This Holocaust Author's Auschwitz Blog

What Should a Pope have Known about Cracow?

We have heard many assertions that Karol Wojtyla was a kind and just man, and we clearly have the evidence of such statements to prove this is accurate. This is almost an adjunct, however, when some assert that this was especially so in his relationship to the Jews. Could there be an underpinning motive in now declaring that Pope John Paul II was a saviour of Jews? We know that Karol went to Wadowice School with Jews and a Jewish boy, Jerzy Kluger, who was amongst 2,000 Jewish Citizens of the Town of Wadowice was his closest friend. A lifelong friendship has ensued, despite the fact that Jerzy’s Mother, his Sister and his Grandmother having all been expelled from their homes to the ghetto, were later transported to Auschwitz. It must be remembered that Auschwitz was close enough to Wadowice for the town to capture the full scent, and even the rain burdened with the ash from the Kremas of Birkenau. The picture sets an idyllic scene, but what must have been known should have alerted more.

The fact that the Germans blew the town’s Synagogue to bits must have been known to Karol, and steadied his view of the German occupation. There is a rare photo, captured by a local inhabitant, who no doubt shared the evidence of the conflagration with all who wished to see? All of this however, cannot guarantee Karol’s anonymity from such close proximity to The Holocaust. Its ravages and the destruction of those very many Jews Karol had known from the town itself, could not be hidden from his view. It is essential therefore, if we are to accredit the late Pope with any righteous status, with regard to the Jews of The Holocaust, for us to know if indeed the late Pontiff knew what had happened to those, the now missing Jews of Wadowice?

It must be clear that Karol knew exactly what was happening to the Jews in Wadowice, as he and Mieczyslaw Kotlarcyzk communicated on a regular basis. Karol could not have failed to have been informed of the Ghettoisation and Transportation of Jews from his own community toward Auschwitz, even as he was in Cracow. A Survivor of the Ghetto has this to say of Karol:-

“..was one of those whose behaviour was model.” Zygmund Ehrenhalt.

We know too that while in Cracow, the University was closed under Nazi remit, Professors were caged and ‘resettled’ at Sachsenhausen and the sub-Camp of Oranienburg, and some were even shot. But the Jews of Cracow could surely not have escaped his attention as they filed past, carrying all their worldly goods, and pressed forward toward the Podgorce district and then later onto the transports to Auschwitz?

On Saturday 13th. March 1943, with the final days of the Cracow Ghetto upon us, Jewish eminence in the Town was ended. Many of the then-liquidated Jews were actually shot in the Zgoda Square. Also shot this day, was the town of Wadowice’s own Rabbi Seltenreich, a friend of the Kruger Family. Would Karol have not been informed of this massacre in Zgoda Square? Did Karol not see the slaughter at Zgoda for himself? When all is said and done we must consider how Karol resides in the memory of us as Catholics! Was the Pope a good Man? Undoubtedly he was one of our finest! Was he a Good Christian? By all acounts he was a very good Christian indeed!

Was he a great Man? Well if we are to posit this, we must consider what it is that makes some people great. Surely it is in their innate ability to make us feel good about ourselves! For me, there are too many questions which lie prostrate before the late Pope for that to be certain, just yet! For me also, would the below statement be therefore contrary to the considered opinion of the Jewish Community, after The Holocaust?

When the Germans began rounding up other than the Jewish People, and Polish men were sought for German enforced Labour, Karol took refuge in the Archbishop of Cracow’s residence. There was very good reason for those, like Karol, who held such staunchly Catholic beliefs, to remain hidden from Nazi zeal. However, some 2,647 Catholic Priests were confined to Concentration Camps throughout the Reich and even in the Death Camps of the Greater Reich, where many died. Hitler dealt with the Catholic Church with a contempt and a psychotic wish to wipe out all the precepts of Catholic influence throughout Germany and her new satellite states.

Karol himself remained underground, and within the confines of the Archbishop of Krakow’s residence, until liberation by the Russians had commenced and the end of the war had been finally confirmed. Within this period, an assessment of Karol Wojtyla’s righteous behavior toward the Jewish People, contests that he helped supply 50,000 Jews with false papers and hid some 2,500 Jewish Children throughout the Ministry of the Catholic Church in Crakow. In view of this assessment, Karol Wojtyla might well be considered a ‘Righteous Among Nations’ as he is now considered Saintly!

Some of the Murdered of Wadowice.

Alster, Josef

Aurbach, Rachel

Backer, Eliasz Eliahu

Becker, Bronia Bronia

Becker, Eliahu

Beckier, Rozalia

Beer, Bentzion

Better, Rywka

Bienenstock, Jakob

Bienenstock, Sara

Bienenstock, Jonas

Bienenstock, Eliezer

Bittner, Malka

Bronner, Salamon

Cisner, Mania?

Hofman, Tzipora

Kelin, Osias Yehoshua

Kel, Abraham

Klein, Pauline

Kleinman, Shimshon

Rubner, Gitel

Sheingut, Mikhael

Sheingut, Avraham

Sherfer, Rubin

Vaserteil, Tehila

Veinshtein, Aba

How many of these Murdered Jews of Wadowice did Karol Wojtyla know? For me it is an essential, that in knowing your Community, you know what happens from within that Community!

See also: http://www.auschwitz.dk/Kolbe.htm The ‘Saint of Auschwitz’

The Ambiguity of A Pope with the Authority of Christ.

Though shalt not place any false Gods before me. God so demanded we acknowledge the monotheism in God, the Church should have been more aware than this, that Nazism was evil, and Hitler its prime motivator. There is this question, and I suggest it is an ambiguous one concerning Pius XII’s role in the midst of The Holocaust. There appears throughout the period what is a seeming neutral stance when the Ministry of Christ should have been vociferous in its condemnation. We have to be clear in this, and if there is any accusation to be countered when we question the lessons of Christ’s role during the days of Jewish Torment and Destruction, then it wasn’t voiced clearly then and it should be stressed more strongly now.

There is a vagueness when the historian, the researcher or even should the Survivor ask of my Church, what was the Church’s role in the crisis? I have to admit that too much went unsaid for a Church whose sanctity is embedded in Charity to the Individual.

“..Love Thy Neighbour as Thyself.”

Too much was not done and far too many Jews died as a consequence of Church – and World – inactivity. For the Church, that seemingly stemmed from an unequivocal position that the Pope stuck rigidly to. But that is where the similarity departs from a Hierarchy of the Church and those many individual Priests, Nuns and even Bishops, acting in consort with their Faith. Individuals who stood firmly against the tide that was sweeping all Jews from this life. Look at the example History records of the disparity between two positions, when the Church calls into stark relief its so called ‘neutral’ (sic) position and when it acts with a clarion call to the Faithful to Recall their Faith, Uphold their Beliefs and Act in accordance with Church Statute.

1) In 1933, on July 20th. a Reich Concordat between Germany and Pope Pius XI and the Vatican was signed.

This was to be a treaty protecting all Catholic rights in Germany, and the operation of Mother Church as its own entity. The Nazi ideal of recognising no Faith above that of Hitler by-passed the role of the Church and regarded all Churches as working deviantly against the will of the Fuhrer.

2) In 1939, on August 24th. Pope Pius XII appeals for peace.

After the crisis in Czechoslovakia, Austria and the Sudetenland, the sabre rattling had not ceased. The escalation was aimed toward the very heart of Catholic influence in Europe: Poland.

3) Russia invaded Finland on November 30th. 1939.

The Vatican was quick to respond, and issued its rebuke to Russia for its aggressive assault upon a Sovereign Nation. There was a particular antipathy between the Russian State and the Vatican, as Communism squarely rounded upon any belief system which did not advocate the form of totalitarianism Stalin represented. It is perhaps to counter the Marxist idea that Church was not truly the panacea of the People, and surely did not recognise in Christ that borne ideal of a Communist spirit.

4) Then we see, that at the negotiating table in December 1939, when Germany proposed Papal mediation of peace with the West.

Meanwhile talk was of shipping all of Germany’s Jews to either Palestine or a rather large Ghetto of Madagascar. Did the Church protest such an inhuman undertaking? It is not resonating through our History that the Church would have seen either measure as other than a German solution to a Jewish Question?

5) On January 22nd. 1940 the Vatican attacks German conduct in Poland.

We know by now that Hitler had unleashed an embryonic Einsatzgruppe to wreak havoc amongst the locals, and the Jews of Poland. What these erstwhile Catholics or Christians thought of their roles in the Murders of fellow Catholics and Christians is not clear. But it is obvious that the indoctrination of an antisemitic hatred has imbibed these roving bands of Murderers to act without conscience!

6) When Hitler attacked France, Holland, Belgium and Luxemberg, May 10th. 1940, the Papacy was quick once more to regale the aggressor Hitler for such an act.

Once again the Vatican stepped into the Political arena and involved itself rightly in the admonition of Hitler for his aggressive stance and warring nature. That same response was largely unheard by the Jews, who stood amidst the greatest carnage ever delivered upon a People!

7) 1940 December Vatican condemns Nazi ‘mercy killings.’

While it is entirely within the remit of any Church or belief system to propose the cessation of ‘the killing of innocents’ the prospect should be lauded when that exact same demand is made of All beings, whatever their Creed, Ability or lack of Psychological coherence!

8) On January 17th. 1941 Bishop Konrad Preysing informs us of what the Pope knows!

