CENTRO PRO UNIONE N. 80 - Fall 2011 ISSN: 1122-0384 semi-annual Bulletin In this issue: Letter from the Director...........................................................p. 2 Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli- His Support of the Rescue Work according to Hebrew Sources Istanbul 1943- 1944 Dina Porat.............................................................. p. 3 Beyond The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification Turid Karlsen Seim....................................................... p. 14 A New Look at the Book of Job Jack Bemporad........................................................... p. 21 Renewed Mission of the WCC in the Search for Christian Unity Olav Fyske Tveit......................................................... p. 30 Centro Pro Unione - Via S. Maria dell'Anima, 30 - 00186 Rome, Italy A Center conducted by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement www.prounione.urbe.it Director's Desk This issue of the Bulletin is particularly rich both because of the articles and because of the diversity of themes that they deal with. The lead article is from the lecture of Dr. Dina Porat who has done immense work on the questions related to anti-Semitism and the Shoah. She presents in this study important information concerning the diplomatic mission of Angelo Roncalli in Turkey. Much of the research comes from archival material and certainly puts the pontificate of Pius XII in a different light since Roncalli was an agent of the Pope who kept him informed of his every action in the rescue of many Jews in Turkey. We are most grateful for the collaboration of His Excellency Mordechay Lewy, Ambassador of Israel to the Holy See for his aid and support in making Dr. Porat’s lecture possible at the Centro Pro Unione. Last year’s lecture given in the series to honor the Co-Founders of the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement, Paul Wattson and Lurana White was offered by a friend of the Centro, Dr. Turid Karlsen Seim. She spoke from first hand knowledge of the dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics since she was a member of the dialogue commission. Dr. Seim wished to look beyond the Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification to the fifth phase of the dialogue whi ch will look at the implications of our commonly recognized theology of baptism for further growth in communion. With the commemoration of the Reformation nearing in 2017 there is hope that a further clarification of our canonical relationship to each other will be made. Our good friend Rabbi Jack Bemporad, offered a very stimulating lecture on a fresh reading of the Book of Job. Rabbi Bemporad concludes that the final teaching of Job is that we must take on the burden of making the world better. This may cause suffering but it is a way that human beings bear and carry on the work of creation. The final conference was given by the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Dr. Olav Fyske Tveit during this year’s annual celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. He takes a look at the role of the WCC in the search for Christian Unity. After reviewing the role that the WCC plays he speaks about the importance of a “mutual accountability.” While the member churches need to be accountable to each other, the WCC needs to provide strategic leadership to the ecumenical movement on the global level. In this context he notes three areas where the accountability and the leadership needs to be exhibited: in the area of the diversity of and in churches; in the area of globalization, peace and development; and finally in a religiously pluralistic society. Check our web site for up to date information on the Centro’s activities and realtime information on the theological dialogues. We are honored to have Kurt Cardinal Koch give this year’s lecture to honor the Co-Founders of the Society of the Atonement entitled: La fondazione del Pontificio Consiglio per la Promozione dell’Unità dei Cristiani. Please consult the enclosed flyer. This Bulletin is indexed in the ATLA Religion Database, published by the American Theological Library Association, 250 S. Wacker Drive, 16th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606 (http://www.atla.com). James F. Puglisi, sa DirectorCentro Conferences CCCC Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli His Support of the Rescue Work according to Hebrew Sources Istanbul 1943-1944 Prof. Dina Porat Head, The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism Alfred P. Slaner Chair for the Study of Racism and anti-Semitism, Tel Aviv University Board Member, International Center for Holocaust Studies, Yad-Vashem (Conference given at the Centro Pro Unione, Wednesday, 20 October 2010) Introduction A lot has been written since World War II ended on Pope Pius the XII and his conduct during the Holocaust, and the debate is still being launched, both in historiography and in media representing public opinion in many countries. Among the many questions raised are a few central ones that concern the details the Pope had on the plight of European Jews, and especially the information that reached, and the dates on which it reached, him from his own Nuncios and Apostolic delegates in the various countries. The sources that nourish the debate are most often the 11 volumes of the «Actes et documents du Saint-Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale» edited and issued by a decision of Paul VI (between 1965 to 1981), featuring thousands of dispatches and correspondence between the Vatican’s State Secretary, its officials and its diplomatic representatives, bishops and prelates, while many other relevant documents, memoirs and testimonies serve to complement the picture. What follows is an attempt to elaborate on these central issues by using a source less known than those above mentioned: i.e. the many documents kept in the private archive, and the short memoirs, of Chaim Barlas, head of the Hebrew Yishuv rescue delegation in Istanbul during WWII, that concern Monsignor Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (later Pope John the XXIII), who then served as the Apostolic Delegate in Turkey and Greece, and his intensive cooperation with Barlas in the years 1942- 1944, regarding the rescue of Jews from the Holocaust in general, and the role played in this regard by the Vatican and its representatives in particular. This source is less known because of its location – in private hands, and its language – much of it is written in Hebrew. Having read these documents1 and memoirs,2 and Barlas’ book Rescue during Holocaust Days, which is more known, it is my assumption that a special contact was forged between these two personalities, and that this personal contact made Roncalli confide in Barlas, even in matters relating to his relationship with the Holy See; and made Barlas 1 Barlas’ archive is in private hands in Israel. He organized it in files and carton boxes according to issues and dates, but not in every case and did not number them. He told me on our conversation on January 1979 in his home that he had sent to Ertez-Israel copies of all the material gathered in his office in Istanbul before he returned home towards the end of the war. 2 Barlas, an exceptionally modest person, did not write an autobiography. It seems that he began writing a book on his Istanbul memoirs, to be called An Unfinished Mission. The part on Roncalli, kept in his archive, was written in 1958, when he became John the XXIII, and its contents is more emotional regarding praises for Roncalli’s attitude and rescue work (hereafter: Unfinished Mission). Other parts of memoirs are in Meetings in Constantinople, in Masua 4 (April 1976) 125-133 (hereafter: Meetings); in interviews: see A. CHAIM ELHANANI, People in Jerusalem, II Jerusalem 1977, 181- 191, and the same in Bama’aracha (In The Struggle) 188 (September 1976) 10-11, and 189 (October 1976) 12-13, 27 (hereafter: Elhanani); see also in the daily press: Davar, November 21, 1958, when Roncalli became Pope John the XXIII; Hab oker, June 14, 1963 and Ma’ariv, June 15, 1963, when Roncalli passed away. His book Rescue during Holocaust Days (Tel Aviv, 1975) 371, is a well-documented analysis of rescue attempts in the Holocaust, mainly from Istanbul, and not a personal account. All sources in this note are Hebrew written. N. 80 / Fall 2011Bulletin / Centro Pro Unione 3come rushing to Roncalli for help, once and again, showing him various documents, from forged certificates to urgent cables, and from transcripts of telephone calls to the Auschwitz Protocols. Barlas most often asked Roncalli to forward the documents and the cries for help they included to the Pope, and Roncalli promised to inform him when he would – and many times he did not – receive a response from Pius the XII or his secretaries. Barlas’ archive and memoirs show clearly that Roncalli did not confine himself to act merely as a channel to Rome and back: he also acted actively, if not independently, mostly with Barlas but with others as well, generously devoting time and effort in order to rescue as many as he could. The Yishuv is the Hebrew term for the Jewish community that lived under the British Mandate in pre- state Israel, or as the British authorities referred to it, Palestina/EI, that is Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel). Most of the members of this community, then numbering 475,000, emigrated as an avant-guard mainly from Europe, having left their relatives and communities behind. No wonder then, that the information about the persecution and murder of European Jewry shocked them personally, and undermined their collective efforts to establish a Jewish political entity. The evidence that the murder was carried out systematically accumulated since it began (in the middle of 1941), though the unprecedented reality it described was only quite slowly understood and absorbed. Decisive proof, reaching the Yishuv towards the end of 1942 made its leadership issue a declaration to the effect that the murder was carefully planned. 3 Following the declaration rescue attempts started, the scope and adequacy of which is still debated. The various Yishuv bodies sent about 15 delegates to Istanbul that could serve as a bridge between the Middle East and Nazi-occupied Europe.4 The senior delegate, formally acting as head of the delegation on behalf of the Jewish Agency, was Chaim Barlas. Born in 1898 he was the elder among the delegates, and by that time had already fulfilled major positions in the Jewish Agency’s Immigration Department, including being its director general. 