{"id":460,"date":"2012-01-01T12:10:56","date_gmt":"2012-01-01T12:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cimdev8.com\/?p=460"},"modified":"2012-01-01T12:10:56","modified_gmt":"2012-01-01T12:10:56","slug":"pope-pius-xii-friend-and-rescuer-of-jews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidethevatican.com\/magazine\/lead-story\/pope-pius-xii-friend-and-rescuer-of-jews\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Pius XII: Friend and Rescuer of Jews"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Pope Pius XII (1939\u20131938) read editor’s note by clicking on photo<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cAnd now, my Jewish friend, go with the protection of the Lord, and never forget, you must always be proud to be a Jew!\u201d<\/p>\n

The words are striking, and unforgettable. They serve as a comfort to anyone who has ever been the victim of anti-Semitism, and at the same time, a rebuke to those who\u2019ve sanctioned it. They were spoken to a young Jewish refugee, in the fall of 1941, after he had just fled Nazi and fascist persecution, and was in desperate need of help. The man who spoke them-loudly, clearly, and in German, to a crowd filled largely with German soldiers\u2014 was none other than the Vicar of Christ himself.<\/p>\n

The story of how Pope Pius XII embraced this young Jewish refugee\u2014 and what he said and did for him\u2014 is one of the most inspiring acts of the Second World War, but one that\u2014amazingly\u2014 remains largely unknown. The dramatic encounter was first recorded by the young Jewish man himself, in an anonymous article entitled, \u201cA Papal Audience in Wartime,\u201d for the Palestinian Post (today\u2019s Jerusalem Post), on April 28, 1944, nearly three years after it took place; expanded upon in that same man\u2019s subsequent German memoir (published in Israel at the end of the War) (1); and again in an English version, entitled, Long Journey Home, produced in 1966, which was apparently offered to major publishers but never\u2014evidently\u2014actually published. (2) The latter memoir is now stored in two prestigious historical institutions\u2014 the Leo Baeck Institute in New York (www.lbi.org), which makes it available in digitized form online, and the Wisconsin Historical Society (www.wisconsinhistory.org). It is from these sources, and separate corroborating documents, that this account is based.<\/p>\n

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From Yad Vashem Archives: Heinz Wisla<\/p><\/div>\n

The Witness of Howard \u201cHeinz\u201d Wisla<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe name of our hero\u2014the Jewish refugee who met Pius XII\u2014 is Howard Heinz Wisla, known simply as \u201cHeinz\u201d during his early years in Germany. Five years ago, when ITV promoted the aforementioned Palestinian Post testimony in our newsflash, we did not know the man\u2019s name, since the article was signed simply \u201cRefugee.\u201d But, thanks to his largely forgotten memoir, we now know what it is\u2014and much more.<\/p>\n

Born in Germany in 1920, Heinz Wisla seem destined for a normal life, attending the universities of Berlin and Cambridge, majoring in languages, journalism and literature. With anti-Semitism rife at the time, however, life was a challenge for any European Jew, especially one living in Germany. Bravely remaining there, even after Hitler obtained power in 1933, Wisla\u2019s fortunes changed radically as Hitler\u2019s persecutions increased. In 1940, the Gestapo arrested Wisla, and threw him into the Sachsenhausen concentration camp (in Oranienburg, just north of Berlin), where hundreds of thousands were interned, and tens of thousands perished. Torture, starvation and summary executions were daily occurrences, an experience Wisla later described as an unrelenting \u201cnightmare.\u201d His life was saved only because his father, a decorated veteran of the Great War, reached out to his military friends, who were able to successfully intervene for his son.<\/p>\n

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From Yad Vashem Archives: Wisla\u2019s signature upon his arrival in Rhodes.<\/p><\/div>\n

Emaciated, and near the point of death, Heinz was released on condition he never speak of Sachsenhausen again, lest he be seized and executed, and that he leave Germany at once. As soon as he was physically able, he did so, though his parents and younger brother were not permitted to go with him: they remained behind, consigned to a forced labor factory, awaiting their own uncertain future.<\/p>\n

Once outside the Reich, Wisla sought to escape Europe entirely, praying his family would survive, and trusting he would reunite with them later, after the terror passed.<\/p>\n

A break came when he found out about the Pentcho,<\/em> a clandestine steamer preparing to transport 500 Jewish refugees from Slovakia to Palestine. Through grit and good fortune, Heinz was able to secure a spot on board, believing it his ticket to freedom. His joy was shared by fellow passengers, who boarded the vessel singing the Hatikvah (\u201cthe Hope\u201d), now the national anthem of Israel:
\nAs long as in the heart, within,
\nA Jewish soul still yearns,
\nAnd onward, towards the ends of the east,
\nAn eye still gazes toward Zion<\/p>\n

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From Yad Vashem Archives: Ferramonti Di Tarsia Internment Camp, in the Calabria region of southern Italy, where Wisla stayed for some time<\/p><\/div>\n

The Pentcho<\/em> left Bratislava in the middle of 1940, en route to the ancient Jewish homeland. But what should have taken a month, and been a liberating journey, became a harrowing trial of hardship and despair. Neither the Pentcho,<\/em> nor its passengers, were prepared for anything like what occurred on sea. Their harrowing story is recounted in John Bierman\u2019s remarkable book, Odyssey<\/em> (1984), which sheds further light on Wisla\u2019s testimony. Historian Milton Metzler summarizes the ship\u2019s ordeal:<\/p>\n

\u201cDown the Danube they sailed on the rickety, leaking boat, past one country after another which refused to let them come in for food and water. After weeks aboard, the refugees were filthy and starving. Many jumped overboard to swim ashore, but they were forced back.<\/p>\n

“It took almost five months to reach the Black Sea. With no lifeboats, no life preservers and no radio, the ship began a wild, aimless journey among the Greek islands.<\/p>\n

“Then one day the boiler exploded, and the engine stopped. Bunk sheets were gathered and the women sewed them up into sails.<\/p>\n

“A storm drove the Pentcho<\/em> onto the rocks of an uninhabited island in the Aegean Sea. The passengers managed to scramble ashore and watched the ship break into pieces and sink. Scouring the island for food, they could find no birds, no animals and no fresh water.<\/p>\n

“Eleven terrible days passed. Then an Italian warship rescued them, only to put them into a concentration camp on the island of Rhodes.\u201d (3)<\/p>\n

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Read about aid to Jewish Prisoners<\/p><\/div>\n

Unlike the notorious camps run by Germany, the one at Rhodes wasn\u2019t designed for death, and most of the local Italians treated the internees well. But they were still in a fascist camp, with restrictions; and because of an Allied blockade of this Axis-controlled island, food, medicine and other basic goods barely got through. The result was hunger, fever, disease and\u2014tragically\u2014death. Despite the best efforts of the Italian doctors on hand, a number of the Pentcho<\/em> refugees perished; and many of the rest awaited an identical fate. As their isolation and agony increased, the internees sent open telegrams to the world\u2019s leaders, hoping they would respond favorably.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, rumors of a rescue would arise, only to quickly dissipate. Four of the male internees tried to flee Rhodes, for nearby Turkey, but two were immediately accosted, and the other two drowned. The internees felt doomed, virtually without hope.<\/p>\n

What happened next is crucial to understanding the evils of anti-Semitism, and how Pius XII reacted to them.
\nIn the summer of 1941, Wisla\u2014 suddenly and unexpectedly\u2014 received news that relatives had secured a special transit visa for him\u2014enabling him to escape detention at Rhodes, and travel to Rome. Elated, but sorrowful to leave his fellow Jews behind, Wisla bid an emotional farewell to them, promising he would do \u201ceverything possible\u201d to save them, once he arrived in Rome.<\/p>\n

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Rhodes, Monument to the passengers of the illegal immigrant ship Pentcho who died there.<\/p><\/div>\n

Wilsa keeps his\u00a0 promise<\/span><\/strong>
\nHaving immediately taken to Rome and its people, Heinz soon found allies for his mission. A kindly German priest arranged for Heinz to meet Pius XII at one of his special audiences, allowing for a direct appeal to the pope for the imprisoned shipwrecked refugees, back at Rhodes. When the dramatic moment came, Wisla was part of a large gathering, including many German soldiers passing by, and the last to approach the pontiff. Noticing how shy and anxious the young man was, the pope immediately put Heinz at ease. The exchange that followed brought forth Pius XII\u2019s compassion, and full awareness of what it meant to be Jewish at that time, in a world overcome by hatred. The language used by the pope is important, for it speaks directly to Pius XII\u2019s love for his fellow human beings\u2014God\u2019s children, as he saw them\u2014without distinction of race, color or creed.<\/p>\n

That love has often been questioned, particularly by those ready to believe the worst about the Roman pontiffs. Academic authors Nicholas Akin and Frank Tallett, for example, assert that Pius XII\u2002 had \u201ca predisposition to a traditional anti-Semitism which clouded his judgment.\u201d (4) But Wisla\u2019s first-hand testimony shows the exact opposite to be the case. After Heinz told the pope who he was, and what he believed could be accomplished, through papal intervention, Wisla recorded Pius XII\u2019s extraordinary response:<\/p>\n

\u201cThen Pope Pius XII said: ‘You have done well, my Jewish friend, to have come to me and tell me what has happened down there in the Italian islands. I have heard about it before. Will you come back, my son, in a few days with a written report and give it to my Secretary of State who is dealing with this particular refugee problem?\u2014But now to you, my young friend. You are Jewish. I know what that means in these times we live in. I do hope that you will always be proud to be a Jew!’<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then the Pope raised his voice so that everybody in the room could hear it even more clearly: \u2018My son, whether you are worthier than others, only the Lord knows, but believe me, you are at least as worthy as any other human being on our earth before the Lord. And now, my Jewish friend, go with the protection of the Lord Almighty, and never forget: Be always proud to be a Jew.’\u201d (5) (read as published in The Palestine Post<\/em> in April 28 1944)<\/a><\/p>\n

A more heartfelt and eloquent repudiation of anti-Semitism could hardly be imagined; and that it was done in front of German oficers during the Holocaust makes it all the more significant. What is particularly striking, from a historical and theological perspective, is Pius XII\u2019s unqualified assertion of the equality of Jews and Christians\u2014a correction to the centuries-old \u201cteaching of contempt,\u201d which led so many Christians to think themselves superior to Jews, and abuse them relentlessly.<\/p>\n

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Passengers of the Pentcho arrive in Rhodes after their ship capsized and an Italian warship transported them.<\/p><\/div>\n

Following Pius XII\u2019s encouragement, Wisla followed through with a report to the papal Secretariat of State, and was not disappointed. A short time later, in early 1942, he wrote excitedly of \u201csome good news, too. Owing to the personal intervention of Pope Pius XII, a Red Cross ship has picked up the starving 500 refugees from the internment camp on the isle of Rhodes and brought them safely to the Italian mainland. Here they are now being placed in a comfortable internment camp in southern Italy\u201d\u2014the Ferramonti di Tarsia camp, near Cosenza, in the region of Calabria\u2014and \u201cthe Vatican issued directions to the Italian Government to treat my former comrades there with special care.\u201d (6)<\/p>\n

The importance of this intervention cannot be overstated, for if the shipwrecked Jews at Rhodes had not been transferred to the humane camp at Ferramonti in 1942, they would have either starved or suffered the same fate of the island\u2019s indigenous Jews two years later. As Yad Vashem\u2019s Holocaust center notes: \u201cThe Allies invaded Italy in September 1943; just days later the German army occupied Rhodes. In June 1944 Anton Burger, one of Adolf Eichmann\u2019s assistants, arrived in Rhodes to supervise the deportation of the island\u2019s Jews. The Jews were ordered to appear at various assembly centers by mid-July.<\/p>\n

“On July 20 the Jewish males were arrested (only a few avoided arrest and joined the partisans). Accompanied by their wives and children, the prisoners were sent to Athens, and then on to Auschwitz. Upon arrival, 400 of the 1,800 Jews were chosen for hard labor, the rest were executed immediately. Only 150 survived the War.\u201d (7)<\/p>\n

Equally remarkable is that the Holy See went out of its way to help Wisla get to Spain (from whence he would travel to Portugal, then out of Europe altogether), as he learned from the Spanish Consulate in Rome: \u201cObviously, when I called on Pope Pius XII and later presented my memorandum to his minister of state, I must have told them about my visa difficulties. They must have instructed their Nuncius in Madrid to intervene of my behalf, who then did just that successfully.\u201d (8)<\/p>\n

How Wisla survived over the next several years, moving from one location to the next, often underground as a black marketer, and even spy, are stories all unto themselves\u2014detailed in the rest of his memoir\u2014 but we limit ourselves here to the narrative related above.<\/p>\n

In early 1944, Heinz, still in Portugal, finally received an official British mandate permit to enter Palestine. Thanks to the persistence and generosity of his friend Wilfrid Israel\u2014a little-known but heroic businessman who helped many persecuted Jews flee wartime Europe (9)\u2014 Wisla was able to board the Nyassa,<\/em> a famous refugee ship, which reached Haifa (now the largest city in northern Israel) in February of that year.<\/p>\n

One can only imagine the exhilaration Wisla felt when he at last reached the Promised Land, but his joy was tempered by tragedy: in the summer of 1943, his last letters to his parents and brother in Berlin were returned, stamped \u201cAddressat Unbekannt\u201d (Address Unknown). Neighbors then wrote Heinz to tell him the heartbreaking news: his family had been \u201cdeported East.\u201d Knowing what that invariably meant\u2014 death in the Nazi extermination camps\u2014Wisla found himself in a state of shock, and spent days walking alone on the beaches of Portugal, trying to heal from the pain. Now, in his new home of Palestine, his recovery continued, as he tried to build a new life.<\/p>\n

With all this going on, it is astonishing that Heinz made it a point to set down in writing, and just a few months after reaching the Holy Land, his gratitude to Pius XII in his Palestine Post testimony. Whether it was his decision, or an editor\u2019s, to sign the piece as \u201cRefugee,\u201d is unknown\u2014 \u2002but it is a beautiful recollection, and one that deserves recognition in any discussion of Pius XII.<\/p>\n

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The Pentcho before it sank.<\/p><\/div>\n

According to US government records, Howard Heinz Wisla (he apparently Anglicized his name after emigrating to America) passed away in 2004, after becoming a sales manager. Were his account the only testimony of Pius XII\u2019s goodness, some might doubt it. But there is additional evidence which confirms essential elements of his narrative.<\/p>\n

In his aforementioned book, Odyssey,<\/em> John Bierman mentions Wisla in passing, but documents his audience with the pope:<\/p>\n

\u201cOne internee who did leave Rhodes at about this time [1941] was an Austrian [actually, he was German] named Heinz Wisla. Having acquired a Portuguese visa, he was allowed to leave for Lisbon via Rome. Before he left, the governing committee drew up a petition which he promised he would try to present to the Pope.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a letter to Rhodes from Lisbon some weeks later, Wisla reported that he had taken the petition to the Vatican, where he was granted an audience with Pius XII.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bierman then quotes Wisla, describing Pius XII\u2019s welcome reception: \u201cAfter the Pope had blessed them [the audience] I was able to present the petition. He promised to do what he could.\u2019\u201d (emphasis added) (10)<\/p>\n

Even earlier than Bierman, Perez Leshem, writing about Rescue efforts during the War, for the 1969 Leo Baeck Yearbook, mentions Wisla\u2019s 1945 German memoir: \u201cWisla later wrote a book on his experiences as a refugee and his emigration on the SS Nyassa<\/em> [under the pen name] Ben-Zwi Kalischer (Heinz Wisla), Vom Konzentrationslager nach Palastina Flucht durch die halbe Welt<\/em> [From Concentration Camp to Palestine: Flight Halfway Around the World](11); and in 2002, the Italian anthology, L\u2019ombra lunga dell-esillo: ebraismo e memoria<\/em> [The Long Shadow of Exile: Judaism and Memory] published an essay by Klaus Voigt, on the writings of Jewish refugees, which comments:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe book by Heinz Wisla, From Concentration Camp to Palestine: Flight Halfway Around the World,<\/em> is worthy of mention above all for the description of the audience granted to the author by Pius XII. Except for the description of the situation of the concentration camp of Sachenhausen, the text has conserved elements characteristic of a diary. Wisla was among the passengers on the \u2018Pentcho,\u2019 the vessel that was shipwrecked in the Aegean on the way to Palestine. The more than 500 refugees were saved by the Italian military navy and then interned on Rhodes. Wisla was the only one who had permission to take an airplane to Italy, since he possessed a visa for Cuba, before the entire group was transferred to Ferramonti-Tarsia. The audience with the Pope took place in the middle of, or amidst, German soldiers in uniform. The pope agreed to his request for help for the shipwrecked interned on Rhodes and concluded the colloquio with the words that could be heard even by the soldiers, \u2018Always be proud of being a Jew.\u2019 From Italy, Wisla went by air to Barcelona and from there, with false documents to Portugal, which he left in the spring of 1944 with the first transport to Palestine organized by the Jewish Agency.\u201d (12)<\/p>\n

These obscure references to Wisla are brief and scattered, but key to establishing the contours and outlines of his testimony.<\/p>\n

Far more important, however, is that there is a second witness\u2014another passenger of the Pentcho,<\/em> and internee at Rhodes\u2014who has re-inforced Wisla\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n

The Second Witness: Herman Herskovic<\/span><\/strong>
\nIn 1964, in the wake of Hochhuth\u2019s malicious attack, the L\u2019Osservatore Della Domenica\u2014<\/em>a special weekly edition of the Vatican newspaper\u2014put out a special 80-page issue in Italian documenting the humanitarian interventions of Pius XII. At the time, the Associated Press called it \u201cthe most comprehensive defense of Pius XII\u2019s wartime role to appear in a Vatican publication.\u201d (13)<\/p>\n

Thought very difficult to obtain, a full copy was acquired by ITV. Entitled (in English) \u201cThe Pope, Yesterday and Today,\u201d it is now very difficult to obtain, but contains articles and first-hand accounts, by both Catholics and non-Catholics, testifying on behalf of Pius.<\/p>\n

Among them was a gripping article entitled, \u201cDevo La Vita Al Papa,\u201d<\/em> [in English, \u201cI Owe My Life to the Pope\u201d\u2014click here for complete translation<\/a>] by one Herman Herskovic (1921-1983), originally from Czechoslovakia, who recounted how he had been part of a group of Jews, fleeing wartime Europe for Palestine, who had been adrift on a former cattle boat for months; who were cast up on a tiny island, and finally ended up in an Italian prison camp at Rhodes.<\/p>\n

In all essentials, Herskovic\u2019s narrative converges with that of Wisla\u2019s, especially when Herskovic describes how \u201cthe father of one of my comrades was able to obtain freedom for his son.\u201d The latter\u2014obviously Wisla\u2014 during his journey to the north, \u201cwas received in audience by Pius XII,\u201d continues Herskovic. \u201cPius XII listened attentively to him and promised his intervention with the Italian government.\u2002 Two weeks later, we were transferred to a safer concentration camp in Calabria\u201d \u2014the Ferramonti di Tarsia camp. (14)<\/p>\n

That camp, which preserved the lives of the the Pentcho\u2019s<\/em> Jewish refugees\u2014 and several thousand more\u2014 has been described by the Jerusalem Post as \u201can unexpected haven\u201d during the Holocaust. It was \u201ca place where they could avoid the horrors of the German concentration camp.\u201d (15)<\/p>\n

What is especially significant about this camp is how much Pius XII and his representatives protected its internees. As Herskovic\u2019s testimony recounts, and as Mario Rende notes in his book, Ferramonti di Tarsia (see news story, in box), the inmates fear of being handed over to the Germans was constant (especially after the Allies landed at Sicily, and the Germans began to retreat south). But, as Rende shows, the Vatican appealed to the Italian government numerous times, to prevent deportation of its internees, and thus helped save them. Not only were Ferramonti\u2019s prisoners not handed over to the Germans, but there was no random violence against them, as there were in so many other Axis-run camps. The surviving Jews were extremely grateful. (16)<\/p>\n

L’Osservatore Romano<\/em> is not the only source Herskovic shared his dramatic testimony with. In 1975, he gave a series of five interviews to the late Judah Rubinstein (a chronicler of Jewish life), for a Holocaust Survivors project, and the transcripts of these interviews are now stored at the New York Public Library oral history division. (17)<\/p>\n

In the second interview of the series, dated January 29, 1975, Herskovic recounts his whole harrowing journey on the Pentcho<\/em> in considerable detail, describing how it sank, how the refugees washed up on a forsaken island, and how they were then picked up by the Italian forces and interned at Rhodes, until they were at last taken to the life-saving Ferramonti camp on the Italian mainland. At that point\u2014just as Wisla affirms in his memoir\u2014 Herskovic states: \u201cThe Pope arranged with the Red Cross that they should transfer us from the island [Rhodes] to the motherland.\u201d (18)<\/p>\n

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Arrival of the SS Nyassa in Haifa, northern Israel.<\/p><\/div>\n

Herskovic also mentions how another one of the Jewish internees\u2014evidently, someone other than Wisla\u2014contacted his father, who knew a Slovakian bishop, who in turn \u201cgot in touch with Pope Pius\u201d for help. This may explain why Pius XII told Wisla, after hearing his plea for the refugees on Rhodes, \u201cI have heard about it before\u201d and that his Secretary of State was dealing with the crisis. That the pope\u2014and one of his bishops, in a land scarred by anti-Semitism \u2013were so open to Jewish appeals during the War speaks volumes about their good will.<\/p>\n

Of the Red Cross ship (19) which moved them to the Italian mainland, then to Ferramonti, Herskovic continued, \u201cWe got a hot meal, we had a blanket\u201d and that \u201cwe could sleep on a bed.\u201d The starving refugees, whom Pius XII had successfully helped transfer to safety, \u201crealized what living again means,\u201d said Herskovic (20)<\/p>\n

Additional Documents: The Holy See\u2019s Actes et Documents<\/em> and the Red Cross<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe oral and written testimonies by Wisla and Herskovic are stunning, and stand by themselves; but there are additional documents not to be overlooked.<\/p>\n

The Vatican has published eleven thick volumes (actually twelve, since one is in two parts) of wartimes Actes et Documents,<\/em> with the remaining wartime archives to be released in the next few years: although not an exhaustive collection of every one of the Pope\u2019s humanitarian acts during the war (there were far too many, and\/or were done secretly, or orally, and never preserved on paper), volume 8 of Actes<\/em> does contain several important references to the Pentcho<\/em> refugees, two of which stand out. Document 348, dated April 14, 1942, from the Jewish internees at Ferramonti (including the Pentcho<\/em> refugees, recently arrived from Rhodes) expresses deep thanks to the Pope for his bountiful gift of clothing, following money he had already sent, distributed by his representative, Father Calliste Lopinot: \u201cThis wonderful gift is a fresh proof of the concern of your Holiness, which all the world admires, for your care not only for Catholics but all people of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The papal gift, said the internees, fulfilled the words of the prophet Isaiah 58: 7: \u201cClothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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U.S. Troops entering Rome as liberators in 1944.<\/p><\/div>\n

