POPE PIUS XII AND THE JEWS

I have read with great interest Desmond Fisher's recent article on the now notorious German play Der Stellvertreter by Rolf Hochhiith, in which the revered figure of the late Pope Pius XII is made, as Mr. Fisher says, the butt of unworthy and unprovable allegations".
As Sir Alec Randall wrote in an excellent letter in The Tittles of May 16, nothing could be more preposterous, more of a travesty, than to suggest that by publicly denouncing or excommunicating Hitler the Pope could have saved the Jews from extermination.
I do not know enough about the facts to say whether, in fact, such a denunciation, by arousing the world conscience. would have been likely to have had any restraining effect on Hitler. but it seems more probable. as Mr. Fisher maintains. that it would have driven that madman to still further excesses.
It is arguable, in view of the appalling crime of genocide of which Hitler was guilty, that such a denunciation was to be desired, whatever the consequences. Francois Mauriac is quoted in the proHochheth article by Mr. Steiner (Sunday Times, May 5) as saying that "Catholics did not have the consolation of hearing the Successor of Simon Peter condemn with unequivocal plain words .. the crucifixion of innumerable kindred of the Lord". But the writer failed to cite the French novelist's further and operative statement, quoted by Sir Alec Randall in his above-mentioned letter that "the silence of the Pope was nothing but a terrible duty; it was a question of avoiding worse". Surely, then. we can see that there may well have been very good grounds, quite apart from any of those "reasons of state" alleged by Herr Hochhilth, to justify the Pope in confining himself to what The Tablet (May 11) described as "insistent and continuous private representations".
PIUS THE MAN
If space is allowed me, I should like to add a word in protest against the suggestion which seems to have been made in the play, that Pius XII was a cold, calculating. haughty and worldly diplomatist. Apart from the fact that Eugenio Pacelli was a diplomatist. which I do not regard as necessarily to his
discredit. I should say that none of these epithets fit. The late Pope was, I should have thought, a highly-strung. sensitive, scrupulous man, simple and natural in manner, not in any way haughty. and most unworldly, Surely no one at all aware of the wealth of Pope Pius Xli's teaching on every aspect of faith and morals could deny that he was a pastorally-minded and deeply religious pope, not just "the cool diplomatist" described in Mr, Weltsch's letter to The Times, on May 11.
It must seem absurd to anyone who knew "Papa Pacelli" at all to hear him described as "cold". He had a boyish eagerness of manner which was most attractive and a radiant smile. even though in repose his expression was somewhat stern. Could one imagine a cold man behaving as he did after the first Allied air-raid on Rome when, before dashing off in a small car to the stricken area, accompanied only by Monsignor Montini. he "raided" the Vatican bank and peremptorily demanded to be given every banknote available to give to his afflicted flock?
WELCOME
I myself witnessed the kind, not to say, affectionate welcome he gave to escaped British prisoners of war, to whom he had given hospitality in thy Vatican City; and how often was I not present at the great daily audiences which, after the liberation of Rome in June, 1944, he held for the benefit of Allied troops in the great Hall of Benedictions. With what delightful charm and informality he mingled with.the men fresh from the battlefields. making the deepest inmresSion on so many of them, Catholics and Protestants alike!
It is deplorable that such an unfair attempt should have been made to blacken the memory of a Pope so deeply revered. endeavouring to make this good man a scapegoat for the crimes of others.
Mgr. Hugh Montgomery Lower Bra i les.
near Banbury, Oxon.
The correct approach to Herr Hochhtith's play would he to ignore it. The gross accusations made in it, on the scantiest of evidence, do not. in themselves. war rant the courtesy of a reply. Unfortunately, however. such treatment is now impossible.
No purpose can be served by clouding the issue with irrelevant detail. obviously ample evidence can be brought to light from Catholic sources or from Jewish spokesmen such as Leon Puliakov to show the concern of Pope Pius XII for the Jewish people. But the kernel of the matter is whether a public pronouncement against Hitler's persecution of the Jess s should have been made by the Pope and, if it had been. whether it would have had a beneficial effect.
The interpreter of history, looking back from the present, can usually persuade himself that such and such a decision was obviously the right one. in the present case. there is an obvious parallel which serves to put it into perspective.
May I recall the report given at the Nuremberg trials by Herr von Kessel regarding the silence of the International Red Cross on the persecution of the Jews? Kessel was in the German diplomatic seta ice, attached to the Embassy in Rome. He reported that a committee member of the Red Cross had told him of the demand by a woman colleague on the committee for an official protest against the treatment of the Jews in Germany.
"How can we do this?" the member had asked. "Switzerland is surrounded by the territories of National Socialism and we will have to abandon our entire work for bolts allied and German prisoners of war and those suffering and interned in the occupied countries. We are in a terrible position."
A few days later, the same man told von Kessel: "Thank God. after hours of discussion it was decided not to make an official protest. It was a terribly difficult resolution for us all. But. at least. we can now continue our work". Was Pope Pius XII's decision not even more difficult?
BREACH
Nothing but harm can come from a breach between Catholics and leas which this play threatens and. perhaps, intends. Neither Catholic no r Jew will profit and the end result may well he another wave of anti-Semitism, an eventuality which all decent Catholics will deplore.
Der Stellvertreter is translated not only as "The Vicar" but also as "The Substitute", and as the Auxiliary Bishop of Munich so nobly said when recently blessing the foundation stone for the new Carmel of the Precious Blood at Dachau: "Let us beware of lightly shifting the guilt on to others, of seeking 'substitutes' for our own personal guilt or for the guilt of our people. and. despite truth and justice, of offering these substitutes for the judgment of the wopld".
Oliver Marlin London. N.W.3.