On 9 August 70 years ago Edith Stein, the Jew turned Carmelite sister was being killed in Auschwitz concentration camp. In 1933 she wrote to the Pope about the Jewish persecution
ANDREA TORNIELLI
Vatican Insider
Edith Stein
The philosopher Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein at the time) took her last breath in Auschwitz concentration camp seventy years ago. Born to a Jewish family, she was baptised and entered the monastery of the Carmelite Sisters of Cologne. In 1939 she was in Carmel of Echt in the Netherlands and was captured in 1942 during the Nazi searches which were acrried out after a letter was sent denouncing the deportations. The letter had been signed by Dutch Catholic bishops and read out in all churches. Up until then, the Nazis had spared baptised Jews: about three hundred clerics of Jewish origin were captured.
In an article published by the Italian religious news service (SIR), Cristiana Dobner recalled that journalist Van Kempen managed to contact her in the sorting camp, noting that the woman was “spiritually great and strong.” She had no intentions of escaping and did not wish to be treated any differently to other Jews. “She told me: – I would never have imagined that people could be like this and… that my brothers would suffer so much! – When it was certain she was going to be transported elsewhere, I asked her if there was anything I could do to help (try to free her); …she smiled at me again and begged me not to. Why make her and her group an exception? It would not have been fair for her to be released just because she had been baptised! Had she not joined the fate of the others, her life would have been ruined: – No, no I cannot have this!”
Edith Stein insisted she had not betrayed her people by recognising Jesus as the Messiah. She was beatified by John Paul II in 1987 and proclaimed a saint in 1998. The following year she was proclaimed co-patroness of Europe. On 12 April 1933 Stein wrote a letter to the Vatican, addressed to Pope Pius XI. She sent it to the Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli via the Benedictine Arch-Abbot of Beuron Raphael Walzer.
“Holy Father! As a daughter of the Jewish people who has been a daughter of the Catholic Church for 11 years thanks to God’s grace, I have taken the liberty to communicate to the father of Christianity the concerns of millions of Germans. For weeks now in Germany we have been witnessing events that show complete disregard for justice and humanity, not to mention love for one’s neighbour. For years, National Socialist leaders have preached hatred against Jews. Now that they have taken over power and have armed their followers – which include notorious criminals – they are reaping the fruit of the seed of hatred they sowed.”
After mentioning the numerous cases of Jews committing suicide as a result of Nazi oppression, Edith Stein added: “It may be said that those who are unhappy do not have the moral force to deal with their destiny. But while the responsibility for this unhappiness lies greatly with those who pushed them to commit the act of suicide, the responsibility also falls on those who keep quiet and do nothing.”
“Everything that has happened and that is going on every day is down to a government that calls itself “Christian”. Not just Jews, but thousands of Catholic faithful in Germany, and I believe, throughout the world have been waiting for Christ’s Church to speak out against this abuse, in the name of Christ, for weeks now. Isn’t the idolatry of race and State power, which the radio hammers into the minds of the population on a daily basis, open heresy? Isn’t this war of extermination against Jewish blood a violation of the sacred humanity of our Saviour, of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the Apostles? Is it not in complete contrast to the behaviour of our Lord the Redeemer, who even prayed for his persecutors on the cross?”
“All those of us who are witnessing the current situation in Germany as faithful children of the Church, fear the worst for the image the Church will give to the world if this silence continues any further. We are also adamant that this silence cannot obtain peace from the German government in the long run. The war against Catholicism is being waged quietly and less brutally than the war against Judaism, but just as systematically,” the philosopher concluded.
The nun’s criticism was clear and far-sighted, accompanied by a request for the Holy See to side against Nazism. The Holy See did respond to Stein’s missive. Cardinal Pacelli wrote a letter in German to the Benedictine Arch-Abbot Waltzer on 20 April 1933, informing him that Stein’s letter “was duly presented to His Holiness.” In 1937, Pius XI published the encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge, whose National Socialist ideology was condemned as pagan and anti-Christian.
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
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“We are also adamant that this silence cannot obtain peace from the German government in the long run…”..wrote Saint Edith.
…Even if it upsets Hitler and makes him ultimately kill all the Jews twice.
(Only a few readers on here will understand this. And this letter was written in 1933. An extraordinary piece of perception about what was to come. Thinks Toad)
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That’s right Toad; the Church never turns away at the suffering of her members….. or those of other Faiths. No other religion or institution has ever been such a defender of the persecuted, outcast or weak.
