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PIUS XII, THE HOLOCAUST, AND THE COLD WAR, Michael Phayer (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008), pp.26, $59.95.
In recent years there has emerged what have become known as the 'Pius wars', that is, an intense debate about Pius XII's wartime record. On one extreme, there are those who argue that Pius XII was 'Hitler's Pope'; other scholars, however argue that Pius XII did all he could to save Jewish lives and should be credited with the survival of 800,000 people. Michael Phayer disputes both of these positions, arguing that they are both simplistic and fail to take into account all of the facts.
Phayer acknowledges that the difficulties in assessing Pius XII's role in WWII stem not only from the outlook of those making the assessment but also from the source material. Whilst much of it has been released, many crucial documents are still in sealed archives: hence, Phayer recognises that any assessment of Pius is provisional and needs to be updated as crucial new material comes to light. For this reason, he acknowledges early in his work that his analysis of Pius's response to the Holocaust, particularly the background to his Christmas 1942 message, has been updated from his previous work.
His assessment is based on the premise that Pius's response to Nazism differed radically from his response to communism. Pius saw Nazism as a passing phenomenon and an evil with which the Church could make some rapprochement. However, he saw communism as the greatest threat to civilisation, one with whom no accommodation could be made. This approach informed his...