The petition was organized by internationally-known Jewish leader Seymour Reich and the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. Although the signatories have a variety of views on the response of Pope Pius XII to the Holocaust, they found common ground in the demand to open the archives so that the full historical record can be revealed.
The Reich-Wyman Institute petition comes in response to the recent discovery of two new documents pertaining to Pope Pius XII's response to the Holocaust. A Tel Aviv University scholar, Dina Porat, found a document from 1944 by then-Papal Nuncio in Turkey, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli - himself a future pope (Pope John XXIII, from 1958 to 1963). Roncalli complained that his superiors in the Vatican "refrain from action and resourcefulness in extending concrete help" to Jewish victims of the Nazis.
At the same time, the Wyman Institute located a postwar interview with John Pehle, director of the US government's War Refugee Board, in which he said that during the war, the Vatican "wasn't helpful in the whole refugee business."
The Reich-Wyman Institute petition reads:
The signatories include Holocaust scholar Professor Deborah Lipstadt, Catholic scholar and activist Professor Leonard Swidler, editor of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Reverend Vincent A. Lapomarda, S.J., Holocaust Collection coordinator at Holy Cross College, Professor Padriac O'Hare, director of the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations at Merrimack College, and Professor Michael Berenbaum of the University of Judaism.
Reich, a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, co-chaired the International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission. The commission was organized in 1999 by the Holy See's Commission on Religious Relations with the Jews and the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, to review the Vatican's published archival material from the Holocaust period.
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, based in Washington, D.C., is a research and education institute focusing on America’s response to the Holocaust. The Institute’s Advisory Committee includes Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, Members of Congress, and other luminaries. Its Academic Council includes more than 50 leading professors of the Holocaust, American history, and Jewish history.
The Reich-Wyman Institute petition comes in response to the recent discovery of two new documents pertaining to Pope Pius XII's response to the Holocaust. A Tel Aviv University scholar, Dina Porat, found a document from 1944 by then-Papal Nuncio in Turkey, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli - himself a future pope (Pope John XXIII, from 1958 to 1963). Roncalli complained that his superiors in the Vatican "refrain from action and resourcefulness in extending concrete help" to Jewish victims of the Nazis.
At the same time, the Wyman Institute located a postwar interview with John Pehle, director of the US government's War Refugee Board, in which he said that during the war, the Vatican "wasn't helpful in the whole refugee business."
The Reich-Wyman Institute petition reads:
Documents uncovered recently by scholars at Tel Aviv University and The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies have raised new questions about the response of Pope Pius XII to the Holocaust. Scholars have legitimate disagreements concerning the Vatican's actions regarding European Jewry during the Hitler years, and the undersigned include representatives of a range of views on this subject. But we all agree that the Vatican should open its archives for the Holocaust period to historians, so that the role of the wartime Pope will not be subject to conjecture as to what he knew, what he did, and what he chose to say or not say about the plight of the Jews. We respectfully urge the Vatican to open those archives now.
The signatories include Holocaust scholar Professor Deborah Lipstadt, Catholic scholar and activist Professor Leonard Swidler, editor of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Reverend Vincent A. Lapomarda, S.J., Holocaust Collection coordinator at Holy Cross College, Professor Padriac O'Hare, director of the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations at Merrimack College, and Professor Michael Berenbaum of the University of Judaism.
Reich, a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, co-chaired the International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission. The commission was organized in 1999 by the Holy See's Commission on Religious Relations with the Jews and the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, to review the Vatican's published archival material from the Holocaust period.
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, based in Washington, D.C., is a research and education institute focusing on America’s response to the Holocaust. The Institute’s Advisory Committee includes Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, Members of Congress, and other luminaries. Its Academic Council includes more than 50 leading professors of the Holocaust, American history, and Jewish history.