Language:
English
Year of publication:
2005
Titel der Quelle:
Holocaust Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
11,3 (2005) 105-124
Keywords:
Pius
;
Catholic Church Historiography
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Historiography
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Catholic Church
;
Christianity and antisemitism History 1933-1945
Abstract:
Contends that polarized positions in studies of the Vatican and the Nazi "Final Solution" reflect differences of interpretation stemming from problems of methodology. Also, historians often have a moral view that accepts no difference between present and past. In order to evaluate the question of Pope Pius XII's failure to openly protest Nazi killing of the Jews, one needs to consider the ideational and ideological (theological) world of the Vatican at that time, as well as the role that the Church claimed. The Vatican believed that it was able to separate morality and politics. It opposed Nazism for its anti-Church policies, but retained its belief that the Jews were expendable, having no significance other than as precursors of the Church. While both pro- and anti-Church historians view the Holocaust as a trauma, they see it differently: pro-Pius proponents blame modernity for the Holocaust, while anti-Pius proponents blame traditionalists, especially the Catholic Church. Opines that their basic views on history came first, and then they interpreted the actions and inaction of the Vatican during World War II in that light.
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