Rome to open some prewar papal archives

Christian Century, Feb 27, 2002

In an announcement both surprising and disappointing to Jewish researchers, Pope John Paul II has directed the Vatican to give historians access to its archives on relations with Germany during the 17 years leading up to World War II and the Holocaust.

Vatican officials said February 15 that the pope had made an "exceptional" gesture to try to "put an end to unjust and ungrateful speculation" that Pope Pius XII failed to try to protect Jews from Nazi persecution. Files that will be made available to scholars early next year deal with the papacy of Pius XI, from 1922 to 1938, but also will provide information on his successor. Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pius XII, served as the Vatican's envoy to Germany and secretary of state during the period.

Also published will be information on prisoners of war between 1939 and 1945, which archives officials said "will make historians aware of the great work of charity and assistance carried out by Plus XII regarding the numerous prisoners and other victims of the war, of whatever nation, religion and race."

However, Seymour D. Reich, the Jewish coordinator of a panel of Catholic and Jewish historians, said he was disappointed by the piece-meal opening. Reich said the documents promised could answer no more than two of the panel's 47 questions about the wartime pontiff's attitude toward the Holocaust, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In an effort to end the controversy over Pius XII'S wartime role and pave the way for his eventual beatification, the Vatican in November 1999 invited six Catholic and Jewish historians to examine its archives up to 1922 and 11 volumes of published documents on the church's role during World War II. But the International Catholic Jewish Historical Commission suspended its work in acrimony last July 23, with Jewish members attacking the Vatican for refusing them access to later archives. The Vatican said the documents cannot be made public until they have been catalogued and reorganized.

The Vatican announcement said that work on the complete archives dealing with Pius XI's papacy "is in an advanced phase" and should be completed and made available to historians in three years.