Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 4, 2020

Pope Pius XII, the leader of the Catholic church through the World War II years, does not have a great reputation in the Jewish community.

Although he hid some Jews in churches during the Holocaust, a large body of historical evidence, including some researched by John Cornwell, points to the fact that Pius helped Hitler to power and trivialized the Holocaust, despite having reliable knowledge of its true extent. Cornwall wrote a 1999 book titled Hitlers Pope, and the nickname has since stuck.

But the archives also shed new light on a lesser-known but crucial figure in the story: Andrey Sheptytsky, who led Ukraines Greek Catholic Church at the time.

Some have long called for Sheptytsky to be made a Righteous Among the Nations, Israels title for non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from the Holocaust. But Yad Vashem, Israels Holocaust memorial, has resisted doing so. The new information about Sheptytsky offers his supporters a new chance to have his historical record honored.

The background

Born to a noble Polish family in Ukraine in 1865, Andrey Sheptytsky joined the clergy despite his fathers opposition. Klymentiy, who was four years younger than Andrey, followed in his older brothers footsteps. Andrey spoke Hebrew fluently and was a regular donor to Jewish causes in the Lviv area, where he lived.

But Andrey Sheptytsky also welcomed the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and sent chaplains to accompany the Ukrainian soldiers who fought with the Nazis, as part of the Galizien Waffen-SS Division.

A determined objector to the anti-religious Soviet Union which was an enemy of Germany when the Nazis invaded Ukraine Sheptytsky saw the Germans briefly as liberators, Snyder wrote in a 2009 defense of Sheptytsky.

These lamentable choices, as Snyder called them, have stood in the way of recognition for Sheptytsky and his Catholic beatification, which is also being blocked because of resistance by Polish clergymen albeit for reasons connected to the complicated history between the two nations.

The new evidence

In the Vatican archives, University of Munster researchers discovered that Sheptytsky wrote the pope a letter that spoke of 200,000 Jews massacred in Ukraine under the outright diabolical German occupation.

Writing such a letter, whose full contents have not been published yet, constituted a capital crime under the Nazi occupation, and may therefore be seen as new evidence the Sheptytsky risked his life to save Jews.

It could also have a big impact on whether to reopen Yad Vashems review of the case, said Berel Rodal, a founder of Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, which promotes dialogue between Jews and non-Jewish Ukrainians.

A staffer under Pius XII at the Vaticans Secretariat of State, Angelo DellAcqua, who later became a cardinal, warned in a memo at the time not to believe a Jewish Agency report about the Holocaust because Jews easily exaggerate. He also dismissed the Sheptytsky account by saying that Orientals are really not an example of honesty, the German research revealed.

Pressure isnt going to work. Whats necessary is for Yad Vashem to receive new material so they can reverse their decision without appearing inconsistent. This letter could be it, Rodal said.

Experts are monitoring the news coming out from the Vatican, aYad Vashem spokesperson said.

We hope that once the health crisis is over, we will be able to resume regular work and examine these documents first hand, the spokesperson said. At that time historians will have a better understanding of all their implications.

Continued here:
New information revealed on Ukrainian priest who saved Jews in Holocaust - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Anti-Defamation League
Tags: