Summary
Title: Under His Very Windows: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy
Author: Susan Zuccotti
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300084870
Pro:
• Based on extensive research of primary documents
• Includes information not used or available elsewhere
Con:
• None
Description:
• Analysis of the words and actions of Pope Pius XII in response to the treatment of Jews in Italy
• Argues that Italian Catholics did much to protect Jews, but Pius did almost nothing
• Argues that Pius could and should have done much more
Book Review
When scholars examine the actions and words of Pope Pius XII, they focus on his reactions to events in Germany, Poland, and perhaps France. Those were not the only countries where anti-Semitism created a culture of fear, repression, and murder, though. The Vatican is located in Italy, the first country to adopt a fascist government and an ally of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. We should thus examine how Pope Pius XII acted with respect to the Jews and to anti-Semitism right outside his windows.
Pius' reactions to the infamous round-up of Roman Jews on October 16, 1943, is often discussed, but this event was one piece of a much larger picture which tends to be neglected. With Under His Very Windows: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy, Susan Zuccotti devotes an entire book to how the Vatican as an institution and Pope Pius XII as a spiritual leader dealt with the Holocaust in his backyard.
In the larger debate over the behavior of the Vatican and the pope with respect to the Holocaust, Susan Zuccotti sits squarely in the camp of critics. She argues forcefully and convincingly that they didn't speak out against anti-Semitism when they could have, that they knew a great deal more than they let on or told others, and that they didn't do enough to help the victims of anti-Semitic persecution when they should have. Zuccotti acknowledges that many of the things which the Vatican and Pope Pius XII could have done might not have been successful, and certainly wouldn't have stopped the Holocaust entirely; yet at the same time it is undeniable that our moral obligations to help others or to speak out against injustice don't only apply when we are sure of success.
Both critics and defenders of Pope Pius XII tend to agree that he didn't do as much as he theoretically could have done; where they disagree is why he didn't do more and whether those reasons are morally exculpatory. Many critics explain the pope's silence by arguing that he was anti-Semitic himself or was too pro-German to step back enough to criticize them. Zuccotti offers other explanations for Pius' silence: he was afraid of German retaliation against Catholics, he was afraid of Germans taking over the Vatican, and he wanted to preserve Vatican neutrality over the long term.
Defenders of Pius XII often point out that he was thanked by Jewish leaders for all he did on their behalf, but Zuccotti argues that these incidents don't make the case claimed. Jewish leaders were attributing to Pius the behavior of priests and monks who acted on their own, they may have been concerned with preventing a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Italy, and they were surely interested in getting papal approval for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Under His Very Windows: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy, by Susan Zuccotti
Zuccotti's book is as definitive as can be, given her severe limitations. First, there are extensive Vatican records which have not been examined by any independent scholars and some which may not have been seen by anyone in decades. Who knows what some of these records might reveal? Second, there is no way to know how many churches and other church institutions acted on their own to shelter or help Jews. As Zuccotti herself acknowledges, helping Jews may have been the norm or it may not. Reliable historical data is very scanty here.
Even if it were the norm, though, there is no evidence that it was at the behest of the pope. Zuccotti provides plenty of evidence of individual Catholics acting morally, but not the pope himself. Critics claim that this is no better than arguing that Hitler wasn't responsible for the Holocaust because of the absence of an order for genocide signed by him, but that ignores the differences in how Hitler and the Vatican worked. Hitler signed almost no orders but we have documentary evidence of Pius XII condemning many other things. His failure to act similarly against the Nazis is a black mark against the church which still hasn't been erased.
