Language:
German
Year of publication:
2004
Titel der Quelle:
Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft
Angaben zur Quelle:
52,1 (2004) 37-49
Keywords:
Jews History 1939-1945
;
Church history 20th century
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Rescue
Abstract:
Describes assistance given by the Hilfswerk to "non-Aryan" Catholics. Through tracing the fate of its clients, even to the ghettos and concentration camps, and through contacts with often high-ranking informants, Margarete Sommer, its director, was able, very early on, to form a rather accurate picture of the Final Solution. She sent reports to Cardinal Bertram, head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference, pleading (in vain) for his intervention and for a public statement by the Church. When she sent him word of a pending ordinance forcing mixed couples to divorce, Bertram did intervene to prevent infringement of a sacrament. He also inquired about the separation of Catholic "mixed" couples through the internment of the "non-Aryan" partner in the Rosenstrasse; some therefore credited him (mistakenly) for their release. But Bertram did not trust Sommer's reports enough to justify the risk of a broader intervention.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink
