Polish-Jewish Relations: 1,300 Keyword-Phrase-Indexed Book Reviews (by Jan Peczkis)

The Myth of Hitler’s Pope: Pope Pius XII And His Secret War Against Nazi Germany, by David G. Dalin. 2005

Hitler Tried to Kidnap Pope Pius XII: The Reductio Ad Absurdum of Hitler’s Pope. Deeper Issues in Holocaust-Related Anti-Christianity Need to Be Addressed

The highlight of this book is the January 2005 disclosure of the Nazi German plans to kidnap Pope Pius XII. This was to be done by SS Commander General Karl Oto Wolff, and was to occur in 1944, before the German retreat from Italy. (pp. 116-117). Wolff had a secret meeting with the pope, and warned him.

Author and Rabbi David G. Dalin made this point, “Liberal papal critics like James Carroll, Garry Wills, and Daniel Jonah Goldhagen have never explained why Hitler should want to kidnap ‘his’ pope, whom, in fact, he detested as ‘a friend of the Jews.'” (p. 117).

THE PHONY INDIGNATION OVER MEL GIBSON’S THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

Dalin comments, “While liberal critics feared that The Passion of the Christ would create an anti-Semitic frenzy, the only frenzy, in fact, was their own hysteria.” (p. 122). Well said.

But did the Jewish critics REALLY believe that Mel Gibson could bring back the Middle Ages and its occasional attendant persecutions of Jews? Or was this a foil for enhancing the perpetual victim status claimed by many Jews?

POPE JOHN PAUL II

Author Dalin describes the pro-Jewish statements and acts of Pope John Paul II (JPII). Even this did not quell all the critics. Daniel Goldhagen, the author of A MORAL RECKONING, goes around attributing anti-Semitism to virtually all Christian leaders, including Pope John Paul II!

DEEPER QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ANSWERED

How did the scurrilous lie about Pope Pius XII, as Hitler’s pope, ever get serious currency in the first place?

Why is it that, now 13 years after this book was published, books on the Holocaust still mention the totally bogus controversy about Pope Pius XII as a valid controversy, and moreover one whose accuracy is a mere matter of opinion?

Did facts ever matter in the first place, or was it always a matter of smearing the Catholic Church?

How does the dastardly accusation against Pope Pius XII relate to the chronic anti-Christian bias that dominates Holocaust-related thinking?

Is the “Hitler’s Pope” rubbish part of the German guilt diffusion agenda of shifting the blame for the Holocaust onto Poles and onto Christianity?

Just wondering.