Product Description

The subject matter of this book is controversial, Guenter Lewy states plainly in his preface. To show the German Catholic Churchs congeniality with some of the goals of National Socialism and its gradual entrapment in Nazi policies and programs, Lewy describes the episcopates support of Hitlers expansionist policies and its failures to speak out on the persecution of the Jews. To this tragic history Lewy brings new focus and research, illuminating one of the darkest corners of our century with scholarship and intellectual honesty in a riveting, and often painful, narrative.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #313480 in Books
• Published on: 2000-01-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Customer Reviews

Resistence and collaboration
The role of the Vatican and of both Catholic institutions and Catholics under Nazi rule has recently once more come under the scrutiny of historians and of the general public at large. Signs - and causes - of such renewed interest are many and varied. The release of Costa-Gavras's film, "Amen" (based on Rolf Hochhuth's play, "The Deputy"), the much debated beatification of Edith Stein and Pope Pious XII, the controvery over the opening of the Vatican Archives for the years of the war, and of their accessibility to non-Catholic scholars - to name but a few. In spite of heated discussions, very little has been published for the historical clarification of such a crucial issue. The lack of new documents being released makes this new 2000 edition of Guenther Lewy's 1964 classic, *The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany*, an extremely welcome exception. Carefully research and backed by innumerable quotations from all available sources, the book analyses the difficult course of the Church as target to the Nazi onslaught and at the same time as a - mainly silent - potential defender of the regime's many victims (with special attention being paid, as is due, to the Shoah). The roles - and responsibilities - of Pious XI and Pious XII are explored, as well as the stance of the German episcopate and of German Catholics at large. Thus the book makes for an extremely interesting read, not only in shedding light on these darkest of times in the XX century, but also in posing and discussing the crucial question of the boundaries separating self-defense and collaboration, and of the relative weight of political effectiveness versus the imperative of bearing moral witness.