Document 371, dated May 8, 1942, from \u201cthe families of the group of the shipwrecked of Rhodes, who, after so many travels and sufferings, have found a loving welcome in Ferramonti,\u201d is equally effusive: \u201cThe Holy Father has demonstrated once again his paternal concern for all those suffering from the sorrowful events of the moment, without distinction of confession; he has filled with joy their hearts and they will never, ever forget the goodness of the Holy Father which will remain impressed forever in their hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, since both witnesses mentioned the Red Cross in their testimonies, ITV contacted the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) in Geneva, to see if they\u2014or their affiliate, the Italian Red Cross\u2014 had any information whatsoever about the Pentcho,<\/em> its passengers, and their internment at Rhodes and Ferramonti. After months of generous cooperation and research, the ICRC\u2019s archivist sent us a file pertaining to the Pentcho<\/em> and its passengers, the most important of which was a letter dated January 24, 1941. It was sent by the Governor of the Italian islands in the Aegean See, and communicated to the Prisoner of War Office of the Italian Red Cross, attached with a list of prisoners shipwrecked from the Pentcho,<\/em> who had been collected at the San Giovanni Camp at Rhodes: number 53 on the list was \u201cHeinz Wisla\u201d; number 59 was \u201cHermann Herschkowitz\u201d (spelled slightly different than his English spelling). There is precious little else about the conditions under which the Jewish refugees were held at Rhodes, or how they were transferred to Ferramonti, because of the \u201cpersonal intervention of Pope Pius XII\u201d to quote Wisla; but Wisla and Herskovic\u2019s respective testimonies\u2014 along with Bierman\u2019s book, Odyssey<\/em>\u2014 provide the crucial missing details.<\/p>\n

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The Papal Nuncio, Cardinal Francesco Borgongini Duca, former Official of the Roman Curia and Cardinal Priest of the Title of Santa Maria in Vallicella.<\/p><\/div>\n

One of the most moving passages in that work is Bierman\u2019s description of what happened when the Jewish refugees\u2019s faced their most anxious moment:
\n\u201cThen a rumor swept Ferramonti that the Italians were going to transfer all to a camp in northern Italy, prior to handing them over to the Germans. Greatly alarmed, the camp committee sent an urgent plea to the Vatican, begging for the Pope\u2019s intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the instructions of Pius XII, the Papal Nuncio, Cardinal Borgongini Duca, (21) travelled to Calabria to reassure the internees. The children of Ferramonti lined up to greet him with a song of welcome\u2026and the Cardinal told them that so far as the Holy See was aware no such move was intended. If it were, he promised, the Pope would vigorously oppose any attempt to have them moved. He concluded by quoting the 137th Psalm\u2014\u2018By the waters of Babylon, we sat down and wept when we remembered thee, O Zion\u2019\u2014and predicting \u2018God willing, you will return to the Promised Land one day.\u2019\u201d (22)<\/p>\n

The Cardinal was a prophet: many of the Pentcho<\/em> refugees, including Wisla, did indeed reach the Promised Land; and others like Herskovic found hope and freedom in America, where they began new lives. Now, thanks to this astonishing evidence, so long forgotten or overlooked, we know who was one of their greatest benefactors and kindest friends: Pope Pius XII.<\/p>\n

