Chief Rabbi, the Pope, and the Holocaust
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A01=Wallace P. Sillanpoa
Adolf Hitler
Agnostic
anti-Semitic
Author_Wallace P. Sillanpoa
Carmelite Convent
Category=JBSR
Catholic-Jewish dialogue
Chief Rabbi
Conferring
Della
Devious
Edgardo Mortara
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Hitler
Holocaust historiography
Holy Father
Humani Generis
Innocent III
interfaith relations history
Italian Jews
papal actions during World War II
pius
Pius IX
Pius XI
Pius XII
Pope's Presence
Rabbi Zolli
religious conversion studies
Robert G. Weisbord
Roman Jewish
Rome's Jewish Community
Secretary Of State
Succeed Pius XI
Tanti Auguri
Vatican archives research
Violated
Wallace P. Sillanpoa
wartime humanitarian policy
Product details
- ISBN 9781412807913
- Weight: 450g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 15 Nov 2008
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Inc
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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In February 1945, Israele Zolli, chief rabbi of Rome's ancient Jewish community, shocked his co-religionists in Italy and throughout the Jewish world by converting to Catholicism and taking as his baptismal name, Eugenio, to honor Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli) for what Zolli saw as his great humanitarianism toward the Jews during the Holocaust. Almost a half a century after his conversion, Zolli still evokes anger and embarrassment in Italy's Jewish community. This book is the first authoritative treatment of this astonishing story.What induced Zolli to embrace Catholicism will probably never be known. Nonetheless, by painstaking scholarly detective work, through interviews in Italy and elsewhere, through the unearthing of private papers not previous known to exist, and through the study of previous inaccessible archival materials, the authors have succeeded in explaining why Zolli left the Jewish fold and joined the Catholic Church.Like Zolli's rabbinical career, Pius XII's long pontificate tells us much about the Church of Rome and its relationship to the Jewish people, particularly with reference to the issue of conversion. The authors focus on the pontiff's World War II policies vis-à-vis the Jews, a subject that has been heatedly debated since Rolf Hochhuth's The Deputy was performed in the early 1960s. What Pacelli knew abut the extermination of the Jews and when he knew it, what he said and failed to say, are given special attention in this book. Through the examination of previous scholarship and primary materials (including Pius XI's encyclical on race and anti-Semitism, Pacelli's behavior is evaluated to determine if Zolli accurately gauged the Holy Father's efforts to save Jews. This saga of the two Eugenios will interest historians of the Second World War and the Holocaust and students of history alike.
Robert G. Weisbord is professor of history at the University of Rhode Island. He is the author of many books and articles on black Americans and African history and Jewish History. Wallace P. Sillanpoa is professor emeritus of Italian at the University of Rhode Island. He has published a number of articles on Antonio Gramsci, Pier Pablo Pasolini, and the Italian-American poet and activist Arturo Giovannitti.