5 Except for one other delegate, Menachem Bader of the leftist Kibbutz Hazore’a, most of the others were young, in their twenties or early thirties, and, burning with a sense of urgency, tended to take risks. 6 It should be emphasized that Barlas was the only one among the delegates to have a formal Jewish Agency appointment acknowledged by the British as well as the Turkish authorities, and that he could jeopardize this valuable appointment had he not acted according to their war time rules. Therefore it was mainly between Roncalli and Barlas – elder, senior, with a legal status, a cautious and austere, restrained and meticulous person – that the contact was intensively maintained for almost two years, until Roncalli left for Paris towards the end of 1944. Roncalli, born in 1881, took part in WWI and later headed centralization of Propagation of the Faith and its Italian branch. In 1925 he became bishop, and an Apostolic Visitor in Bulgaria, where he handled the negotiations for the marriage of Princess Giovanna of Savoy with the Orthodox King Boris the III and its complicated development, a fact that made him an influential figure in the court. Some 10 years later he became an Apostolic Delegate in Turkey and Greece, where he stayed until the end of 1944, and witnessed from there the evolvement of the Holocaust during most of the Third Reich years. 7 As a Nuncio in Paris he replaced a collaborator who was sent back to Rome by President De Gaulle, and had a successful eight years long stay.8 As a Pope (1958-1963), he summoned and initiated the Second Ecumenical Council, which practically revolutionized the Church in general and its relations with the Jewish people in particular.9 It was his uniquely warm and communicative personality, combined with an uncompromising adherence to human values that made 3 On the impact of the information on the Yishuv see D. PORAT, The Blue and the Yellow Stars of David. The Zionist Leadership in Palestine and the Holocaust, 1939-1945 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,1990) especially part one. 4 See their list in the Hebrew version, An Entangled Leadership. The Yishuv and the Holocaust, 1942-1945, ed. by Y. Vashem and A. Oved (Tel Aviv, 2004) 220-221. 5 See formal details in Who’s Who in Israel (Tel Aviv, 1971-1972) 60. 6 See their memoirs, all Hebrew written: M. BADER, Sad Missions (Merchavia, 1954); E. AVRIEL, Open the Gates (Tel Aviv, 1976); T. KOLLEK, One Jerusalem (Tel Aviv, 1979); Z. VENIA HADARI, Against all Odds, Istanbul, 1942-1945 (Tel Aviv, 1992). 7 A. MELLONI, Fra Istanbul, Atene e la guerra : la missione di A. G. Roncalli (1935-1944) (Genoa: Marietti, 1992). 8 E. DUFFY, A History of the Popes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997) 268 passim.. The Nuncio left also on this a personal witness: A.G. RONCALLI, Anni di Francia. Agende del Nunzio, I: 1945-1948, ed. by É. Fouilloux, (Bologna: Istituto per le scienze religiose, 2004); a second volume on 1949-1953 is forthcoming. 9 P. HEBBLETHWAITE, John XXIII. Pope of the Council (London: Chapman, 1984); History of Vatican II, 5 vols., directed by G. ALBERIGO, (Maryknoll/Leuven: Orbis/Peeters, 1998-2006), and G. ALBERIGO, A Brief History of Vatican II (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2006). 4 Bulletin / Centro Pro UnioneN. 80 / Fall 2011him an exceptionally trusted and active representative of his faith, even beyond its confessional border. 10 I Having introduced the framework of our discussion in terms of time, place and protagonists, let us address the main points with which we opened: Roncalli’s attitude to Pius the XII and his entourage during WWII, the rescue efforts he carried out in cooperation with Barlas, and the materials he was asked to transfer to Rome, especially the Auschwitz Protocols, all as reflected in Barlas’ documents and writings. His attitude to the Pope, to his faith and to the rescue of Jews: in his memoirs on the meetings he held in Istanbul with him, Barlas described Roncalli’s office, located in an annex of an ancient Catholic church standing in an alley in old Byzantine Constantinople.11 In the 1968 Yad Vashem conference he told the audience that he used to come there at night, so as not to attract unnecessary attention to his many visits in the Delegate’s office. 12 But «I could always come to him», said Barlas on another occasion, «I had a free entrance to the Nunciate, and even if I came late on an urgent matter he would be always glad to receive me and to help as much as he could», using his connections to get accurate information and to be active beyond his formal position.13 On his first visit, wrote Barlas in his memoirs, he realized that Roncalli was different than other clerics in his position, in his involvement in world and war current events, and especially in his attitude towards the Jewish problem. His warm heart made him genuinely feel the suffering of the Jewish individual and people, «beyond the dogma of religion and church». 14 When approached for help, wrote Barlas when Roncalli became John the XXIII, he would listen, ask questions and write down answers and notes and would not refer the matter to a secretary or messenger. 15 On one of his first visits, held on March 1943, Barlas came rushing in on a rainy night. Roncalli listened carefully, and promised Barlas to transfer to Slovakia, to Jozef Tiso, the anti-Semitic Catholic president of Slovakia, a plea to have mercy and prevent the continuation of deportations from his country to the death camps, mainly to near by Auschwitz (deportations that stopped on October 1943). Before promising he prayed softly, in Barlas’ presence, asking God to have mercy on him and show him the right way, and then added : «so be it, with God’s mercy».16 Later, when Barlas reported on this meeting and others to the Jewish Agency members in Jerusalem, he spoke about Roncalli, “who many times went right into the heart of the matter and acted when we asked him, and sent cables to the Vatican. I remember that when I came to him with the Slovak Jews matter, he himself wrote the cable to the Pope and sent that very day, and after five days told me he received an answer that an action such as we wanted was carried out.”17 This was one of the few cases a concrete answer came in quickly, following a practical action, sponsored by Barlas and Roncalli. «We spoke a lot then on the attitude of the Holy See to the Jews», wrote Barlas, and his Hebrew expression «a lot» («rabot») could also be translated as «many times». «We spoke, and how we spoke» on this issue, he said.18 Barlas described the way Roncalli addressed this issue, either on this occasion or on the many others as very restrained, yet clearly expressing despair that originated in his knowledge of the circumstances and of the chances the Holy See would act, or at least respond. When Barlas brought him the Auschwitz Protocols (to which we’ll refer later in more details), Roncalli was shocked and read it with tears – and with delicate unambiguous resentment reported towards his superiors, «whose power and influence are great, but who refrain from action and 10 Barlas after the first meeting with him: «a vivacious old man […] open hearted», Masua 4 (April 1976) 128. «Genuinely felt the sorrow, and was exceptionally ready to help and save»: BARLAS, Unfinished Mission, 1. Bader in the first meeting: «A neutral personality, its importance recognized by everyone», quoted by HADARI, Against All Odds..., 54. 11 Masua 4 (April 1976) 128; a description of places is made by Roncalli in his own diaries, now edited as A.G. RONCALLI, La mia vita in Oriente. Agende del delegato apostolico, I: 1935-1939, ed. by V. Martano, (Bologna: Istituto per le scienze religiose, 2006). 12 The conference was dedicated to rescue efforts during the Holocaust. Barlas took the floor to angrily protest against the general feeling that the Yishuv did not do enough, and brought his contact with Roncalli as a proof of the serious work that had been done in Istanbul. 13 Haboker, June 14, 1963. HEBBLETHWAITE, John XXIII..., 187. 14 Haboker, June 14, 1963. Masua 4 (April 1976) 128. Unfinished Mission, 1. 15 Unfinished Mission, 1; see also G. ALBERIGO, Papa Giovanni (Roma/Bari: Laterza, 1987). 16 Unfinished Mission. 17 Rescue Committee Presidency meeting in Jerusalem, 3.10.1944, 18, Barlas archive and S26/1238a, Central Zionist Archives (hereafter: CZA). More on the Slovak affair see later, notes 31-35. 18 Masua 4 (April 1976) 128. Haboker, June 14, 1963. N. 80 / Fall 2011Bulletin / Centro Pro Unione 5resourcefulness in extending concrete help».19 This is indeed a rare case, in which Roncalli, an Apostolic Delegate, allows his compassion and sorrow when facing human suffering to overcome the discretion he owes his superior, and criticizes him – very gently, by casual and restrained remarks, as Barlas put it – but still criticizes him for not acting forcefully in favor of the persecuted Jews. Moreover, his remarks were made in the presence of a Jewish delegate, moreover a Zionist from the Land of Israel, not a colleague of the same or similar position nor even a fellow Christian. He must have trusted Barlas as a person and as a representative of people in dire stress, who depended upon his help. Indeed, when Barlas tried to ask him for the reasons behind the Pope’s silence, Roncalli refrained from answering and spoke about God’s reasons that are hidden from human beings, as if this question presented a red line he would not cross. Still, he did not reproach Barlas or object his criticism when speaking about the impact that direct a public appeal of the Pope might have, calling upon the local population in the Nazi occupied countries to render their Jewish citizens a helping hand. It seems that Roncalli restricted his critical remarks to his meetings with Barlas: his first meeting with another Yishuv delegate took place on January 1943, when Barlas was away from Istanbul, dealing with urgent matters in Ankara, the capital. Roncalli agreed to listen to Bader’s pleas for help in urgently granting Jewish children passage through Turkey. 20 According to Bader, Roncalli became nervous when being told that most of the murder or the deportations happened in Catholic countries, Poland first and foremost, and that their citizens should be clearly told by the Pope to extend Christian help. Roncalli answered at length, «sighing piously», as Bader put it rather ironically, opposing the Yishuv delegate’s accusation against the head of the church. He emphasized that «the Voice of the Vatican» (probably the Vatican Radio, perfectly heard in Turkey) often announced that the Pope prayed for all those suffering on account of their religion or race, and that in places in which help was extended – it could not have been done without the church. Nevertheless Bader went on to add a request for a larger future plan, according to which Roncalli, acknowledged by all as «an important neutral personality», would undertake negotiations with some eight countries, so that Jewish children be let out and reach Turkey. Roncalli promised – again, after standing and praying facing an icon of Jesus, as if asking for his advice and inspiration – to help in countries where the Catholic clergy was under his «jurisdiction» (sic!), and to send the written request to grant the children a free passage to the Pope, so that he intervenes with the rigid Turkish authorities. 21 He did so immediately via Arthur Hughes, the Apostolic Delegate to Egypt and Eretz Israel, who happened to be in Istanbul on his way to Rome. The Vatican’s documents show he did: a memo written by the delegates and signed by Barlas who returned at night, was handed to Hughes late that same night – yet weeks went by, and no answer came back from the Vatican.22 It is possible that since this meeting with Bader was the first one he had with a Yishuv delegate, Roncalli was not yet fully aware of the situation of European Jews, and he still thought that the Vatican would act. It is also clear that the chemistry that later characterized Barlas’ relations with Roncalli was not created with Bader, and this fact lends more credibility to the criticism Roncalli limited himself to air in the presence of one person only, whom he did not rebuke. It also lends credibility to later expressions, regarding the Vatican’s stance towards Zionism: in one of their meetings, Barlas brought Roncalli part of a report on the horrors of mass killings of Jews in Nazi occupied Poland, and Roncalli, pale and trembling, suggested that Barlas rereads in Ezekiel 37 the prophesy that the dry scattered bones of the House of Israel will be brought to its resurrecting land. 23 In doing so, Roncalli was trying to console Barlas, but in fact he did not condemn (at least) Zionist aspirations. When Chief Rabbi of Eretz Israel, Yitzhak Eizik Halevi Herzog was brought by Barlas to visit Roncalli on February 1944, he inquired his visitor about the Jewish revival in the Holy Land and about Arab-Jewish relations, and ended their conversation with the hope that the People of Israel would be redeemed. Roncalli, deeply impressed with his visitor’s personal stature, later wrote to the Vatican about their meeting; Barlas, who was present, heard them with awe and respect discussing at length theological questions.24 Roncalli’s attitude, though expressed in Biblical and not in political terms in his conversations with Barlas and Herzog, contradicts the Vatican’s attitude that was 19 Masua 4 (April 1976) 128; the best synthesis on the whole issue of Pacelli’s attitude is now: G. MICCOLI, I dilemmi e i silenzi di Pio XII. Vaticano, Seconda guerra mondiale e Shoah (Milano: Rizzoli, 2000). 20 See D. PORAT, The Zionist Leadership... , 149-163, The Affair of the 29,000 Children. 21 BADER, Sad Missions..., 51-53. Hadari’s source in Against all Odds..., 54, is Bader’s letter to Yosef Lipsky of Kibbutz Ein-Harod, on the same day, 22.1.1943, Moreshet Archive, D1.698. 22 Ibid... More on the children affair see later, note 30. 23 Masua 4 (April 1976) 129. Elhanani, 187. 24 Haboker, June 14, 1963, where Barlas mentioned the Roncalli- Herzog meeting as the highlight of his contacts with Roncalli. See more on this meeting later, in notes 40-41. See A. MELLONI, Fra Istanbul, ..., op. cit.. 6 Bulletin / Centro Pro UnioneN. 80 / Fall 2011opposed to Zionism.25 Pope Pius the X had already told Theodor Ze’ev Herzl, founder of political Zionism, in their meeting in 1904, that the main bone of contention was the fear that Jewish presence would jeopardize the holiness of the Holy places and Christian access to them. 26 Roncalli himself was familiar with the official doubts regarding the proper status of the Jewish people, 27 but it should be clearly stated that during the Holocaust he cast them aside, differentiated between Zionism in the future and the horrors Jews were undergoing in the present, and acted according to Christian values, not interests. Barlas’ words in his book sum up our first point, regarding Roncalli’s attitudes. He stated that the Vatican had detailed reports on the situation of the Jews in the Nazi occupied countries, especially from the net of his Nunciatures; and that the response from Rome sometimes did come but was most often very general and vague, and Barlas draws a list of responses such as: the Pope is sad, he prays, he does everything he can; and then he concludes: «Monsignor Angelo Roncalli told me explicitly in our conversations in Istanbul that