 1942. Written in German, the letter addresses Leiber as \u201cDear friend,\u201d and goes on to report that the Nazis were killing up to 6,000 Jews and Poles daily from Rava Ruska, a town in pre-war Poland that is today located in Ukraine, and transporting them to the Belzec death camp.<\/p>\n
According to the Belzec memorial which opened in 2004, a total of 500,000 Jews perished at the camp. The memorial\u2019s website reports that as many as 3,500 Jews from Rava Ruska had already been sent to Belzec earlier in 1942 and that from Dec. 7-11, the city\u2019s Jewish ghetto was liquidated. \u201cAbout 3,000-5,000 people were shot on the spot and 2,000- 5,000 people were taken to Be\u0142\u017cec,\u201d the website says.<\/p>\n
The date of Koenig\u2019s letter is significant because it suggests the correspondence from a trusted fellow Jesuit arrived in Pius\u2019 office in the days after the ghetto was emptied, and after Pius had received multiple diplomatic notes and visits from a variety of envoys of foreign governments from August 1942 onwards with reports that up to 1 million Jews had been killed so far in Poland.<\/p>\n
While it can\u2019t be certain that Pius saw the letter, Leiber was Pius\u2019 top aide and had served the pope when he was the Vatican\u2019s ambassador to Germany during the 1920s, suggesting a close working relationship especially concerning matters related to Germany.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n