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-\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013 End Notes \u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013-<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Heinz Wisla\u2019s 159 page German memoir is entitled, Vom Konzentrationslager nach Palastina: Flucht durch die halbe Welt<\/em> [From Concentration Camp to Palestine: Flight Halfway Around the World], under the pen name, Ben-Zwi Kalischer, Edition Olympia-Martin Feuchtwanger, Tel Aviv 1945 (Hebrew version, Ba Derech l\u2019Eretz Israel, Am-oved 1945).
\n2. The 100-page (single space typed) English-language manuscript at the Leo Baeck archives is stamped \u201cBertha Klausner International Literary Agency\u201d indicating it was marketed; but there is no evidence we could find that it was ever accepted or published by an American publisher. The Library of Congress does not list it in its collections. The World catalog (www.worldcat.org) does, but mentions only its computerized form, available, as indicated, from the Leo Baeck Institute, under the aegis of the Center for Jewish History \u2002(www.cjh.org) in New York.
\n3. Milton Meltzer, Never to Forget: The Jews of the Holocaust<\/em> (HarperColins, 1991), p. 47.
\n4. Nicholas Atkin and Frank Tallet, Priests, Prelates and People: A History of European Catholicism Since 1750<\/em> Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 260.
\n5. From Wisla’s English-language memoir,\u00a0Long Journey Home,<\/em> \u201cRoman Experiences and the Pope,\u201d Chapter 9. Note that the description of what Pius XII said is virtually the same as the account Wisla published, under the name \u201cRefugee,\u201d for the Palestine Post<\/em> on April 28, 1944, and reprinted in ITV\u2019s<\/em> October 25, 2006 newsflash, \u201cPope Pius XII: Be Proud to be a Jew!\u201d<\/a>
\n6. From \u201cUnderground in Italy as Blackmarketeer and Assistant Spy,\u201d chapter ten of Long Journey Home.
\n7. \u201cRhodes,\u201d Shoah Resource Center, via www.yadvashem.org
\n8.\u00a0 Long Journey Home, <\/em>Chapter 10
\n9. For more on Israel, see Naomi Shephard\u2019s biography, A Refuge from Darkness: Wilfrid Israel and the Rescue of the Jews<\/em> (Pantheon Books, 1984)
\n10. John Bierman,\u00a0Odyssey<\/em>\u00a0 (Simon and Schuster), 1984, pp. 157-158.
\n11. See first endnote.
\n12. \u201cLa memorialistica dei profugi ebrei I Italia dopo il 1933 [The Memorializing of Jewish Refugees in Italy after 1933] by Klaus Voigt, pp. 167-189, at page 177, in L\u2019ombra lunga dell\u2019esilio: ebraismo e memoria<\/em>, edited by Maria Antonietta Santora, et al. Casa Editrice Giuntina, 2002).
\n13. \u201cVatican Weekly Defends Pius XII,\u201d AP, June 26, 1964, as published in The Washington Post,<\/em> June 27, 1964, p. E22.
\n14. L\u2019Osservatore dela Domenica,<\/em> June 26-28, 1964, p. 72.
\n15. \u201cAn Unexpected Haven,\u201d via the Jerusalem Post\u2019s<\/em> internet website, in collaboration with Italy Magazine.<\/em>
\n16. For additional details on Rende\u2019s book, see, \u201cIl lager che salvo migliaia di ebrei,\u201d by Gaetano Vallini, in L\u2019Osservatore Romano,<\/em> June 9, 2009.
\n17. 150 pages of the Herskovic transcripts from the five interviews he gave: Oral Histories, Box 185 no 1. New York Public Library.
\n18. Page 50 of the Herskovic transcripts.
\n19. The \u201cRed Cross ship\u201d could also have been an Italian troop or navy ship with authorized Red Cross workers on it. Italy\u2019s wartime government and its country\u2019s Red Cross often worked together.
\n20. Page 50, Herskovic transcripts.
\n21. Francesco Borgongini Duca (1884-1954) was the Apostolic Nuncio to Italy during World War II, when he was an archbishop; he became a Cardinal in 1953.
\n22. John Bierman,\u00a0Odyssey<\/em>, p.198<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u201cAnd now, my Jewish friend, go with the protection of the Lord, and never forget, you must always be proud to be a Jew!\u201d The words are striking, and unforgettable. They serve as a comfort to anyone who has ever been the victim of anti-Semitism, and at the same time, a rebuke to those who\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":334,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[77,78,76,79,80,81,82,83],"yoast_head":"\nPope Pius XII: Friend and Rescuer of Jews - Inside The Vatican<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The astonishing, almost unknown, story of a hundred Jewish refugees who turned to Pope Pius XII for help during the Second World War.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/insidethevatican.com\/magazine\/lead-story\/pope-pius-xii-friend-and-rescuer-of-jews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Pius XII: Friend and Rescuer of Jews - 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