Letter found in Vatican Archives Reveals Information on Pope's Knowledge of Holocaust

On the week of september 11th, a new collection of Vatican wartime archives were opened. In these artices was a letter. A letter from Father Lother Koenig, an important member of the anti-nazi movement in Germany, and addressed to Pope Pius XII, the Pope at the time. Previous to this event Pope Francis stated that “the Church is not afraid of history ". However, the Church is now suffering repercussions of their actions and the speculations people have formed.

The document was rediscovered, having been lost due to the haphazardly kept state of the letter in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, along with many other documents. The letter was addressed to the Pope’s personal assistant Father Robert Leiber and was brought along with a message from the courier who informed that the document’s contents were “enormous, a unique case.”

The letter stated that more than 6000 Jewish people were being killed daily at the SS- furnaces by Nazis in Belzec, Germany. This information clearly showed the negative actions Nazis were taking on Jewish people, simply because of their religion. The letter is proof that the Catholic Church in Germany informed Pope Pius XII of these anti-sematic operations in detailed news about the crimes.

The letter mentioned other locations now regarded as concentration camps, such as Auschwitz and Dachau, and mentioned what are presumably previous communications on this topic between the German Catholic Church and Pope Pius XII. This raises questions surrounding the action that Pope Pius XII took to resolve this issue as there is no proof that he or the church took any.

Supporters of Pope Pius XII believe he did act but simply kept it quiet in order not to put Jewish people in further danger. However, many others believe he lacked courage and therefore ignored the issue and allowed the Holocaust to unfold. These concerns have caused a discussion which is not easily resolved. For this reason, “There is both a desire for and support for a careful assessment of the documents from a scientific perspective - whether favorable or unfavorable in what the documents reveal,” says Suzanne Brown-Fleming, the director of the International Academic Programs at US Holocaust Memorial Museum located in Washington DC.

The question for whether more letters will be rediscovered that may prove whether Pope Pius XII made efforts towards stopping or improve the horrifying situation that was the Holocaust, is very much debated at the moment. Along with the question of whether the impact would have been positive or negative if the Pope had spoken out publicly about the issue.

Next month a conference will be held and members of a variety of related organizations will be present. For instance, Catholic and Jewish organizations and national Holocaust research groups. This conference will hopefully then mean a conclusion will be drawn on the matter, but until then people are free to make their own speculations.