A Rabbi Looks at Pius XII

The Myth of Hitler’s Pope

by Rabbi David G. Dalin

Regnery, 2005

209 pages, $27.95

To order: (800) 462-6420

regnery.com

Since the late 1990s, books on Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust have become their own cottage industry. Probably the most famous (or infamous) of these numerous tomes that debate the connection between the Pope and the “final solution” is John Cornwell’s 1998 bestseller Hitler’s Pope. Since its publication, this book has loomed large over any writings that defend or castigate the Pope’s actions during the Second World War.

What makes this new work stand out from many of the other recent books defending Pius’ wartime actions is that the author, David Dalin, is both an historian and a rabbi. In fact, the Jewish background of the author provides the book with some of its strengths: It not only shields the author against the typical charges by anti-Pius writers of religious whitewashing, but also enables him to effectively address the importance of this debate for a modern Jewish audience.

On top of that, one of the strengths of this work is how Dalin utilizes the testimony of numerous Jews who praised the efforts of the Pope at shielding them from the Nazis, emphasizing as well how Pius’ critics downplay or ignore this evidence. One typical tactic is to suggest that these memories are flawed or have ulterior motives.

In response, Dalin astutely notes that “to so deny and delegitimize their collective memory and experience of the Holocaust … is to engage in a subtle yet profound form of Holocaust denial.”

Moreover, Dalin rightly places the debate about Pius XII within the larger context of the culture wars, explaining: “Jews, whatever their feelings about Roman Catholicism, have a duty to reject arguments that usurp the Holocaust and use it for a liberal war against the Catholic Church that, if successful, would undermine the foundations of Christianity and Judaism alike, because of the liberal critics’ overwhelming disregard for traditional religion and the truth.”

One of the more innovative elements in Dalin’s study is his discussion of the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, whom he calls “Hitler’s Mufti.” The author describes how al-Husseini became an avid Nazi supporter, meeting with Hitler on several occasions, making anti-Semitic proclamations on German radio and, possibly, even having some role in the extermination program. Clearly, Dalin is using al-Husseini’s real, though often overlooked, Nazi collaboration as a counterpoint to the bogus, yet prominent, charges against Pius XII. This is an effective and informative technique.

What is less convincing, though, is Dalin’s use of al-Husseini to argue for an inherent anti-Semitism in Islam, which he supplements with a simplistic survey of Muslim-Jewish relations. Much like the history of Catholic-Jewish relations (which Dalin examines very fairly), Muslim-Jewish historical interaction has its smooth points and its blemishes. His failure to acknowledge the obvious role of the existence of the state of Israel as a critical factor in the upsurge in modern Muslim anti-Semitism is surprising.

There are a few other missteps like the one above, and a bibliography really should have been included, but on the whole The Myth of Hitler’s Pope is a valuable handbook for understanding the essential issues of this important debate.

While not the definitive work on the subject, Dalin’s study is still a very effective dismantling Cornwell’s con.

Vince Ryan is a

doctoral candidate in medieval history at Saint Louis University.