Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Arthur R. Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century
sexuals or were having amorous liaisons with Jewesses. Although the Nazis never
reneged on the most important provision of the Concordat, the commitment on tax
revenues, the mutual hostility became so great that many felt that there was always
a good possibility for a second Kulturkampf (Bismarck’s unsuccessful attempt
of the 1870s to break the power of the Roman Church in Germany).
The Nazi-Vatican hostility led, in 1937, to the most unusual Papal encyclical
Mit brennender Sorge. Issued in German rather than the usual Latin, it was among
the strongest attacks that the Vatican had ever made on a specific State. The Pope
at the time was Pius XI, and Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, who was to become Pope
Pius XII in 1939, was the Vatican Secretary of State. Pacelli, a diplomat of worldwide
experience, for ten years Papal Nuncio in Germany, and fluent in German,
was already regarded as the obvious heir to Pius XI, and his pre-eminence in the
area of international diplomacy was unquestioned. Mit brennender Sorge was
written under his supervision. 447
Despite the unquestioned hostility between the Church and the Nazis, it should
be kept in mind that Communism, in the eyes of the Vatican, was still the prime
enemy. With an antagonist such as the German Nazis, there was room for maneuver
for the Church, but the Communists, up to that date, had shown themselves to
be total and deadly enemies. Moreover, Germany was not the only European
State, with which the Vatican was displeased. France and Czechoslovakia had
strongly anti-clerical Governments. Thus, when war came, the Vatican (although,
of course, officially neutral) could not be enthusiastic for either side. Because
Communism was considered the prime enemy, it is probably correct that the Vatican
rather preferred the Axis side, but in their eyes this was definitely a choice of
lesser evils. Moreover, there was a considerable diversity of preferences within
the Church. For example, the wartime Papal Nuncio in Berlin, Msgr. Cesare Orsenigo,
was evidently satisfied with the German victory over France in 1940 and
expressed to the German Foreign Office his hope that the Germans would march
into Paris through Versailles. On the other hand, the Jesuit-controlled Vatican radio
was so anti-German that the British considered it a virtual extension of their
own propaganda service. 448
So much for the political background of the Vatican’s situation during the war.
We return to consideration of the fact of Pope Pius’ silence on exterminations of
Jews. It would not be feasible to review here the views of all who have contributed
to the controversy, so we shall restrict ourselves in this respect. First, there is
the Vatican itself, which is represented mainly by the nine volumes of wartime
documents that it published in the years 1967-1975, Actes et documents du Saint
Siège relatifs à la seconde guerre mondiale. The principal editor of this series had
been Robert A. Graham, an American Jesuit and former editor of the Jesuit magazine
America. Graham, who accepts the extermination legend, has emerged as the
principal spokesman for the Vatican in these matters. It is unfortunate that the
only volumes of the nine that are devoted entirely to war victims are the last two,
published in 1974-1975, which carry the subject no further than December 1943.
447
448
346
Rhodes, 171-210.
Rhodes, 246.