he passed on the material for the Holy See to know, but did not receive an answer», 28 meaning that concrete answers regarding practical measures were very seldom received. When Barlas reported to the Jewish Agency Rescue Committee in Jerusalem in the autumn of 1944 he was asked about the chances of a delegation to the Pope and answered, based on his experience, that he did not think «the Pope would want that».29 Later Barlas quoted Moshe Shertok (later Sharett), head of the Jewish Agency’s Political Department, reporting in Jerusalem on his disappointing audience in the Pope’s court one month before the war ended: even then Pius the XII mentioned briefly «terrible persecutions» (Shertok: actual killings), «in Poland and Hungary» (Shertok: all over Europe), and wondered: «five millions, indeed?». 30 It seems that Shertok’s experience echoed Barlas’, because it meant that the information regarding the «Final Solution», which he sent via Roncalli, was not internalized by the Pope, who consistently did not mention verbatim Jews, Nazis and killings. II And to our second point, regarding actual rescue work: the list of the rescue possibilities discussed and initiated between Barlas and Roncalli is a long one, and when put together it is even a surprising one. Naturally, Barlas developed many more contacts and worked through other channels at the same time, as one can gather from the dozens of files in his archive; Roncalli was approached by others as well, had meetings and was involved in rescue efforts with the Jewish community in Turkey; with Chief Rabbi Herzog; and with Ira Hirschman, who represented in Turkey the WRB (War Refugee Board) appointed in January 1944 by President Roosevelt; and he wrote extensively to his colleagues, Nuncios and Apostolic delegates, and to heads of State, in the European countries he had contacts with, especially the four «satellites», namely Slovakia, Bulgaria, Rumania and Hungary.31 Still, let us take a brief chronological look at the Barlas-Roncalli cooperation only. The January 1943 Bader-Roncalli meeting regarding negotiations and passage permits for children, was followed by the memo to Hughes, in which the delegates had more requests: an intervention of the Vatican asking the neutral countries to offer shelter to Jews, and the German authorities to let certificate holders and relatives of EretzIsraeli citizens to leave for Palestine. The third and last request in the memo referred very gently to the famous declaration issued by Pius the XII on December 24, 1942, regarding innocent people being doomed to death on account of their religion or race, yet not mentioning they were Jews. The memo, written less than a month after this deeply disappointing declaration, politely acknowledges the «highly humanitarian attitude [that] was a source of moral comfort for our brethren», but it actually suggests a correction: another radio broadcast declaring, this time clearly, that «rendering help to persecuted Jews is considered by the Church as a good deed». The memo was sent by Roncalli and brought by Hughes to Rome in a matter of days, as the Vatican Actes 25 M. PHAYER, The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930- 1965 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000); U. BIALER, Cross on The Star of David: The Christian World in Israel’s Foreign Policy, 1948-1967 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005). 26 T. HERZL, A Diary, 1895-1904, VI (Jerusalem, 1929) 237-241; A. ELON, Herzl (Tel Aviv 4 , 1977) 432-434. Both in Hebrew. 27 B. HEBBLETHWAITE, John XXIII..., 183-186. See in Actes et Documents du Saint-Siège relatifs à la seconde Guerre Mondiale, IX: Roncalli’s letters, 11 Vols., (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1965-1981) 310-311, 371-372, 469, where he referred to his theological stance on the Jewish people (Hereafter: ADSS). 28 See in BARLAS, Rescue during Days of Holocaust, 162-163. 29 See note 16. 30 Jewish Agency meeting, 22.4.1945, CZA. Quoted by Barlas in Rescue in Days of Holocaust, 169-170, and in Elhanani, 185-186. 31 His activity is recorded in the Barlas archive; in the ADSS Volumes; see also our student Yuval Frenkel, “Monsignor Angelo Roncalli’s Rescue Activities during the Holocaust,” Yalkut Moreshet 59 (1995) 109-136. Unfortunately, he did not see the Barlas archive. Printed materials are known. See MELLONI, Fra Istanbul, ..., op. cit.,which is the source for Miccoli, I dilemmi e i silenzi, ..., op. cit.. N. 80 / Fall 2011Bulletin / Centro Pro Unione 7et documents show, but as above mentioned, no answer to any of its points was received by Roncalli. One may assume that if Roncalli allowed himself to send the Vatican such criticism, he must have felt that the criticism was correct, and that the Pope should have indeed mend his conduct. A month later Hughes got an answer regarding the second point, to the effect that the Vatican cannot assist immigration of Jews to Palestine because access of Christians to their holy places might be limited. 