Cardinal Pacelli (future Pope Pius XII) passed on this superb and perceptive letter of Edith Stein’s to His Holiness, Pius XI, who shortly afterwards “published the encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge, whose National Socialist ideology was condemned as pagan and anti-Christian.”
So what exactly is your problem?
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Toad has no problem here, Kathleen. He’s extremely satisfied with the article.
As, no doubt, are you.
As is universally known, Pius Xll issued a ringing and courageous condemnation of Hitler and the Nazis, which led to world-wide revulsion, the collapse of national Socialism and prevented the slaughter of six million Jews in death camps.
No problem.
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As you well know, Pope Pius XII was in no position to be able to prevent the Holocaust, but try he certainly did, well before WWII had even started, with “a ringing and courageous condemnation of Hitler and the Nazis”.
Here’s an excerpt from an article by Jimmy Akin vindicating this noble and holy man from accusations such as yours: http://www.catholic.com/documents/how-pius-xii-protected-jews
“On April 28, 1935, four years before the War even started, Pacelli gave a speech that aroused the attention of the world press. Speaking to an audience of 250,000 pilgrims in Lourdes, France, the future Pius XII stated that the Nazis “are in reality only miserable plagiarists who dress up old errors with new tinsel. It does not make any difference whether they flock to the banners of social revolution, whether they are guided by a false concept of the world and of life, or whether they are possessed by the superstition of a race and blood cult.” It was talks like this, in addition to private remarks and numerous notes of protest that Pacelli sent to Berlin in his capacity as Vatican Secretary of State, that earned him a reputation as an enemy of the Nazi party.
The Germans were likewise displeased with the reigning pontiff, Pius XI, who showed himself to be a unrelenting opponent of the new German “ideals”—even writing an entire encyclical, Mit Brennender Sorge (1937), to condemn them. When Pius XI died in 1939, the Nazis abhorred the prospect that Pacelli might be elected his successor.
Dr. Joseph Lichten, a Polish Jew who served as a diplomat and later an official of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, writes: “Pacelli had obviously established his position clearly, for the Fascist governments of both Italy and Germany spoke out vigorously against the possibility of his election to succeed Pius XI in March of 1939, though the cardinal secretary of state had served as papal nuncio in Germany from 1917 to 1929. . . . The day after his election, the Berlin Morgenpost said: ‘The election of cardinal Pacelli is not accepted with favor in Germany because he was always opposed to Nazism and practically determined the policies of the Vatican under his predecessor.’ ”
Or this one, showing how Pius XII did speak out and act in defense of the Jewish people:
http://www.michaeljournal.org/piusXII.htm
New York historian and Rabbi, David Dalin, states that the Jewish people had “no greater friend” during the war than Pope Pius XII, who saved more Jewish lives than the famed Schindler:
Rabbi Dalin: “We have much documentation, which shows that in no way did he remain silent. What is more, he spoke out loudly against Hitler and almost everyone saw him as an opponent of the Nazi regime. During the German occupation of Rome, Pius XII secretly instructed the Catholic clergy to use all means to save as many human lives as possible.”
http://www.catholic.net/index.php?option=dedestaca&id=3485&grupo=Church%20Teaching%20QA&canal=Church%20History
And there’s much much more, but this is enough to be getting on with.
All this will disappoint you perhaps, but surely if you are an honest (ex)journalist, you have to admit the evidence proving the courage and goodness of Pope Pius XII (in his intent to do the utmost to save the Jews from the Nazi slaughter) is overwhelming.
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Well, Kathleen, Toad has learned a great deal more than he knew before on this fascinating issue, thanks to a series of excellent postings on CP&S.
The Saint Edith Stein piece was a revelation.
I don’t doubt the courage and goodness of PiusXll. But I do believe it was a mistaken decision on his part to keep largely silent, as you have admitted he did, and try to do alleviate the appalling situation in secret.
His motives were no doubt impeccable. His judgement was not.
But that’s merely my opinion (and that of some others, better informed, to be sure.)
The whole topic has Toad almost wishing he had the energy and resources to write a book about it.
But, sadly, he suffers from a little-known medical condition, commonly referred to among doctors as “idleness.”
If anyone knows of such an existing book, I’d like to get hold of it.
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Well, that’s an honest and humble comment from our resident Toad…… for once! 😉
Yes, I have indeed admitted Pope Pius XII kept largely silent whilst trying to “alleviate the appalling situation in secret”……... But if you reread the first paragraph in the article above, you will see this was only after 1942, when chaos reigned as the devastating war raged everywhere. After seeing the consequences at this stage, of having instructed his bishops to denounce the Nazi atrocities, he considered words were no longer of any use, and that public silence was the best policy to adopt.
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