We have to realistically assume, that when Konrad Preysing, the Bishop of Berlin, wrote to Pope Pius XII of his own very deep concern over the fate of the Jews of Europe, it is evident that the Pope would surely have already known all that the German Church must have been aware of. Each Catholic or Christian Church, throughout continental Europe, would have to know what existed immediately outside of their own Church doors? While anti-Jewish attacks are breaking out in Romania, and the Jews are under constant threat, the Church communion does not receive the necessary guidance from its own shepherd, which is so demanded of all of us Christians. That which was so demanded by Christ, to love thy neighbour as thy self, required a certain lead from those who propose to lead us in Christ’s way. This lead, that might have at least alleviated the suffering of some of these Jews, and might, given the confronting ability to halt Hitler’s public awareness of the euthanasia programme (or at least the visibly recognisable terms of it) just might have saved more Jews than we managed to eventually save.

“..Your Holiness is certainly informed about ..situation of ..Jews in Germany and ..neighbouring countries.” Bishop Preysing.

9) February 1942 and Bishop Berning confirms the sheer scale of The Final Solution will result in the Extermination of the Jews, ‘entirely’.

“..Transports from Berlin arrive ..Kovno ..doubtful ..anybody ..alive. No ..news ..Minsk ..Riga. Many ..shot. ..intention ..to exterminate ..Jews entirely.” Bishop Berning.

10) In August 1943 Father Benoit sought Pope Pius’s permission to allow Jews out of harm’s way and into Italy.

11) May 1st. 1945 and Cardinal Bertram contends with the holding of a Mass for the Death of a Tyrant, the most despicable man in all of History.

“..hold a solemn requiem mass in memory of der Fuhrer.” Cardinal Bertram.

While we can see such inconsistency within just these simple positions, what was more clear was the unequivocal lack of response to the growing awareness that the destruction of the Jewish People was underway. History has proved that Hitler did not need this inconsistency with the Holy See. For the gain of total victory, this would propose a more drastic resolve in his treatment of the Jews placed upon such a culpable silence. None of this should have prevented the Church from its moral obligation to protect all Peoples, including The Jews of Europe, who in their direst hour of gravest need, required sanctuary. Perhaps, with a more vocal outcry, certainly against any measures we all now consider inhuman, and that were being waged against the Jews throughout the period 1933 – 1945, more Jews would have been saved and would have Survived! There can be no doubting that a more sustained accusation by the Pope or a more determined approach to saving the Jews would have only been as Christ would have expected and even demanded.

Day 6: A Step Closer

Can the World have truly looked the other way? These 6 year olds, all Jews, should have expected more than being abandoned to the whim of a resolve that would consume them.

1940 August 15th. Adolf Eichmann adds a huge Jewish Ghetto dimension to muted efforts of a ‘Madagascar Plan.’

It is hard to imagine that discussions were still ongoing about a Territorial Solution to the Jewish Problem, when movement was underway to exact an annihilator’s response to the resolve!

1941 August 15th Riga Ghetto is established where 60,000 Jews will become enclosed and is one of the Nine Major Ghettos Established. Meanwhile the Surviving 26,000 Jews of Kovno are moved to Ghetto at Viliampole. In the coming 2 day period 3,200 of Rokiskis’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children will be murdered. Hitler is clearly midstream with The Final solution when he decrees that ALL Reich Jews must be clearly identifiable and the Jewish Badge Decree is born.

“..executions at Litzmannstadt ..Minsk were a deep shock to me. Certainly I too had been aiming at a solution of ..Jewish problem ..not like this.” Adolf Eichmann.

Himmler all but faints at the site of an Extermination of Jews at Minsk. Heinrich Lohse, Reich Commissioner Eastern Territories, ‘Ostland’ orders that ALL Jews must now wear ‘Two Jew Badges.’ All Jews under German sphere of influence will be ghettoised as Hungary deports the Jews of Bachka to Serbia and the Slovak Government disperses the Bratislava Ghetto.

“..At ..end of this Jewish war ..extermination of ..Jewish people will have been brought about.” Julius Streicher.

Identification of the Jews as targets for future operations goes hand in hand with the Ghettoization of All Jews. Hitler has clearly countenanced all such measures and fully endorses his own demands for The Final Solution. Mass Murder takes place at a time when it is clearly intended and is seen at Rokiskis and even witnessed by Himmler at Minsk. The link is established between what Hitler demands, what we know and what Himmler witnessed!

1943 August 15th. A further Bialystok Ghetto Revolt commences and 3,000 Wehrmacht troops, SS and Ukrainian auxiliary forces surround the remaining 30,000 Jews of Bialystok.

Resistance is met at varying stages of The Holocaust and the weight of Hitler’s armoury is thrown relentlessly at ill-equipped, isolated and devastated Jewish People

1944 August 15th. the Allies land in the South of France and the War moves a stage closer to enclosing all Hitler’s ambitions!

A Book a Day, or so of suggested reading!

8. Jacob, Lili The Auschwitz Album.