An Israeli official defends Pius XII

AFORMER Israeli Consul in Milan, who served in the war with the Jewish Brigade on the side of the allies, has declared that Hochhuth's play "The Representative" does a "grievous injustice" to Pope Pius XII.
Now living in Jerusalem, Mr. Pinchas E. Lapide, has published his views in the Zurich daily Die Tat.
He states that 102 convents and 45 monasteries in Rome were made available by Pius XII as a refuge for Jews threatened with deportation by the Nazis, and he quotes a letter written in October, 1944, by the Jewish inmates of a concentration camp in FerramontiTarsia, Italy, to Pius XII after the Allied troops had liberated the prisoners.
The letter expressed "heartfelt gratitude for the solace and help extended by Your Holiness in the course of our internment . Your Holiness has courageously raised your voice to defend the rights of man ... When we were threatened with deportation to Poland in 1942 you saved us from nearly certain death".
Italian Jews
Thousands of persecuted Italian Jews were received by order of the Pope in the religious houses of Rome who hid them all through the war, says Mr. Lapide. The largest number was received in the convent of the Sisters of Notre Dame.
Others found refuge in American, Italian, English, French, Spanish and even German convents and monasteries. As many as 8,000 Jews were hidden in the papal summer residence of Castelgandolfo, he wrote.
At the same time, Mn. Lapide adds, the Pope spent nearly £1,800,000 to aid the Jews, and the Vatican Information Office located some 37,000 missing Jews in trying to reunite families.
Poliakov
Lapide quoted passages from the book, "Harvest of Hate," by the Jewish historian Leon Poliakov, which indicate that a public protest by Pius XII would only have made things worse for the Jews.
According to the book, a protest by the Dutch Catholic Bishops led to the deportation of Jews 'converted to the Catholic Faith, while a reprieve was given to Jews belonging to Protestant Churches because those Churches refrained from public protest.
The late Pope John XXIII, while Apostolic Nuncio to Bulgaria, Mr. Lapide writes, succeeded in saving almost all the Jews there under instructions from Pius XIT, and Archbishop Andrea Cassulo. who was Apostolic Nuncio in Rumania, under similar instructions was able to forestall numerous deportations of Jewish people residing in that country.