History vs. Apologetics
The Holocaust, the Third Reich, and the Catholic Church- Authors:
- Publisher:
- 2012
Summary
Set within the context of the political and ideological developments of the time, History vs. Apologetics examines the role played by the Catholic Church in the rise and consolidation of the Third Reich and in particular with regard to the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Distanced in the beginning, the Catholic Church and the Nazi party drew closer as Hitler's popularity increased. At the ratification of the Concordat in Rome, a commitment not to interfere with the Nazis' 'Final Solution' to the 'Jewish Question' was traded for a verbal promise from Berlin to exclude the baptized converts. While the Nazi government violated the Concordat at every turn, the Church kept zealously its promise. Pope Pius XII never mentioned the persecuted Jews by name and denied any knowledge of the annihilation of the Jews. Even after the war, Pius XII refused to condemn anti-Semitism and Germany's role in the Holocaust. Instead, the Vatican engaged in the protection of genocide perpetrators and assisted in their mass escape. David Cymet's comprehensive critical analysis of the polemical literature on the topic makes it possible to separate legitimate history from apologetic allegations and misrepresentations, bringing to light key elements of Church policy that is intentionally misinterpreted by apologists. By surveying the Church's policy from just before the rise of Nazism to the present, Cymet demonstrates how the Nazis were able to turn the Catholic Church into their ally in their war against the Jews.
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Bibliographic data
- Copyright year
- 2012
- ISBN-Print
- 978-0-7391-3293-7
- ISBN-Online
- 978-0-7391-3295-1
- Publisher
- Lexington, Lanham
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 491
- Product type
- Book Titles
Table of contents
- Table of Contents No access
- Acknowledgments No access
- Preface No access
- 1: Introduction No access Pages 1 - 14
- 2: Hitler's Background No access Pages 15 - 40
- 3: Hitler in Power: 1933 No access Pages 41 - 72
- 4: German Rearmament No access Pages 73 - 104
- 5: Hitler's Grossdeutschland No access Pages 105 - 140
- 6: Catholic Europe "Defends" Itself from the Jews No access Pages 141 - 172
- 7: World War II No access Pages 173 - 210
- 8: The Einsatzgruppen No access Pages 211 - 250
- 9: The Death Camps No access Pages 251 - 304
- 10: The Final Solution in Christian Europe No access Pages 305 - 374
- 11: Vatican Response to the Final Solution No access Pages 375 - 410
- 12: Pius XII in the Postwar Period (1945-1958) No access Pages 411 - 444
- Epilogue: After Pope Pius XII's Death No access Pages 445 - 460
- Bibliography No access Pages 461 - 466
- Index No access Pages 467 - 490
- About the Author No access Pages 491 - 491