32 On March 11, 1943 Barlas and Eliezer Kaplan, member of the Jewish Agency Executive and its treasurer, who came to Istanbul to explore rescue possibilities, signed another memo to be sent by Roncalli to Rome, urgently asking the Pope to help prevent the next deportations from Slovakia, and begging to let Jewish children leave for Palestine.33 Two months later Roncalli got one vague sentence from Maglione, the Vatican secretary of state, regarding the children. 34 In mid-May one more memo signed by Barlas was handed to the New York Archbishop Francis Spellman visiting Istanbul. Again, as in the Hughes case, a contact was gracefully made by Roncalli, who introduced Barlas to Spellman in the midst of a solemn ceremony followed by a press conference held in the Bishop’s residence in honor of the high ranking guest.35 News came in May that the deportations were halted thanks to the Vatican intervention, though contemporary research attributes the halt to many other factors as well. 36 Tireless Roncalli is still writing about the children in June, 1943, and on behalf of the remnants of Slovak Jewry in September and October of 1944, and gets vague and belated answers. 37 Parallel to the Slovak affair, almost on the same dates, Bader and Venia Pomerantz (later Hadari), came urgently to Roncalli – Barlas was again in Ankara – to ask for his urgent help regarding a plan to deport the Jews from Thrace and Macedonia. The morrow after Roncalli was able to tell them that the king of Bulgaria promised him not to let the plan materialize.38 On May the Jews in Sofia faced the same danger, and Barlas hurried to Roncalli, on a Sunday, after the morning mass. Roncalli himself immediately wrote a cable to the king Boris, and ordered his secretary to send it right away. On July 8, 1943 Barlas got a hand written message, in French, from Roncalli, assuring him that the matter had been successfully settled.39 Barlas later wrote that Roncalli did not receive an answer from the Vatican regarding the Bulgarian Jews,40 but it is doubtful that Roncalli ever sent a parallel message to the Pope: he acted independently, using his excellent relations with the King and Queen of a country he had spent ten years in. On May and June 1943 Roncalli wrote to Rome and to the Apostolic Nuncio and the bishop of Zagreb regarding Jews in Yugoslavia; 41 on September and December 1943 he wrote many times to Rome following Herzog’s request to Barlas, regarding Italian Jews;42 on June and July 1943 he wrote about the Jews deported from Rumania to Transnistria, and in February 1944, on the day of his meeting with Herzog in Barlas’ presence, he wrote to the Vatican asking to let the deportees return; he wrote again on the same matter in March, and notified Barlas on that month, in a very moving letter, that his letter to the Vatican from February which included a very respectful message from Herzog was immediately [after a month, actually] answered, and the request would be taken care of;43 and he was involved in, or at least followed the 32 See the full memo signed by Barlas, on January 1, 1943, in his archive and in ADSS, IX, 88-90, accompanied by Roncalli’s letter and his summary of the memo, ibid..., 87-88, to Cardinal Maglione, the secretary of state; and Maglione’s answer to Hughes, ibid..., 90-91. 33 See the 11.3.1943 full memo in Barlas archive; in L15/208, CZA; in BARLAS, Rescue in Days of Holocaust, 349-350. See in ADSS, IX, 184-186, William Godfrey, the Apostolic Delegate in London to Maglione, confirming British agreement to the children passage, Roncalli to Maglione, letter and most of the French written memo, using words such as «implora, supplicano». 34 Maglione’s answer to Roncalli on 4.5.1943 see in ADSS, IX, 272; and see HEBBLETHWAITE’s comments in his chapter God’s Consul, 188. 35 Ibid..., 189. BARLAS, Unfinished Mission, 3-4, on how graciously Roncalli treated him. The May 16, 1943, memo to Spellman see in BARLAS, Rescue in Days of Holocaust, 350-352. Roncalli’s diary on May 22, 1943, on Barlas’ visit in his office. This could be another visit of Barlas, or perhaps Roncalli wrote a few days after Barlas’ visit in mid-May. 36 The good news: Roncalli to Maglione, ADSS, IX, 307. BARLAS, Unfinished Mission, 2, note 16 here, and Davar, November 11, 1958. On other factors see D. PORAT, Zionist Leadership..., 175-188. 37 See ADSS, IX, 321-322, 327, 361-362, and X, 418, 454-455. 38 See note 20 here. 39 BARLAS in Masua 4 (April 1976) 129, in Unfinished Mission, 3- 4, in Ma’ariv, June 15, 1963, and Roncalli’s letter to Barlas, in his archive (a transcript) and in Rescue in Days of Holocaust, 354 (a Xerox).The letter in Ma’ariv has one more part, recommending Barlas to be in touch with Mr. Albert Chaimovitch, as a «good acquaintance of the Apostolic Delegate», which means that Roncalli had good contacts with Jews in Bulgaria as well. See also Roncalli to King Boris the III, ADSS, IX, 371-372. 40 BARLAS, Rescue in Days of the Holocaust, 163. 41 See ADSS, IX, 321-322, 327-328, 337. 42 See ADSS, IX, 438, 469, 592. 43 On Herzog’s visit see BARLAS in Haboker, June 14, 1963; Herzog’s letter to Roncalli, ADSS, X, 161, and Roncalli to Barlas, ibid, 188, on Herzog’s letter. See also Roncalli’s diary, February 23, 1944. 8 Bulletin / Centro Pro UnioneN. 80 / Fall 2011refugee ships affairs, from the Struma to the Tari, rejoiced when their voyage ended safely, and deeply mourned the losses: «Poveri figli di Israele» (poor children of Israel), he writes regarding the sinking of the Struma. «Io sento quotidianamente il loro gemito intorno a me» (I feel everyday their sigh around me). 44 A look at this incomplete list to which a lot could be added, shows that Roncalli served as an active channel to Rome, but also acted on his own initiative; it shows that he acted with a sense of urgency; that receiving the delegates, Barlas first and foremost, had a preference over Sunday and ceremony (which meant a delicate respect for Shabat); and that he took care of many matters at the same time, writing to a number of countries and persons and Rome on close dates and trying to follow the results of his pleas. III This leads to the third point, that concerns a tragic and dramatic turn in the Barlas-Roncalli connection: the fate of Hungarian Jewry and the Auschwitz Protocols. There were a number of angles to this turn. First, it seems Roncalli was the first one to warn the Vatican that Hungarian Jews faced an immediate danger following the German invasion. In this warning the Auschwitz Protocols were not mentioned yet. Second, it seems that the information about the Protocols reached the Vatican for the first time from Roncalli, who got it from Barlas. Third, it seems that when the information about the Auschwitz Protocols reached the Vatican through the Barlas-Roncalli channel, this information became part of the pressure that was being built up on the Pope at the time, yet it is possible that it came in two days after the Pope’s decision to intervene in order to stop the murder of Hungarian Jews in Auschwitz. Following the March 19th German invasion into Hungary Rabbi Herzog called upon Hughes to act, and the latter sent the plea to Roncalli. 45 On March 25 Roncalli invited Barlas to his office – again: it was Roncalli who invited Barlas – to discuss matters that have already been raised in their former meetings (the situation in Transnistria, a ship for the refugees in Rumania), and heard from him as well about «the desperate situation and fatal danger» awaiting Hungarian Jewry.46 Roncalli, having heard Barlas’ words and Herzog’s cry, sent a warning in Herzog’s words to Rome via Switzerland.47 A few days later Angelo Rotta, the Nuncio in Hungary, sent a message of worry. 48 Is so happened that Roncalli was, then, the first to warn the Secretary of State and the Holy Father with specific arguments. Later Roncalli got from Barlas a copy of a short German written version of «The Protocols»: as it is well known, the term «the Auschwitz Protocols» stands for a 30 pages long report written as a summary of the testimony given in Zilina, Slovakia by two young Slovak Jews, Rudolf Vrba (originally Walter Rosenberg) and Alfred Wetzler, who managed to escape Auschwitz on April 10, 1944. The summary was written down on April 25, 1944 by members of the Jewish local leadership. 49 It should be emphasized that the report does not include any warning on the expected deportations of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, nor on preparations made in the camp prior to their coming.50 It is only in Vrba’s book and oral testimonies that he claims he and Wetzler saw the preparations in the camp, and escaped in order to save Hungarian Jewry.51 This point is important for the understanding of the date in which the information reached Pius the XII, and I suggest making a distinction between (i) the report itself and (ii) the information it contained about Auschwitz in general, and the fate of Hungarian Jewry. Two more young Slovak Jews, Cheslav Mordowicz and Arnost Rozin escaped Auschwitz and reached Slovakia on June 6, and they were the ones who brought with them the terrible news, that Hungarian Jews were being deported to and killed in the camp since May 15 in an unparalleled pace, of 12,000 human beings a day. The first couple described how the killing system functioned, produced drawings of the gigantic camp and the 44 See his moving letter in ADSS, IX, 310. 45 See ADSS, X, 196 and ibid..., 355. 46 Barlas’ summary of the conversation, March 25, 1944, Barlas’ archive and L22/157 in CZA. 47 See ADSS, X, 188-189. 48 See MICCOLI, I dilemmi e i silenzi ..., op. cit.. 49 See R. VRBA, I Escaped from Auschwitz (London: Robinson Books, 1968 2 1997) (English), and (Tel Aviv, 1998) (Hebrew). On the memoirs and testimonies of the escapees see Y. BAUER, “The Auschwitz Protocols,” Yalkut Moreshet 80 (2005) 160 (especially on Mordowicz’s book in Slovak), and M. KARNY, “The Vrba- Wetzler report,” in Y. GUTMAN and M. BERENBAUM (eds.), Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998) 589-606 in Hebrew version 2003. 50 A short German version of the Protocols, Barlas’ archive; the full, English (WRB) and Hebrew version, are an appendix to Vrba’s memoirs: cfr. Vrba, I Escaped from Auschwitz..., 290-314. See also parts in German and English in M. DOV-BER WEISSMANDEL, In Distress (Jerusalem ,1960), as unnumbered appendices, and an abstract in M. GILBERT, Auschwitz and the Allies (Chicago: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1981), the Hebrew version, Tel Aviv 1988, 239-240 (note 51). 51 This debate is outside the scope of our presentation. N. 80 / Fall 2011Bulletin / Centro Pro Unione 9Next >